Chapter 2

On the way home, I received multiple notifications from my Instagram feed.

Tina posted several photos in a row to celebrate that construction on her new home had finally begun.

Apart from that, she also included a photo of herself with Ian right in the center. She even added a heart filter to it.

[Special thanks to Ian for all his support! Our beautiful home wouldn't be possible without him!]

The comments flooded in.

[I heard Mr. Jensen turned down several projects that had already been confirmed just to design Tina's new home!]

[Of course! Mr. Jensen has practically been living at the office lately. He's working on designs for Tina the moment he wakes up!]

[No wonder they're both considered the best of the best in interior design. They're always equally dedicated and responsible when it comes to their work!]

I scrolled through the posts expressionlessly.

Every single rendered design was painfully familiar.

From the lighting strips in the bedroom to the materials and style of the TV feature wall, every detail was exactly what I had repeatedly described to Ian.

Ian had taken the dream home I had envisioned and handed it completely intact to another woman.

After sitting in silence for a long while, I liked all of Tina's posts.

Just as I was about to exit the app, a coworker messaged me.

[Julianna, could you send us the design plans for your house so we can use them as a reference?]

[Mr. Jensen is so talented. I'm sure he designed your home beautifully!]

I snorted on the inside.

When we first got married, all our friends envied me for having a husband who was a renowned interior designer.

"That's Ian, the specialist in hard finishes! I heard he can recreate anyone's dream home. It must be so wonderful living with him!"

"Julianna, you really struck gold marrying him. You don't have to worry about renovating your house anymore!"

Back then, I had naively believed the same thing.

But when we moved into our marital home, I stared at the exposed walls, concrete floors, and pipes running everywhere.

For a moment, I thought I had walked into the wrong house. Ian, however, acted as if it were perfectly normal.

For the first year, we simply lived in the unfinished house because it was convenient for work.

During that time, I brought up renovating the house countless times, but Ian always brushed me off.

"Julianna, once we have a baby, we can renovate the entire house and the nursery together. It'll save us trouble.

"I've seen countless cases where people renovate their homes, only to dislike the results and tear everything down to start over."

He wrapped his arms around me and spoke with such sincerity that I believed him.

"A house is where you'll live for the rest of your life. If you end up unhappy with the renovation, you'll have to live with that regret for the rest of your life too.

"We'll talk about it when the time comes."

That one sentence, 'we'll talk about it when the time comes,' got me through the first year.

But during the second year's rainy season, I could no longer tolerate the dampness and stifling heat caused by the walls being left without waterproofing.

I brought up the renovation again, but this time, Ian could barely even be bothered to pretend. He began using his heavy workload as an excuse to avoid my questions.

It was also around that time that Ian started coming home less and less.

We worked at the same design firm. I was in operations, while he was in the design department.

We should've gone home together after work every day, but Ian began living at the company residence instead.

My coworkers said he was handling too many projects and tried to persuade me to be understanding, but I wasn't blind.

I saw him entering and leaving the design firm's apartment with Tina. I saw them shopping for furniture together, and I saw him working late into the night countless times, all just to revise Tina's design drafts.

I took several deep breaths before opening my camera and taking a few photos of the empty space around me. I then sent them to my coworker.

[Sorry, but I'm afraid this house won't give you much of a reference.]

[Because Ian and I don't have any design plans for our house. It's also never been renovated.]