Divorce me I'm done serving you (Ayla) novel Chapter 868

That was Nina.

She flagged down a bouncer to help haul Edgar into a car.

Anyone who’d had too much to drink looked pathetic—the sloppy face, the helpless posture, the complete loss of dignity. It was never a good look.

Halle felt something lock up inside her. Looking at Edgar now, all she could think was that having ever loved him felt embarrassing. Taking him out in public would have been mortifying.

Another crack in the image she’d held of him.

Halle was also becoming more and more aware that she’d stopped loving Edgar a long time ago. Even the feelings from the past were fading. She kept trying to hold on to the warmth of what they’d had, but that warmth couldn’t warm her anymore.

James flipped the camera back to his own face. “I’m easier on the eyes, right?”

Halle nodded, playing along. “Definitely.”

“So, when are you moving back? How about tomorrow? I’ll come pick you up.”

Halle said, “Give me a little more time.”

James replied, "How much more time?”

He was genuinely curious, not pushing.

Halle said, “I don’t know. It could be soon. It could be a while longer. Stop rushing me.”

“I’m not rushing you. What I’m really curious about is why you can’t let go of the past.”

Halle could hear the sincerity beneath James’s words. She froze for a moment. She hadn’t expected him to ask that—the question that cut straight to the thing she’d buried deepest. One honest answer, and it would explain all of it.

Halle’s expression shifted. Socially, she was always polished and energetic. She wouldn’t even take out the trash without putting on makeup—she refused to let anyone see a single crack.

James had a way of wearing her down. He was shameless, didn’t care about looking foolish in front of her, and that relentless openness had slowly rubbed off on Halle.

On top of that, James shared his entire private life with her without reservation—WhatsApp videos, photos, constant updates. Short of a literal livestream, there was nothing she hadn’t seen.

So the more she’d come to know James’s real, unfiltered self, the more she relaxed around him. She didn’t need to keep her guard up all the time. Which was why she was comfortable video-chatting him now, bare-faced and freshly washed.

James’s question was a good one. He was painfully direct. Answering it honestly would be like showing him her face without makeup—laying her heart bare.

Seeing her go silent, James said, “If you really don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”

The moment Halle heard that, she actually wanted to tell him. “Have you guessed?”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify