Chapter 3

I stared at Audrey in shock.

She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around my waist, and leaned in to kiss me. "I have something to do today, even though it's our wedding anniversary. I'll ask my best friend, Claire, to keep you company."

I grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"

She laughed softly and gently shook me off. "You know where I'm going. I'll make it up to you tomorrow. I have a prenatal checkup today."

I stared at her in confusion. What prenatal checkup? Whose child was it?

She laughed again. "Look at you. Yesterday, you were the one insisting on a divorce. Now you're the one who can't bear to let me go. So stop making a scene. You're the one who won't be able to stand it if you leave me."

I had no idea what she was talking about. All I knew was that she called Claire Bennett.

"Yeah, we're not getting divorced anymore. He pretended to have amnesia and gave me an excuse to back down, so how could I not take it?"

Claire's voice came through the phone. "That illness is something you'd use to fool a child. Even if he really did forget, I'm an expert in this field. Can't I just treat him and make him remember?"

"I almost wish he'd really forgotten!" Audrey set a plate of pancakes in front of me. "That way, he'd love me a little less for now. Once I've had my fun and come back, he can remember me again. I'd get some peace in the meantime."

Claire teased her for dreaming. There was no such convenient condition that let someone forget whenever they wanted and remember whenever they pleased.

Before Audrey left, she reminded the maid to go easy on the maple syrup in my pancakes. I didn't like sweet food.

As I took in everything around me, I began to understand.

I must have lost some of my memories. But my memories had only begun to fade after Audrey stopped loving me. That meant she had betrayed me.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Claire pushed open the door. "Hey, Theo. I brought you your favorite mulberry wine."

I headed downstairs.

Claire had always been good at reading people, and the moment she saw me, she deliberately began telling me exactly what I wanted to hear

"Back when you and Audrey were living under a bridge, you couldn't bear to see her suffer. When you were trying to get your business off the ground, you worked three jobs at once. Whenever you were exhausted, you loved having a glass of mulberry wine."

She poured me a glass. "It still tastes exactly like it did back then. The owner of the shop that used to sell it has already retired. Audrey actually paid him nearly 40,000 dollars to teach her how to make it herself."

I took a sip and immediately choked on the harsh burn.

"He didn't retire. His business probably went under because nobody could stand drinking this stuff!" I grumbled.

Claire froze, her eyes widening. "What did you say? This used to be your favorite wine. You said drinking it helped you remember a lot of things from the past!"

"Could you stop making me sound like the tragic male lead in some melodrama?" My gaze slowly settled on her. "Audrey has so much money. Were we really living under a bridge?"

Her eyes widened even further, shock written all over her face. "You didn't have any money when you first started your business. Audrey only became wealthy 10 years ago. The first thing she did after becoming successful was marry you. She said that without you, she never would have become the woman she is today."

"Audrey and I have only been married for 5 years! Where did 10 years come from?" I gave her an easy smile. "All right. I need to go to the hospital."

"No, that's not right. Something's wrong!" Claire blocked my path. "Theo, you really don't remember?"

I changed my shoes and replied helplessly, "I remember. I remember everything, all right? I need to go to the hospital for a checkup."

I ignored the panic in Claire's eyes and headed straight for the hospital.

The moment I got into my car, my client sent me a series of photos.

In them, Connor was supporting a woman outside a maternity examination room as she underwent a prenatal checkup.

I was about to congratulate him when I suddenly noticed that the hands holding her looked strangely familiar.

Connor: [She says you're like a dead fish in bed. Just looking at your face is enough to kill her mood.]

Connor: [I heard it's your wedding anniversary today. Happy anniversary. I'm borrowing your wife for the day.]

As I stared at the messages, the blood in my veins turned ice-cold.

…

I raced to the hospital like a madman.

The moment I spotted that familiar figure, my heart sank.

Connor nestled against her like a docile little wildcat. "Aren't you afraid your hubby will see us and divorce you?"

Audrey took the pen from the nurse and handed it to Connor. He wrote his name in the space reserved for the child's father.

Audrey smiled. "We've been together for 20 years. We're so used to having each other around that neither of us knows any other way to live. Where could he possibly go if he left me?"

"Twenty years of love, and you still betrayed him?" He tugged at her tie. It wasn't a question. He was deliberately provoking her.

Audrey pinched his cheek. "Still haven't heard enough? He's cold by nature. He's nowhere near as adventurous in bed as you are, so it's hard for me to feel much desire when I'm with him. But I won't divorce him because I still love him."

"Women really do want everything!" Connor lightly punched her. "You want the vitality of a younger man, but you also want the lifelong companionship of someone who's stayed by your side through everything!"

Audrey gave him a light kiss on the lips. "So don't show up in front of him. It'll be better for both of us."

Connor looked displeased. Audrey opened her mouth to placate him, but then she raised her head and saw me.

Her expression froze. "Theo?"

"I heard everything." I looked at her, surprised by how calm my voice sounded. "You've had a child with another man. You cheated on me. You betrayed me."

Audrey hurried over and grabbed my hand. "Listen to me. Don't make a scene!"

I yanked my hand free. "Audrey, let's get a divorce!"

To my surprise, she didn't panic. Instead, she regarded me calmly as her expression turned cold. "What's the point?"

"What?" I couldn't understand what she meant.

She slowly closed the distance between us until I had no choice but to retreat against the wall.

"I'm asking you, what's the point of constantly threatening me with divorce? You're not young anymore. Stop acting like a child just to get attention. You ask me for a divorce one day, regret it the next, and now you're pretending to have amnesia?"

Claire's voice suddenly rang out behind us. "Audrey!"

She hurried over and pulled us apart, breathless by the time she managed it. "T-Theo... Something's wrong with him."

Audrey said nothing. She simply gestured for Claire to continue.

"He seems to have really forgotten…"