ONE NIGHT WITH MR. UNKNOWN (Z series #1: Zachary Montenar)

It was a dreary day with constant rain.

Yvette Snyder stood at the entrance of the hospital, her body frail, clutching a pregnancy report in her thin hands. Three words on the report stood out: "No pregnancy detected".

"You've been married for three years. How are you not pregnant?" Her mother, Yara Cadwell, demanded, jabbing a finger in Yvette's face disappointedly. Yara was dressed lavishly and wore high heels.

"Why are you so useless? If you don't get pregnant soon, the Lanes are going to kick you out of the family. What's going to happen to our family then?"

Yvette looked at Yara blankly. She had a lot to say, but the words were stuck in her throat. In the end, all she could manage was, "I'm sorry."

"I don't want you to be sorry. I want you to give birth to Xavier's child. Do you understand me?"

Yvette's throat felt tight; she didn't know how to answer Yara.

In their three years of marriage, her husband, Xavier Lane, had never slept with her.

How could she ever have his child?

Yara stared at Yvette. The latter's weak demeanor was so unlike her own.

Finally, she said coldly before leaving, "If you really can't give him a child, then find him a woman who can. At least he'll appreciate you for that."

Yvette stared after Yara's retreating figure in disbelief.

Had her own mother just told her to find another woman for her husband to sleep with?

Her heart felt as cold as the freezing rain.

...

As Yvette made her journey home, she couldn't stop thinking about Yara's parting words. Suddenly, a loud ringing in her ear drowned out her thoughts.

She knew that her condition had worsened.

Just then, she received a message on her phone.

It was from Xavier, and the content was the same as always. "I'm not coming home tonight."

In the past three years they had been married, Xavier had never spent the night at home before. He had never so much as touched Yvette either.

Yvette could remember their wedding night three years ago. He had told her, "Since your family is bold enough to trick me into marrying you, you'd better be prepared to spend the rest of your life in loneliness."

Spending the rest of her life in loneliness…

Three years ago, the Snyder and Lane families had decided to form an alliance through marriage.

Both families had agreed to mutually beneficial terms in the agreement. But when the day of the wedding came around, the Snyder family went back on their word and transferred all of their assets away, including the billions of dollars that Xavier had paid to marry Yvette.

Yvette's eyes dulled at the memory. She replied to Xavier's text with her usual response: "Okay."

Without her realizing it, the pregnancy report she was holding got scrunched up in her hands.

When she got home, Yvette tossed the report into the trash can.

Every month, around this time, she would feel unusually lethargic.

Yvette didn't prepare dinner for herself. She just leaned back on the couch, blearily drifting in and out of sleep.

The rumbling in her ear persisted.

That was another reason why Xavier hated her—she was hard of hearing, which, to the rich and powerful, was no better than being crippled.

Xavier would never allow her to carry his child.

…

At 5 o'clock in the morning, the pendulum clock on the wall chimed dully.

Xavier would be home in an hour.

Yvette realized too late that she had fallen asleep on the couch. She got up hastily and went to the kitchen to prepare Xavier's breakfast.

Xavier was a meticulous man who was strict about punctuality, not only with himself but also with the people around him.

He arrived home at six o'clock sharp.

Xavier was a tall and handsome man. Clad in a smart tailored suit, his demeanor was quiet and reserved, yet undoubtedly masculine.

However, to Yvette, he was cold and distant.

Xavier didn't even look at Yvette. He walked right past her to look at the food on the table and said with a scoff, "You do this every day. Are you a nanny or what?"

Over the past three years, Yvette had been doing the same things over and over again. She wore the same dark clothes and replied to his messages with the same singular word.

If it hadn't been for the business alliance and the Snyders' deceit, Xavier would never have married a woman like Yvette.

At the word "nanny", the rumbling in Yvette's ears returned. She swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat, and said bravely, "Xav, do you have someone that you like?"

Her sudden question surprised Xavier. His eyes darkened. "What do you mean by that?"

Yvette raised her head and stared at him, swallowing the bile rising in the back of her throat. "If you love someone else, you can be with her—"

Before she could finish, Xavier interrupted her. "You're mad."

...

After Xavier left, Yvette sat on the balcony alone, staring out into the cold rain.

The sound of the raindrops drifted in and out of clarity. She took off her hearing aids, letting the world around her fall into silence.

A month ago, her doctor had told her, "Ms. Snyder, there's been a pathological change in your auditory nerves and some of your cranial nerves, causing your hearing to worsen. If this goes on, you may lose your hearing completely."

Not used to a silent world, Yvette went to the living room and turned on the television. She turned up the volume to the max, which allowed her to hear some sound.

By coincidence, the television was showing an interview with Daphne Reyes, an internationally renowned singer known for her love songs.

Yvette's hands trembled slightly as she gripped the remote control.

Daphne was Xavier's first love.

It had been a long time since Yvette had seen her, but Daphne was still as pretty as ever. She was confident and relaxed in front of the cameras, unlike the shy and frightened young woman who had begged the Snyders for sponsorship in the past.

When the interviewer asked Daphne why she had returned to her home country, her answer was bold. "I came home to get my first love back."

The remote control slipped out of Yvette's hands. Her heart also fell to her stomach.

The rain outside seemed to get heavier.

Flustered, Yvette turned off the television and went to the table to clean up the uneaten breakfast. When she got to the kitchen, she found that Xavier had forgotten to take his phone.

She picked it up and saw the unread messages on the lock screen.

"Xav, you must have been unhappy over the past few years, right?"

"I know you don't love her. How about we meet up tonight? I've missed you."

Yvette stared blankly at the messages until the screen went dark again.

Then, she called a cab to Xavier's office.

On the way, she stared out of the window. The rain fell incessantly. It felt like it would never stop.

Xavier never liked it when Yvette visited him at his office, so whenever she was there, she would take the service elevator from the loading bay.

When Xavier's assistant, Mark Xyrax, saw her, he just greeted her impassively, "Ms. Snyder."

No one around Xavier considered Yvette his wife. She was nothing but a smear on his reputation.

When Xavier saw Yvette bringing him his phone, he frowned.

She was always like this. No matter what he forgot, be it his lunch, his documents, a shirt, or even an umbrella, she would bring them to him.

"I thought I told you that you didn't need to deliver my things to me yourself."

Yvette froze. "Sorry, I forgot."

Since when had her memory been so bad?

Maybe she had panicked after seeing Daphne's message and became afraid that Xavier would disappear from her life suddenly.

Before she left, she looked back at Xavier. Unable to help herself, she blurted out, "Xav, do you still like Daphne?"

Xavier thought that Yvette had been behaving rather strangely lately. She kept forgetting things and asking weird questions.

How could a person like her be his wife?

Impatiently, he replied, "If you have so much free time, go find yourself something to do."

Yvette had tried getting a job before, but Xavier's mother, Shannon Guetta, had reprimanded her without holding back. "Do you want the whole world to know that Xav married a disabled woman with hearing issues?"

Therefore, Yvette had given up on finding a job and focused on her fruitless life as "Mrs. Lane" at Dewberry Manor.

…

At home, she sat alone until nightfall.

She couldn't sleep.

Just then, the phone on her bedside table rang loudly. It was a call from an unfamiliar number.

Yvette picked up the call. A familiar voice, yet one she dreaded, sounded from the other end.

"Is this Yvvy? Xav is drunk. Can you come pick him up?"

When Yvette arrived at Sternhow Club, she heard loud coaxing and jeering from the wealthy heirs inside the private room.

"Daph, didn't you say you came back to get our dear Mr. Lane back into your arms? This is your chance now. Go on, tell him how you feel!"

Daphne was a pretty woman who was popular wherever she went. She was also Xavier's first love, so the rich young men of the upper crust were happy to push the two together.

Daphne wasn't shy at all. She turned to Xavier and said without any reservations, "I like you, Xav. Please be with me again."

That was what Yvette heard when she arrived at the door of the private room.

Inside, the other people were urging Xavier to answer Daphne. His best friend, Tristan Shaw, was the most vocal among them.

"Xav, you've been waiting for Daphne for three years. She's back now. So, go on, answer her!"

Yvette stood frozen outside the door. Her heart was pounding. Just then, one of the men pulled the door open.

"Ms. Snyder?"