Chapter 3

3.

I met Julian on a blind date.

I was 26, and my family was starting to push me to get married. He was the best of the bunch.

He was gentle and refined, tall and well-built, with a master's degree from a top university. Every move he made was gentlemanly.

I asked him, "How many relationships have you been in?"

He looked a little shy, smiling as he looked down. "To be honest, this is my first real relationship."

"Your first?"

Julian saw my wide-eyed disbelief. "Is it that hard to believe?"

After that, he pursued me relentlessly.

And Julian wasn't lying.

He just failed to mention the woman who had always lived in his heart, the ghost of a past love he could never forget.

After we got married, Julian and I started a media relations firm together. We built it from scratch, and in just a few years, the young artists we signed were starting to make a name for themselves.

When we were registering the company, I asked him what we should call it.

The name came to him instantly. "Let's call it Aura Media."

It wasn't until three years into our marriage that I found out why.

One night, he came home completely wasted. The driver had to carry him upstairs. He was barely conscious. I'd never seen him so drunk in the three years we'd been together.

He kept mumbling a name over and over again. "Audrey, Audrey, I miss you so much."

Audrey? Who was Audrey?

I imagined a million possibilities, preparing myself for the worst.

I stayed up all night, taking care of him as he got sick again and again.

The next morning, Julian woke up and saw me slumped over by his bed. He gently stroked my face. "You must be exhausted, honey."

I forced a smile. "I heard you calling for someone named Audrey all night. Who is she?"

He clearly didn't expect such a direct question. He shot up in bed.

After a long silence, he finally spoke. "It's not what you think between me and Audrey."

"Then what is it?" I pressed.

He lit a cigarette. "Audrey and I grew up together. She went abroad a few years ago. But don't worry, nothing ever happened between us."

Disappointment washed over me, a cold wave from head to toe.

I looked at the man I had shared a bed with for over three years, and suddenly, he felt like a stranger.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "So all those business trips to London every year... you were going to see her?"

He looked down, silent.

From that day on, Julian and I became strangers living under the same roof.

But fate has a twisted sense of humor. Two months later, at a routine check-up, I found out I was pregnant.