Chapter 2

Instantly snapping back to her senses, she shoved me away, looking wary and withdrawn.

“No! Absolutely not! Go and get some protection right now! I don’t want a baby right now.”

Back then, she had firmly refused for fear of getting pregnant with my child. Yet right now, she was begging to carry another man’s child.

Finn’s mood instantly lifted, and he kissed her passionately again. “Doesn’t your husband question you? Won’t he check up on you if you don’t go home for seven days?”

Stella snorted smugly and dismissed it. “He believes whatever I say. Right now, he’s probably at home waiting for my ’quarantine’ to end so I can go back.”

Finn looked down at her, his eyes filled with admiration and satisfaction. “Stella, you’re so mean. You’re playing him like a fool.”

Stella paused in her tracks and gently kissed Finn on the chin. “Either way, no matter how much he throws a fit this time, I won’t send you away again.”

She stood on her tiptoes, resting her forehead against his. “I’ve had enough of this for three years.”

I stood there, completely still. Beneath my cap, tears streamed down my face.

After buying their items, they walked back and passed right by me. The scent of Stella’s perfume drifted over, and Finn held her close as they strolled past.

As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, I crouched down and buried my face into my knees.

My phone lit up. A message had arrived from Stella.

[The Wi-Fi at the hotel is terrible, so I’ll call you later. Go to bed early. Love you.]

I stared at the message and suddenly let out a hollow laugh. Tears dripped onto the screen, blurring the hypocritical word “love.”

It was already past midnight when I got home. I sat on the couch, staring at the framed wedding photo hanging on the wall. Stella had her arms around me, and she was smiling so brightly her eyes crinkled.

Back then, the photographer had remarked, “Aw, look at the way she looks at him.”

I stood up and walked into the bedroom. I rummaged through the drawers to search for our marriage certificate. I wanted a divorce.

I couldn’t find the marriage certificate, but I accidentally uncovered a velvet-lined box. Driven by an irresistible urge, I pulled it out and opened it.

Inside was a stack of photos, and every one of them was of Finn. In one of them, he was seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a white shirt and turning back with a bright smile in the sunlight, his eyes full of light.

On the back of the photo was Stella’s sharp, distinctive handwriting. “My sunshine at fifteen years old.”

The next photo showed a twenty-year-old Finn leaning down to kiss Stella on the cheek. Stella was looking at the camera with a tenderness I had never seen before. Picture after picture captured Finn’s journey from adolescence to manhood.

At the very bottom of the box was a piece of condom wrapper. I stared at it, and my mind went blank. That wrapper was proof of Stella losing her virginity. Suddenly, the vivid scenes from that night three years ago came rushing back.

Back when we were in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, Stella took me to meet Finn, introducing him as a boy she had raised. She had picked him up when he was fifteen and raised him until he was twenty-two, caring for him like a son.

Finn was very polite to me. He offered a smile as he said, “Hi, Connor.”

Yet, his eyes remained fixed on Stella the entire time. It was so intense that it made me feel uneasy.

A few days after that, I received a video call from Finn. I answered it, and a bed popped up on the screen. Lying on it, however, was Stella, whose eyes were closed and face flushed red.

Finn’s voice came through. “Connor, look closely.”

He then climbed onto the bed and began unbuttoning her clothes. I rushed over like a madman, but by the time I kicked the door open, everything was over.

Wrapped in a blanket that exposed the scratch marks on his back, Finn looked at me as I burst in. He tilted his head, an innocent yet evil smile on his face.

“Connor, you’re too late. Stella lost her virginity to me.”