Obsession From Hell

Katie Rutherland leaned against the bed, dressed in some sexy lingerie. She beckoned at me seductively with her hand.

I just couldn't deny that Katie was extremely beautiful tonight.

"Honey," she said in her gentle voice. "It's been a while since you've been home. Let's—"

A split second later, my phone suddenly started ringing loudly.

I answered the call in frustration. Katie's face was turning dark.

A while later, I said remorsefully, "I'm sorry, darling, but the client just said they had a last-minute appointment, so I have to go and oversee the contract signing. If all goes well today, we will be starting the project tomorrow."

Just as I'd finished speaking, a pillow hit me squarely in my face.

"Then, leave!" Katie yelled at me. "The only thing you care about is work anyway. You might as well never come home anymore!"

I picked up the pillow and placed it back on the bed. Then, I kissed Katie on the forehead and tried to calm her down.

"Alright, darling, please don't be mad at me. I'll buy you the newest bag when I get home later."

Katie's eyes lit up at once. She then hummed begrudgingly at me in acknowledgment.

I quickly pulled on my coat and flew out of the door.

Actually, I was hiding a secret from her.

I was bound to a system that made me a member of the Anti-Cheating Organization. Members were also known as the "Judges of Marriage".

Our daily tasks were to deal with all sorts of issues involving cheating men and women.

One consequence of this job was not being able to go home often. So, to conceal my true identity, I found myself a civil engineering job cover.

I finally managed to get a break from my shift just three days ago, but Katie had only managed to come home tonight.

Initially, I thought I would be able to enjoy some husband-and-wife bonding time tonight. However, as things turned out, I also had a huge mission to go on tonight.

I complained bitterly to myself while driving toward the location where the system told me to go. Three of my other colleagues arrived there at the same time as I did.

We exchanged a nod before stepping into the hotel before us.

The system said, "Judges, a cheating bastard is now in Room 301. He has a heavily pregnant wife running a barbecue restaurant at home, but he's now spending all her hard-earned money on another woman in this hotel."

I inhaled sharply. This man had gone overboard!

After receiving all sorts of information from the system, my colleagues and I started getting to work as usual.

Half an hour later, the man's wife arrived at the scene and caught him red-handed. A whole team of media personnel was right behind her with their cameras all recording the cheating couple.

One of my colleagues, Quentin Ziegler, said, "Why did he have to do this? He already has a family at home. He just had to find some other woman elsewhere."

I shrugged. I'd been a Judge of Marriage for so long that things like these couldn't faze me anymore.

In fact, in one of my most memorable cases, the poor man found out that none of his three children actually belonged to him.

At first, I took pity on them and felt bad for the victims. But now, I was so unfazed that I just watched silently from the sidelines, numb to it all.

In a way, I guess I was just anonymously doing good for society. I felt the most relieved whenever I helped to end marriages in which one of the spouses had cheated on the other.

However, I still felt terrible about Katie. Because of this job, I wasn't able to spend much time with her.

Quentin patted me on the back and said, "Let's go. Another mission's waiting for us."

I recollected my thoughts and continued working hard for the system.

There was a huge increase in our workload lately, most probably because it was nearing the end of the year.

The system seemed to have a knack for wanting to see couples break up around Christmas time because it added to the drama. So, it kept relentlessly sending us out during that time period.

Finally, I lost my cool with it.

While slurping instant noodles from a cup, I angrily asked the system, "Do we even get time off during Christmas? Even large corporations don't work their employees to the bone like you do!"

Half a minute later, the system replied, "Yes, you'll get time off. Your time off starts tomorrow."

I chuckled drily. It was already Christmas Eve tomorrow.