Chapter 1

Fresh out of the delivery room, Joshua Gilbert had already packed his bags for the highlands.

I braced my weak body to stop him, wanting him to look at his son.

But his female friend, Ivy Pruitt, stepped between us: "His wife, Joshua's only twenty-two. He's at the age where he wants to have fun."

"You're a full six years older than him, so you have to be more patient and wait for him to grow up."

She smiled and winked. "And don't go saying you can see the future again. Last time you said his speeding would end in a crash, and nothing happened, did it?"

Joshua said nothing, only kept having the family look after me.

I stopped arguing.

A few days later, he suddenly called and said he wanted to make a detour to chase the aurora.

The next second, an image flashed through my mind of him dying on the ice.

Just as I was about to urge him to come back, Ivy's coaxing voice cut in from the other end: "Joshua, my bra strap just snapped, come help me!"

He promised in a rush, "I'll be back before our son's one-month mark."

I looked at Joshua's older brother, who was skillfully mixing formula for my son.

I shook my head and said there was no need.

After all, the baby was still so small. Give him a different father and he'd adjust fast enough.

......

"You're still in your confinement. Don't say things out of anger."

Joshua softened his voice. "When I get back, I'll focus completely on taking care of our family..."

Ivy cut in with a coy whine.

"I asked you to help fasten my bra, what are your hands doing groping around!"

Then she clicked her tongue.

And laughed, "After all these years, you still can't get my figure out of your head?"

"Well, no wonder—with your wife's dried-up flat chest, you've practically been bottled up into a Platonic saint, haven't you?"

The moment she finished, a wave of laughter came from the other end of the line.

My palm tightened around the phone. I forced down the anger rising in me and was about to hang up.

Ivy suddenly grabbed the phone, feigning ease as she explained, "His wife, don't read too much into it."

"Just some jokes between friends."

Seeing me stay silent, she sighed again. "I know you hate me, that you think I'm a homewrecker playing innocent."

"But listen, Joshua just graduated from college and you already tied him down with marriage. I really couldn't stand watching it, so I made him come chase the aurora with me, to give him some room to breathe."

"Whose fault is it that your health is so poor you had to go and have a baby right at this moment?"

Every word of Ivy's was an insult, and yet Joshua didn't say a thing.

Ever since we came home after the wedding, he'd been extraordinarily forgiving toward Ivy.

All my crying and fussing ever got me was one apology after another.

But the next time he did it again, he stayed just as silent.

Thinking of that, I drew a deep breath and calmly parted my lips. "Joshua, if you're going, then don't come back."

And with that, I hung up.

I took the formula Joshua's older brother, Rod, had mixed to exactly the right temperature.

As I fed the baby, he looked down at me.

He spoke quietly, to comfort me. "I'll have someone bring him back right now."

I shook my head and lifted my eyes slightly.

After a long moment, as if something had come over me, I asked, "Rod... if I said I wanted to register Mason's guardianship under your name."

"Would that be okay?"

Rod's pupils tightened, as if he hadn't heard right, and he asked me to say it again.

I pressed my lips together. "Never mind, just take it as me talking nonsense."

"I'm willing!"

Seeing me freeze, he suddenly caught my wrist. "What I mean is... no matter what you choose, Mason is of Gilbert blood."

The arms holding Mason gave a faint tremble, and I hummed in reply.

He didn't go on.

Instead he reached out and took Mason, who had finished his milk, holding him upright against his shoulder and patting his back with practiced ease.

He looked at me and said softly, "Get some sleep. I'll take care of the baby."

Watching his back as he left, I slowly closed my eyes.

Then all at once, the group chat that belonged only to the wealthy circle blew up with messages tagging me.

His wife, if you don't show up soon, Ivy and Joshua are going to be tongue-kissing!

I unlocked my phone and sent: ?

The next second, Ivy's message popped up: Don't listen to their nonsense, we're just playing a game.

Joshua just said you were definitely angry, so to prove it the guys in the chat teased you to draw you out.

So, don't tell me you're really angry again?

Even through the screen, I could feel Ivy gloating.

At first, I couldn't stand their relationship at all.

It often blew up into ugly scenes.

Every one of his friends said I wasn't just older, I had a worse temper too.

But Joshua, instead, gave in to me every single time, acting like it had to be me and no one else.

I rubbed my aching temples and tapped out: Not angry. Have fun.

The moment the message went out, the group chat exploded.

Joshua fired off several question marks, demanding an answer.

I just switched off my phone, pulled the blanket over my head, and went to sleep.

But Joshua wouldn't let it go. When he couldn't get through to me, he called the housekeeper.

His first words were a complaint. "What did you mean by all that?"

"Lily Henson, so I didn't stay with you through your confinement—but those ten months you were pregnant, was there a single day I wasn't right there by your side?"

"Do you really have to pick a fight with me and make me lose face?"

I closed my eyes wearily. "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Cry and scream? Or tell you... that you'll die on the road chasing the aurora, to force you to come home?"

He choked, then suddenly said in a low voice, "Ivy's right. I never should have lost my head and married you."

The moment the words were out, even he froze.

Before the tears could fall, a slender hand gently covered the screen.

Rod took the phone away and hung up in the same motion. "Something like this isn't worth crying over."

Through the busy tone of the disconnected call.

Joshua's messages came bombarding in, demanding answers: Lily Henson, who's the man next to you!

I ignored it and simply blocked him.

But that night, his social feed was full of videos of him and Ivy passionately tongue-kissing amid all the egging-on.

Ivy tagged me in the comments underneath: His wife, it's just a game.

Joshua was drunk too.

Drunk?

Joshua is allergic to alcohol. How could he possibly have been drinking?

After a moment of silence, I forwarded those videos to the Gilbert family group chat.

Then I edited a photo of Rod's back as he mixed formula.

I posted it to my feed with the caption: A dependable dad.

When I woke early the next morning.

The chat was even quieter than I'd expected.

Looking at the downpour outside the window, I was about to message Rod and tell him not to come today.

The next second came the sound of the door lock being keyed open.

Holding Mason, I reached out and pulled down the towel, handing it over out of habit.

But once I saw the man's face clearly, my smile froze in an instant. "Why is it you?"