Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I came across a street interview from a content creator called Time Capsule.
“What would you say to yourself five years ago?”
In the video, Adrian Sterling had one arm around his young girlfriend. His voice was calm, almost indulgent.
“I hope the Adrian Sterling from five years ago had met Sienna Hayes sooner.”
The girl in his arms blushed and covered her mouth as she chimed in.
“Me too.”
The comments exploded with squeals and blessings. Everyone said they were adorable together.
No one knew that five years ago was the day Adrian and I got married.
Even Adrian himself had forgotten.
A week later, the content creator posted another street interview.
On-screen, I looked straight into the camera and said seriously, “If you can, Sienna Hayes, don’t marry Adrian Sterling. You’ll regret it.”
This time, Adrian saw the video.
The day I agreed to the divorce began as an ordinary afternoon.
I called Adrian, but Sienna answered.
“Hello?”
“I need to speak to Adrian.”
“He’s in the shower. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Her voice was as sweet and fearless as ever. There was even a faint edge of triumph, as if she were making sure I knew exactly where she stood.
In the past, I would have screamed at her to get lost, demanded to speak to Adrian, and completely lost control.
But now, I knew perfectly well that Sienna was the only person who could reach him.
I couldn’t let her hang up on me the way she always had, leaving me alone to look like a hysterical fool.
“Didn’t he say he wanted a divorce? I agree.”
I calmly delivered what I had called to say.
There was a one-second silence on the other end. Then Sienna repeated the question, clearly unable to believe it.
“You agreed to the divorce?”
“Yes.”
The moment the word left my mouth, I heard a rustle.
Adrian must have taken the phone.
His low, detached voice sounded in my ear almost immediately.
“It’s me.”
I know.
Hearing his voice left me dazed for a moment.
After all, we hadn’t spoken once since he moved out of our villa six months earlier to live with Sienna.
The last thing he had said to me was:
“Sienna Hayes, we’re getting divorced. If you refuse, I’ll separate from you and file a lawsuit.”
Six months had passed. In the end, I had given in.
“Sienna says you want a divorce?”
When I didn’t answer, Adrian spoke first.
He was probably frowning. His voice carried a trace of confusion, as though he couldn’t understand what had prompted my call.
I couldn’t understand his confusion.
Wasn’t divorce his idea?
But I had no desire to argue with Adrian over who had brought it up first.
I gave a quiet acknowledgment and told him, “When you have time, let’s meet and sign the divorce agreement.”
Then I hung up.
This was the first time since discovering Adrian’s affair that I had ended the call before he did.
Before that, I had bombarded him with calls and messages. I had cursed him with the cruelest words I could find, then begged him to come back in the most broken voice I could manage.
Chapter 2
Every time, Adrian would say impatiently, “Can you stop acting like a lunatic? Call me when you’ve calmed down enough to speak rationally.”
Then he would end the call without the slightest hesitation.
No matter how many times I called or texted afterward, he ignored me.
I wanted to do the same. I really did.
But whenever I thought about all the years we had shared ending like this, I couldn’t control myself.
I wanted to demand an explanation from Adrian. Why had he betrayed me?
I also wanted to beg him to turn back, to tell him I would forgive him if he came home.
But no matter how much I resented him or how long I waited, Adrian remained the same.
And little by little, I became anxious and unstable, exactly as he had accused me of being.
Like a lunatic.
I drifted through life in a daze for a long time, completely consumed by a relationship that was slowly destroying me.
Until three days ago.
I came across a street-interview video posted by a content creator called The Time Capsule.
The question was simple:
“What would you say to the person you were five years ago?”
Some people said they would tell themselves to study harder.
Others said they wished they had spent more time with their families.
One person said that the version of themselves seven years in the future was incredible and accomplished, and that they hadn’t let down the person they used to be.
And then I saw Adrian Sterling and his young girlfriend, Sienna Hayes, among the interviewees.
That was what convinced me the video hadn’t been scripted.
Given Adrian’s current status, even a top-tier journalist would have needed an appointment to interview him. Yet Taylor Morgan had approached him as casually as if they were stopping random strangers on the street.
And somehow, they had actually managed to catch Adrian.
At the beginning of the clip, Adrian looked less than pleased to be interviewed.
Sienna, standing beside him, was the exact opposite. Her eyes lit up with delight and curiosity.
“That sounds so fun, Adrian. Come on, let’s do it.”
She tugged at his arm and coaxed him playfully.
Adrian looked helpless, but he indulged her.
Taylor gave a brief introduction, explaining who they were and what the video was about, then asked the same question.
Sienna fell into thought.
When Adrian noticed her struggling to come up with an answer, he answered for her.
“If I could choose one thing, I’d want the Adrian Sterling of five years ago to meet Sienna first.”
As he spoke, he slipped an arm around her.
Chapter 3
His voice remained cool, but the tenderness with which he held her was impossible to miss.
Sienna looked up at him in surprise. Then she covered her mouth, her cheeks turning pink, and nodded shyly.
“Me too.”
By the time I came across the video, it had already racked up tens of thousands of likes.
The comments were pouring in:
“What the hell? They’re both gorgeous! I’m obsessed!”
“Oh my God, they’re actually in love! Thank goodness. There’s still hope for romance!”
“They’re so sweet together! You have to be happy forever. Wishing you both a lifetime together!”
I stared at the screen, numb.
Did Adrian Sterling really love Sienna Hayes that much?
Had he forgotten?
Five years ago, when we had just gotten married, our relationship had been at its happiest.
We had been poor, but we had been so happy it hardly seemed to matter.
And now, in that video, he had said he wished he had met Sienna five years earlier.
I thought I would react the way I always did: furious, shaking with rage.
I would grab my phone, call Adrian over and over, and demand an explanation. If he didn’t answer, I would smash everything in the villa, then scream until I had nothing left inside me.
But strangely, this time, I simply sat there without moving.
The comments that should have stabbed at me and sent my emotions spiraling past control merely slid across my vision like lines of code.
Then it felt as though something inside my mind had been pulled loose and scattered into pieces.
To my surprise, I realized I no longer felt anything about Adrian’s behavior.
Letting go could happen in an instant.
So could finally seeing the truth.
That was why I had made that phone call earlier.
Adrian Sterling sent me a message.
Against the field of red exclamation marks in green bubbles, the white message with black text stood out sharply.
Apparently, Adrian had removed me from his blocked list.
I gave a self-deprecating laugh.
He wanted me to come to his company on Monday. His lawyer would prepare the terms of the divorce agreement. Once we reached an understanding, we could sign it and wait out the mandatory cooling-off period before the divorce became final.
Fine.
On Monday, I arrived at Adrian’s company as promised.
Since I didn’t have an appointment, the receptionist called upstairs to ask for instructions.
“Yes. A woman named Bennett.”
After hanging up, she told me to go to the executive floor, where an assistant would meet me.
I thanked her and went straight upstairs.
A young woman I didn’t recognize was waiting for me.
That wasn’t surprising. I hadn’t been to the company in six months, ever since Adrian and I began living separately. She was probably new.