Chapter 5

There was a burning rage in my chest that refused to go away.

Chris stopped sending things to my father, but he started sending me intimate pictures of him and Nicole instead.

[Kenneth, you're the idiot who actually thought this was a game]

[Nicole never forgot about me. We got back together a long time ago. All this time, she's just been messing with you to make you angry.]

One picture after another came through. Each was stamped with a date and time.

When I compared them, I finally realized what had really been happening.

Two months ago, I came down with a fever and was so sick I could barely stand. I called Nicole, and she claimed she was away on a business trip, but the pictures showed her celebrating Chris' birthday.

Last month, she stood me up on my birthday, saying a client had suddenly called and she couldn't get away.

As it turned out, being 'busy' meant going to the movies with Chris.

Last week, it was our wedding anniversary. She said there was a problem with a project and promised we'd celebrate another time.

In reality, she was busy taking care of Chris while he was sick.

Every single one of those things proved that she cared far more about her first love, Chris, than she ever had about me, her husband.

I'd always thought she simply loved messing with me.

It turned out that all those games about making me angry, and all those claims that she was trying to prove how much I loved her, had just been lies she used to toy with my feelings.

All these years, I'd been an idiot for foolishly believing that she loved me and simply had a twisted way of showing it.

It was ridiculous.

Right after Chris finished sending the photos, one of Nicole's friends forwarded me a chat log from their group.

[Kenneth, hang in there a little longer. You have to wait until I win the bet before you get angry and give in, or I'm going to lose my entire paycheck this month.]

Among the screenshots he'd forwarded was a video. The background showed clips of me losing my temper over and over again, playing on a loop. There was an empty space at the end. It was clearly reserved for footage of what would happen this time.

There were also messages from Nicole's friends asking her if she wasn't afraid I would actually leave her.

Nicole had replied with absolute confidence.

[He won't leave me. He just gets moodier as he gets older. Give it a few more days. I only have to sweet-talk a little, and he'll come crawling back.]

I pulled open a drawer. Inside were two copies of divorce papers.

Nicole had written them last year just to provoke me.

I'd been furious at the time, but she had happily hugged me and apologized, saying that if I'd gotten that angry, it proved I must love her like crazy.

I hadn't known what to say. I'd left the papers at my parents' house and eventually forgot about them.

Now they were exactly what I needed.

The day Dad was discharged from the hospital, Nicole sent me a video of herself going on a date with Chris. She was trying to provoke me again.

[Kenneth, if you're upset, I'll stop playing these games with you from now on.]

I ignored her and focused on spending time with my parents.

Nicole never got a reply from me, and she started getting anxious.

Her friends began coming up with ideas to turn up the heat and provoke me even more.

They encouraged Nicole to take wedding photos with Chris.

"Nicole, trust me. This will definitely work. No man can tolerate his wife taking wedding photos with another man. He'll definitely get angry."

Nicole was skeptical, but she went along with it.

She was about to send the photos to me when a delivery driver called out to her.

"Ms. Stormer, this is your delivery. Mr. Carlson specifically instructed me to hand this important package directly to you."

The moment Nicole's friends found out, they burst out laughing.

"See? We told you! He definitely couldn't take it anymore!"

"Nicole, hurry up and open it. Show us what's inside."

Nicole and her friends thought the same thing.

She opened the package eagerly.

The moment she saw the divorce certificate inside, she froze completely. The package slipped from her hands and landed on the ground.

It had happened so suddenly, just like how I had left without a word.