Chapter 1

On our tenth wedding anniversary, in front of all our friends and family, I gave Julian ten mystery boxes.

He smiled and opened the first one. Inside was a lace nightgown stained with a glistening liquid.

Our friends immediately erupted into suggestive laughter.

"Julian, you and Elena really don't treat us like outsiders."

"No need to share your bedroom secrets with us!"

The room burst into laughter.

Julian froze. I smiled and gestured for him to open the second one.

Inside was an ultrasound report showing three weeks of pregnancy.

"Wow! Elena, you're pregnant!"

A friend squealed in surprise and patted Julian on the shoulder.

"Congrats, Julian! You're going to be a dad!"

Julian's face went pale. He mumbled, unable to squeeze out a single word.

But I just smiled casually, holding the ultrasound right in front of his face.

"Too bad the name on this ultrasound doesn't seem to be mine."

The laughter died instantly. Our friends tried to scramble for an explanation.

"Elena, there must be some mistake. Julian rejected every girl who threw themselves at him just to be with you."

"To marry you, he even cut ties with his own father and struggled with you through ten years of hard times."

"There's no way he would betray you..."

Before they could finish, a photo of Julian lying naked in bed with another woman slapped them right in the face.

While they were busy scrambling for excuses, I had already opened the rest of the mystery boxes.

The photos came out one after another.

They fell dead silent, unable to believe that the seemingly devoted Julian had been cheating for five years and even had a child on the way.

Their reaction didn't surprise me.

It had taken me a whole year to go from disbelief to heartbreak to acceptance to numbness. And finally, to calmly laying out the evidence of his betrayal today.

I still remember the day I had a high fever, dizzy and vomiting, begging him to take me to the hospital.

I forced myself to stay awake and called him over ten times before he finally picked up.

"Julian, my head hurts so bad. Can you take the day off to stay with me?"

It was very noisy on his end. His voice was low, as if he were hiding from someone.

"Elena, my department has a team-building event today. I ordered some cold medicine to be delivered to you. It'll be there soon."

"Julian..."

A female voice came through the phone before I could ask further, and he hung up.

Even after taking the medicine, I still felt awful. Dragging my exhausted body, I went to the hospital alone.

And there, I saw my husband, the one who was supposedly at a team-building event, holding a pregnant woman.

I wanted so badly to lie to myself, to believe it was just a misunderstanding.

But the next second, Julian leaned down and kissed her passionately.

I knew that woman. She was Chloe, the intern Julian had been mentoring.

When she first started, Julian used to complain to me about her.

"We got a really dumb intern today. She couldn't even figure out the printer and wasted half the day on it instead of just asking."

"She doesn't know how to format a Word document or use Excel formulas. I have to teach her everything step-by-step."

He would wrap his arms around my waist, burying his face in my neck and taking a deep breath.

"She's the reason I had to work late and kept you waiting for so long."

I had smiled and told him to be patient with the newcomer. He was patient, all right. So patient that he took her to bed.

When did his attitude change?

It was on my birthday. He worked late into the night again, and I casually teased him.

"Did that clumsy intern of yours keep you late again?"

He frowned, his tone suddenly cold and serious.

"Elena, I know you graduated from an Ivy League school, and Chloe isn't as smart as you. But you shouldn't look down on other people's hard work and dedication."

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

The smile froze on my face.

I sat in the living room alone. The candles on the cake burned down and went out. The cream melted slowly, dripping onto the table and then the floor.

My tears ran down my cheeks until they dried up completely.

It wasn't that I hadn't noticed his strange behavior.

I just trusted him too much, so I subconsciously chose to ignore the signs.

I reached out and opened the eighth mystery box...