The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 94

The air was cool, carrying the fresh, earthy scent of the morning.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Sloane looked down at the divorce papers in Garrison's hands. Both their signatures were finally on the dotted line. It meant their relationship was officially, legally over.

"I'm sorry, Garrison," Sloane said slowly, "but I changed my mind. This time... I still have to go to Antarctica."

Garrison felt his heart drop into his stomach. His voice trembled.

"What did you just say? You changed your mind? Sloane, what gives you the right to just change your mind whenever you feel like it? You promised me! You said if I signed the divorce papers, you wouldn't go to Antarctica!"

"I know I promised you, but... going to Antarctica is the only thing I have left in this life that I truly want to do. I can't give it up."

Garrison stared at her. Looking into those calm, emotionless eyes, it was like looking at a stranger. In that moment, he realized he had never truly understood this woman at all.

"What is that supposed to mean? What do you mean... the only thing you have left to do?"

Sloane parted her lips, about to say something, but ultimately closed them. She remained silent, though a complex, profound darkness flickered in her eyes.

Garrison was absolutely furious.

"You have your whole life ahead of you! You're only 26. You have so much time left. You have Archie, you have... Shouldn't you be taking care of yourself instead of gambling your life in a place like that?!"

"Do you have any idea how dangerous this mission is? The White Microbe grows in an ice lake eight hundred feet deep! Eight hundred feet underwater—do you even comprehend that? The deepest diving record in the United States is only nine hundred feet, and you're going into a sub-zero Antarctic lake! This isn't a game, Sloane. No one in the United States has ever successfully harvested the White Microbe, and you... you're just going to throw your life away for nothing!"

By the end of it, Garrison was practically shouting.

The silence in the car was suffocating.

Garrison's breath hitched. He stared at her, at this woman he had never managed to read.

A profound sense of helplessness crept up his spine. She didn't care about his words, his anger, or his desperate pleas for her to stay.

"Please... take good care of Archie."

With that, Sloane reached for the door handle, ready to walk away.

"Sloane!"

Garrison's voice sharply spiked. He grabbed her arm, his voice rough and laced with a vicious, threatening edge. "If you walk away today, don't ever show your face to me again!"

"We're divorced now. From this day forward... I will forget you forever. It'll be like you never existed!"