Chapter 3

I dragged my suitcase down the hallway toward the elevator.

"Henry!" Stella had barely taken two steps after me when Michael caught her by the sleeve. She stopped in her tracks and said, "You should head to the hotel first—I'll come find you later, Henry."

I accepted the lowest offer from the real estate agent once I reached the hotel and signed the listing agreement. The buyer even decided to pay in full and put down a deposit on the spot.

I suddenly received a message from Stella. "Have you arrived at the hotel? I'm worried about you being out there alone, so send me your location. I'll come find you."

I hesitated for a moment before finally sending her the hotel's address.

"I'll be there shortly, so stay in the room and wait for me."

I was suddenly reminded of the incident that happened during my junior year in university. I got stranded in the suburbs during a downpour and received that exact same message. Michael didn't care for Stella back then, and every time they ran into each other, they'd end up fighting over me.

Upon learning that the mountain road toward the suburb was closed, Michael stopped Stella, yelling, "Going out there now will get you killed!"

Stella shoved him aside and pushed through the rain for three straight hours. She was drenched from head to toe when she finally saw me. She wrapped her arms around me tightly, letting out all the worry she had been holding in.

That evening, Michael kept cursing Stella out as a lunatic during our ride home, but after that incident, he never once tried to convince me to break up with her again.

I stared at the message, especially the "wait for me" part, waiting from the dead of night until dawn.

It was the following morning, and I was startled awake by someone banging urgently on the door. "Open up, Henry!"

I had barely opened the door when several people pushed their way inside.

"Isn't it enough that you're clinging to Michael's wife? How dare you steal his wedding ring! Have you no shame at all?"

"Why are you wasting time talking to him? Search the place!"

I stood between them and the suitcase. "I'm calling the police if anyone touches anything in here."

"You actually have the nerve to call the police after stealing the wedding ring? Who do you think you're fooling here, Henry?"

Stella immediately stepped in when someone tried to reach for the suitcase. "That's enough! Henry would never steal anything!"

She then turned to me and said, "You should just let them look through it so that they won't have any reason to keep making things up, Henry."

I called the police and gave them the hotel address and room number.

Michael's expression shifted slightly. "We're all friends here, Henry. There's no need to bring the police into this—"

Before he could even finish speaking, Stella suddenly covered her mouth and bolted into the bathroom. She left the door ajar, so the sound of muffled dry heaving could still be heard from inside.

Stella gripped the edge of the sink, standing still for a moment.

Just then, a folded medical report slipped out of her pocket.

Michael rushed over and bent down to pick it up, causing the "stolen" wedding ring to slip right out of his pocket. He ignored the wedding ring completely, staring only at the words on the medical report—"Intrauterine pregnancy, eight weeks."

I was reminded of the incident two years ago after seeing the words "eight weeks" written on the medical report. I had to deal with a six-hour time difference when I learned from the doctor that Stella had miscarried.

I stayed on a video call with her all night until morning that day. I recalled how bloodshot her eyes were as she lay in her hospital bed, apologizing repeatedly. "I'm so sorry for not being able to save the baby, Henry…"

I could still hear those words in my head when Michael suddenly embraced Stella. He called out tremblingly as his eyes lit up with overwhelmed joy. "Stella…"

It wasn't until he remembered I was still there that the look of delight died in his eyes.

I held back my emotions as I picked up the wedding ring and handed it to her, wanting to see how she'd react. "I found the wedding ring."

Stella held onto Michael's hand, never letting go.

Having searched through the suitcase, the others walked over and said, "There's nothing in the suitcase—"

Upon spotting the wedding ring I was holding, they scoffed. "You even had the guts to claim that you didn't steal it, huh? You're caught red-handed this time, Henry!"

I looked toward the bedroom and found that the videotape Mom and Dad had left me was snapped in half, the magnetic tape tangled around their shoes.

It was the only video left of Mom and Dad before I turned seven years old. I got down on my knees to pick it up, but my hands were trembling so much that I couldn't even gather it up.

There was a sudden knock at the door. "Police. Open the door."

Stella shielded Michael behind her. She glanced at my trembling hands for a split second, then turned away. "Why don't we just forget about it since we've already found the wedding ring? I'll cover whatever damage was done to your stuff.

"I'm early in my pregnancy, while Nicole is still terribly ill. It won't do any of us any good to blow this up, so just tell the police that you accidentally took the wedding ring when you got drunk last night, alright, Henry?"