The Day I Quit Him (Autumn and Mars) novel Chapter 166

**Chasing Light, Finding Peace by Rohan Verma**

Mars felt an overwhelming surge of frustration crash over him, as if the very foundation of his existence was trembling beneath his feet. The Lopes family, once a mere backdrop to his life, now revealed itself to be a chaotic whirlwind that he had never anticipated.

Suddenly, the exhaustion that clung to Anmum after every family gathering took on a new meaning. Mars had previously dismissed Autumn’s dramatic flair as mere theatrics, believing she thrived on the chaos of her relatives. But now, standing amidst the turmoil, he was beginning to grasp the heavy burden of their dysfunction.

“Mom… Mars, please, stop fighting…”

As the atmosphere thickened with tension, a soft, almost haunting voice broke through the noise—Lydia’s voice, fragile and trembling.

Instantly, Mrs. Lopez snapped back into focus, her maternal instincts ignited. The sight of her daughter, so frail and vulnerable in that hospital bed, pierced her heart like a dagger. “Lydia, sweetheart, what’s the matter? Are you in pain? Should I call for the doctor?”

Lydia shook her head slowly, her gaze drifting past her mother, locking onto Mars with an intensity that sent a shiver down his spine.

“Mars, why did you take so long to get here?”

A sharp pang of guilt stabbed at him. He had promised to be there for her, yet here he was, arriving late when she needed him the most.

His expression twisted into a mix of regret and frustration, the weight of his choices pressing heavily upon him.

He had been so consumed by Hannah’s antics, so caught up in the whirlwind of his own life, that he couldn’t muster the strength to face Lydia in her time of need. Instead, he had sought refuge in a nearby room, grappling with his inner turmoil, trying to gather his thoughts.

After a relentless battle with his emotions, he had resorted to a cold shower, hoping to wash away the chaos swirling within him.

For days, he had been drowning in a sea of responsibilities, his mind a cacophony of thoughts that refused to quiet. The cold water had only amplified his fatigue, and he had intended to take a brief nap—just half an hour—before racing to the hospital. But exhaustion had claimed him, and he slept far longer than he had planned.

By the time he finally roused himself and rushed to the hospital, Mrs. Lopez was already there, her presence a stark reminder of the weight of his absence.

“Something came up at the office. I got held up,” Mars offered, his voice lacking conviction, the excuse sounding feeble even to his own ears.

In the past, Lydia would have accepted his words without question, but today, she was a bubbling cauldron of resentment and anger, feeling trapped with nowhere to direct her emotions. In a moment of defiance, she had Mrs. Lopez hand her the phone, and right there, in front of Mars, she made a call.

Mars stood frozen, bewildered, his eyes wide with unspoken questions as he stared at Lydia.

Her gaze met his, fierce and unwavering, igniting a spark of fear within him. When a voice on the other end of the line said, “Hello?” Lydia spoke directly into the phone, her voice steady yet filled with an undercurrent of tension. “Mr. Wright said something came up at the company that required his immediate attention. Is that correct?”

Mars’s heart plummeted as he stood by the bed, his eyes widening in horror.

The moment he recognized his assistant’s voice echoing from Lydia’s phone, a wave of panic washed over him.

But it wasn’t until Lydia posed her pointed question that the full weight of her intentions crashed down on him.

The embarrassment of being caught in a lie ignited a fiery rage within him.

Without thinking, Mars lunged forward, snatching the phone from Lydia’s grasp and abruptly ending the call, slamming the device onto the floor, where it shattered with a resounding crash.

“Lydia, what the hell are you trying to do?!”

Startled by the sudden outburst, Mrs. Lopez instinctively stepped back, her eyes wide with shock.

But as she noticed the color drain from Lydia’s face, she rushed forward, positioning herself protectively in front of her daughter, like a mother hen shielding her chick from a storm.

“What am I trying to do? You feel guilty, don’t you? Mars Wright, who were you with? Were you with Hannah King? How could you be such a heartless bastard?”

“I’ve been your dirty little secret for so long, even endured hell for you, and this is how you repay me?”

“Do you think I’m as naïve as Autumn?”

Mars had never imagined his deception would unravel so swiftly.

But witnessing Lydia’s hysterical, contorted expression, he suddenly considered that perhaps laying everything bare wasn’t such a terrible idea after all.

In her rage, Lydia appeared monstrous, and the sight of her twisted face churned his stomach.

In terms of professionalism, she paled in comparison to Autumn.

In the bedroom, she was no match for Hannah.

Mars had never anticipated that a girl like Hannah would be so uninhibited, so free.

Given that Lydia fell short in every aspect, he questioned why he had kept her around at all.

His involvement with Lydia had merely been a lingering fixation, a thrill stemming from the taboo of dating his wife’s sister. That was the only reason their relationship had endured this long.

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