Chapter 2

After washing up, I went to bed alone.

In the middle of the night, I felt a pair of warm hands slide over my body.

Yvonne's kisses were passionate, but there was a trace of complaint in her voice.

"Why didn't you wait for me? No matter how late it got, you always waited for me before going to bed."

I froze for a second. Despite feeling sleepy, I was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea.

She reminded me of just how pathetic I'd once been.

Not long after we got married, she'd started coming home later and later.

In the beginning, I waited from ten o'clock to one in the morning. Gradually, it went way past midnight and eventually reached dawn.

She hated it when I called to check on her, so all I could do was pace around the house like a restless ghost.

On good nights, she'd eventually come home, but she'd also bring home traces of other men.

On bad nights, I'd stay awake until sunrise and never see her at all.

I had fought with her, yelled at her, and turned our lives upside down over it.

She had watched it all with cold indifference. Only after I'd completely worn myself out would she deliver a cold remark.

"Stop acting like a lunatic."

Apparently annoyed that I'd drifted off in thought, Yvonne pinched my cheek. She then spoke in a tone that sounded almost like she expected praise.

"I told him off and also cut off his credit card. He'll apologize to you tomorrow."

I frowned and intercepted her wandering hands before pushing them away.

I then got out of bed and headed to the guest room.

"I have a stomachache. I'm not up for this."

Yvonne's expression stiffened. Anger flashed across her face.

She clenched her jaw and stared at me.

"You had a stomachache last week, and now it's happening again? Jason Ziegler, do you really take me for a fool?" She sneered.

I ignored her. Just as I reached for the guest room door, she ran over.

"I know you're still angry about the things I did before, but I've changed. Can't you see that?"

There was a pleading note in her voice. She grabbed my hand and pressed it against the tattoo on her chest.

[Jason.]

It was my name.

For a moment, my mind drifted back to a distant memory. We'd gotten those tattoos together when we were eighteen.

Her family wanted her to study medicine, but she wanted to follow me overseas to study instead.

After one particularly heated argument, she went out and got the tattoo.

When I found her, I broke down crying.

She hadn't used any anesthesia. Although her face had gone pale from the pain, her eyes shone brightly.

She'd touched my face and said proudly, "No one is ever taking you away from me."

Back then, I'd naively believed that was what everlasting love felt like.

That was why, years later, when another man sent me photos of himself kissing that same tattoo, something inside me had simply broken.

I couldn't feel sadness or heartbreak.

The only thing that gave me any relief was hurting myself. Watching blood flow out of my body was the only way I could catch a breath in the suffocating darkness.

I clenched my fists and smiled in a considerate way.

"You're overthinking it. I really don't feel well. Everything that happened before is in the past. Let's stop talking about it."

Yvonne froze. A flicker of guilt appeared in her eyes.

"Really?" After several seconds of silence, she said solemnly, "Then get some rest. If you really feel unwell, you should go to the hospital."

I nodded. Ignoring the longing in her eyes, I shut the door.

The next second, Jennifer Sheppard sent me a photo of the champion's trophy she'd won at her baseball tournament. It looked like she was eager for praise.

Come to think of it, I owed meeting Jennifer to Yvonne.

Three years ago, Yvonne had gotten involved with one of her students. I'd tracked them down at the school and was determined to confront him.

Yvonne protected him. She called in security to surround me before leaving with her arms around him.

A crowd gathered around me. Their eyes were full of sympathy.

That was the day I finally broke down. I climbed to the roof of the building in one desperate burst of determination.

Just as I was about to jump, someone tackled me to the ground.

It was Jennifer. She wrapped both arms around my waist and held on for dear life. Her warm breath brushed against my face.

She seemed determined to comfort me. After racking her brain for a moment, she blurted out, "If she's cheating, why can't you?"

'That's right. Why can't I?' I thought.

Jennifer was physically gorgeous, and she smelled wonderful. She was leagues above Jennifer.

From that day on, we began secretly dating.

"Great job. Keep it up."

After praising her, I switched off my phone and went to bed.