The Divorce That Brought Us Back novel Chapter 267

At this moment.

The expression on Nora's face perfectly mirrored the third meme in her sticker collection.

A meme of a little cat clutching its head and screaming in despair.

It was four in the afternoon.

Maloney had driven her up the mountain.

She thought he was going to stage a romantic proposal under the glow of the setting sun.

Instead, the car didn't head for the summit.

It parked halfway up the mountain, deep in the woods.

The setting sun barely managed to filter a few weak rays through the dense canopy. The forest was dim, desolate, and utterly devoid of life. Occasionally, a dead leaf would drop, startling the sparrows hiding in the brush. The sudden fluttering of wings was jarringly loud in the dead silence.

Not far away, built into the rocky cliff face, was a pitch-black cave.

Maloney pointed at the entrance. "We're going in there."

Nora was speechless.

To be completely blunt.

The vibe right now?

Didn't scream 'proposal.' It screamed 'disposing of a body.'

Nora refused to budge from her seat in the car.

Maloney reached out his hand. "I'll carry you over."

"Maloney." Nora kept one hand clamped tightly onto her seatbelt and used the other to push his hand away. She spoke with absolute solemnity. "As long as we're happy living our lives together, the ceremonial stuff really doesn't matter."

She added, "So, I think we can skip the proposal."

Maloney's expression was even more solemn than hers. "Dating for two years without a proposal is a sign of irresponsibility."

"Says who? Plenty of couples date for seven or eight years without ever getting married."

"Then they're being irresponsible."

"Or maybe the woman just doesn't want to be tied down by marriage."

"You don't want to be tied down by marriage?"

Nora stared at him.

She definitely hadn't said that.

The two of them went back and forth.

The sky was visibly darkening.

Left with no other choice, Maloney forcefully pulled her out of the car and scooped her into his arms.

"I'm not going into a haunted house!"

"It's not a haunted house."

"You know I have zero courage. I have the guts of a bird. I never go to haunted houses."

"It's really not a haunted house."

"I don't believe you."

As they neared the cave, the damp chill seeped into her skin. Nora shivered, burying her face into his shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut.

Maloney didn't force her to open them.

He simply held her gently, his large hands rubbing soothingly against her back.

Even with her eyes closed, she could clearly feel him carrying her deeper into the cave.

The smell of moss and damp stone filled her nose, and the echoing thud of his footsteps bouncing off the rock walls rang in her ears.

Hollow, heavy, and terrifying.

Her heart raced uncontrollably.

She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.

Thankfully, it didn't last long.

Maybe two or three minutes of walking.

The echoes gradually faded, the air turned crisp and fresh, and a soft, orange-red glow flickered against the inside of her eyelids.

Maloney gently patted her shoulder. "You can open your eyes now."

She cautiously fluttered her eyes open.

The first thing she saw was still the cave entrance.

But while the side they had entered from was dark, damp, and in the shadows, this side was bathed in bright, warm sunlight.

Looking back, the cave wasn't very long. She could easily see the entrance they had just come through.

Suddenly, it didn't seem so scary anymore.

Realizing his true intentions, her emotions grew tangled.

It was hard to describe.

A little moved, a little nostalgic.

Like standing in the sunlight and looking back at her past self.

That evening.

He took her to a rustic countryside diner in the village for a meal, then drove them to a nearby hot spring resort.

He said it was to celebrate a successful proposal.

He was really fully committed to the ceremony of it all.

They checked into a private villa at the resort.

The heating inside was blasting. Nora peeled off her heavy winter coat and slipped into some light loungewear. Having just eaten, she was in no rush to hit the hot springs, so she collapsed onto a recliner to rest for a moment.

Her brain immediately switched into overthinking mode.

She hadn't reacted well enough today.

But then again, that cave at the start was genuinely terrifying. It looked exactly like the crime scenes from the true-crime videos she doom-scrolled through.

Plus, when she had warned him not to tell anyone about the proposal, he had seemed genuinely annoyed. He thought she was being overly self-conscious and threatened to 'teach her a lesson.'

Naturally, she assumed he was deliberately trying to prank her.

It wasn't her fault.

She just got embarrassed easily.

If they actually hosted a massive, formal proposal now, people would definitely gossip and think it was all for show.

She genuinely thought it was just an inside joke between a married couple.

Who knew he was going to completely break the script?

Full of regret, she decisively blamed Maloney for the miscommunication.

Though her conviction was pretty weak.

She pulled out her phone.

She was originally going to Google, 'What to do if you accidentally ruin a proposal.'

But the moment she unlocked her screen, she saw over a dozen unread messages in the group chat.