Chapter 2

Agnes finally looked up, her brows drawing together slightly. She was about to speak when her phone rang, cutting her off. The moment she saw the name on the screen, she put on a smile and answered the call.

“What is it, Nathan? I’ve already got your soup simmering. Isn’t the baby with you? If you’re bored, play with him for a while.”

Whoever was on the other end said something that made her pause for a moment.

She shot me a meaningful glance before replying, “He doesn’t know. Don’t worry.”

After hanging up, she turned to me. “Nathan still doesn’t know I’ve told you everything. I told him you went on a business trip. Just pretend you don’t know anything. He doesn’t want to lose you as a friend.”

Then, she ladled the soup into a thermos container and hurried toward the door.

I called after her and repeated, “I said I want a divorce.”

She turned around, looking genuinely bewildered.

“We just got married, and I’ve just had a baby. As far as everyone else is concerned, the child is yours. What exactly do you want a divorce for? Do you want everyone in our social circle laughing at us? Have some dignity. Stop making a scene.”

I snatched up the vase beside me and hurled it to the floor.

“You think I’m the one making a scene? When I was mourning my father, you two were sneaking around behind my back and sleeping together. Did either of you give me an ounce of dignity then? You two even have a child together! So why the hell am I the one who has to keep up appearances?”

My hands curled into fists, my nails digging so deep into my palms that they broke the skin. I struggled to keep the fury inside me from spilling over.

Agnes frowned and said dismissively, “You’re crazy.”

Then she slammed the door behind her and left. I watched her leave from behind until she disappeared from sight, then sank to the floor.

A moment later, my phone began buzzing incessantly with messages from Nathan.

[Ian, seriously? Your wife’s just given birth, and you’ve already gone on a business trip.]

[Your son is with me right now. Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of your wife and baby for you.

[By the way, I heard you’re taking Agnes on a honeymoon when you get back from your trip?]

[If my ex hadn’t come back into the picture, I’d be so jealous of you two.]

Then he sent me a photo. In the photo, a woman held a baby bottle in her slender fingers.

On her left ring finger sat a wedding band identical to mine. My whole body began to tremble. I could barely keep hold of my phone.

They were not even bothering to hide it from me anymore. Agnes had not so much as taken off her wedding ring.

At the same time, Nathan updated his social media feed with a single line.

[If I asked you not to leave this time, would you stay?]

The very next second, a message from Agnes appeared on my screen.

[Forget the honeymoon. You can go by yourself.]

My chest clenched so violently that I struggled to breathe. My breaths came fast and ragged, and my entire body shook.

With trembling fingers, I forced myself to type a reply in Nathan’s comment section.

[Why sneak around when I can just let you have each other?]

After posting it, I dragged my exhausted body upstairs to pack.

I could not bear to spend another second in the home I had painstakingly furnished, piece by piece, with my own hands.

However, just as I was about to leave, I found an old phone buried deep in the back of the closet.

Almost without thinking, I entered Nathan’s birthday. The phone unlocked. The lock screen was a photo of Agnes and Nathan kissing.

I opened the notes app. Every single note was about Nathan—his preferences in bed, the foods he refused to eat, and the dates of his regular checkups for his stomach condition.

Then I opened the photo gallery.

It was all about Nathan. There were photos of him asleep, photos of him absorbed in his work, and photos of him kissing Agnes passionately, both of them completely naked.

One after another, the pictures stretched all the way back to when they were twelve years old. Right up until yesterday, she had been documenting every little detail of his life.

The most amusing part was that I was also in the frame in some of the photos she had secretly taken of Nathan.

My fingers trembled so violently I could not stop them.

A human life amounted to no more than thirty thousand days, yet Agnes had taken nearly forty thousand photos of Nathan.

We had been together for three years, and aside from our wedding pictures, I could not even scrape together a single photo of the two of us. Whenever I picked up my phone and suggested taking a picture together, Agnes would frown and brush me off.

“You work in the entertainment industry. If those female fans of yours see our pictures, won't they tear me apart?”

She had never once visited me on set, not even for a single day. Yet she never missed one of Nathan's concerts.

For our honeymoon, I planned a trip to the far north of the country. However, Nathan and Agnes had traveled all over the country together, even making it to a village to see the northern lights.

They had been to the famous theme park together 27 times. No wonder she always brushed me off whenever I suggested going there for our anniversary, calling it 'boring' without a second thought.

If it was really that boring, why had she gone with him 27 times?

I forced myself to scroll through every last photo, as though punishing myself with each swipe. When I finally looked up, I realized tears had spilled from the corners of my eyes.

I put the phone back exactly where I had found it.

Then I sent a message to my agent: [I’ve decided to take on the Hollywood film project. Have Daisy come pick me up.]

I quickly got a reply: [This is amazing! I’m so glad you’re making a comeback!]

After replying to my manager, I dragged my suitcase out of the house.

However, the moment I was about to climb into a cab, someone grabbed me from behind and held on with all their strength.