All Chapters of Ten Years, One Lie: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My hand shook as I called Marielle, my heart pounding.As long as she didn't answer, everything I'd just seen wasn't real.A second later, Marielle—still holding the baby—pulled out her phone.She clearly hesitated for a few seconds. Then she rejected the call.My phone went silent at the exact same moment.I was standing just around the corner behind them, close enough to hear every word."Honey, you're on baby duty tonight. I've been carrying Owen around all day. My arms are about to fall off."Chase had always been proud. In all these years, hardly any woman had ever caught his eye, and this was the first time I'd seen him so attentive and gentle.Marielle leaned in and kissed him on the lips, her voice sugary sweet. "My poor husband. Go home and get some rest."Husband.That one word shattered the last of my illusions.The ring box in my hand seemed to burn, as if it were mocking me for how stupid I'd been all these years.Chase had been secretly married for two years.

I couldn't hold back. I swept everything on the desk onto the floor. Betrayal and humiliation flooded through me until I felt almost numb.Chase and I had grown up together. We'd been best friends who told each other everything.When we were sixteen, he'd watched Marielle chase after me with everything she had.I was the top student. Marielle was the "problem kid."When Chase found out Marielle and I were together, he was dead set against it and went after her every chance he got.He made a bet with her: she had to make the honor roll before she'd be good enough to date me.Marielle studied like her life depended on it. Two months later, she actually made it.When she walked up to me holding her report card, I happily pulled her into my arms.Marielle hugged me back and shot Chase a defiant look.His face instantly turned ugly. He couldn't say a word.Back then, I'd completely missed the disappointment and resentment in his eyes.After college, Marielle decided to start her

The next moment, Marielle's mother, Diane Knox, came storming over. She jabbed a finger in my face and spat at me as she screamed."Weston, you've got some nerve showing your face here!"When Marielle was pregnant, we told you to come home and marry her, and you wouldn't listen. You insisted on chasing your career overseas. Was that job more important than Marielle?"Now Marielle's finally found a man who's willing to be there for her. They're a happy little family of three, and you have the gall to come here and make a scene? You're a failure, and you dare blame other people? Thank God my daughter never married you!"She looked at me with contempt and announced in front of everyone, "Chase is the only son-in-law I'll ever accept. If you want to marry Marielle, it'll be over my dead body!"At that, even Marielle's expression changed.The relatives around us all turned on me, their words vicious."Useless loser. All these years and he couldn't give Marielle a home, and now he sho

After seeing me off, Marielle felt hollow inside.She'd seen me off more times than she could count over these five years, but never once had it been this hard to let me go.That night, Marielle worked out the time difference and eagerly placed a video call.The next second, it was declined.She called again. This time, no one picked up.She immediately switched to a regular call. Same result.Whenever we'd fought before, she'd been the one ignoring my calls while I called over and over.Now it was her turn to know how that worry felt.With no other choice, Marielle sent a message: "Weston, pick up. Don't make me worry."I still didn't reply.Marielle didn't get a moment of real sleep that night. She kept waking up to check her phone, and it woke Owen up too.For the first time, she didn't rush to comfort him. Her eyes stayed glued to her screen, terrified of missing a single message.But even after Owen had cried himself back to sleep, there was still nothing from me.She

I saw Marielle again two days later.The rainy season in Wrenmouth always dragged on forever. I'd barely seen a clear day since I arrived.Marielle stood under an umbrella on the street corner across from my office for hours, still as a statue.She'd been coming for days. Every time she started walking toward me, I got straight into my car and drove off.There was nothing left to say between us, and I didn't want to keep getting tangled up with her.But Marielle was stubborn. She came and waited there every single day.Sometimes she forgot her umbrella and got soaked to the bone.She looked forlorn, like an abandoned child.This time, I didn't run. I walked straight toward her.The moment she saw me, her eyes lit up."Weston, you finally agreed to see me!"A violent gust of wind tore the umbrella from her hand and sent it to the ground.She didn't care. She rushed over and threw her arms around me."I'm sorry, Weston. I really know I was wrong. Punish me however you want,