She deserves better

"I should welcome you with a hug and serve your dinner when you are not coming back from work?" Jennifer said, and Albert turned to her. "Is she aware of where I went to?"

"Where else do you think I'm coming from apart from work? We had an emergency, and I had no choice but to stay over to make sure it's resolved."

"Stop lying, Albert. I know where you are coming from. You are not coming back from work." Jennifer said, and Albert narrowed his eyes, feigning confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Stop acting as if you are innocent. Whose birthday did you go and celebrate?”

Albert frowned. “Birthday?” He shook his head. “Jennifer, what nonsense are you talking about? The only person I knew that had a birthday today was Emily.”

“You are still lying, Albert. Your daughter got tired of waiting for you and asked me to call her Daddy. She asked me to call you to know if maybe the traffic was holding you. I called you Albert. I called you, and someone else picked up. And do you know what I heard?” She let out a bitter chuckle and looked up to his eyes. “I heard you. I heard her. Your ex-girlfriend. Singing happy birthday to her son.”

"What? That's a lie. You didn't call me. Stop accusing me of what I didn't do. I didn't celebrate any birthday with anyone."

"Stop denying. I have the evidence."

"Which nonsense evidence?"

"That same person that picked up the call and left it for me to listen to your frog voice sent me a video. A video of you, standing there, smiling, handing that boy two expensive children’s cars. You are celebrating him as if he mattered more than your own daughter, who was here waiting for you to come back."

Albert had been trying so hard to hide his affairs with Stella from Jennifer, but Stella kept trying as much as she could to let Jennifer know. She believed that letting Jennifer know would lead to divorce, making it easy for her to come back into Albert's life.

Now, since Jennifer was aware, he had to find a way to defend himself.

"She was disturbing me. So I had to settle her. Not that I wanted to go." Albert said in defense. "Besides, did I stop you from celebrating Emily?”

“Is that really all you have to say?” she asked. “Did it stop me?”

Albert shrugged and replied, “What do you want me to say? Besides, the boy you are talking about is not just her son but my son as well. I'm his father. Is it wrong for a father to celebrate her son's birthday?"

"Stella is your ex-girlfriend, and I'm your wedded wife. You can't compare the dirty relationship you had with her with me. Emily is your regal child, while her son is not. You don't have full rights over him. How sure are you that you are even his father?" She asked, and Albert got provoked.

"She showed me the DNA test result. Besides, she was pregnant before she left. So Ethan is my son. And... he is more valuable than Emily. He’s more important to me than her.”

Silence. Jennifer felt herself sway. She felt the weight of his words crash down on her, suffocating her. She blinked, once, twice, trying to process what she had just heard.

“How?” She finally managed to ask. “How could you prefer a child that belongs to a woman who left you when you were poor? A woman who abandoned you, who walked away when you had nothing?”

Albert sighed. “I have forgiven her, Jennifer. I let go of the past. I’m happy I have a son. You should be happy for me."

Jennifer stared at him, studying his face, searching for something—anything—that resembled the man she once knew. It was as if he had been gone for a long time.

She swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears. “And what about Emily?” she asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “What about your daughter? The one who looks at you with hope in her eyes every single day? The one who never stopped loving you, despite everything?”

Albert didn’t answer. Jennifer shook her head and looked up at Albert. “Emily deserves better than this. She deserves better than any other child you think you have.”

“You must be joking for saying that. How does she deserve better when she is a problem to this family? Not just a small problem, but a very big one.”

Jennifer’s brows furrowed in confusion. How could Albert be saying that their daughter is a problem to them? Every parent sees their children as a blessing, and he was saying that theirs was a problem.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, shaking her head as if she had misheard him. “How is Emily a problem to us?”

“Stop pretending like you don’t know what I'm saying, Jennifer. Stop acting as if you don’t see it. Emily is a pain in the neck. She is a burden. Since the day she was born, it has been nothing but hospitals, medications, and sleepless nights. Do you know how much money I have spent treating her? Do you know how exhausting it is to live every single day knowing you are nurturing a cursed child?”

His words hit Jennifer directly in her chest like a sharp, piercing object. She couldn't believe he was saying that about their daughter. She stared at him, searching his face for something—some sign that he didn’t truly mean what he was saying. But he was serious. He had meant every word he said.