Rising from the Quiet Storm

Jennifer Porter, the icy and untouchable CEO, never imagined that buying a simple jade pendant for her childhood friend would change everything.

Because of that pendant, I divorced her and left with our daughter.

After all, the jade pendant was my father's keepsake, and her childhood friend smashed it to pieces right in front of me.

We met again three years later, at an international jewelry design competition.

My ex-wife grabbed my wrist, fury burning in her eyes.

"You've been gone for three years. Isn't your tantrum long enough? I'll buy you a hundred jade pendants, just come home with me."

The next second, a small hand tugged at her clothes.

"Excuse me, could you step aside? My mom needs to talk to my dad."

Jennifer Porter, my ex, stopped dead in her tracks and gave me a mocking look.

"Nelson, just three years and you've already got our daughter calling someone else 'mom'? All that 'I love you' talk back then was just an act, huh?"

My daughter, Sienna Chapman, was beside me as I pulled away from her grasp and crouched down to give her hair a gentle tousle.

"Sienna, I've something to handle right now. Can you tell Mom to hang tight for a little while?"

Sienna, ever the good girl, scampered off.

That was when Alfred Jones, who was hovering by Jennifer's side, could not resist throwing in his two cents with a snide tone.

"Jen, Nelson's probably still sore about that grand gesture you did for me, booking the whole place. That's why he's egging Sienna on to get under your skin.

"If he's got himself a new bride, why isn't she here making a scene with him? Look at him, not a thing to his name that he could show off. He's had it rough these past few years, and still, he doesn't come crawling back. Jen, you're not still holding out for him, are you?"

'Me? Come crawling back?'

I shot Jennifer a look of disbelief.

She met my gaze, her laugh cruel and mocking.

"I thought you left for greener pastures, but look at you now, more down on your luck than ever.

"Sure, you're nothing without me. You've slimmed down, maybe even got a bit more dashing, but who's going to want a guy with a kid?"

Her words did not stir anything inside me.

Back in our honeymoon days, I got sick and lost my appetite.

Jennifer, distressed at how gaunt I had become, went out of her way to find cures and nurse me back to health.

She, a wealthy girl who had never so much as boiled water, cooked up new dishes for me daily.

Everyone said I was lucky to have such a caring wife, and I felt blessed to have found her.

Then, depression hit, and with it, the weight piled on.

My once-beloved wife had turned on me, ridiculing me for being an embarrassment, for not being as dashing or as clever as her childhood