Chapter 3

Sloane was so frightened she hid in Wallace’s arms.

Wayne tried to take the broom away.

“Dad! Put the broom down! Stop embarrassing us!”

I held the broom up. The fire from all those years of fighting for the country reignited in my gaze.

I had never been afraid, even when facing the enemy’s gun barrels back then. I would not back down to this pampered group.

“All of you, get out!

“Let me tell you something. I might have a limp, but I’m a veteran who crawled through gunfire to survive. I’m not some pushover.”

Wayne was intimidated by my gaze. He froze in place, not daring to step forward.

Aiden was so frightened that he hid behind Wallace and sobbed.

The commotion alerted the neighbors. Several households opened their doors and poked their heads out. They started pointing and murmuring among each other.

“Isn’t that Alvin’s house? What’s all the noise about?”

“Who are those people? That woman looks kind of familiar.”

“She looks like Alvin’s wife. I heard that she passed away young.”

The murmuring made Sloane and Wallace uncomfortable.

Nothing mattered to them more than their reputation. Being watched and gossiped about by the neighbors made them feel embarrassed.

Sloane shot me a vicious glare. She pulled Wallace along and left.

“Let’s go. Being around someone like this is bad luck.”

Wayne glared at me with a hostile gaze and said, “Dad, you’re a lost cause!”

With that, he slammed the door and left with Lily and Aiden.

The house finally fell silent. Only the mess remained.

I leaned on the broom and slowly straightened up.

My leg still hurt. My chest felt tight as I tried to catch my breath.

“Alvin, are you okay?”

My neighbor, Zack, poked his head in and quickly came to support me.

“Come over to my place for a bit. I’ll get you some medicine for your knee. I’ll call a cleaning service to take care of the house later.”

I sat down on Zack’s couch and drank some warm water. Only then did I slowly calm down.

Zack sighed. “What exactly happened?”

I smiled bitterly as my eyes became teary.

“Sloane isn’t dead. She faked her death back then and ran off with Wallace.”

Zack looked stunned. “She’s back from the dead? That’s absurd.”

I began telling him about the past.

Although Sloane and I had married through our parents’ arrangement, our marriage was relatively harmonious.

That changed after she fell into the water and was rescued by Wallace.

At that time, Wallace had just been released from prison. Because of this incident, the neighbors’ opinions of him improved considerably.

After that, he often came to our house when I was out working in the fields.

At first, Sloane would tell me about it. Later, she kept it from me. The two of them grew increasingly close.

I reminded Sloane several times to stay away from him. She agreed verbally, but her behavior only worsened.

She said she would, yet she became even more involved with Wallace.

On one occasion, Sloane’s mother walked in on the two of them being intimate in the house. She was so enraged that she fainted on the spot. She never made it back from the hospital.

After the funeral, Sloane finally broke things off with Wallace.

Later, Sloane became pregnant. It happened right when the military draft was going on.

I thought of earning some allowance to make life better for the two of them, so I enlisted.

During my time in the military, I received only one letter from Sloane. She said everything was fine with her and told me not to worry.

But when I came home on a medical discharge, limping from my wounds, I found out Sloane had passed away. She had left behind our four-year-old son.

I felt as though my life had fallen apart. But for Wayne’s sake, I had to tough it out and carry on.

I dragged myself around on a busted leg, playing both the father and mother. I somehow managed to raise him. I saved up and helped him buy a house when he got married.

Then, not long after he got married, he sold the house without a word and left the country. I finally knew why. He went to reunite with his mother.

Zack sighed.

Ultimately, he simply patted me on the shoulder and said, “That’s life...”