Chapter 2

I began packing my things.

Five years of marriage packed down into a single twenty-four-inch suitcase, with plenty of room to spare.

It was almost funny. Emptying Julian Vance out of my heart left a hollow void so vast that nothing in this house was worth taking to fill it.

Close to midnight, the front door finally clicked open.

Julian walked in, with Chloe trailing right behind him.

Both of their coats reeked of rich, spicy takeout.

Julian had a terrible stomach, so for five whole years, I never cooked a single spicy meal at home.

Whenever I craved spicy noodles, he complained that the pungent smell lingered in the air and ruined his focus while reading research papers.

He always bragged about his strict discipline and ironclad principles.

Even as his wife, I was never granted a single exception.

Chloe, however, made every single one of his rules vanish into thin air.

Seeing me standing in the living room, Chloe flashed an innocent, polished smile.

"Stella! You're still awake? Julian and I got so caught up refining the algorithms that we completely lost track of time before grabbing a bite."

Before I could answer, she spun around, looking at Julian with practiced intimacy.

"Julian, should I put the cake you bought me in the fridge?"

I instantly recognized the luxury bakery logo on the box.

It was from the trendiest patisserie downtown, famous for their grueling two-hour lines.

Last year on my birthday, I told Julian I wanted a slice of their signature strawberry shortcake. He came home with a cheap convenience store roll cake instead.

*"I don't have hours to waste in line, Stella. Sugar is sugar. It all tastes the same."*

Yet tonight, he was holding their exclusive, limited-edition mango crepe cake.

They only made a few dozen boxes a day. You had to wait at least forty minutes just to get through the door.

As if worried I hadn't noticed, Chloe smiled sweetly.

"Our dataset looked incredible tonight, so Julian insisted on spoiling me with a treat."

"I'm completely stuffed from dinner, though. Stella, would you mind slicing it for me?"

I didn't reach for the box. I just looked at her calmly.

"I'm severely allergic to mangoes."

Julian looked up, annoyance instantly creasing his forehead.

"Nobody asked you to eat it. Is cutting a slice going to kill you?"

Chloe immediately put on a show of thoughtful sweetness.

"It's fine, Julian. Stella might just be feeling tired tonight."

Predictably, Julian's irritation spiked higher.

"Chloe is actively giving you an out, Stella. How long are you going to keep acting this sensitive?"

Last year, Chloe had brought the exact same mango cake over.

I wore rubber gloves while slicing it, but my wrists still broke out in painful hives all night long.

Julian had barely spared me a glance back then.

*"It's probably just irritation from dish soap. Buy a gentler brand next time."*

Yet right now, when Chloe gave a tiny, delicate cough, Julian was already handing her a glass of warm water and a throat lozenge.

"You know your throat gets scratchy so easily. Why did you eat so much spicy food?"

Chloe took the candy, her voice slipping into that perfectly calibrated, helpless tone.

"Running experiments all day burns me out! I just wanted something with real flavor."

Julian actually chuckled softly.

"You're a grown woman. When are you going to stop acting like a spoiled kid?"

They looked at each other and shared an easy smile.

That effortless, intimate wall between them stood right in the center of the living room, completely impenetrable.

I was standing in my own home, yet I was clearly the outsider.

They shared published papers, named celestial coordinates together, and shared late-night meals.

I couldn't even find a single sentence to break into their world.

Chloe sank onto the couch, casually pulling my favorite throw pillow into her lap.

Her eyes caught the Finland travel guide lying open on the coffee table, and her lips twitched into an amused smirk.

"Are you planning a trip to Finland, Stella?"

Julian finally noticed my itinerary on the table.

"You actually bought a plane ticket?"

"Stella, your English has been completely rusty for years. Layovers, customs, booking hotels—it's not a joke."

Chloe chimed in, sounding sweetly patronizing.

"It's great to get out and see the world! But Finland really isn't a place for someone with zero solo travel experience. The logistics have to be foolproof."

"I remember losing my wallet and passport when I was traveling abroad once. Julian literally booked a red-eye flight that same night to come rescue me. If it hadn't been for him, I probably would've been stranded forever."

That was the exact moment I finally learned the truth about that mysterious business emergency years ago.

Back then, Julian had rushed out of our bed at two in the morning, enduring fourteen hours of flights to a foreign country.

All because of a single tearful SOS call from Chloe.

When he finally returned home, he tossed a cheap, glowing star keychain onto my desk.

He coaxed me with a dismissive grin:

*"I've been way too swamped to take you stargazing lately."*

*"Take this for now. When things calm down, I promise I'll take you to Finland."*

I waited for that "promise" for five whole years.

And during those five years, he and Chloe had already traveled to Finland multiple times for astronomy conferences.

His laptop wallpaper was still a picture of the two of them at a Scandinavian observatory.

In the photo, they stood shoulder to shoulder beneath a sky ablaze with stars, looking so picture-perfect it could have passed for a staged proposal.

Seeing my silence, Chloe continued in her smooth, leisurely cadence.

"Stella has been cooped up inside for so long that she probably doesn't realize how tricky the outside world can be. Traveling isn't as simple as cooking dinner and folding laundry."

Julian actually nodded in solemn agreement.

"Chloe is right."

I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to laugh out loud.

Five years ago, I was the one who traveled across the country alone to ace my graduate school interviews.

I had written complex papers. I had pulled all-nighters in high-tech laboratories.

Just because they watched me stand by a kitchen stove for too long, they genuinely believed I was born only fit to hold a spatula.

Chloe glanced over at my packed suitcase by the wall.

"I mean, Stella has her own strengths, of course," she said, her airy tone mirroring a professor grading a mediocre student. "It's just that without higher education, your perspective naturally stays limited."

"Women really need to educate themselves. Otherwise, it's way too easy to let trivial domestic chores consume your entire identity."

The room plunged into dead silence.

Julian didn't say a single word to stop her.

Instead, with a tiny, imperceptible nod, he silently agreed with every word.

I didn't swallow my humiliation or force a polite, painful smile to keep the peace like I used to.

This time, I genuinely thought about it for a second. And then, I agreed with her.

"You're completely right."

Without waiting for their reaction, I turned on my heel and walked into the bedroom.