Chapter 7: The Message

I stared into his eyes, thinking to myself that he really wasn't a very clever liar.

Under normal circumstances, if I mentioned an old classmate who had been abroad for years, shouldn't he have asked, "Oh, she's back?" But he didn't. Instead, he asked me in an accusatory tone, "You reached out to her?!"

"Yeah, we got in touch a few days ago and met up. By the way, the perfume she was wearing today felt so familiar, like I’ve smelled it in our house before. I just can't remember where." I tested him on purpose.

His eyes flickered away for a split second, then he forced a smile and pulled me into his arms. "Why are you wasting your time thinking about her? Forget her. This weekend, I’ll take you and our daughter to the amusement park."

Take us to the park this weekend?!

I had assumed he would be spending his weekend with Lydia again.

But then it clicked—Lydia had a fiancé. Her time couldn't possibly belong to Julian alone.

"Alright," I replied.

Julian suddenly held me tighter. "Honey, you’ve worked so hard these past five years, raising our daughter so well and keeping the house so organized. You really are a wonderful wife. I'm so lucky to have married you."

Listening to this, I felt a wave of nausea.

I wondered if Julian had just negotiated a long-term underground affair with Lydia and was now in the mood to feed me these scripted platitudes.

Or perhaps, after finally having Lydia, he felt his life was complete and intended to play the part of a "good husband" from now on, continuing our lukewarm marriage as if nothing had happened.

Whatever he was planning, he was sorely mistaken.

I could never accept a man who had turned himself into something so filthy.

I feigned happiness, burying my head in his chest as I probed further. "Really? But you were so devastated when you and Lydia broke up back then. Now that she’s back, have you never thought about rekindling things?"

Julian replied with practiced indifference, "I forgot all about her a long time ago."

Forgot all about her?!

Ha. If he forgot her, then why were her photos still saved on his phone? Why did he look at them every time after he slept with me?!

I deeply regretted ever loving such a hypocritical, pathological liar.

I pulled back from his embrace and looked at him. "Honey, can I take a look at your phone?"

"Why do you want to see my phone?" He turned his face away, locked the screen, and placed it on the nightstand, reaching out to pull me down to sleep.

I felt utterly repulsed.

To stop me from reaching for the phone, Julian pressed himself over me.

Caught off guard, I lay pinned on the bed. As his mouth approached my face, I reached up and blocked him. "I'm not feeling well today. Let's just sleep."

After saying that, I turned over, giving him my back.

My mind drifted to the child in my womb. What was I going to do about it?

I spent another month coexisting with Julian as if nothing were wrong. During that month, I finally made a decision: I would terminate the pregnancy.

One daughter was enough. I didn't want another child with Julian.

That night, Julian fell asleep early.

I was still contemplating the best time to bring up the divorce when his phone lit up.

I crept out of bed and walked to the other side to glance at the screen.

There were three messages.

The first:

Julian, I’m pregnant. It’s yours.

The second:

Julian, will you get a divorce and marry me?!

The third:

Tomorrow at 2:00 PM, I’ll be at the seaside park across from your office. Let’s talk.

I took a photo of these messages with my own phone.

I had a lingering feeling that my moment had finally arrived.

I had known for a while that Lydia was the mistress destroying my family, and I had long been prepared for divorce. I was just waiting for ironclad evidence that Julian couldn't argue his way out of.

Tonight, I finally had it.