The Ugly Truth Test

The air conditioning at the Civil Hall was a bit chilly, blowing over my bare arms and sending tiny goosebumps across my skin. I gripped the pen and signed my name—Mikki Lynn—on the divorce papers. The moment the pen touched the paper, Jude Quayle across from me didn't look up; his gaze stayed locked on his phone screen, a faint, barely there smile tugging at his lips. "All signed." I pushed the contract over, my voice calm and utterly steady. Only then did Jude look up, casually glancing at the signature before grabbing the pen and scribbling his name with flourish. "Finally free." He put down the pen, exhaled deeply, his tone relaxed, "Mikki, honestly, if it weren't for you letting yourself go for these five years, we wouldn't have ended up here." I didn't respond. Instead, I took out some makeup remover pads from my bag and slowly wiped away the thick layer of bare-face cream, removing the deliberately drawn-on thick eyebrows and the dull lip color. The woman in the mirror has fair, flawless skin, with delicate, gentle brows and eyes, and lips a natural shade of soft pink. This is what I've always looked like. Jude's eyes locked onto my face; his pupils suddenly shrank, and the phone in his hand slipped and clattered onto the table. "You... how could you...?" He jumped to his feet, disbelief written all over his face. "Mikki, this was deliberate? You've always been this beautiful?" I folded away the makeup remover pads and shot him a cool glance. "This is how I've always looked." "Then why did you choose to make yourself look ugly?" Jude's tone was tinged with regret, "If you'd dressed like this from the start, how could I not have liked you? How would we have ended up divorced?" I smiled faintly, but the warmth never reached my eyes. "Like me? Jude, the only thing you ever liked was a beautiful face." With that, I grabbed the divorce papers from the table and turned to walk away. Outside the Civil Hall, Jude's new flame, Annie Lewis, was already waiting. She was dressed in a striking red dress, and when she saw Jude come out, she linked her arm with his, giggling flirtatiously, "Jude, all done?" Jude snapped back to reality, wrapped his arm around Annie's waist, and said boastfully, "Of course, divorcing that old hag was a total relief." His gaze swept over me with a hint of complexity but was quickly interrupted by Annie's playful tease. They left, chatting and laughing, completely unaware of the cold indifference on my face. Leaning against a pillar outside the Civil Hall, I took out my phone. The screen showed my chat history with Donnie Furr. The last message he sent read: "When you come out, I'll be waiting for you at the café across the street." I replied with a "Okay," silently thinking to myself that soon, I'd be registering our marriage with Donnie. After five years of pretending, I could finally let it all go.