Forgotten Wife: My Ex-Husband Regrets It After I Left novel Chapter 29

29

Sienna’s POV

The door creaked softly as I opened it. Noah’s room was just as always: his toy shelf a little messy, his dinosaur blanket half- hanging off the bed, and his crescent–shaped night light casting a dim, sleepy glow. But what caught my attention first was a shiny object on the small table by his bed.

Transformer X–10.

Gleaming. Brand new. Its bright blue eyes glowed, its metallic body sleek and solid. I stared at it in silence. This was the robot Noah had been dreaming of -and Emily was the one who gave it to him.

I pulled another box from a shopping bag. My own Transformer X–10. Identical model. The only difference was the color- Emily’s was metallic blue, mine was a warm maroon. I chose that color because Noah once said red looked like fire, “like a brave hero.”

I examined both robots, now standing side by side. They looked like brothers. Only… one already had a place in his heart, and the other might never be touched.

I took a deep breath and gently placed my gift next to Emily’s. Then I sat on the edge of Noah’s bed. My eyes wandered around the room that used to echo with laughter and tiny screams. The place where I used to read bedtime stories. The place where I often fell asleep waiting for Noah to drift off first.

Now, everything felt unfamiliar. Too quiet for a child’s room.

I stared at the two robots for a long time. In my mind, I saw Noah playing, jumping, cheering, dancing. As if he were still here.

Slowly, I leaned in and whispered softly, though I was the only one who could hear it.

“Hi, sweetheart…”

My throat tightened, but I forced a small smile.

“Mommy just wanted to say… goodbye.”

I gently caressed the little pillow with an astronaut print. My fingers clutched its edge tightly.

“Mommy knows you’re happy now. Mommy knows you feel safer with them… and I won’t take that away from you. I just… I just hope you stay happy. That’s all.”

Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall.

“If one day you see two identical robots and wonder why there are two… just remember, Mommy wanted to make you happy too. Even if I was too late.”

I stood slowly. Gave the room one last look.

“Goodbye, Noah… Mommy will always be here, even if you never come looking.

I touched the heads of both robots, as if I were gently patting Noah’s–though he wasn’t there.

Then I stepped out. Closed the door slowly behind me, leaving a part of my heart in that room…..with a red robot that might never be played with.

I returned to my room with slow, deliberate steps, letting the silence of the night be my only companion. My suitcase was nearly full, just one last item left–my laptop, which I hadn’t packed since yesterday. I touched it briefly, then closed it and placed it carefully among my clothes and notebooks.

I had thought I’d leave in the morning. Wait for sunrise. Let the daylight clear my thoughts and give me one more reason to hold

on a little longer. But why? Leaving tomorrow or leaving now… It wouldn’t change anything. No one would come looking. No one would ask where I’d gone.

I stood in the middle of the room that had long borne witness to my silence. A room always quiet, even when I cried alone in the corner of the bed. A room Liam never entered. He would stop at the doorway–and only if he needed something or wanted to ask about Noah. Never more than that.

I looked around the room one last time. There was nothing special about it. And yet, it was so hard to leave. Maybe because this was the place where I held on too long. Where I waited, night after night, hoping the door would open, and he’d walk in just to say, “I want to try loving you again.”

But the door remained still. Just like his heart.

Quietly, I stepped out, pulling my suitcase behind me with barely a sound. The hallway was dim, the lights already turned low. I paused in front of Liam’s door. Closed. Always closed. I had never known what was behind it.

I never went in. I never even dared to touch the doorknob. That room was never mine. It belonged to Emily. The place where she now slept comfortably beside the man I once called my husband. A place warm with laughter and touch–all the things I never had during years of marriage.

I winced–not out of anger, but because I finally realized how foolish I had been to hold on for so long. Holding on to the hope that love would eventually grow, that one day Liam would open his eyes and see me as someone worthy of being loved. But what I saw was the opposite. Ever since Emily came back, I saw something in Liam that I had never seen before–life. His eyes sparkled, his laughter came easier, his whole being felt more alive.

I couldn’t blame him. Maybe Emily really was his true love. Maybe I had always been just a substitute, someone to fill the empty space that never truly opened itself to me.

I continued walking down the stairs. The house was silent, with only the ticking of the wall clock and the sound of my heartbeat echoing in the stillness. I slowly opened the front door. The night air greeted me with a chill that, strangely, felt strengthening

A taxi waited at the gate. The driver got out and helped me load the suitcase into the trunk. I stood still for a moment in front of the house, looking at it one last time.

The house I once believed was my home. The house I cleaned every day, the house where I raised Noah, the house I decorated and cared for as if I would live there forever. But in the end, this house was never mine. And I was never truly part of anything inside it.

Goodbye, I whispered in my heart. But no tears came–not tonight.