In my food delivery app's annual wrap-up, I saw the longest delivery note my boyfriend, Julian Vance, had written all year. [Please don't knock. The baby is only a month old. Leave the flowers at the door of the hospital room or call my wife.] But Julian and I didn't have a child. And he had never called me "wife." I tracked down that order. I confirmed the baby's birth date and the hospital. On that day, I was cooking coconut chicken for Julian and accidentally sliced my artery. Blood was everywhere, but he insisted on driving me to a hospital twenty miles away. He claimed the doctors there were better, that he wanted the best for me. It turns out, he just wanted to be near where his son was born. The card attached to those flowers read: [Thank you, wifey, for giving me a complete family.] But Julian... A person cannot have two families at the same time. 1 I never thought Julian would cheat. Let alone have a child with another woman. Seeing everyone posting their "Year in Review" from delivery apps, I casually opened Julian's phone. My fingerprint was registered on his phone, but I never checked it. Julian used to argue with me about this, saying his friends' wives always checked their phones. He asked if I didn't care enough about him. I laughed at his childishness back then. I told him: "Love is something you feel. You don't need proof. I trust you one hundred percent." Today I realized, the joke was on me. His child with someone else was already growing up, and I hadn't noticed a thing. Just then, a WeChat message popped up on Julian's phone: [Julian, look! The baby loves the plushie you sent. He says thank you, Daddy!] The contact name was "Annie." A video followed. The baby looked about seven or eight months old. Big, bright eyes stared at the woman filming. His little hands waved excitedly as he babbled, "Da-da." It was a heartwarming video. But the woman's voice and the baby's babble felt like knives carving into my heart. The sound of water in the bathroom faded. I wiped the tears from my face. Julian walked out in a loose bathrobe. He sat on the bed and hugged me gently. With one glance, he knew something was wrong. He pinched the tip of my nose. "Why the long face? Did I make you wait too long?" The air filled with the lemon scent of his body wash. I loved that smell. For ten years, Julian always used lemon-scented wash, regardless of the brand. I tried to control my emotions, but my red eyes betrayed me. "Have you been crying?" Julian asked, his eyes full of concern. "Julian, are you in love with someone else?" I stared at him. His expression didn't change. He just smiled and kissed my cheek. "Who else could I love in this lifetime besides you? You've had me wrapped around your finger for ages." "I just had a dream. I dreamt you were hugging another woman." Julian ruffled my hair and sighed helplessly. "You're a grown woman, still taking dreams seriously?" I didn't speak. The phone on the nightstand buzzed relentlessly. Julian picked it up and frowned. Quickly, he composed himself. "Something came up at the company. I need to go out. Go to sleep early, don't wait up, okay?" I glanced at the screen. It was that woman, "Annie." I looked up at Julian. "Can you stay?" I always supported his work. I never asked him to skip work for me. Julian paused for a second, but didn't change his mind. "Be good. I'll be back soon." Watching his hurried retreat, my heart sank deeper. Today was our tenth anniversary. The Juliet roses he gave me were still in the bedroom. He said he wanted to be with me for every year to come. I believed him. But then I saw the exact same bouquet in "Annie's" moments. 2 I followed Julian to a private hospital. I watched him enter a VIP room. As the door opened, I saw the woman's face. Chloe Jiang. I should have guessed. Since last year, Julian mentioned Chloe frequently. Every time he spoke of her, his eyes lit up with an admiration I had never seen before. I fought with him many times about her. Julian would get angry: "Elena, stop being unreasonable. Chloe is just a business partner." Although we argued often, he eventually agreed to stop contacting her, as per my request. Until today, I realized he hadn't stopped contacting her. He just stopped doing it in front of me. I stood frozen outside the ward. Inside, Chloe was sobbing. "I'm sorry, Julian. I didn't want to call you so late, but Leo suddenly got a fever, and I panicked." Julian held her, comforting her. "I'm Leo's father. It's my duty to be here. Don't worry, he'll be fine." "I saw your post. Today is your anniversary with Elena. Will she be mad I called you out?" "It's fine. The child is more important," Julian said flatly. "Elena is easy to coax. She won't find out." Their silhouettes overlapped, looking intimately close under the warm yellow light. Separated by a wall, I called Julian. His phone rang. I watched him hang up. Like I was possessed, I called again and again. After being hung up on multiple times, Julian finally answered. "Elena, I told you before I left that something important came up at the company! Can you stop bothering me?!" He kept his voice low, probably afraid of waking the child, but his impatience was palpable. He sounded like a completely different person from the man comforting Chloe. "My hand hurts." I only said three words. Julian paused noticeably. I looked at my left hand. A centipede-like scar crawled up the back of my hand. It was from Julian's birthday. I was making coconut chicken for him when the cleaver slipped. Blood gushed out. Julian frantically drove me to a private hospital. At the time, I didn't understand. There was a hospital two miles away. Why did he drive twenty miles to this specific private hospital? The doctor said if we had been any later, the severed nerve might not have been reconnectable. Julian explained that the doctors here were better. Now I know. Chloe was in this hospital that day. Julian risked my permanent disability just to welcome his child with Chloe. "Can you come home now?" I asked, refusing to give up. "Elena, when will you grow up! Playing the victim when you don't get your way? I'm tired of your little tricks!" A chill spread from my hand to my entire body. All those beautiful memories seemed to vanish in that instant. I pushed open the door. "Julian, I'm tired of them too." 3 Julian looked at me in shock. "You followed me!" The man in front of me felt incredibly strange. He was the one cheating, yet he showed no intention of explaining. He looked even angrier than I was. "Julian, don't you think you owe me an explanation?" "There's nothing to explain. Chloe is my partner. Her child is sick, I'm just helping out." Even now, he was still lying to me. "Do partners need to cuddle in the middle of the night?" "Elena, stop being so nasty. What cuddling?" "You can't handle the truth? My words are nasty, but your actions are uglier. Julian, you have a child with someone else, and you're still lying to me?" Julian finally panicked. His eyes darted away. "Who told you the child is mine?" He strode over to me. "Elena, listen to me, it's not what you think..." "Is it your child?!" I stared straight into his eyes. The rest of his sentence died in his throat. There was no need to ask anymore. But he grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go. "Julian, you're hurting me!" I wasn't lying on the phone. My hand really hurt. Even though I was mentally prepared, witnessing his betrayal made my body react physically. If I hadn't braced myself against the wall, I might have collapsed. My wrist was already swollen. Under Julian's grip, the bruising became visible. Julian noticed my hand and apologized profusely. "Sorry, Elena, I didn't mean to. I'll take you to get it treated." "No need!" Our loud argument woke the child. A loud cry erupted from the room. Chloe held the baby, rocking him gently. She looked at me with reproach. "Elena, whatever grievance you have with me, the child is innocent. He had a fever all night. Please let him sleep for a while. I'm begging you, okay?" Tears streamed down her pale face. She looked pitiful. Julian, who was just worried about my injury, suddenly shouted at me. "Elena, enough! Even if you've never been a mother, have some basic sympathy!" Ignoring my protests, Julian dragged me to the surgical clinic. My swollen arm looked gruesome. The doctor sighed while treating it. "Young lady, if you don't take care of your body, this hand will be useless." Julian pressed his lips together tightly, carefully examining my wound. "Does it hurt?" His voice was hoarse. "You're an adult, why can't you take care of yourself?" "If you hadn't pulled me so hard, it wouldn't be this bad." "Elena, that child has nothing to do with me, I..." I slammed a copy of the birth certificate on the table. It clearly stated: Leo Fu. Mother: Chloe Jiang. Father: Julian Vance. 4 Julian tore the copy to shreds. "Elena, where did you get this! What are you trying to do? "You found out a long time ago, didn't you? You investigated me?" Julian's eyes turned red. "Didn't you say you'd always trust me?" "Not anymore. Julian, let's break up." I was unusually calm. The light in Julian's eyes dimmed. He held my hand tight, his voice trembling. "Elena, there's really nothing between Chloe and me. We just have a child. "Chloe is different from you. She doesn't believe in marriage. She doesn't want a family, she only cares about her career! She just wanted a child. She didn't mean to ruin us. "I helped her fulfill her wish, she invested in my company. It's just a business deal! I never thought about breaking up with you!" Julian felt I should understand him. He rambled on with his explanation. "Elena, you enjoyed the money I made too, didn't you?" The Julian in front of me was a stranger. Maybe he wasn't lying completely. I just never imagined the noble, idealistic boy I knew would become someone so profit-driven. So what was my persistence all these years for? I met Julian in college. He was one of the few scholarship students in our year, but he was exceptionally handsome. There were only two kinds of people at school: those who liked him, and those who hated him because he was too popular. The latter attacked his poverty to mock him. So, back then, Julian hated rich people the most. And I was the former. But I was also the thing he hated most: rich. To pursue Julian, I pretended to be poor for years. I even broke ties with my parents because I refused their arranged marriage candidates. Now Julian tells me he had a child with another woman for money. How absurd is that? 5 Our memories were interrupted by Chloe. "Julian, Leo won't sleep. He keeps asking for Daddy." Julian didn't look at Chloe. He kept staring at me. "Go," I said. The knot in Julian's brow loosened at my words. I added, "Since you have a child, I wish you a happy family." "Elena, be reasonable. I said I didn't want to break up. I promise I'll go to the courthouse with you tomorrow to get married, okay?" Julian sounded like he was doing me a favor. In ten years, I asked him many times when we would get married. He always refused, saying the company was just starting up and he was too busy. I never expected his first proposal to be in a situation like this. People passing by stopped to watch our dispute. Chloe suddenly raised her voice. "Elena, whatever you want with Julian, our child is too young and he's sick. Please have mercy and let Julian comfort him. I don't want to fight you for anything. Just understand a mother's heart, please?" Chloe's words sparked the crowd's imagination. "So she's the mistress!" "Mistresses are so arrogant these days, causing a scene in front of the wife." "And while the child is sick! How vicious!" "That guy looks rich. Young girls these days will do anything for money." The whispers were endless. Julian remained silent, offering no defense for me. "Julian, let's go." Chloe urged him at the right moment. "Elena, I'll go see the child first." Julian slowly squatted down on one knee. "Tomorrow, we get married." Without waiting for my answer, Julian turned and left. The crowd continued to gossip. I couldn't hold it back anymore. Tears fell to the floor. Julian had always been steady and responsible. I had imagined what he would be like as a father. I just never imagined he would be a father to someone else's child. My phone rang. It was my mother. "Elena, are you coming home for New Year's this year? Stop being mad at your dad. He misses you, he just can't put down his pride." "Mom, I'm coming home tomorrow." Hearing my answer, my mother sounded overjoyed. "Good, good! Come home. How long can you stay? I'll prepare everything." "I'm not leaving again." 6 I packed all night. At dawn, Julian returned. He hemmed and hawed for a long time before saying: "Elena, let's go get the marriage license next week." "Whatever." "Elena, don't be mad. The child isn't fully recovered and keeps clinging to me. I can't get away. The doctor says he needs a month. In a month, I will definitely marry you." Julian looked guilty. If he had looked closely at the apartment, he would have noticed that many things were already packed in suitcases. Since he didn't care to notice, I didn't bother emphasizing that we were breaking up, not getting married. "If you're done, you can go." I was calm. Julian, on the other hand, looked flustered. "Elena, please understand. I promise, just this once." "Mm. I understand." After hesitating, Julian went to the study and brought out a box. He tried to hide it from me. But I had opened it yesterday while packing. It was a jade longevity lock for his son, engraved with "Leo." I compared the jade. It was cut from the same stone as the bangle on my wrist. That was my birthday present from Julian this year. On my birthday, he said he had a business trip. We fought about it. That night, he came back and gave me the bangle. He said he lied about the trip to surprise me with the gift. I was moved then. Now I see he didn't lie for the surprise. He lied for his son. Julian hid the box behind his back. "Elena, I'm going. See you at the courthouse next week." The door clicked shut softly, but it felt like a heavy weight smashing onto my heart. The room was quiet. I dragged my suitcase and took one last look at the home where I had placed so much love and hope. Then I turned and left. Goodbye, Julian.
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