Chapter 3

3

Before this, I still held onto a tiny bit of hope. I hoped he would explain, that maybe I was just misunderstanding everything.

But he didn't even bother to deny it. Instead, he met my pain with an interrogation.

"Gideon, do you even remember that I'm your wife?"

My hands shook as I pulled the diagnostic report from my bag. "I went for a check-up yesterday. The doctor said I have acute leukemia and only a few months to live. Could you..." I stared at him, searching for a reaction. When I mentioned the leukemia, he only slightly knit his brows.

"Why did you stop talking?" He finally looked at me when I trailed off. Our eyes met, and his were filled with nothing but mockery. "Keep going. Keep making up your little story!"

With a swift flick of his hand, he slapped the diagnostic report out of my hand and onto the floor.

"Callista Thorne, do you know what I hate most about you? Your constant lies."

"You'll say anything to get what you want, won't you? Leukemia? Ha! Do you really think I'm stupid enough to believe such a pathetic lie?"

My voice was trembling. "We've been together for so many years. Do you really not know what kind of person I am?"

He didn't answer.

After a long, tense silence, I asked him another question.

"Gideon, do you... do you not love me anymore?" I stared into his eyes, but I couldn't find a trace of the love that used to be there.

There was only a cold, chilling sense of being a stranger.

I looked away, my eyes stinging.

Gideon pulled his arm away and waited a long time before responding. "Callista, I don't like women who are too smart for their own good."

With that, he turned and left, leaving me with nothing but the sight of his back once again.

The candles on the table had already burned out. The chocolate cake I usually loved now tasted more bitter than poison.

Gideon and I were childhood sweethearts. My parents divorced early; my father remarried a stepmother, and my mother raised me all by her lonesome.

Being looked down upon and bullied by classmates made those days the darkest time of my life. I used to close myself off from everyone.

Gideon was like a ray of sunshine, constantly encouraging me and staying by my side through the hardest moments.

He was my savior, and over time, he filled my entire heart.

The confession, the proposal, the wedding―everything happened so naturally.

We were the couple everyone envied, going from high school sweethearts to husband and wife. He loved me deeply, and I always believed he was a good husband.

Perhaps he was just born to crave excitement and challenge. Three years of peaceful married life hadn't been enough to satisfy his need for something new. He had grown bored.

And so, a third person entered our lives. But I never imagined it would be my best friend from high school, Maren Vance.

Maren had moved abroad for college after high school, and we had lost touch after that.

I found out she was back by pure accident.

I had gone to Gideon's office to bring him some soup. Through the door, I saw her sitting with him. They were so intimate, not even caring if someone saw them.

I couldn't even describe how I felt in that moment. It was a messy tangle of emotions I couldn't untangle.

I stood at the door for a long time, said nothing, and then ran away like a coward.

Later, I learned that Maren had been working as Gideon's secretary for nearly two months.

Two months... I thought back to all the times Gideon claimed he was working late.

I had been completely in the dark. As her friend, she hadn't even told me she was back. If I hadn't walked in on them, I would still be a fool.

Gradually, Gideon stopped coming home.

He went on more and more business trips with Maren. The scent of a strange perfume was constantly on him, and he became increasingly dismissive of me.

On our wedding day, he promised me "forever and never to betray me."

After Maren appeared, all of that changed.

Gideon lied to me, and I lied to myself. I tried my best to play the fool, pretending I didn't know anything.

I even tried to get pregnant, thinking a child could tie his heart back to me.

But today, when I finally tore off the last piece of the veil, I realized how wrong I was.

Logic told me I should leave this man.

But in the end, I couldn't find the strength to do it. Years of history made it impossible to just walk away.

Yet now, I just felt so incredibly exhausted.