Chapter 2

After work, I went back to the big villa that Stella and I called home.

I had bought it with the commissions I earned from drinking with clients and talking myself hoarse selling houses.

The down payment alone took three years of savings. Every month after that, I still had to cover more than 4,000 in mortgage payments.

Back when we were still in our small hometown, Stella had always envied people who lived in big villas. I remembered that, and I made it happen.

But now, standing in that living room, I couldn't feel any warmth in it at all.

After a shower, I was about to go downstairs and get something to eat.

That was when I saw a bottle of stomach medicine sitting on top of the shoe cabinet at the entryway.

Stella had a bad stomach. Whenever she drank, the pain made her break out in a cold sweat, so she always kept that medicine with her.

She must have left in a hurry today and forgotten it.

I stared at the bottle, my hand frozen in midair.

Back when Stella had just started her business, she began drinking with clients every day, too.

I told her to stay home and let me support her, but she said she didn't want that. If I could drink, so could she.

Once, she drank a whole bottle of whiskey. When she came home, she threw up, and after that, the stomach pain hit so hard that she rolled around on the bed.

That night, I crouched outside the emergency room, unable to stop crying.

After that, I worked myself into the ground, hoping that one day, she wouldn't have to drink with clients or keep swallowing her pride just to keep people happy.

After hesitating for a long time, I still picked up the medicine, called a cab, and went to the hotel where her reunion was being held.

I didn't plan to go in and ruin her night. I only wanted to leave the medicine at the front desk and text her so she could pick it up herself.

As I passed a private room with the door half open, the laughter inside made me stop.

"Hey, didn't your husband just get promoted again? He's making half a million a year now, right? That's incredible!"

"Please, that's nothing compared to yours. Overseas master's degree, then straight into a Fortune 500 company."

It was Stella's classmates, comparing lives with each other.

I stood outside the door and listened, finding the whole thing pointless.

Someone suddenly turned the conversation toward Stella, their tone carrying a hint of mockery.

"Stella, why didn't that husband of yours come? You know, the one who dropped out of school and worked himself to death for you?"

Outside the room, I almost laughed.

Once, Stella had taken me to one of her college reunions, and in the restroom, I heard two people talking.

"How did Stella end up with a husband like that? He only finished high school. What does she even see in him?"

I didn't tell Stella because I didn't want to make things hard for her.

I thought Stella would brush it off the way she used to, or at least say a few words in my defense.

Instead, she went quiet for two seconds before saying lightly, "Don't bring him up. We've been divorced for a while. We were just too different. It was never going to work."

It felt as if someone had slapped me across the face.

Divorced for a while? Since when?

During the day, I was still her husband, and by night, I had become the man she had supposedly divorced long ago.

"Oh my god, you're divorced? Then who are you with now?"

Her classmates were stunned, their voices full of curiosity.

"Let me introduce him." Stella's voice sounded again, carrying a hint of pride. "This is Tanner. He has a master's degree from overseas, and he's also my current…husband."

The private room erupted.

"Wow, Stella, you really kept that quiet!"

"I knew it. I was wondering why you brought such a handsome guy with you. Turns out you'd already upgraded!"

Tanner's fluent Waldreich rang out. He said something to the server, probably asking them to switch out the bottle of red wine.

The server answered respectfully.

I looked through the crack in the door.

Stella leaned against Tanner's shoulder, her smile bright and effortless.

All at once, I felt as if the past six years had been one big joke.

I had thought all the hardship and suffering were worth it.

I thought Stella was different from everyone else, that she wouldn't look down on my education or my background.

It turned out that she was exactly the same.

She was just better at pretending than they were, and she had kept it up longer.