Back from a business trip, I held the designer bag Olivia had been coveting, ready to give her a surprise. But before I even got home, I received an emergency call from the hospital: Olivia was hospitalized due to acute bleeding. I rushed over, my heart pounding, only for the attending physician to discreetly usher me into his office. "Young man, I know you youngsters have boundless energy, but you can't be too forceful." He continued, "The patient has a cervical laceration. She needs plenty of rest, and no marital activity for at least a month." My vision blurred. A chilling prickle went up my spine. I’d been away on a business trip for nearly a month. Could Olivia be cheating on me? 1 The doctor kept droning on about precautions and medication, but my brain had completely crashed. I couldn’t process a word. "Doctor, are you sure it's a cervical laceration? Could there be a mistake?" My eyes were wide with disbelief. The doctor pushed up his glasses. "Young man, you need to own up to your actions. There are no outsiders here, no need to be embarrassed." He added, "You can question me, but instruments don't lie. Look, the report clearly states it." With that, he handed me the detailed report. My insides twisted, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. My mind raced. Then, I stammered, "Doctor, is it possible... that my wife, uh... that she was, you know, just relieving loneliness by herself and accidentally did it?" The doctor furrowed his brow, about to say something, but then he noticed the designer bag in my left hand and my suitcase in my right. He paused for a long moment. "Well… that's not entirely impossible. You could ask your wife about it." He handed me the prescriptions, giving me a complicated look that sent a searing pain through my chest. Even an idiot like me understood what the doctor was implying. My legs felt like lead, each step impossibly heavy. Olivia showed no unusual reaction when she saw me. Her face was pale from blood loss, but she still said, in a playful, almost childlike voice, "Honey, I missed you so much while you were away." She reached out to hug me, but just as her hands were about to touch me, I flinched away as if dodging something repulsive. Olivia’s outstretched hands froze in mid-air. She looked at me with confusion. "Honey, what's wrong?" The doctor’s words echoed in my mind, but I couldn’t find the courage to ask. I just blurted out an excuse. "Ah... you must be hungry. I'll go grab you some food and pick up some fresh clothes from home." She smiled at me. "Okay, thanks, honey." Leaving the hospital, I felt disoriented the whole way home. Olivia and I had been together for three years. It wasn't a long time, but our relationship had always been strong. She'd even moved across the country for me, and she didn't demand a huge dowry. I never imagined she would betray me. This year, due to my company's expansion, I'd been traveling a lot. But whenever I video-called her, Olivia always picked up immediately, showing no signs of anything amiss. Was she cheating? I kept asking myself, then immediately tried to reassure myself that she loved me and wouldn’t cheat. But the doctor's words clung to me, making it impossible to stop overthinking. Desperate, I started searching online. The answers on Google were wild. I found a popular video that said, "In non-marital circumstances, severe impact to the abdomen or high-intensity exercise can also, to some extent, cause cervical bleeding." My heart calmed down a little. 2 When I got home, I was greeted by a complete mess. Olivia's clothes were piled haphazardly on the sofa, and the coffee table was littered with leftover takeout containers and beer cans. It looked like she’d really let loose while I was away. I stepped around the clutter and headed to the bedroom to find her some fresh clothes. As I opened the door, I noticed a newly opened box of condoms and our special little toys on the bedside table. The heavy stone in my heart finally lifted. It wasn't cheating after all. I truly had been away too long. She must have missed me, otherwise she wouldn’t have resorted to those things to relieve herself. With the alarm bells in my head silenced, my tense shoulders immediately relaxed. I hummed a little tune as I tidied the house and even took out the trash. That's when I noticed a cigarette butt by the front door, and a small burn mark on the carpet. My heart instantly leaped into my throat. Olivia absolutely hated smoking. I’d quit years ago when we started dating because of her. Someone had definitely been here! Just as my blood pressure shot to my temples, my phone rang. It was Olivia. I answered, and her sweet, almost sugary voice came through. "Honey, where are you? Why aren't you back yet?" My irritation flared. I replied curtly, "I'm home. I'll be back as soon as I finish cleaning up." "Oh, honey, my mom came a few days ago. She even bought a fresh fish. If you're hungry, you can cook it." It was my mother-in-law! That made sense. My mother-in-law had a strong smoking habit. Olivia had tried to get her to quit countless times over the years, but she never succeeded. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. I had such a good wife; anyone would be lucky to have her. I quickly cleaned the fish, made a savory fish soup, and prepared two of Olivia's favorite dishes: shrimp and savory scrambled eggs. Under my careful nursing, Olivia recovered quickly and was discharged in less than half a month. Our interactions went back to normal, with no visible signs of anything amiss. But once a seed of doubt is planted, a person inevitably becomes suspicious. Even though thoughts of Olivia cheating would occasionally surface in my mind, every investigation turned up nothing. Then, one day, a glitch in a company project meant the client couldn't sign immediately. My work was unexpectedly interrupted, so I headed home early. But there, on the shoe rack outside our door, sat a pair of men's dress shoes. My internal alarm blared. As I opened the door and stepped inside, I heard Olivia's high-pitched, resonant cries coming from the bedroom. All the suppressed emotions I’d held back for so long erupted. I strode quickly forward, but the bedroom door was locked from the inside. This "other man" was clearly prepared. I pounded on the door, rattling the doorknob violently. Inside, Olivia's panicked voice cried, "Honey, why are you suddenly back?" I was too furious to waste words. I prepared to kick the door open and catch them red-handed. Just then, Olivia suddenly opened the door. Her face was flushed, and she was wrapped only in a bath towel. The entire room was thick with the scent of passion. I scanned the room. No one. A flicker of awkwardness crossed Olivia's face. She asked tentatively, "Honey, what are you looking for?" I gritted my teeth, spitting out each word, "I'm looking for the scumbag who left his dress shoes at our door!" With that, I began tearing through the bedroom, checking under the bed, inside the closet – every possible hiding spot. But there was no one. 3 Just as confusion washed over me, Olivia's sobbing broke through my thoughts. "Ethan, I knew you suspected me. Ever since I was hospitalized for the cervical bleeding, you've been acting strangely, always looking at me like I have two heads." "Have we been together all these years for nothing? Is there no basic trust between us?" Seeing Olivia's eyes red and swollen from crying, I felt guilty for my impulsiveness. After all, there really was no one else in the house. I picked up a tissue to wipe her tears. She sniffled tearfully, "Ever since I got out of the hospital, you've been so preoccupied. And every time I ask you, you just say 'nothing'." "Would you rather overthink everything on your own than just ask me directly?" I was speechless. I wanted to hug and comfort her, but she simply pushed me away. "Ethan, don't think I don't know what you're up to. You're always finding excuses to sneak a peek at my phone. Last time, after the company dinner, you even tailed me in your car." "Can you please stop monitoring me like I'm a criminal? You're really breaking my heart," Olivia's voice grew more agitated. She stomped back into the bedroom, packed a suitcase, and declared she was moving out. I stepped forward to block her, but she glared at me fiercely, spitting, "What, I can't even go clear my head? I've had enough of your suspicions. You stay here and do some serious self-reflection!" Her words plunged me into deep self-reproach. I ran my hands through my hair, feeling utterly suffocated. Then, suddenly, it hit me: our apartment was on the first floor! I had clearly heard Olivia's moans just moments ago. The jerk inside must have simply escaped through the window! I immediately rushed back into the bedroom and yanked open the curtains. Sure enough, the window was wide open. Because it had rained that morning, there was a distinct set of five-toed footprints in the muddy grass outside. I immediately called Olivia, wanting a clear explanation, but she seemed to have blocked me. Calls and texts went straight to voicemail, no reply. I dug out a pack of cigarettes from the drawer – the ones I got at a colleague's wedding. The nicotine might temporarily numb my brain. Since I hadn't caught him this time, Olivia would never admit it. I might as well use her absence to dig up clues. My company messaged me: the unsigned project from before was back on. I needed to meet the client at the Grand Gardens Restaurant today and prepare for the signing. To avoid any issues, I arrived an hour early to prepare. As I followed the signs to private room 422, I heard a familiar name. I stopped dead in my tracks. From private room 420, a man's voice declared, "Olivia, no backing out! Either you drink a bottle of wine, or you kiss Blake as per the dare rules!" Another woman chimed in, "Exactly! Olivia, you and Blake were the campus's golden couple back in the day. What's there to be shy about?" "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Olivia's sweet voice drifted out. "Okay, okay, stop teasing! Blake's a married man now, he can't just kiss anyone. Besides, I'm married too. I'll drink the wine instead." Another man spoke up. "Olivia, if I hadn't gone abroad for studies, maybe we would have married years ago. You just got out of the hospital, you can't drink that much. I'll do it with you." The other two chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, it's fine if you're married, it's just a game!" Rage flared in my chest. Standing outside the door, my hands slowly clenched into fists, my nails digging into my flesh, sending sharp pains through me. Just then, a waiter approached, pushed the door open to deliver dishes. I stood to the side, peering in. Olivia was wrapping her arms around a stranger's neck, straddling him completely, her body facing him. The man's hands were helpfully cupping her butt, and both of them had their eyes closed, passionately making out. As all the previous details clicked into place – Olivia's cervical laceration, the footprints outside the window – I stormed directly into the private room…
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