Adrian was cheating on me. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find his mistress. In the steam-filled bathroom, severely depressed, I lay in the bathtub, letting the blood from my wrists drip into the water, watching my life slip away. It was my sister, Natalie, who kicked the door open and saved me. It was Natalie who later drove her car straight into Adrian, leaving him half-dead, forcing him to get on his knees in front of my hospital bed to beg for my forgiveness. From that day on, Adrian changed. He stopped staying out late at elite clubs. He came straight home from work every single day. Even if he ran into other women on the street, he would literally step thirty feet away to keep his distance. I thought our marriage had finally reached a turning point. Until today, when I received a FaceTime call from myself—ten years in the future. Looking at the pale, sickly “me” on the screen, I frowned and asked, “But he stopped cheating, didn’t he?” The future me didn’t say a word. She just flipped the camera. On the screen, Adrian was gently caressing Natalie’s swollen, pregnant belly. His eyes were filled with an agonizing, suppressed pain. “It’s been ten years, Natalie. Please, don’t abort this baby again, okay?” “How much longer are you going to punish me?” Natalie was sobbing, tears streaming down her face. “We betrayed Chloe. This baby… we don’t deserve to keep it.” I froze, my blood turning to ice. The mistress I could never find, the woman my husband was sleeping with, was my beloved sister. Adrian had hidden her so well. He hid her so well that she was pregnant, and I hadn’t suspected a thing. The camera flipped back to my future self. Ten years later, I stared at myself with a wild, crazed laugh. “Do you hear them?” “Adrian never loved you.” “Just pull the trigger. End it now. Set them free.”
I lowered my eyes and slowly picked up the pistol from the desk. I pressed the cold metal barrel against my temple. “Adrian is a total germaphobe, Chloe. Why do you think he suddenly volunteers to take out the trash every single day? Did you really think Natalie was staying with us just to help watch him?” “Don’t be stupid. Go look at the blind spot behind the garage. Those ten minutes when he takes out the trash is the only time they get to escape your suffocating presence.” “They use that time to make out like animals!” The front door clicked open. Adrian was home. Seeing the gun pressed against my temple, his face instantly went dead white. “Chloe! What the hell are you doing?!” He didn’t even take off his shoes. He lunged forward like a madman. The voice on the phone kept screaming: “Look at his wrist! You know how severe his OCD is. Look at him right now!” Adrian had severe germaphobia and OCD. His shirt cuffs were always folded back exactly three times, perfectly neat, exposing his wrists. But right now, his cuffs were messy and unbuttoned. There was even a faint smudge of red lipstick on the edge of the fabric. My gaze drifted past him, landing on Natalie. Her makeup was slightly smeared. Clank. My hands lost all strength. The gun slipped, almost grazing my ear as it hit the table. Adrian stopped dead in his tracks, his hands raised in the air, speaking in a trembling, soothing voice. “Chloe, put the gun down. Please. Don’t hurt yourself.” I stared at his messy cuffs, my voice shaking uncontrollably. “Who is she?” Adrian froze. He quickly unlocked his phone, opened his Snapchat location history, and thrust it in front of me. “I just went down to empty the trash bin. It was right outside. It took less than ten minutes.” A deep, exhausting weariness washed over his eyes. “Chloe, that incident happened three years ago. How much longer are you going to keep dragging me through this hell?” “I am so tired from taking care of you every single day. Please, stop being so paranoid.” As he spoke, he stepped forward, trying to grab the gun. I waved the pistol wildly, stepping back. “Don’t touch me!” The gun knocked against the edge of the desk. In my panic, my finger pulled the trigger. A loud bang echoed through the room. The bullet grazed my palm, and bright red blood spurted out, dripping heavily onto the hardwood floor. “Chloe!” Natalie screamed and rushed forward to stop me. But she ran too fast, twisting her ankle and crashing hard against the side cabinet. “Natalie!” Adrian lunged forward almost instinctively to catch her. But just as his hands were about to touch her waist, he seemed to realize something. He froze in mid-air, forcing his hands back. Natalie looked at my bleeding hand, turned around, and slapped Adrian across the face. “You bastard! You pushed her again! You know she is sick!” The slap was incredibly loud. Adrian’s head snapped to the side. He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, fighting to control his exploding emotions. When he turned back to look at me, all the frustration and disgust in his eyes had vanished. He was back to being the submissive, gentle husband again. “I’m sorry. I lost my temper. Chloe, you’re bleeding. Let me bandage it.” Adrian knelt in front of me, but his eyes were glued to Natalie’s swollen ankle. After quickly wrapping my hand, he naturally handed the first-aid kit to Natalie. His voice was incredibly hoarse. “Put some ice on that ankle. Now.” Watching his pathetic, secretive tenderness toward her, I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned and locked myself in the bedroom. Three years ago, when I first caught Adrian cheating. I had searched every hotel room like a lunatic, but I couldn’t find a single strand of that woman’s hair. In utter despair, I locked myself in the bathroom and slit my wrists. It was Natalie who drove her car into him, dragging his bloodied body to my bedside to confess. That day, the proud Adrian had knelt before me, crying like a child who had lost his entire world. “Chloe, I beg you. You can’t die. I love you.” That heartbreaking display made me believe he actually loved me. But now, a phone call from the future had shattered every beautiful lie I lived in.
This wasn’t just a corporate office. It was a perfect, one-to-one replica of our master bedroom. The dark green velvet sofa. The floor lamp in the corner that Adrian had personally picked out. Even the fresh lilies on the coffee table were identical to the ones we had at home. But there was one major difference. The wall where our wedding photo should have hung was covered in hundreds of photos of Natalie. Natalie cooking in the kitchen. Natalie sleeping on the sofa… Every photo was shot with breathtaking lighting and warmth. Even through the paper, I could feel an overwhelming, suffocating love. My heart shattered into a million pieces. I remembered our honeymoon. I had spent two hours on my makeup, happily begging Adrian to take a photo of me. He had just clicked the shutter twice, completely distracted, leaving me with two blurry, ugly pictures. It turned out he didn’t hate taking photos. He just saved all of his patience and love for Natalie. Footsteps echoed outside the door. I snapped out of my daze and hid inside the walk-in closet. The door pushed open. “Let go of me!” Natalie choked back a sob, trying to shake off Adrian’s grip. But Adrian held her tightly, pressing her against his chest like a madman. “Natalie, I can’t do this anymore!” “When she held that gun today, all I could think was… if she just pulled the trigger, would we finally be free?” Natalie slapped him hard. “You monster! She is your wife!” “But I don’t love her!” Adrian’s eyes were bloodshot, his voice dripping with despair. “You have no idea how much I suffocate sleeping next to her every night.” “Natalie, let me just tell her the truth. If she agrees to a divorce, I will give her every single penny I own!” Natalie broke down crying. “No! If you tell her now, you will kill her!” Adrian buried his face in her neck, clinging to her like a drowning man. “What about me? You worry about her, but who is going to save me?” Natalie wept as if her heart was breaking. “When we were ten, she pushed me out of the way of that speeding truck. I swore I would protect her with my life. But I fell in love with her husband!” “And when you pissed off those thugs for your business deal, she was the one who got cornered in the parking lot for you…” “If it weren’t for us, Chloe wouldn’t be sick. How can we do this to her?” Adrian trembled, kissing her tears away. Inside the dark closet, my nails dug deep into the wound on my palm. The blood started flowing again, but I couldn’t feel any pain. So that was the truth. How beautiful. How romantic. One betrayed her own heart to repay a life-saving debt. The other carried a heavy cross out of guilt. In their grand, epic, tragic love story, what the hell was I? After what felt like an eternity, the room fell silent. I crawled out of the closet and walked out of the office building, stumbling like a ghost. The freezing winter wind slashed my face, drying my tears. I suddenly remembered the day Adrian had thrown the divorce papers at me, screaming that he wanted out even if it meant losing everything. But then, he suddenly stopped mentioning it. He wasn’t staying for me. He was terrified that my death would stain his hands, and that Natalie would never be able to live with the guilt. Since they were in so much pain, I decided to set them free. I pulled out my phone and dialed my lawyer’s number. “Marcus, please draft a divorce agreement for me. As fast as possible.” The line went dead silent for a long time. “Chloe, is this a joke?” Marcus’s voice was filled with confusion and pity. “There is no marriage record for you and Adrian in the county system.” “Chloe, in the eyes of the law… you are still single.”
I stood on the freezing street, my mind going completely blank. So, Adrian gave me a diamond ring, a lavish wedding, and took care of me daily. But he kept his legal status absolutely clean and single for Natalie. Even when he was acting out this marriage with me, he was saving his legal wife spot for her. I laughed. I laughed until my face was soaked with tears. Yet, holding onto the very last shred of hope, I redialed the number from ten years later. “I want to know… did he ever love me? Even for a second?” The line was quiet for a long while. “Go to the VIP wing of the hospital right now. You’ll see how pathetic your question is.” I walked to the hospital like a hollow shell. Through the glass window of the private room, I saw Natalie throwing up into a basin, likely from a stomach bug. And Adrian—the man who couldn’t stand a speck of dust, the extreme germaphobe—was gently wiping the vomit from the corner of her mouth with his bare hand. My tears fell silently. Six months ago, when I threw up in the middle of the night due to my antidepressant side effects, what did he do? He recoiled as if he had been shocked, frowning as he called the maid to clean it up. Then he locked himself in the bathroom and took three showers. He didn’t look at me once as I lay gasping on the floor. But with Natalie, his germaphobia completely disappeared. Adrian came out carrying the basin. Seeing me, he immediately shut the door behind him. Seeing my bare feet and blue lips, his defensive stance relaxed. He took off his coat and wrapped it around me. “Are you insane? Running out like this in the middle of the night? Do you want to die?” Even now, he was still playing the dutiful protector. I stared at him, my voice eerily calm. “She’s in there, right?” Adrian’s face darkened, his grip on my shoulder tightening. “That’s an important client. You’re having an episode. I’m taking you home.” I shoved him hard and slammed the door open. “Chloe!” Adrian roared. The person on the bed gasped, quickly pulling the blanket over her head. I reached for the edge of the blanket. I could have ripped their lies apart right then and there, but my hand froze. Even at this point, I wanted to hear them admit it. Under Adrian’s terrified gaze, I pulled a small pocket knife from my coat. I pointed it directly at my chest. “Adrian, pull that blanket off. Tell me who she is.” “Or I will die right here, tonight.” “Your choice.” Adrian didn’t move. The patience in his eyes slowly turned into pure disgust. “Chloe, do you think threatening me with your life still works?” “For three years, every time something doesn’t go your way, you play the suicide card. Don’t you get tired of playing the girl who cried wolf?” The girl who cried wolf. So, every time I had reached out to him while drowning in depression, it was just a cheap performance in his eyes. The final spark of hope in my heart died. I gave a soft laugh and plunged the knife toward my chest. Adrian’s face deformed in horror. “Don’t you dare touch her!” Without even looking at where my knife was aimed, he lunged forward and kicked me squarely in the stomach. I flew backward, crashing violently onto the hard floor. A sharp, tearing pain exploded in my lower abdomen. But I didn’t cry. I just watched him wrap his arms around the woman on the bed, shielding her with his body, staring at me like I was a rabid animal. He thought I was going to hurt her. So he didn’t hesitate to break me. In that moment, I was truly, completely exhausted. “Adrian, the game is over.” “Let’s end this.” Adrian’s shock lasted only three seconds before he sneered. “Stop testing me. If you really wanted to leave, you would have done it years ago.” “This time, I mean it—” Crash. The person on the bed, trembling violently, fell off the mattress and landed straight into the shattered glass of a dropped water cup. A muffled cry of pain came from under the blanket. Adrian panicked. He scooped her up in his arms, rushing toward the door without a single backward glance at me. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ve got you. Let’s find a doctor.” I lay on the freezing tile floor, watching a dark, terrifying pool of blood spread from beneath my legs.
Before I even knew I was pregnant, I had a miscarriage. Adrian sat by my bedside, his face filled with guilt. “Chloe, it just wasn’t the right time. Once you get better, we can try again.” I stared at him blankly, catching the subtle sigh of relief in his eyes. This was the second child we had lost. Three years ago, during my first pregnancy, Natalie had moved in to help take care of me. That was when she and Adrian started. After that, Adrian stopped coming home. On the night Natalie also didn’t return, I slipped in the bathroom and suffered a massive hemorrhage, losing the baby. It was after that night that I found his cheating evidence and tried to slit my wrists. How pathetic. My two unborn children were nothing but collateral damage in their grand romance. Adrian clearly recalled that night too. He couldn’t look me in the eye. He mumbled something about paying the hospital bill and fled the room. My phone screen lit up. “Do you really think you miscarried because of his kick? The pills he’s been giving you for years… they weren’t just antidepressants. They were laced with birth control. Even if you got pregnant by accident, you could never carry a baby to term.” “Chloe, let go. The longer you stay alive to block them, the stronger their love grows. Only your death can pin them to the pillar of shame forever.” I silently hung up the phone. No screaming. No crying. After being discharged, I was unnaturally quiet. I stopped checking his phone. I stopped asking questions. But the quieter I became, the more terrified they grew. Finally, Adrian couldn’t take the tension anymore. “There’s an emergency at the office. I need to go out of town for a week.” He watched me closely, bracing himself for an explosive meltdown. But I just nodded calmly. “Okay.” Then I looked at Natalie. “You must be tired of looking after me, Natalie. Take this week off too. I can manage.” Both of them froze. They hadn’t expected me to agree so easily. The excuses they had prepared died in their throats. Adrian tried to probe. “Chloe… that day at the hospital… did you see something?” I looked at him. “See what?” Seeing my blank face, he let out a huge sigh of relief. His eyes softened. “When I get back, I’ll take you to Switzerland to see the Alps, okay?” Switzerland. For three years, I had begged him to take me. He had always refused, saying it was too far, that I was too sick, and that I would only be a burden. And I had waited for three years. I whispered, “Okay.” That night, the guest room door wasn’t fully closed. Natalie’s soft crying floated down the hallway. “Adrian, are we being too cruel to Chloe? She just had a miscarriage…” Adrian’s voice was cold and absolute. “I’m doing this to save all of us.” “If she stays here, she will eventually drive us both insane. Sending her to a private sanatorium in Switzerland is the best choice for everyone.” So that was his plan. It was never about fulfilling my dream. It wasn’t an apology. They wanted to dump me in the freezing snow of a foreign country forever, clearing the path for their beautiful love. I smiled silently. Why go through all that trouble? I walked back to my room, turned on the faucet, and filled the bathtub to the brim. As the blade sliced through my vein, the blood bloomed in the water like beautiful silk ribbons. For the first time in three years, I felt entirely free.
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