On the day of my son’s preschool graduation, the principal stood in front of all the parents and praised my wife’s ex-boyfriend for being an amazing father. “Mr. Brooks is such a responsible, loving dad.” “Over the past five years, he picked up Leo one thousand and ninety-seven times, and only missed three out of thirty-six family events.” My wife, Chloe, smiled and chimed in. “He really worked harder than me to make sure our boy grew up safe and happy.” I froze. Chloe had always told me that Julian Brooks was just a family friend who occasionally helped out when we were busy. But in the graduation memory book, Julian appeared in four hundred and sixty-two out of the four hundred and eighty-seven photos. For five years, I worked late every single night and handed every penny of my paycheck over to Chloe. I did it because I felt guilty for not spending enough time with her and Leo. In that exact moment, the truth slapped me in the face. This family had never lacked a father. Seeing me stare at the page without moving, Chloe reached over and snapped the album shut. “You’re always working overtime. Of course you weren’t in the photos,” she said, her voice laced with impatience. “There will be plenty of chances in the future.” Right then, my phone buzzed. It was my project manager on WhatsApp, asking if I was willing to be relocated to our overseas branch for three years. I looked at the “happy family of three” smiling back at me from the cover of the album. I typed two words: “I’ll go.” Chloe didn’t know. This time, there would be no “future” for us.
My manager replied almost instantly. “Ethan, does your family want to come along? We can arrange corporate housing for them.” I wrote back: “No need. Just me.” “Ethan, why are you just standing there?” Chloe called out, her voice sharp with irritation. It was time for the graduation family photo. The photographer signaled for us to squeeze closer together. But Chloe was already holding Leo’s hand, and Julian was standing right next to them on the other side. The only spot left for me was on the very edge of the frame. The photographer stared at us for five seconds, looking thoroughly confused. “Sorry, who is the dad?” Julian took a polite step back. “Oh, I’m not.” But Leo grabbed Julian’s hand tightly. “Julian is my dad!” The surrounding parents erupted into soft giggles. Some whispered about how sweet it was that the boy was so close to Julian. Chloe didn’t bother to correct him. She just patted Leo’s head with a soft smile. “Stop messing around, Leo.” She said the words, but there wasn’t a hint of disapproval in her eyes. I walked over. Leo immediately hid behind Julian’s legs. “Mom, I don’t want Mr. Miller in the photo.” “Every time he comes home, he just checks my homework. He doesn’t even know how to smile.” Chloe frowned at me. “Did you hear that?” “You’ve let your own son become a stranger to you. You really need to think about your behavior.” I looked her in the eyes. “Why do you think I work overtime every single day, Chloe? Do you really not know?” “Oh, here we go again,” she whispered, rolling her eyes. “Today is Leo’s graduation. Do you have to bring up money right now?” Julian quickly stepped in to play the peacemaker. “Chloe, let it go.” “Ethan is only doing what he thinks is best for the family.” He stepped aside, offering me his spot. “Ethan, you stand here. I’ll take the photo for you guys.” And so, my wife and the boy remained in the frame. I stepped behind the camera. Just like I had done for the last five years. After the shoot, the principal handed out the memory books, asking parents to write a blessing on the final page. Just as I picked up the pen, Leo snatched it out of my hand. “You can’t write in it!” “I want Julian to write it.” I looked at Chloe. She avoided my gaze, but her voice was smooth and dismissive. “Julian spent so much time with him at school events. It’s natural that Leo wants him to write it.” “You’re an adult, Ethan. Don’t pick a fight with a kid.” I let go of the pen. “Fine.” Chloe blinked in surprise. She probably didn’t expect me to give up so easily. Julian took the pen and wrote in the book: May you grow up strong and happy, Leo. Daddy will always love you. No one in the room seemed to think the word “Daddy” was out of place. I lowered my head and opened the relocation contract on my phone. Duration: Three years. Departure date: Seven days from now. I digitally signed my name.
After the ceremony, Chloe suggested we all grab dinner. I assumed “all” included me. But when we arrived at the restaurant, I realized she had only booked a table for three. The host had to drag an extra chair and squeeze it into the cramped aisle. Chloe glanced at me. “Didn’t you say you had to go back to work tonight?” “I took the night off.” “Well, you should have told me earlier,” she grumbled under her breath. “I already ordered. Julian doesn’t eat spicy food, and Leo is allergic to seafood. We can’t really add anything new to the order.” We had been married for seven years. I had a sensitive stomach, but she didn’t even bother to ask if there was anything I could eat. Julian handed me the menu. “Ethan, order whatever you want. It’s on me tonight.” Chloe immediately pushed the menu down. “Julian, your startup is just getting off the ground. Save your money.” She turned to me. “We’re all family anyway. It doesn’t matter who pays.” In the end, I paid. It came out to $280. While Julian took Leo to the restroom, Chloe took the opportunity to speak to me. “Don’t take what happened earlier to heart.” “Leo is still young. He’s naturally going to be closer to whoever spends more time with him.” “Julian doesn’t have a wife or kids.” “Letting Leo call him dad is just a little comfort for him.” I looked down at the receipt. “What about me?” She paused. “What about you?” “Nothing.” I put my phone face down on the table. There was no point in explaining. She would never get it. To her, I was just being jealous again. When Julian brought Leo back, the boy was clutching a brand-new toy car. Leo was jumping with joy. “Julian is the best!” Chloe smiled. “How much was it? Let me PayPal you.” “Oh, it was only five hundred dollars. Don’t worry about it.” “No way, I can’t let you pay for that.” She immediately sent him $800 on PayPal. I stared at her, remembering last month when Leo was hospitalized with a high fever. Chloe had begged me to pull consecutive all-nighters at the office to secure our quarterly project bonus. She told me the family was completely broke. That night, I worked nineteen hours straight until my stomach bled, and my coworkers had to rush me to the ER. I was hospitalized for three days. She visited me exactly once. She stayed for less than thirty minutes before Julian called, saying Leo was crying to go to Disney World. She grabbed her purse and ran. Before she left, she even blamed me: “It’s not like you had major surgery. Stop being so dramatic.” After dinner, Chloe told me to drive Julian home. “He had a few drinks tonight.” “So did I.” “You only had half a glass of wine.” She looked at me with deep irritation. “Julian has a weak stomach. Why are you comparing yourself to him?” I pulled out my phone and opened Uber. “One car can’t fit four people anyway.” “You guys go ahead.” Chloe looked at me like I was a throwing a childish tantrum. “Ethan, what is wrong with you today?” “Just because you weren’t in a few photos, you’re going to act like this all night?” Julian sighed. “Forget it. I’ll just call a cab.” Leo immediately wrapped his arms around Julian’s leg. “No!” “I want to go with Julian!” Chloe rushed over to soothe the boy. Nobody cared about me. My phone buzzed with an email from HR, asking me to fill out my emergency contact info for the relocation. I stared at the “Emergency Contact” box for a long time. In the past, I always wrote Chloe’s name. But on the day of my endoscopy, the hospital had called her eleven times. She hadn’t picked up once. I deleted her name. I typed in my coworker, Zach. I hesitated for a second before clicking submit.
The next day, Chloe texted me to pick up the graduation albums from the photo studio. The receptionist checked the order and brought out three massive boxes. “Mrs. Miller ordered five family albums, two large canvas prints, and a hundred individual prints.” “The total is $2,200. You just need to settle the remaining balance of $1,800.” The sample photos were laid out on the counter. Chloe, Julian, and Leo were all wearing matching white shirts. The three of them were holding hands on the beach, hugging on the grass, and kissing the boy’s cheeks. If I didn’t know the truth, I would have thought they were the perfect family. I asked the receptionist, “When were these taken?” “Last month,” she said, flipping through her records. “They spent two full days shooting. Mr. Brooks was incredibly cooperative.” Last month. Chloe had told me Leo had a highly contagious flu. She made me stay at a cheap motel so I wouldn’t bring the virus back to the office. I lived in that motel for nine days. Every evening, I drove by the house just to leave fresh fruit, groceries, and medicine on the porch. As it turned out, they weren’t sick at all. They just didn’t want me in their family photos. The receptionist pulled up the digital gallery. Out of two thousand six hundred and forty-one photos, Julian appeared in one thousand and ninety-three of them. I was in exactly seven. Five of them were just my blurry reflection in a mirror. One was of me carrying a heavy refrigerator during our move. The last one was a shot of me crouching down in the rain, changing a flat tire on Julian’s car. The receptionist noticed my pale face and asked quietly, “Sir? Are you still paying?” “No.” “Tell the person who placed the order to pay for it.” Less than three minutes after I walked out of the studio, Chloe called. “Ethan, what the hell is your problem?” “The albums are Leo’s graduation gift! You can’t even spare a little money for your own son?” “You placed the order, Chloe.” “But you’re his dad!” The moment the words left her mouth, the line went dead silent. She probably remembered who the principal had praised as the “good dad” yesterday. I didn’t call her out on it. “Yeah. Anything else?” Her voice softened slightly. “Come home early tonight.” “I made beef stew. Let’s talk.” For seven years, every time she needed me to pay for something or clean up Julian’s mess, she would make beef stew. When I got home that night, the table was set with beef stew covered in cilantro. She always remembered that Julian loved cilantro. She never remembered that even the smell of cilantro made me physically ill. Julian was sitting on our couch. In front of him was a stack of business loan documents. “Ethan, I’m really sorry about this,” Julian said, looking sheepish. “My startup needs to renew its business credit line, and the bank requires a guarantor with a stable, high-income job.” Chloe slid a pen across the table toward me. “It’s only a hundred thousand dollars.” “Julian’s business is doing great. He’ll pay it back in no time.” I looked at the cosigning agreement. “What about the fifty thousand I lent him last year? Has he paid that back?” Chloe’s expression tightened. “Why are you keeping score? We’re family.” “Julian isn’t an outsider.” I looked up at her. “Then who is?” Chloe completely lost her patience. “Ethan. Are you seriously throwing a tantrum just because of what Leo called him yesterday?” “Is it really worth acting like this?” I pushed the contract back. “I’m not signing.” This was the first time in seven years I had ever said no to her. Julian quickly stood up. “Chloe, don’t force Ethan.” “He works hard for his money. It’s only natural that he’s wary of me.” Hearing this, Chloe got even angrier. “Look at him! Even Julian is trying to understand you, and look at how you’re acting!” I stood up and went to the bedroom. Before I closed the door, I heard her whispering to Julian. “Don’t worry.” “He’s just throwing a little fit. He’ll sign it in a couple of days.” I opened the closet. I only took my passport, my work ID, and an old photo of my late mother. Nothing else in this house was worth taking.
With only three days left before my departure, HR asked me to finalize my dependent benefits. The apartment we lived in was a corporate-subsidized unit. Since I was going overseas, my family either had to take over the lease at the full market rate within thirty days or vacate the property. Leo’s premium private health insurance, his preschool tuition subsidy, and Chloe’s parents’ health coverage were all tied to my corporate benefits account. The HR rep asked, “Do you want to keep these active for your dependents?” I remembered when Chloe’s father Robert had heart surgery, and I paid $40,000 out of pocket. When he was discharged, her parents held Julian’s hand and cried. “Julian is such a good boy. He’s been running around helping us, he’s better than a real son.” In reality, Julian had only stopped by once to drop off a basket of apples. I was the one who handled the admission paperwork, booked the top specialists, and paid the bills. “Cancel all of them,” I said. The HR rep looked surprised. “Even for your wife and son?” “Yes. Follow standard procedure.” When I left the office, Chloe sent me a flurry of messages on Snapchat. “Don’t work late tonight.” “Leo wants you to make those garlic parmesan chicken wings he likes.” “By the way, I left Julian’s loan paperwork on your desk.” The last sentence was the only one that mattered. I didn’t reply. When I stepped out of the office building, I saw Chloe’s SUV parked by the curb. It was rare for her to pick me up from work. But Julian was sitting in the passenger seat. Leo was in the back, waving at me through the window. “Hey, Mr. Miller! Get in!” A flash of embarrassment crossed Chloe’s face. “The kid just can’t change his habits overnight.” “Don’t give him a hard time.” I opened the back door. The backseat was piled high with Julian’s suitcases. Chloe quickly explained, “Julian’s landlord suddenly decided to sell the house.” “I told him he could stay with us for a few months.” “Since your home office is usually empty anyway.” That home office was where I slept every night after working until 2 AM so I wouldn’t wake her and the kid. And now, she was giving that away too. “Sure,” I said. I shut the car door. “I’ll go back to the office and pack my things.” She let out a massive sigh of relief. “I knew you wouldn’t be petty about this.” “Oh, by the way, we changed our graduation trip. We’re going to Hawaii instead of the lake house.” “Julian is a great swimmer, so he can watch Leo.” “You’ve been so busy with work anyway, so you don’t have to come.” I looked at them. “When are you leaving?” “The day after tomorrow.” The day after tomorrow was also the day I was leaving for the airport. Chloe paused, as if remembering something else. “Can you transfer me $3,000 for the trip? Things are a bit tight this month.” Julian made a half-hearted attempt to stop her. “No, Chloe, let me pay for it.” Chloe immediately snapped back. “Your company needs every dollar right now.” “Ethan makes a great salary. Three grand is nothing to him.” I nodded slowly. “Got it.” They thought I was agreeing to send the money. In reality, I had finally realized just how far this marriage had devolved into a complete farce. The next morning, the corporate relocation shuttle pulled up to my building. I only had one suitcase. The driver helped me load it into the trunk and asked casually, “No family here to say goodbye?” I checked my phone. Chloe had posted on Instagram at 5 AM. It was a photo of her, Julian, and Leo waiting at the airport gate. The caption read: Our little family of three, off to Hawaii! I locked my phone. It wasn’t that they didn’t know what “family of three” meant. And it wasn’t that they forgot about me. They just truly believed that no matter how many times they threw me away, I would always be waiting right where they left me. The driver shut my door. As the car started to roll, Chloe’s call flashed on my screen. The moment I picked up, she demanded, “Ethan, why hasn’t that $3,000 cleared yet?” “And Julian’s loan documents, he needs them signed today.” “Where the hell are you anyway?”
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