Chapter 3

After that, Evelyn started seeing Julian more and more behind my back.

Julian told her he'd only left all those years ago because he'd gone overseas to make money for her medical treatment.

He also claimed he'd sent her countless messages afterward, but she'd never replied.

Evelyn didn't believe him at first.

Then Julian showed her screenshots of the messages, complete with timestamps.

That was when she started to waver.

She began to suspect someone had deliberately deleted them.

And back then, the only person constantly by her side had been me.

After she was discharged from the hospital, she'd also lost her phone.

I was the one who helped her get a new number.

Once suspicion took root, it didn't matter whether I was guilty or not.

No matter how many times I tried to explain, Evelyn only had one response.

"Then prove it."

But how was I supposed to find proof of something that had happened eight years ago?

Little by little, Evelyn started believing everything Julian told her.

And when she eventually learned that he'd supposedly become terminally ill while trying to earn money for her treatment, she made up her mind.

She wanted a divorce.

She wanted to help Julian complete everything on his bucket list before he died.

Thinking about it now, I let out a bitter laugh.

I had just dragged my suitcase through the front gate of the neighborhood when my phone chimed.

It was the custom notification tone I'd set for Evelyn.

I freed one hand and pulled out my phone.

She'd sent me two hundred dollars.

I didn't accept it.

Ever since she'd convinced herself that I'd manipulated my way into a relationship with her, she'd started using money to control me.

If I accepted anything from her, I was expected to do exactly what she said.

The last time, she'd sent me ten bucks for cigarettes.

I took it.

Then I refused to go pick Julian up for her.

One complaint from her to my employer, and I lost my job.

Sure enough, another message from Evelyn appeared almost immediately.

"Marcus, we've been married for eight years. It's not like I never cared about you."

"If you hadn't gone this far, I wouldn't have wanted things to end like this either."

"Use the money to get yourself a decent hotel."

"And apologize to Julian now so he can stop worrying."

Before I could reply, another notification popped up.

It was from Evelyn's old class group chat.

I'd attended one of their reunions before, and one of the guys had privately added me to their men's chat afterward.

Julian had just posted a photo.

On his hand was an enormous diamond ring.

'Evelyn said this is going to be my wedding ring when we get married in a couple of days. She bought it to cheer me up. What do you guys think?'

No one responded.

So I did.

'Not much. Tell Evelyn a diamond ring's kind of pointless at this stage. She'd be better off buying you a nice cemetery plot with a good view.'

Three seconds after I sent it, Evelyn started calling me nonstop.

I already knew exactly what had happened.

Julian had gone running to Evelyn to complain again.

And now she was calling to tear into me on his behalf.

It had happened far too many times over the past month.

Evelyn didn't believe the man she'd been married to for eight years.

She believed Julian instead.

The same man who had once walked out on her.

I gave a bitter laugh and declined the call.

Maybe she knew I wasn't going to answer this time.

Instead of calling again, she started bombarding me with texts.

"Marcus, you really disappoint me."

"You're just jealous because I bought Julian a diamond ring, aren't you?"

"Fine. Then I'll give you something else to be jealous about."

A string of photos followed.

A bottle of men's cologne that cost over a hundred dollars.

Designer shoes worth more than a thousand.

A high-end graphics card worth a few thousand dollars.

And an order confirmation for a luxury car worth well over a hundred thousand.

Evelyn used to hesitate over buying me a three-pack of cheap socks.

Now she was spending my money like crazy just to make Julian happy.

Maybe it was because I was so close to dying.

Instead of getting angry like I would've before, I felt strangely calm.

I typed back:

"I'm not really jealous."

"No matter how expensive any of it is, it'll all be getting buried with Julian in a month anyway."