Chapter 2

Sophia covered her mouth and let out a delicate giggle, clearly trying to provoke and disgust me. She probably wanted to push me into losing control like a shrew, so she could twist the story when Justin came home.

I held my glass of water steadily, watching her performance without a word.

Behind me, however, the plants had already exploded into chaos.

The spider plant screamed, “That’s nonsense! That bracelet was bought with Justin’s money. She swiped his card at the boutique herself! When he asked, she told him it was a knockoff and that it only cost 200 dollars!”

The pothos immediately cut in, “Exactly! And there are three Chanel bags in her vanity drawer, all bought with your overseas allowance! Justin is such a blind idiot. He actually believed she got them from some cheap reseller."

The cactus let out a cold snort and dropped the most devastating bomb of all. “Not only that, the baby in her arms isn’t even Justin’s! It’s her lover’s kid. Her so-called ‘cousin' and that gigolo from the bar!

"And Justin, that absolute fool, still comes home every day and kisses that kid. I feel sick just watching it."

My grip tightened around the glass. My knuckles turned white. Justin was my husband of five years. I thought he had been waiting for me faithfully in the country, holding our home together.

Before I left for Afrikad, he had held me at the airport, his eyes red from crying. He promised he would take care of both our families, keep up with the mortgage payments every month, and wait for me to come back so that we could finally have a child together.

I believed him.

For three years, I worked under nearly 122-degree heat, performing surgeries in tents without air conditioning. I faced armed conflicts, riots, and even the impossibility of finding clean drinking water.

Every month, I sent back my entire overseas aid salary and bonuses. I thought that money was going toward the mortgage, my in-laws’ medical checkups, and new shirts for Justin to wear.

I never imagined it would be spent on the Van Cleef bracelet around this woman’s wrist and imported formula for the child in her arms.

When Sophia noticed me staring at her bracelet, she grew even more pleased and gently stroked the baby’s hair. “Justin is so kind to me. He said that when that woman dies overseas or her contract ends and she comes back, he’ll immediately force her to leave with nothing and transfer this house to me.

“Mother, don’t you think Justin is a good son? He’s even planned our future so carefully.”

She smiled sweetly, like a woman fully immersed in happiness.

I looked at her and suddenly found it all absurd. “Yes, he is,” I replied calmly, setting my glass down. My voice was so steady that it surprised even me. “He's such a good son that he’ll even play father to another man’s child. How could anyone say he’s not a good son?”