Chapter 2

I continued scrolling down and saw that Sam was in the lead on the challenge board with 470 points. He was more than 100 points ahead of second place. Someone in the group tagged him in a text.

[Sam, is there something wrong with your wife's brain? Any normal woman would have realized what's going on by now.]

He replied with just a few words. [She loves and trusts me.]

Someone started to tease Sam. [Are you going to tell us next that it's because you are irresistible to women?]

Sam replied with a shrugging emoji.

Everyone started laughing.

[By the way, it's Edie's birthday in two weeks. Isn't she back in the country? What surprise will you be planning for her this time, Sam?]

[Are you going to fill a cruise ship with flowers, or get her a limited edition item?]

[Or will you be taking her on a trip with you to San Ava?]

[What would your wife do if you left with Edie?]

Someone replied right away. [Sam will definitely give Edie a big surprise. Edie is the one who got away. He got married out of spite because Edie hurt him. As for Maisie, Sam will probably find a reason to divorce her eventually.]

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the phone tightly, but I continued scrolling.

[You're right. He doesn't love that woman. If he did, he wouldn't have made her suffer so much.]

[She's like Sam's personal lapdog. All he needs to do is beckon and she will run to him with her tail wagging.]

Sam had replied with indifference. [It's too mild to call her a lapdog. She's so consumed with love that it's like late-stage cancer. She can no longer be cured.]

His words punched a huge hole in my heart. I kept looking while trying to blink away my tears, but all I could see was the hanging light that looked like it could fall at any time.

Tears streamed down my face while I wondered why there was wind in the house, blowing sand into my eyes. I refused to admit that I was heartbroken.

I wiped my tears away and put the phone back where it was.

My warm milk had turned cold, and a layer of film had formed on the top. I suddenly felt nauseous, and I ran into the bathroom to throw up. I sat on the toilet for a long time, thinking about the three years I was married to him.

We did not have a wedding because he said we should save up to buy a house. We did not have our honeymoon because he said to wait until he had money, and that he would make it up to me.

Once, my mother came to visit me secretly, and I rode an old bike to pick her up. I even had to tie a hard cardboard to the back seat to make sure my mother would be comfortable leaning back. Her eyes brimmed with tears when she climbed onto the back of the bike.

That night, she held my hand and said, "You're leading a hard life, Maisie."

I insisted that my life was not hard because Sam was a good man.

A good man? I started laughing. I could see my pale face in the bathroom mirror, and I had dark circles under my eyes.

Three years ago, I weighed 110 pounds, but I was 86 pounds now. Sam insisted that I looked nice because I was skinny, but I was really suffering from malnutrition. I even passed out several times, scaring the lights out of my boss once from my part-time job. He stopped me from going to work after that.

I turned on the tap and washed my face. I saw the woman's eyes turn red in the mirror, and she slowly laughed self-deprecatingly.

Three years of my life were equivalent to 470 points to him. I had lived my life like a joke after getting married to him.

My phone in the living room rang, and I wiped my hands before walking out of the bathroom. My phone screen lit up and displayed my wallpaper. Sam and I were looking at the camera with happy smiles and gesturing a heart with our hands.

Anyone who saw that photo of us would think that we're an ordinary, happy husband and wife duo.

"Honey, I think I left my phone at home. I'll get a despatch to help pick it up."

The call was from Sam.

"You don't need to trouble anyone. I can deliver the phone to you."

Sam rejected my offer right away. "You don't need to do that!" He realized how unfriendly his tone was, and he softened it. "I just don't want you to exert yourself, Honey. You work several part time jobs a day, and I just hate myself for being useless and unable to give you a comfortable life."

He was doing it again. Sam would always say things like that whenever money was involved, but this time, I did not say any comforting words to him. "Why did you marry me if you knew that you couldn't give me a good life?"

"..." Sam was speechless.