Lights Never Fade
It didnt take long for everyone to understand the real barometer. In this city, whether it rained or snowed depended entirely on whether Rob Zhous latest mistress was smiling or crying.
One moment, Id be on air forecasting moderate to heavy snowfall, and the next, the clouds would part for a brilliantly sunny sky.
My boss didn't mince words, dressing me down in front of the entire newsroom.
You used to be the star of this network, Clara. What happened? Your husband is out there playing God with the weather, and youre still trying to read a teleprompter? Whats the point?
A colleague chimed in, her words dripping with schadenfreude. I heard his new girl cant stand the cold. Guess Port City wont be seeing a single snowflake this year. Shes going to get fined into oblivion.
I clutched a dozen penalty notices in my hand, my silence a wall of stone.
When I got home, I tossed the stack of fines onto the coffee table in front of Rob without a word.
Your mess. You clean it up. Im done being Mrs. Zhou. The position is officially open.
Rob picked up a fine, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, which quickly morphed into a playful, cruel smile.
So, it didnt snow today, you got embarrassed at work, and now youre taking it out on me?
Im being serious, Rob. I want a divorce, I said, enunciating every word.
The uncharacteristic coldness in my tone finally made the smirk on his face curdle and fade. The housekeeper, holding a tea tray, froze in place.
After a few tense seconds, Rob broke the silence with a cold sneer.
Clara, I thought youd learned your lesson. You dont want a repeat of what happened three years ago, do you?
I froze, the memory washing over me like ice water. Three years ago.
My face was on every giant screen in Port City, forecasting a beautiful, sunny day, cheerfully reminding citizens to wear sunscreen. Meanwhile, to impress some cocktail waitress from a downtown club, Rob had paid a fortune to have the clouds seeded for rain.
The sky turned black, the heavens opened up, and I became the laughingstock of Port Citythe pathetic queen of weather. I was savaged by my superiors and handed the first penalty notice of my career.
Id lost my mind that night. I stormed into the club with a bottle of whiskey and smashed it over the girls head.
Rob just sat on a plush sofa, watching the chaos with a detached, lazy amusement.
The real breakdown came later, when I learned that my mother, rushing to my side to comfort me, had been in a car accident. She was paralyzed from the waist down.
I was hysterical, completely shattered.
But Robs voice was calm, chillingly so. The wife of Rob Zhou needs to learn how to suffer in silence. You didnt understand that before. A lesson like this, you only need to learn it once.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The memories were a blade that twisted in my heart every single day.
Seeing my silence now, Robs tone softened. He gestured to a mountain of designer shopping bags on the table.
As long as you understand. Everything in this city, the best of the best, it all belongs to Mrs. Zhou. What more could you possibly want?
At his signal, the housekeeper unveiled a haute couture gown. My closet was a museum of priceless dresses and limited-edition handbags that other women in this city would kill for. But I knew what they really were: blood money. Payments for his infidelity.
Wearing them felt like being paraded through the streets in shame.
I let out a cold, sharp laugh and threw my coffee all over the dress.
The staff gasped.
Rob stared at the dark stains that had splashed onto his own suit, his patience finally snapping.
Thats enough, Clara!
A cup of hot tea flew through the air, scalding my arm. Blisters rose on my skin instantly. The pain was so sharp it made my scalp tingle and my fingers curl into fists.
The mans breath hitched, but the cruelty in his eyes didnt soften.
Lila is an intern at your station. It would be best for you to mentor her. If you wont, I have other ways of making her a star.
His gaze flickered to the row of broadcasting awards on my mantelpiece, a clear warning in his eyes. He knew how to break a woman like me, a woman who had built her life on her achievements.
I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth and forced a smile. Fine.
Surprise flashed across his face, but it was cut short by his ringing phone. His voice instantly changed, becoming soft and tender. Okay. Ill be right there.
He hung up and strode out of the house, the joyful spring in his step impossible to hide.
Watching him go, I wiped a tear from my eye and dialed my old classmate, now my lawyer.
Ethan, I need you to file the papers. Its time to honor our five-year promise.
His confident reply was all I needed to hear. I ended the call, feeling as if my heart had been hollowed out.
Everyone in Port City knew Id abandoned my promising legal career to become a weather anchor just to marry Rob Zhou. His mother had initially despised me, claiming a lawyers silver tongue was unfit for their prestigious family. So Rob, in a grand gesture, had made me a star. Hed turned me into the queen of the network, my shelves groaning under the weight of awards.
But at the peak of my career, hed made it rain for a nightclub girl. As I fell from grace, he had whispered in my ear, his laughter laced with poison. Jealous? I put in far more effort chasing you. Cant I have a little fun on the side?
It became clearer and clearer. Once he had me, I was just something to be trampled underfoot.
That night, my boss called me into the station for an emergency broadcast. I rushed in, script in hand, ready for the studio, only to come face to face with Lila Meng.
Clara, she said, her voice sickly sweet. Rob asked if I could have a go in the studio tonight, just to try it out. You dont mind, do you? Her eyes were greedily fixed on my script, her victory already assured.
I had known Rob would spoil her. I just hadnt realized how cruel he could be.
I laughed, a hollow, self-deprecating sound, and let the script fall from my hand.
Rob sat in the control room, watching her stumble through the broadcast with a look of pure fascination, occasionally chuckling at her mistakes. The adoration in his eyes was sickening.
For the first time in my career, I was benched. I spent the night fetching coffee for Lila, revising her script behind the scenes, utterly humiliated.
The colleagues who had once envied me now dripped with scorn.
Lilas only been here three days and shes already on air? So much for being the networks star.
Didnt Clara say she loved the snow? I bet as long as Lilas around, we wont see a single flake all winter.
Five hundred bucks says Lila takes home the Vanguard Award tomorrow. Im putting my money on the new girl.
After the broadcast, Rob brought Lila over to me, beaming. So? Wasnt she great? I told you she had potential. The pride in his voice was thick enough to choke on.
I gave a wooden nod and escaped to the break room. Rob frowned, his eyes following me, as if he wanted to say something. But the chorus of congratulations for Lila quickly drew his attention back.
I locked the door, but I couldn't block out the noise. I poured a coffee, my hands shaking, when my phone buzzed with an anonymous audio file.
My finger hovered over the screen, then pressed play. Lilas voice, panicked and terrified, filled the small room.
Rob, what am I going to do? Claras mother just ran out into the road! It was raining so hard
You have to help me, Rob! I can disappear for a while, just dont let me go to jail, please, Im begging you
My heart seized. I held my breath, waiting.
There was a silence that stretched for what felt like an eternity. Then, Robs voice, impossibly gentle, impossibly cruel.
Heres a plane ticket out of the country. The rest you leave to me.
A cold dread washed over me. Every hair on my body stood on end. I felt like Id been struck by lightning.
The date of the recording it was the day of my mothers accident.
Lila was the hit-and-run driver. And my husband was her accomplice.
I staggered back, turning, and found Rob standing right behind me.
Are you having me investigated, Clara? His brow was furrowed, his expression a complex mix of emotions. But there was no guilt.
So its true? I whispered. I prayed he would deny it, tell me the audio was a fake.
His eyes darted away for a fraction of a second before he fell silent.
That was all the confirmation I needed. The last flicker of hope inside me died.
The next second, he wrapped his arms around me, holding my trembling body close. He spoke in the softest whisper, delivering the most brutal words I had ever heard.
Clara, its in the past. Your mother is still alive, isnt she? But Lila she has her whole future ahead of her.
I stared at him, a fish bone caught in my throat.
I remembered that night, the flashing lights, the pouring rain. I had tried to run past the police tape, barefoot and screaming, but Rob had held me back, his grip like steel.
He had held me, his own voice trembling as he soothed me. Clara, Im here. Ill find the driver. I swear to you, they wont get away with this. I promise.
I had a shard of a broken bottle in my hand and I had thrashed wildly, hitting him again and again, but he just held on, the rain washing the blood from his arms as he repeated, Its okay, its okay
I was so naive. I believed him. I thought he had brought the person who ruined my mothers life to justice.
But his justice was a plane ticket and a cover-up.
The blood in my veins turned to ice.
Just then, Lila burst in, her face streaked with tears. Clara, please, stop threatening me with that recording! Im so scared of losing my job As she spoke, she gestured wildly, revealing her arm. The onlookers gasped. It was covered in ugly bruises and what looked like fresh cuts.
One glance was all it took. The pain in Robs eyes was immediate. He looked back at me, his face a mask of bitter disappointment.
Clara, is this what youve been doing behind my back? Abusing her? How could you?
Those pathetic, fake bruises what were they compared to my mothers shattered spine? What were they compared to the five years of betrayal I had endured?
I started to laugh, a wild, unhinged sound. I didnt even bother to explain.
Does it hurt you to see her like this, Rob? Then lets get a divorce.
I pulled the divorce agreement Ethan had prepared from my purse and shoved it at him.
The crowd erupted in shocked whispers as he read the document.
Robs eyes, red-rimmed and furious, bored into mine. Fine! You want a divorce? Youve got it. Ill give you three days to come crawling back.
He scrawled his name on the signature line, shot me one last glare of pure hatred, and stormed out, his arm protectively around Lila.
The mocking whispers followed them. Everyone was placing their bets on how long it would take for me to come crawling back to him.
Rob didnt come home that night. He was photographed escorting Lila to a series of high-profile parties, introducing her to his powerful network contacts. The scene was sickeningly familiar. It was exactly what he had done for me.
He had already decided that this years Vanguard Award would go to Lila, a rookie who had been on air exactly once. It was a simple, elegant way to publicly humiliate me, to prove to all of Port City that without him, I was nothing.
Lilas face was on the TV. I calmly packed my bags.
The next morning, a frantic call from the hospital woke me.
Ms. Chen? Its about your mother. She she disappeared from her room early this morning.
My heart seized. Without a second thought, I raced to the awards ceremony.
I arrived just as Rob was about to present the trophy to Lila, who stood beside him in a stunning couture gown. They looked like a king and queen.
I, on the other hand, was a ghost at the feastno makeup, my hair a mess, my presence a jarring note in the elegant affair.
From the stage, Rob saw me and smiled, a smug, knowing look on his face. He thought Id come to my senses, that I was here to publicly beg for his forgiveness.
He was about to be disappointed.
Ignoring the scornful looks from the crowd, I walked toward the stage, my eyes, red and wild, fixed on Lila.
What did you do with my mother? I screamed, my voice shaking. Dont you dare touch her!
The crowd murmured, half amused, half horrified. The smile vanished from Robs face, replaced by pure fury. He strode forward and shoved me. Hard.
Clara, youre scaring her!
I stumbled backward off the stage, the impact knocking the wind out of me, the pain so intense it felt like my insides had shattered. Rob took an involuntary step forward, but Lila was faster. She rushed down and helped me up, her voice a concerned whisper for all to hear.
Clara, I dont know what youre talking about. Please, dont embarrass Rob like this.
Then, she leaned in close, her voice dropping so only I could hear. You really are clever, arent you? Figuring out I took your mother. She smiled, a bright, beautiful, terrifying smile. Now, do you want to guess what Im going to do to her?
Her eyes, hidden from everyone else, were filled with a monstrous light.
A primal fear gripped me. I lunged, my hands closing around her throat, squeezing with all my strength. Give me back my mother!
A powerful force ripped me away. A hand cracked across my face, the impact staggering me.
Rob stood over me, his hand trembling, his face a thundercloud of rage.
I have been patient with you, Clara, but this is too much! Youd throw away your dignity for a stupid trophy? Youre pathetic!
In his eyes, I saw my own reflection: a crazed, pathetic woman making a scene. But my mind was screaming, imagining what was happening to my mother.
I scrambled up, snatched the heavy, winged trophy from Robs hand, and lunged at Lila again.
Ah!
But it was Rob who cried out. He had moved to block me, and the trophy had slammed into his back. He grunted in pain and shoved me away. The sharp edge of the awards metal wing caught my cheek, slicing it open.
Blood dripped onto the pristine carpet. The trophy clattered to the floor.
Have you lost your mind, Clara?!
Out of his line of sight, Lila held up a small remote. The screen showed a timer, counting down from three minutes.
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