Skip to content
Novel Catalog
The sharp contrast between Eva and Adrian’s demeanor at the Civil Affairs Bureau couldn’t have been more stark. The young couples around them were laughing, exchanging soft words of affection, lost in their happiness, while Eva and Adrian stood apart, their silence heavy with unresolved tension.
Eva could feel the weight of the moment. Despite the makeup and the glasses she had carefully put on to mask her exhaustion, it didn’t matter. Her nerves were raw, and the bloodshot eyes—no amount of concealer could hide the turmoil inside her. As Adrian’s cold, impassive presence loomed next to her, it was clear this wasn’t just another day at the office. This wasn’t a simple task to check off. This was the end of something deeply complicated, something that once held a glimmer of hope and tenderness but had been eroded by misunderstandings, pain, and the weight of their unspoken feelings.
Adrian’s eyes were sharp, but there was no warmth in them—just a darkness that seemed to be consuming him. His every movement was deliberate, purposeful, but his emotions, like his thoughts, were locked away from view. Eva wondered, as she glanced at him, if he felt the same kind of weight pressing on him. Or was it just her, carrying all of it in the hollow spaces between them?
The drive to the Bureau had been marked by strained silence, broken only by the occasional comment that did nothing to alleviate the tension. When Adrian had asked if she’d slept well, his hoarse voice had carried an undercurrent of something she couldn’t quite place. Was it just fatigue, or something more? Was he bothered by the prospect of the divorce as much as she was? Eva couldn’t tell. He didn’t look bothered. But then again, Adrian was the kind of person who wore his emotions like armor, never letting anything slip past the surface. And that made it harder for her to know where she stood.
The air in the car had been thick with unspoken words. It felt like they were trapped in a space where neither of them could speak the truth. As the Civil Affairs Bureau came into view, Eva’s stomach twisted. There was a finality to this place, an unavoidable sense that once they entered, there would be no turning back. She could feel the weight of the paperwork in her bag, as though it had grown heavier with each passing minute.
When they arrived at the Bureau, the contrast between their grim demeanor and the other couples’ lightheartedness was impossible to ignore. The mundane task of signing divorce papers had never felt so monumental. Every glance they received, every hushed comment from bystanders, only underscored the awkwardness of the situation. It wasn’t just the paperwork that made the moment surreal—it was the realization that they had come full circle. This had been their choice, their decision, but it didn’t make it any easier.
Inside the Bureau, the process was swift and efficient, but every moment stretched out like an eternity. Eva held her breath as they signed the papers, the weight of the signatures on the documents sinking in. Adrian didn’t look at her. His eyes were trained ahead, focused on the task at hand, but the tension in his jaw betrayed something deeper. And Eva… she felt like a stranger in her own skin. She had been preparing for this, but now that it was happening, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had been lost forever.
When the process was complete, they both stood in the sterile, lifeless room, holding the papers that had once felt like a symbol of their union. But now they were just papers—cold, impersonal, marking the end of everything.
As they left the Bureau, Adrian turned to her, his gaze intense but unreadable.
“Do you feel better now?” he asked, his voice low and steady.
Eva hesitated, the question hanging in the air. Could she say yes? Would he even believe it if she did? She knew he wasn’t asking for her peace of mind. He wasn’t asking because he cared. It was just another question in their ever-growing list of things left unsaid.
“I don’t know,” she finally answered, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know what I feel anymore.”
Adrian didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. He simply nodded and turned to walk toward the car. And Eva, once again, was left in the quiet, her heart heavy with questions that didn’t have answers.
