Chapter 2

[Am I... not happy, seven years from now?]

After hitting send, the chat remained dead silent for a long time.

Then, my phone rang. It was an incoming call from my own number.

I swiped to answer.

The voice flowing through the speaker was undoubtedly mine, but it sounded hollow, weathered, and drenched in soul-crushing despair.

"Seven years from now, you and Vanessa are married. The wedding was massive, straight out of a fairy tale."

"You even have a little girl named Lily."

Before a single spark of joy could ignite in my chest, his next words shattered me.

"But you aren't happy. You live in pure agony."

"Nathan never left your house. He crossed every line with Vanessa, and every single time, she excused it under the guise of family."

"Until one day, you came home early from a business trip and caught them together. In your own bed."

The voice broke, swallowed by a muffled, agonizing sob.

Hearing it felt like a serrated blade carving into my heart.

"Vanessa cried on her knees, swearing she would change. And you believed her. For the sake of the baby in her belly, you couldn't bring yourself to walk away."

"When the baby was barely seven months old, she started sleeping with him again. Slowly, she stopped feeling guilty altogether. She called you boring. She said your paranoia made you look like a lunatic."

"And eventually... even your own daughter started calling Nathan 'Daddy.'"

A photo pinged into our chat.

It was a family portrait.

Vanessa had her arm looped around Nathan's, and a sweet little girl around four or five sat on their laps, beaming at the camera.

I wasn't in the picture.

There was no room for me at all.

Listening to my own shattered voice, I felt the suffocating weight of his torment crashing over me.

Then, my mind flashed back to the very first picture he had sent—the empty bottle of pills.

My voice trembled violently.

"The pills... you took an overdose! What do I do? How do I save you? How do I save myself?!"

"Julian... are you dying right now?!"

A long, weary sigh drifted through the line, growing softer by the second.

"Probably. The pills are kicking in. Vanessa took Nathan and Lily on a weekend getaway. The housekeeper will probably find my body tomorrow."

"Break up with her, Julian."

"Walk away, and never look back!"

A loud crash echoed through the speaker as the phone slipped and shattered against the floor.

Then, the line went dead.

I collapsed to my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. It felt as if I were already in that cold, desolate room seven years from now, watching my own life bleed out into the dark.

I don't know how long I cried, but by the time I ran out of tears, the bedroom door gently clicked open.

Vanessa walked in, wrapping her arms around me as she noticed my swollen, bloodshot eyes.

"Julian, about earlier... I'm so sorry. I—"

I looked up through my tears and stared into her eyes.

"Vanessa, let's break up."