Chapter 1

Matthew's POV

When our eyes met, a flicker of surprise crossed my wife Janice Hyde's face, but it quickly disappeared as she regained her composure.

She glanced briefly at our son, Timmy Powell, frowning slightly at his tear-streaked face.

"Did you not take a cab here? How could you be so stingy like this?"

She then lifted her chin slightly and said to her assistant, "Nicole, get him into a cab. I just remembered that I have a project to inspect today and I can't give him a ride after all."

I was so stunned that my mind had gone blank. I'd just thought of questioning her when her assistant, Nicole Torres, practically dragged me out of the car and into another.

The cab door had only just closed when I received a text message from Janice.

"Go home first. I'll explain later."

The last message I'd received from her was just last night, when she'd lovingly texted, "I miss you so much, honey. Working overtime is so tough. I wish I could just come home and cuddle with you."

I shakily replied, "How could you do this to me and Timmy, Janice?"

However, the message only had one gray tick, whilst the rest of her messages had two blue ticks. I knew then that she'd blocked my number.

I refused to give up and tried calling her, but just as I expected, I was only met with the cold robotic voice telling me that her number couldn't be reached.

My breathing quickened as my chest heaved. Just then, my phone screen lit up again. This time, it was a notification from a well-known stay-at-home dad influencer, Saul Hickman, who'd just posted on his X account.

The image he posted was that of me, thanking him with a grateful expression on my face as I held Timmy's new secondhand stroller at his front porch.

His caption read, "I was bored at home and started decluttering, and unexpectedly helped out a struggling dad. His child wasn't doing well either.

"I don't know if his mother cruelly abandoned him or if something bad happened to her. But anyway, we're both stay-at-home dads, and I'm so thankful to my wonderful wife for providing me with such a comfortable life.

"I would never have realized just how blessed I was had I not seen another dad struggling even more than I was.

"I promise that I will continue doing my best in the future to help out more struggling parents."

The comments in the comments section below the post were full of praise and encouraging words for his kindness.

And yet, there were also a handful of people there criticizing me for forcing my wife to give birth despite being so poor, suggesting that I might even have trapped my wife in the marriage by getting her pregnant and blaming me for the child's suffering.

I got so mad that my chest wouldn't stop heaving. I scrolled through his posts with trembling fingers.

While my wife told me she was busy working overtime at the company during Christmas for triple pay, she was actually on vacation in Herwaii with Saul and their daughter.

And at that time, I had tried to ease her burdens by taking up DoorDash orders and working well into the night on Christmas Day, with Timmy on my back.

However, I got knocked over by a motorcycle and hit my head on the asphalt while protecting Timmy. Then, I went to the hospital by myself without telling Janice lest she worry about me.

Once, when gold prices soared to an all-time high, Saul showed his collection of gold bars and ingots at home, spread out all over the bed.

The caption read, "I'm so lucky to have such a compassionate and understanding wife. When I saw that gold prices had soared, I went behind her back and bought all these gold bars without her knowing. But the prices dropped as soon as I got them.

"Yet, she didn't chide me when she found out about it and just praised me for being so far-sighted and thinking on behalf of the family's future."

As for me, I had correctly predicted the rise of gold prices and talked to Janice about taking out some of our savings to buy some gold before the rush. Yet, she yelled at me and said, "And where did you get that fake information from? Some sort of shady finance guru again?

"Can't you be more considerate of me for once, Matthew Powell? I'm stressed out and tired enough from working overtime at the office all day. Will you just stop reading those stupid get-rich-quick schemes from rubbish books and quit dreaming of striking it rich all the time?"

I continued scrolling. There were photos of Janice breastfeeding, but with her back to the camera. Saul's caption was also a gloating one.

"I heard that women nowadays are afraid of pain and refuse to breastfeed their babies, but my wife insisted on breastfeeding our daughter even though it hurts so much that it drives her to tears at times.

"It's all because she believes that babies who aren't breastfed will suffer from illnesses and immunity problems, and she doesn't want our precious daughter to risk anything."

I suddenly tasted something metallic in my mouth. It wasn't until then that I realized I'd gritted my teeth so hard that my gums were beginning to bleed.

After giving birth to Timmy, Janice absolutely refused to breastfeed him. She gave the excuse that she was tired from working all day, and if she were to breastfeed him again, it would be akin to Timmy sucking all the life out of her. She even blamed me for not being considerate of her.

However, her take-home pay and my measly DoorDash tips just weren't enough for us to afford any proper formula for Timmy. I had no choice but to buy the cheapest brand from the dollar store and add a little more water to it than necessary to stretch it out.

During Timmy's routine check-ups, the pediatrician said that Timmy was severely malnourished and showed signs of developmental delays.

Upon hearing this, Janice broke down in tears and hugged me tightly, swearing that she would make it up to me and Timmy after she'd managed to earn enough money for the family.

However, I never imagined that she would just end up learning how to care for another man's daughter from my son's suffering.

In despair, I picked up my phone and sent a text message to a number that I hadn't contacted in a very, very long time.

"Does your previous promise still stand?"