Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 405: Don’t you remember

While Ethan was still trying to reach Kathrine, she sat alone on the cold bench of a clinic, her hands folded tightly in her lap as she waited for her turn.

She could hear the faint sound of people walking by but her thoughts were anything but orderly.

"Miss Kathrine. You’re next," the receptionist announced, her voice cutting through the haze.

Kathrine blinked, the words pulling her back to the present. She inhaled slowly, drawing in as much composure as she could manage, before pushing herself to her feet.

A faint, practiced smile touched her lips—more habit than confidence—as her gaze flicked briefly to the closed door ahead.

This was it. she said squaring her shoulders and stepped inside.

The moment the door shut behind her, her eyes lifted—and froze.

Dr. Jason.

He sat behind the desk, flipping through a file, his posture relaxed, clinical.

For a heartbeat, surprise flashed across his features as well, unmistakable despite how quickly he masked it. A second later, his expression settled into calm professionalism, as though her presence hadn’t just upended his expectations.

"Miss Kathrine," he greeted evenly, gesturing toward the chair across from him. "Please, have a seat."

Kathrine hesitated.

Her fingers curled at her sides as doubt clawed its way up her spine. Of all the doctors. Of all the clinics. The timing felt cruel—almost deliberate. She considered turning around, walking straight back out before she said or revealed anything at all.

But she didn’t.

She reminded herself why she had come. Of the sleepless night. Of the questions spiraling endlessly in her mind. Of the choice she had made when she left that note behind.

Exhaling softly, Kathrine stepped forward and took the seat, her back stiff, her gaze fixed somewhere just past him.

’There is no turning back’ she reminded her self.

"How can I help you?" Jason asked, his voice calm and professional, drawing her attention back to him.

Kathrine lifted her gaze and forced an awkward smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Jason knew her.

Not as a patient—but as the woman Daniel had once intended to marry.

Her sudden disappearance had upended everything. Plans quietly set in motion had collapsed overnight, creating a chain of events no one had anticipated. In her absence, Anna had stepped into Daniel’s life, and against all expectations, she had managed to bring him back from a place Jason had long feared was permanent. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Daniel was breathing again. Living again.

For that, Jason felt no resentment.

Still, seeing Kathrine seated across from him now unsettled him.

This clinic wasn’t a place people wandered into casually. They came when something weighed too heavily to carry alone. When their minds betrayed them, or their emotions spiraled beyond control. Jason had built his practice around guiding people through those fractures.

So when Kathrine walked through his door, it stirred questions he couldn’t voice.

What had driven her here? What cracks had finally forced her to seek help?

His expression remained neutral, trained, but his mind was already working—quietly bracing for whatever truth she had come to confront.

"I want you to help me recall my past," Kathrine said quietly, yet firmly.

Jason frowned before he could stop himself. "I’m sorry—what?"

He studied her more closely now. The tension in her shoulders. The way her hands were clenched together as though holding herself in place. This wasn’t a casual request, and Kathrine knew it sounded abrupt—even unreasonable.

But Jason was the best.

And more importantly, he was the only one she trusted to tell her the truth without dressing it up.

After meeting Ester in the cell, Kathrine’s emotions had spiraled beyond control. Confusion tangled with doubt, fragments of memory brushing against the edges of her mind without ever forming something whole. She was tired of living inside questions.

She wanted answers.

And that desperation had led her here.

[That Morning – Ester’s Cell]

"Y-you..."

Ester’s voice cracked as Kathrine stepped inside, weak and disbelieving. Moments ago, she had been sitting motionless, lifeless even—but Kathrine’s presence seemed to jolt something awake in her.

Kathrine stopped just inside the doorway, her expression unreadable.

After seeing Ethan the night before, she had realized something painful yet necessary—sometimes facing the truth alone brought more clarity than any version shaped by others. Even those who meant well.

She didn’t want to doubt Roseline.

But she also couldn’t reconcile how Ester, of all people, could do something that had cost so much... destroyed so much.

And yet, here Ester was—looking at her with something dangerously close to hope.

Kathrine exhaled slowly.

"I only have five minutes, Ester," she said, her tone firm, unwavering. "So I won’t listen to any pleas. No screaming. No excuses."

The words shattered the fragile light in Ester’s eyes.

"But," Kathrine added, dragging a small metal table closer and sitting across from her, "that doesn’t mean I won’t listen to what you have to say."

Silence settled between them—heavy, expectant. For the first time, Kathrine wasn’t running from the truth, she was ready to confront it. And Ester knew what she had to do.

When Ester nodded, Kathrine drew in a slow, steady breath and met her gaze head-on.

"Did you attack my mother?" she asked, her voice calm but edged with conviction.

"No. I didn’t," Ester replied immediately—too quickly to be rehearsed, too firm to be a lie.

Kathrine didn’t react. Not outwardly.

"Did you threaten my mother?"

Ester’s eyes flickered at Kathrine’s bluntness. After a brief pause, she nodded. "Yes."

For a fraction of a second, Kathrine’s lungs stalled—but she kept her expression neutral, her spine straight. She already knew the how. The reason had been spelled out in fragments, whispered by others, layered with assumptions.

She wasn’t here for that.

"Why?" she asked.

This time, Ester hesitated.

Her gaze wavered, something restless moving beneath the surface. She knew Kathrine wasn’t asking about business, territory, or leverage. This question cut deeper—into motive. Into the truth Ester had carried alone.

Slowly, Ester lifted her eyes again.

"Don’t you remember?" she asked quietly.

Kathrine frowned. "Remember what?" she asked, but the look she received from Ester made her stomach turn. Because whatever she was about to say would leave her emotionally distraught.