Chapter 3

Since that day, Julian had become considerably chattier. When we were in high school, I never thought that he would be so capable of being a chatterbox. Every day, he'd ask me what I was doing, what I was eating, and send me cute stickers of puppy-eyed characters to tell me that he missed me.

Life didn't seem so lonely anymore with Julian in it.

Three days passed before Hayden sent me a picture. From the looks of it, he'd gone home to have a meal with his parents.

He said, "Hey, honey, it's been two days since we last saw each other. Why haven't you called me? How's the new place? Have you been losing sleep because I wasn't there to hold you?"

If I weren't mistaken, the fair, slender arm that somehow made it into Hayden's picture belonged to Lola.

I did not mince words with my reply. "You and Lola seem to be having a great time."

"She insisted on tagging along. It's not like I had a choice. But my parents like her and find her charming. I should have her show you a trick or two someday," Hayden pointed out.

After all, I was an orphan. No one ever taught me how to butter up older folk. Hayden knew this, too. "You're marrying me, not my parents. You don't need to know how to get along with them."

The bitter resentment I'd tried so hard to bury surged up again. I ignored Hayden after that. Come nightfall, he called me again and demanded, "The housekeeper I hired said you never dropped by the new place. Where did you go?"

I sighed. "I didn't feel like going."

Upon hearing my disgruntled tone, Hayden chuckled. "What's wrong, honey? Why are you acting out like Lola does? I told you that this was all for show. I'll still go back to our little life after I get tired of her. Come on. Just tell me where you are now, and I'll go see you."

After some consideration, I decided that it was better to end things completely with him. I said softly, "I'm at my old place, the one I was living in before we got married. You know where it is."

Hayden had always been the type to do whatever he wanted. I was worried that he might come over after he hung up, so I forced myself out of bed and waited for him in the living room.

In the end, all I saw was the faint drizzle outside the window, the wind gently tousling my hair as it rushed through.

It was a cold and rainy night. As I closed the window, I called Hayden, only to have my call rejected. It wasn't long before I received a voice note. "Tsk, she's so dramatic. I got her a fancy apartment, but she refused to stay in it and chose to return to that old neighborhood she used to live in.

"I never liked her anyway. She seemed like such an airhead at first that I thought it'd be fun to string her along. I didn't expect her to fall in love with me just because I got her a bag of roasted chestnuts every year. It's like she never had chestnuts before!"

He broke off with a laugh, then continued, "I agreed to marry her not because I didn't have options or plans to fool around behind her back. She happened to be pure and obedient, though she's so boring in the bedroom that I got tired of sleeping with her.

"Lola's still the best. She's more lively and a far better sport. Come here, babe. Give me a kiss."

The voice note abruptly ended.

My heart was torn into pieces. It would seem that ending things with Hayden amicably was no longer an option for me.

I sat in the living room listlessly until morning. I heard the metal grille outside my door rattle gently, followed by a male voice. "Elena, it's me."

My mind was blank as I padded over to the door and opened it.

It had been so long since I last saw Julian. He looked much more grounded and serious than before, and there was none of the cheekiness he showed in our texts.

He was holding a bag of roasted chestnuts.

Julian's face overlapped with Hayden's, and for a moment, the voice note replayed in my mind. I aggressively smacked the bag of roasted chestnuts out of Julian's hand as my vision blurred. "Go away! I don't want to see you!"

…

With not much happening at Hayden's company for the time being, he took Lola on vacations everywhere.

A group of them checked into a resort on the mountaintop. That afternoon, the group was soaking in and dozing off in the resort's heated jacuzzi when a loud cry jolted them to their senses.

"Holy crap! The heir to the Langley family has returned! Dude, weren't you hoping to work with the Langleys on a project or something? Now that their heir is home, you could curry favor with him."

Hayden tugged the face towel off his forehead and swam over to his friend to check out the news.

However, his friend suddenly pulled an odd expression. He stubbornly gripped his phone as if to hide the news on it. He said, "Oh, no, I was mistaken. Silly me."

No one caught the hint, for they immediately approached him when they heard this. "What do you mean? Here, let me take a look!"

"Yeah, I've seen the Langleys' heir before. I bet I could tell whether it's him in the news."

The owner of the phone watched as his phone was pried out of his grasp.

When everyone got a good look at the picture, they gasped in unison.

"Wow, it looks like he's back for a hot date! Check out this woman in his arms!"

"Huh? This woman looks a little familiar…"

Only then did they understand why their friend had faltered and claimed he was "mistaken". The picture was proof that I, Hayden's wife, was cheating on him! None of them dared to utter a single word about what they were looking at.

Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Hayden snatched the phone from his friend.

The picture was taken through the mist of the drizzle. Julian was seen getting into his car with a woman in his arms, seemingly unbothered by the rain. The woman's face was hidden from view, but Hayden recognized the shoes he'd bought for me.

Hayden had only just put two and two together when he shot to his feet and put on his clothes. Confused, everyone demanded urgently, "Dude, where are you going? Lola will be here soon!"

"Elena ran off with another man!" Hayden snapped, his face grim.

Everyone in the jacuzzi exchanged questioning looks.

Consumed by rage, all Hayden heard was an intense roaring in his head. His instincts told him that he would miss me if he didn't go and see me at my old place right now.

He made call after call to me as he sped toward my old neighborhood, not at all noticing the fancy car that drove past him in the opposite direction. The other end of the phone beeped several times, but no one picked up.

Hayden's heart was beating wildly in his chest.

He dashed up the familiar staircase of the old apartment building and kicked open the door to my unit. The entire space was empty.

Hayden froze as he was forced to accept one hard truth—I truly did not want him anymore.