Chapter 2

After some time, I’ve made plenty of set ups including several camera lenses placed at concealed corners of the room, and used her ID to make a list of her call records. Afterwards, I bought a massage chair worth a few grand for my in-laws—my father-in-law especially had a bad back after he worked as a teacher for his whole career.

He had complained to me a few times before, although I had yet to spare time to buy one before.

“Try it. Just lie down, and I’ll adjust the angle…” I muttered as I diligently fiddled with the controls.

“Why would you buy such an expensive one? It’s not like you and Scarlet earn that much…” My father-in-law complained with a frown, but there was no hiding the smile in his eyes, and it was very obvious that he was very pleased with the gift.

“We earn money to spend it anyway. And what’s some spare change in return for your good health?”

As I spoke, I raised the seat and my father-in-law’s expression eased.

At the same time, I remembered the distant past—Scarlet had always been neutral to me when I first met her on our blind date. However, I always maintained a distance while we walked, and would lean towards the other side of her chair at the cinema. Then, on another occasion when I was driving her home, I inadvertently brushed my fingers against hers when we alighted. Even so, she appeared jolted from that brief, light touch, and she shrunk back with wariness in her eyes. All of those signs left me with the impression that it was a dud.

That was why it was surprising when she suddenly suggested we get married a month later.

For once, she showed warmth towards me, and as she linked arms with me, she said, “We’re no longer young—I’m twenty-seven and you’re twenty-nine. Moreover, I think you’re an honest person, and we could get our marriage registered when we have the time.”

Surprised, I asked, “Have you really thought this through? Marriage is not a game, you know.”

“Why are you afraid if I’m not? However, you must promise to be nice to me… oh, by the way, my parents have two little requests: the first is to get a house in the city, and it doesn’t have to be that huge. The second is to help settle our family debt temporarily—my family owes our relatives a few hundred thousand dollars for my mother’s surgery last year.”

As she leveled a loving look at me, I was a little captivated because that was the first time I had ever seen it.

Moreover, those requests were not out of line, and I quickly agreed to it.

The wedding was grand, with all the guests invited filling one hall, while some of the more distant relatives had to wait for a second seating after they had arrived at the venue.

Scarlet was really beautiful that day—her wedding gown accentuated her figure perfectly, baring her fair, smooth back, long legs, and beautiful shoulders. Her makeup was properly done and she was enthusiastic in greeting my upperclassmen. I felt buoyed since everyone was telling me that I had found myself a good wife, so I had a little to drink. I had just left to the washroom to wash my face, but my classmates were soon rushing in to pull me out, intent on stopping me from fleeing.

Even as I was virtually dragged outside, I found Scarlet speaking to someone, and called her name loudly. I could see her cheeks paling even as she turned towards me, and her lips were twitching.

“What’s wrong? Did your friend just arrive?” I asked with a drunken tone.

“N-No… he’s just a former classmate,” Scarlet stammered.

“Well, why are you just standing there? Ask him to join us inside the guest hall.”

“Oh—he’s only stopping by since he has something else to do,” she replied even as she hastily came to snuggle up to me.

I couldn’t help looking up over where she had been standing, and saw a man leaving in a flash.

It was a little weird, but I didn’t dwell on it at the time.

Then, on our first night, I impatiently undressed, pushed her down on bed, and began showering kisses all over her cheeks, but Scarlet put a hand over my chest and whispered, “Stop, not tonight. I’m on my period.”

“Talk about bad timing…” I growled unhappily.

“What are you talking about? I’m already yours—what’s the rush?” Scarlet asked.

Now that I thought about it, she might have been lying to me from the start, and the image I had of her in my mind could have well been merely an act.

Like a snake lurking in the bushes that one presumes to be a colored rope, it scares the living daylights out of you when you accidentally step on it.

There was more damning evidence, too—when I took out the trash from the washroom, I found no sanitary pads, nor any traces of bleeding on her panties.

A week later, we visited her parents, where I learned that her mother had only had a minor surgery and they didn’t have to take a loan from their relatives.

And after a month, she suffered from a major illness after she left on a business trip, and needed a month to recover. She told me at the time that she had kidney stones, but if my hunch was right, she must have been getting an abortion.

That bitch.

I couldn’t help gritting my teeth.

“Come on, Kevin—have a few more glasses with your father-in-law… by the way, why isn’t Scarlet coming home tonight?” my mother-in-law asked me even as she put the last plate of food on the dining table and wiped her hands.

“Oh… She said that something came up at work, but she’ll be visiting next week,” I answered with a grin.

That was when my phone vibrated.

Swiping my screen to unlock it, I saw Scarlet and a man entering my house. She carefully checked the corridors before shutting the door and embracing that man.