Divorced, Unnoticed

On the 99th floor of the most luxurious apartment building in the capital city, my husband's sister was once again threatening to jump down the building for the 63rd time.

Dana realized she was getting tired all of a sudden.

She was even thinking of jumping down herself.

The police on the other side of the call couldn't say anything else except, "Mrs. Hill, how many times is this already…? Just deal with it yourself and let her do whatever she wants."

For the past two years, Dana Sanchez had given in every time.

At first, Kelly Hill had made Dana wash her clothes by hand. Later, she had forced Dana to slap herself. She had even made her kneel at the entrance of the neighborhood for a full day and night. Each demand was more unreasonable and vicious than the last.

"This is all your fault, you witch! If you hadn't latched onto my brother, would I be depressed?!" Kelly shouted as she stood at the rooftop edge. "Hurry up! Burn every photo you have with my brother in front of me!"

"Not moving, are you?" Kelly suddenly put one foot over the edge. "Then I'll jump! Let's see just how you're going to explain everything to my brother!"

Dana closed her eyes in defeat as she said. "Don't move. I'll go get them."

She ran home and grabbed every photo she had with Gary upstairs, along with their marriage certificate. Under Kelly's gaze, she burned it all to ash in a metal bucket. Only then did Kelly leave, laughing in satisfaction.

Dana crouched on the ground with tears rolling down her face in silence as she stared at the remaining corner of her wedding photo. She pulled out her phone and texted Gary. "Honey, you should get Kelly to see a therapist. Today, she..."

The message showed as read, but no reply ever came.

Dana stared at the screen for a long time. In the end, she got up and went to the Clerk's Office to get her marriage certificate reissued.

There were only a few people in the lobby.

Dana opened the digital copy of her certificate for the clerk. After checking the system, the clerk frowned. "Um… Ms. Sanchez? Your status shows that you're already divorced."

"What?" Dana's mind went blank, her voice shaking. "I never filed for divorce..."

The clerk turned the monitor toward her. "The system shows that the paperwork was submitted and just completed a few days ago."

Dana gripped her phone so hard her fingers went numb, her hand trembling uncontrollably.

She suddenly remembered a month earlier, when Gary had handed her a document to sign, saying it was an insurance policy. Kelly had been smashing things in the next room, shrieking for Dana to come over. Dana had signed it without even giving it another look.

The line behind her started to grumble.

"If you can't do it, move. Stop wasting everybody's time!"

"What a moron. She got dumped and didn't