Chapter 2

Julian grabbed my hand, letting out a helpless sigh.

He pulled a luxury designer bag from behind his back.

"Elena, happy anniversary. This is the bag you've wanted for a long time."

"I always remember what you like."

I stared at the bag. It felt incredibly ironic and pathetic.

It was exactly the same bag Chloe had posted on her Instagram a year ago.

The scratch on the leather was from when they couldn't wait to get physical and scraped it against the corner of a table.

I knocked the bag to the floor, looking at him with none of the affection I used to have.

"Julian, I don't like secondhand trash."

I have an emotional dependency on loyalty; betrayal is the one thing I hate most in this life.

I could never forget my mother lying on her deathbed while my father was out with another woman.

His affair completely broke my mother's will to live.

Back then, I swore that the man I married would belong to me, body and soul.

If he got dirty, I didn't want him anymore.

Julian's face darkened. As a rich kid playing at living a normal life, he had never had much patience.

"Elena, can you grow up? The bag might be pre-owned, but I worked overtime for a month just to buy it for you."

"You've become so materialistic."

Was I the one who changed, or was he just angry because his lie had been exposed?

How could a man lie with such earnest eyes?

If I hadn't taken a part-time job at a restaurant just to buy him a cashmere shirt, I wouldn't have seen him walking into a high-end restaurant with his arms around Chloe.

Before that, I was still worrying about whether his skin would break out from cheap fabrics.

His phone vibrated frantically. No doubt it was Chloe.

I set the mystery box down, walked to the private booth next door, and dragged Chloe out.

Her face was smug, her eyes full of provocation.

Julian's way of loving someone was simple: he wanted to see them and cling to them all the time.

He was the kind of restless guy who hated studying, yet he once stared at me in the library for an entire day.

Our friends used to tease him, calling him a "wife-obsessed maniac."

He would smile brightly, looking incredibly proud.

"My Elena is so amazing. If I don't keep an eye on her, someone else might steal her away."

"Not only will I look at her every day, but after we get married, I want to look at her twenty-four hours a day, for the rest of my life."

So when he fell in love with Chloe, he bought an apartment right next door to hers just so he could see her more often.

When he was with me, he would stare at his phone and giggle.

He shared all his joys and sorrows with her, chatting from morning till night.

Even when he went downstairs to throw out the trash, he would take a detour past her place just to see her.

Even on our wedding anniversary, he arranged for Chloe to be in the booth next door so he could slip away to be with her whenever he found an excuse.

Under everyone's gaze, I opened the eighth mystery box.

Inside was an appointment for an abortion scheduled for tomorrow.

Julian panicked, shielding Chloe behind him and taking all the blame on himself.

"Elena, she and the baby are innocent. I lied to her."

Unmutilated, I calmly pushed the appointment slip in front of him.

"Get rid of the baby and promise never to see her again, and I'll give us another chance."

Julian looked down, slowly letting go of Chloe's hand.

He took the slip.