The Message I Finally Understand

On my birthday, I go out to eat with my family. I make a wish, hoping that we will always stay happily together.

When I open my eyes, I see my son, Luigi Marino, holding up his tablet.

On the screen, a line of text reads, "Dad, Maria says she's pregnant with your baby. Am I going to get a new mom?"

Giovanni Marino is busy taking pictures of me with a Polaroid. He glances at the screen casually before writing a reply on the back of the photo.

"No. I made a promise with your mom. If either of us betrays the other, we will have to disappear from the other's life forever.

"I can't live without your mom. So, you have to help me keep this from her.

"Even if Maria's baby is born, they will never appear in front of your mom."

After writing that, he looks at me and asks in a gentle voice, "What's wrong, my love? Why are your eyes red? Did the smoke from the candles irritate them?"

My tears are about to fall, but I force a smile and reply, "I'm fine. The birthday gift you all prepared for me is wonderful. I'm so touched that I can't help but cry."

He doesn't know that my dyslexia was cured a week ago.

It seems I no longer have to hesitate about the job offer from a well-known international nonprofit that teaches children with dyslexia how to read.

The paperwork will be done in seven days. When that time comes, I will disappear from their world completely.

...

"Giovanni, what were you just writing? I'm curious."

Under the table, my hand clenched tight, my nails digging into my palm. But I felt nothing.

"Just wishes for you. Luigi wished you a happy birthday on the tablet just now. I can't let his love for you outshine mine."

Giovanni Marino picked up the photo and kissed the image of me making a wish. "I didn't even ask. What did you wish for? Your husband can make it come true."

"No need," I said softly. "I wished for our whole family to stay happy together forever."

He froze for a moment, then pulled me into his arms, deeply moved. "Chiara Faraci, you really know how to make me love you! What a beautiful wish. Why wouldn't you say it all these years?"

Yeah. I never said it. Because I was afraid that if I said it out loud, it wouldn't come true.

Only now did I realize that I had been making things difficult for the god all along. What I wished for was never something that could come true.

My chest tightened painfully. I reached for my wine glass and accidentally knocked it over. Red liquid spread across the white tablecloth, spilling over the edge and dripping onto my dress.

Giovanni immediately grabbed napkins and dropped to one knee to wipe it. His brows were tightly knit, and his voice was urgent and fierce. "Is the wine cold? Which idiot put it there? It shouldn't have been there! Where's the manager? Get them over here!"

His eyes were full of concern. The servers nearby looked at me with envy. But I felt like an actress who had lost her script, unsure how to play along.

Everyone knew that the Donna was the Achilles' heel of Giovanni Marino, the most powerful Don in Cyrese. Yet, the very man known for loving his wife so deeply had taken advantage of my dyslexia to deceive me without restraint.

I caught his wrist and shook my head. "It's fine. I'm a little tired. I want to head back first."

Giovanni immediately stood up, ready to go with me. But our son, Luigi Marino, suddenly tugged at his sleeve and shoved a phone into his hand. "Papa, your phone has been vibrating for ages. Take it!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it clearly. The contact name on the screen read "Little Baby Maria".

If I remembered correctly, Giovanni once said he'd saved my contact as "Big Baby".

His expression changed instantly. He ended the call without thinking. When he saw that I didn't react, he tapped Luigi lightly on the head. "What did your Mamma teach you? Don't answer someone else's phone. You must check who it is first."

Luigi stuck out his tongue, unconcerned. "Mamma can't read anyway. She always gets tricked. I can read. I just wanted you to answer."

A dull ache spread through my chest. Did he like Maria Lorenzo that much that even when celebrating my birthday with me, he couldn't bear to ignore her call?

I pulled my hand free and pressed Giovanni back into his seat. "If you've got something to handle, go ahead. I can go back on my own."

I turned and left, giving him no chance to stop me.

At the elevator, I saw Maria step out from the elevator across the hall. She didn't notice me. She just walked straight toward the private room next to mine, the one filled with Giovanni's friends.

Luigi immediately ran over to greet her, his voice bright with excitement. "Maria, you're finally here! I suggested throwing you a party to celebrate your pregnancy. Do you like it?"

"I love it. But more than the party, I love you, Luigi!"

Hearing that, Luigi tilted his face up, letting Maria kiss his cheek. The familiarity between them was as if they were the real mother and son.

Holding Luigi, Maria walked straight to the center seat, right beside Giovanni. He didn't push her away. He even wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Oh, wow! She just came, and you're already so clingy. You two really can't keep your hands off each other." His friends joked, completely unfazed by this scene.

Luigi even grinned and walked off, giving them space.

So, everyone knew about them. Everyone but me.

"Gio." Maria leaned against his shoulder, guiding his hand onto her stomach. "The celebration's already done. What do you plan to do about Chiara? You can't keep hiding this once the baby's born."

Giovanni's expression turned cold instantly. "Chiara is not to find out."

"What are you worried about?" His friends burst into laughter. "She's dyslexic. Even if you put the chat logs right in front of her, she wouldn't be able to read it. As long as everything's on paper, you'll always look like the perfect husband to her."

"Exactly! Papa, don't worry. Mamma won't find out. She's basically blind!" Luigi shouted. "Last time, when she went to school to accept my award, she didn't even realize she was holding the certificate upside down!"

Laughter filled the room. But I felt like I'd fallen into an icy abyss. I didn't even know how I managed to stumble out.

The neon lights on the street were dazzling. Yet, all I saw was a blur. I couldn't see clearly. I couldn't understand anything.

He always said our love story was a book that would never end. But now, the story of his life had already begun a new chapter with someone else.

And I couldn't even read the ending he'd written for me.