In the spring of the fifth year after our divorce. Arthur and I unexpectedly crossed paths at a tattoo studio. He was there to touch up the color of his beloved's name tattooed on his chest. I was there to cover up the old scars on my wrist. After five years of separation, we looked at each other in silence. After a moment of silence, Arthur was just about to speak when a pair of small hands grabbed the hem of his shirt. "Daddy." The little boy looked at me curiously: "Who is she?" 1 The island breeze rustled the wind chimes hanging from the porch, breaking the long silence. "I'm a customer," I said. "Just like your daddy, I'm here to get a tattoo." The little boy tilted his head: "Do you know my daddy?" "Leo." Arthur's tone held a hint of sternness. The little boy pouted and stopped talking. "I don't know him," I answered anyway. "A stranger." Arthur's face darkened. The shop owner tapped the counter, his gaze shifting between me and him: "Who's first?" Arthur, who had been leaning against the counter, stood up straight, his eyes fixed on me: "She is." The man was wearing a white linen shirt paired with silver-gray dress pants. The collar was unbuttoned casually, revealing a good portion of his toned chest. On his left chest, there was an English tattoo, half-hidden so it wasn't very clear, but I knew whose name it was. Even when we divorced, that name had never appeared on Arthur's chest. "First come, first served," I said with polite formality. "Please go ahead, sir." Before Arthur could reply, his phone vibrated. By chance, I saw "Wife" displayed on the screen. He pressed the screen off and immediately looked at me. I turned and walked toward the lounge booth. From behind, I heard the little boy ask excitedly: "Is Mom calling?" 2 Arthur's voice was naturally cold, and when he coaxed people, he tended to lower his voice. His voice was warm and husky, matching the cello music playing in the shop perfectly. I lowered my eyes and gently stirred my coffee, suddenly hearing a childish "Auntie" by my ear. Turning my head, the little boy from earlier was leaning on the armrest looking at me. He was exquisitely handsome, with a refined, scholarly look; he was truly adorable. So adorable that even knowing whose child he was, I couldn't feel any resistance. "I'll tell you a secret, you look so much like my mom," the little boy said, as if sharing a secret. "She's a super pretty big star." "Then you must look a lot like her." The little boy's eyes instantly lit up, and he seemed about to lean closer to me when a large hand pressed down on his head. Arthur patted the boy's head: "Go back to the car with Uncle Chen first." I raised an eyebrow and turned to see a middle-aged man who had followed Arthur for many years standing behind him. Our eyes met, and he was shocked, trying to hide a hint of faint awkwardness: "... Miss Chloe." I nodded calmly, my tone carrying a bit of feigned sigh at our reunion: "Secretary Chen." As Arthur scooped the boy into his arm, a flash of silver on his wrist caught my eye. It was the dial of his watch, a Patek Philippe, a style he would absolutely never have chosen in the past. On his long ring finger, there was a plain ring, low-key yet luxurious. During our two years of marriage, Arthur never wore a wedding ring. True love is true love, I thought as I took a sip of coffee. Married for so many years, and she still hasn't become just a 'mosquito blood smear' on the wall. (Translator's note: The 'mosquito blood smear' refers to a famous quote by Eileen Chang, suggesting that over time, even a passionate love can fade into something annoying or insignificant.) 3 The boy was taken away by Secretary Chen, but Arthur remained standing in front of the booth. "Chloe," the man spoke. "How have you been these past few years?" Halfway through my coffee, I set down the cup: "Not bad, thanks for asking." After a moment of silence, the shadow above my head disappeared as Arthur followed the owner up to the second floor. The cello music faded into a slow, calm piano piece, mirroring my current state of mind. The studio owner was an internationally renowned tattoo artist; his custom designs were highly sought after, and he only took two clients a day. It just so happened to be this coincidental today. My eyes slid over the designs on the wall, suddenly stopping on the centerpiece. It depicted a red lip tattoo on the inner thigh of a man. The man sat on the floor with one leg bent, wearing black briefs under a bathrobe, with a light pink lip print ambiguously placed. The lip shape was beautiful, the lines clean, creating a dark, surging tension against the bronze skin. This was the mark a woman left between a man's legs. "Miss Chloe," the owner's voice behind me pulled me back. "This way, please." I turned and saw Arthur coming down from the spiral staircase, his shirt collar buttoned up tight. I asked: "Done so quickly?" "He lost his nerve and decided not to touch it up," the owner, who was very familiar with Arthur, said. "Go on up to the second floor." Arthur stopped at the foot of the stairs, unmoving, one hand tucked into his suit pocket, expressionless. He looked down at me from his elevated position, his eyes dark and heavy. We stared at each other in silence, but what came to my mind was our very last intimate encounter. After kissing and getting into bed, I saw the red lip tattoo on his inner thigh. 4 The clock on the wall struck the hour, and I grabbed my bag and headed for the stairs. As I brushed past Arthur, he grabbed my wrist, gripping it so hard the watch dug into my skin, causing a sharp pain. "Chloe," Arthur's voice was hoarse. "Must you pretend to be strangers?" I didn't struggle, looking into his eyes without a ripple of emotion: "Pretending to be strangers is the only courtesy I can extend to you." He paused, released my hand, rubbed his thumb, and his emotions eased: "I know you still hate me." Arthur just had this ability to hold onto control at all times, to never be embarrassed in any situation. Just like when photos of him and Mia kissing went viral, he faced me with this exact same demeanor. Only back then, I was hysterical, acting like a madwoman who had lost her reason in the face of her husband's calm attitude. "You're overthinking it," I walked up a few steps, my tone distant. "With our current relationship, there is no hate to speak of." Arthur seemed to want to say something more, but I didn't care and turned to walk upstairs. The studio's decor was very personalized, post-modern style, spacious, and quiet. The owner confirmed my tattoo design on the computer, and the assistant prepped my skin. I took off the watch on my right wrist. The leather strap had a unique design, wrapping around three times. Once removed, the pink, jagged scars on my wrist were exposed. "The wrist is a very painful area," the owner said, unfazed. "Be mentally prepared." I smiled: "It probably won't hurt as much as when I cut my wrist back then." 5 Two scars, one deeper than the other. After the numbing cream took effect, before transferring the stencil, the owner confirmed the tattoo design with me one last time. A blue butterfly, wings spread, clean and sharp. "This is a tricky spot, and you'll need touch-ups later," the owner put on his mask. "I guarantee the scars will be perfectly covered." "Do all tattoos need touch-ups?" "No, Arthur's is because of his skin type," the owner didn't hide that he knew Arthur. "So tattooing him is really bad for my reputation." I didn't say anything. Having been married to Arthur for two years, of course, I knew about his special skin type. Back then, Arthur didn't really like me leaving marks on him when we were intimate. But now, even though it meant the hassle of frequent touch-ups, he still tattooed Mia's name on his chest. And even had Mia's lip print tattooed on his inner thigh. As the first needle touched my wrist, I inevitably frowned at the sharp pain. The owner suddenly said: "Tell me the story behind your scars." I was slightly taken aback, then laughed: "What, do tattoo artists have this hobby too?" In current public opinion, Arthur was considered a winner in life. His career was expanding rapidly, riding the wind of success; in love, he was mutually devoted to a popular actress, with a perfect family. "When I met Arthur, he was already married to Mia," the owner said. "And Mia looks very much like you." I smiled, pulled a pack of cigarettes from my bag: "Do you mind?" The owner shook his head. I blew out a smoke ring, thought for a moment, and said slowly: "I'm Arthur's ex-wife." 6 I met Arthur in college. As a senior in the same major, he recruited me when he started his own business. Today, Aegis Tech is practically an industry leader, but when it first started, there were only two people. Arthur's standards were incredibly high. He was a prominent figure on campus, and countless people submitted resumes during recruitment. "But I was the only one who stayed." Amidst the swirling smoke, I narrowed my eyes: "The Arthur back then was extremely arrogant, looking down on everyone. I was the last interviewee." No one held any hope. I thought he was too aloof; he interviewed all day and thought everyone was an idiot, including me. "But we talked for a whole night. By dawn, he reached out his hand to me and said, 'Happy working together'." "Our philosophies aligned, our goals were the same. Arthur's ambitions were huge." I flicked the ash off my cigarette. "Coincidentally, my ambitions weren't small either." During the first two years of starting Aegis Tech, Arthur and I rented a place off-campus together; we ran business together, and secured investments together. Arthur was my mentor. He unreservedly taught me everything about networking and professional knowledge. On my twenty-second birthday, after pulling an all-nighter writing code with Arthur, as the sky began to lighten, he leaned against the window and lit a cigarette. "He asked me," I took a drag of my cigarette, "if I wanted a smoke?" Curious, I leaned over, only to choke until tears streamed down my face. Arthur started laughing, pulled me into his chest, and leaned down to kiss me. When the kiss ended, he asked if I wanted to marry him. The vibration on my wrist stopped for a moment. The owner said: "Asking like that, shouldn't he have asked if you wanted to be his girlfriend?" I laughed too, as if telling someone else's story, with the calm detachment of an observer watching a fire from across the river. "I said yes. That was also the day we got our first round of funding." "Riding the wave of AI, Aegis Tech soared, making a name for itself in the industry in just one year." "The day the core team of Aegis Tech was established, I took the position of CEO, and Arthur took me home." "Only then did I know that his 'Vance' was the Vance family, the shipping tycoons of Ocean City." 7 The Vance family built their fortune in shipping, accumulating profound heritage over three generations, making them a top-tier wealthy family in Ocean City. This marriage was naturally met with obstruction, but since Arthur had the courage to break away from the family and start his own business, his marriage couldn't be easily controlled. "Arthur fought it for two years, stubbornly enduring until Old Mr. Vance put him in the hospital, not compromising despite the pressure from countless elders." The ash fell silently. I watched it for a long while before saying softly: "During Aegis Tech's first round of financing, I married him." "We had a simple wedding on a small island, which Arthur later bought in my name and called 'Zephyr Isle'." The owner stopped his outlining entirely. I nodded: "It's the island we are on right now." "Before we married, Arthur signed an agreement. Besides my original founder shares in Aegis Tech, he transferred all his available cash flow and set up a trust for me." "He said he hoped Aegis Tech would become my strongest backing." "Back then, everyone sighed in admiration, saying Arthur loved me deeply, binding our interests so deeply, leaving no room for divorce." "I used to think so too." The cigarette was half-burnt, and I crushed it out in the ashtray. "Until the first year after we married, he personally chose Mia as the spokesperson for Aegis products." I once asked Arthur why he chose an unknown actress. "Don't you think," Arthur pointed at the massive billboard of Mia at the time, "she looks very much like you did in college?" "She captures eighty percent of your charm," before I could answer, Arthur chuckled first, "but she's empty-headed, just a pretty face." "Mia rose to fame very quickly." The owner's words pulled me out of my memories. "If I remember correctly, she became famous when she was nineteen." "Yes." I remembered something, "Less than a year after becoming the spokesperson, she was famous all over the country." "The day she won the Best Newcomer Award was Arthur's twenty-fifth birthday. We had agreed to have dinner together." "But I waited two hours and he still hadn't come back. I couldn't reach him on the phone, nor could I reach Secretary Chen." "Until eight o'clock that night, a trending topic suddenly dropped from the sky: Mia passionately kissing a mysterious man." "I clicked on it." I looked up at the owner and smiled, "The mysterious man was my husband." 8 They kissed so passionately, pressing Mia against the front of the car, even the car shook. The usually calm and arrogant Arthur, upon discovering the cameras, his first reaction was to press the slender Mia into his arms. The video paused at the moment Arthur glared fiercely at the camera. I masochistically watched it again and again, my tears dropping onto the screen, landing right on Mia's profile as she buried herself in Arthur's chest. She looked almost exactly like I did in college. I found out the whole truth. Mia was being given a hard time at a dinner party, and it was Arthur who bailed her out. From then on, Mia's career skyrocketed, with countless top-tier resources handed to her on a silver platter. When I slammed the evidence in front of Arthur, he offered no explanation and showed no panic. He lit a cigarette and asked: "What do you want to do?" "Shares or new projects?" Arthur said. "Everything is negotiable, just don't drag Mia into this. It wasn't easy for her to get to where she is today." Arthur's calm attitude turned me into a madwoman. I grew up missing a father figure, and to me, Arthur filled the role of an older mentor. He was my teacher first, before becoming my husband. During the years Aegis Tech was developing, I was strapped for cash and lacked experience; it was Arthur who guided me step by step behind the scenes. To ensure I had security when I married him, he built a solid, high wall for me using the most tangible benefits. I never thought this wall would come crashing down, and in such a disgraceful way. "So you used all the connections at your disposal to have Mia blacklisted," the owner said. "But it failed." "Failed spectacularly, at that." I laughed self-deprecatingly: "Deep down, I still harbored a sliver of hope back then." "Thinking Arthur was just playing around, or made a mistake in a moment of weakness." "Don't look at me like that." I looked at the owner. "I was too young back then." But Arthur's counterattack was a slap in the face. He forcefully suppressed the trending topics and saved Mia's career. A week later, the blacklisted Mia triumphantly became the lead actress in a major director's movie. 9 The first pink, fleshy scar became the lower wing line of the butterfly, so blue. The stinging in my wrist grew numb. I stared at it for a long while: "That's how the first scar came about." "Mia found me, using a face exactly like mine in college, and begged me to let her and Arthur be together." "You see, being loved can make a person stupid." I sighed. "She actually had the nerve to say that the unloved one is the mistress." So I launched a second round of retaliation against Mia, buying off numerous marketing accounts to expose her true face as a homewrecker. The atmosphere grew quiet, only the vibration of the tattoo gun could be heard. It had been five years, and no matter how much love and hate there was, it had been worn away by the river of time, except for this one thing— "Arthur used Aegis Tech to threaten me." My tone became heavy: "He used the lifeblood we built together to control me." Founding Aegis was due to Arthur's inherent pride; he didn't want to rely on his family's shadow for everything. Aegis was built from nothing. Only he and I truly knew the hardships involved. I controlled the core product and tech team, yet Arthur was willing to let Aegis Tech fall apart for Mia. "You only have Aegis, but I still have the Vance family." Even when things were at their ugliest, Arthur remained calm: "Chloe, everything you have today, I gave you, including Aegis." "I was really too young back then." I sighed for the umpteenth time. "When the news of Arthur and Mia getting a hotel room broke, it was exactly our one-year anniversary." "I saw that red lip tattoo on Arthur's inner thigh, and that's when the first scar on my wrist appeared." When I woke up in the hospital, Arthur was by my side. With red eyes, he pulled me into his arms. For the first time, I chose to compromise. Because I was pregnant, three months along.
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