Chapter 2

Wendy was tipsy, and she was wearing Evan's coat.

Evan glanced at the washcloth in my hand and the apron I was wearing. "Wendy had a little too much to drink tonight, Joel. It's cold outside, so I let her have my coat."

He raised his eyebrow slightly. "It's not easy for Wendy at work. Since you don't need to work, you need to focus more on taking care of the family.

"You wouldn't hold such a small thing against us, would you, Joel?"

I did not reply to his question. Wendy fell into my arms naturally. "I've had a really tiring day. Let me lean on you for a while." She pushed the cake into my hand. "I queued for thirty minutes to get that for you. I made sure to hold it as steady as possible so it wouldn’t get smudged.”

Evan had his hand on his stomach while frowning. "I haven't had anything to eat tonight. My stomach doesn't feel so good."

Josiah had been pretending to be asleep. When he heard Evan's words, he suddenly appeared, walking out of the room with his cane. He made unintelligible sounds while pointing at the cake in my hand and back at Evan.

Wendy sighed and took the cake from me. "Evan has low blood sugar. The cake should help him a little. I'll queue up for you again tomorrow and get you ten cakes. You can have as much as you want then, so don't be petty about it now."

Evan sat down without hesitation. "Wendy is too soft-hearted. She feels guilty about not being there for you all the time, which is why she goes everywhere to buy you little gifts.

“To be honest, all you need to do is stay at home and cook. You don't need to face the harsh reality of the business world. You should be content with your life.

"After all, if it were me, I could never waste any of my time on small family issues."

Evan portrayed himself as someone happy with what he had and who did not care to compare himself to me. However, his words still gave the impression that Wendy and he were in sync with what they wanted in life.

I brought Wendy a bowl of soup. She pulled my hand and placed it on her lips to kiss, but frowned right away when she heard Evan coughing. "Why are you still coughing? Have you been sitting under the air conditioning the whole day?"

Wendy turned to look at me and said softly in a tone that I could not reject. "Joel, Evan's stomach isn't feeling good, and he’s caught a cold. You make great soup. Can you be a good boy and make him some soup to warm him up?"

I did not argue, and I turned to enter the kitchen. I felt nothing as I watched the boiling water in the pot.

Evan picked up a spoon to stir the soup while picking at it. "The flavor is fine, but it's a little bland."

Wendy smiled in agreement. "Joel's cooking has always been a little light on flavor. You should make do with it. It's better for your stomach."

Evan forced down a few mouthfuls before suddenly frowning. "Wendy, my shirt reeks of alcohol from the dinner just now. There's a meeting early tomorrow morning, and I can't go looking like this. Can I take a bath here?"

Wendy nodded without hesitation. She went into our bedroom, came out with a limited-edition shirt still in its packaging, and passed it to Evan. That was the shirt I was planning to wear on our anniversary next week, and I had kept it carefully in the deepest corner of the wardrobe.

I immediately stopped her. "Wendy, that's—"

Wendy grabbed my wrist and frowned slightly. "Evan and I are meeting an important client tomorrow, and our image is everything. You don't need to go to work anyway, and you wear that apron more often than a suit.

"It's a waste to leave that shirt lying around. What's wrong with letting him have it when it's an emergency?"

My eyes dimmed slightly.

After Evan showered, he picked up my cologne without hesitation and sprayed some on his wrist. "This cologne is too strong, Wendy. It doesn't suit me."

Wendy walked over to him and took the cologne from his hands. "Joel loves this woody scent. I think it smells good. If you don't like it, I'll get some brands to send over a few refreshing scents to your office."

When it came to her love for me, she did not hesitate to share my cherished items without thinking twice. It was cruel of her, but she did not seem to realize it.

Late that night, Wendy was fast asleep in bed. I gently pulled away my hand from hers, which she was clenching while asleep. I pulled the covers off and started packing everything that belonged to me.

Every trace of my presence in this house silently vanished, while the woman whom I shared a bed with just tossed onto her other side to sleep.

The next morning, I was checking the tickets for the South, and right before I was about to purchase them, I heard Wendy asking with a laugh behind me, "What are you buying? You look so focused on making the purchase."