I couldn’t believe my eyes. My husband Gabriel was pretending to fall down the stairs and lose his memory, just to please his childhood friend Lily. He even gave her my position as the CTO of our tech company. In the hospital room, Lily was cuddling up to Gabriel, giggling and acting coy. “Gabe, you’re so clueless,” she cooed. “When I said I envied Rachel, I meant I envied her for being your wife. But you went and made me the CTO instead.” Gabriel held her close, smiling indulgently. “Why not both? For the next few days, you can be both the CTO and my wife.” I froze as I was about to push open the door, holding the soup I had made. Silently, I turned and left. The next day during a meeting, Gabriel publicly announced that Lily was his real wife and forced me to resign, handing over my CTO position to her. He was prepared for me to argue and fight back, but I said nothing. To everyone’s shock, I signed the termination agreement on the spot. What Gabriel didn’t know was that I had personally compiled the core source code for the company’s newly developed software. And the deadline for delivery to the client was less than a week away.
After the meeting, I went to the finance department to complete the handover. As I was leaving, Lily blocked my way at the door of the CTO’s office. Gabriel’s childhood friend admired her freshly done manicure, her tone condescending. “You’ve been with the company for so many years. If you can’t bear to leave, maybe I could let you stay if you beg me,” Lily said patronizingly. “Look, the company needs a janitor. You could start as an intern.” “As for the salary… how about $300 a month?” The company’s janitors were paid $400 a month. Even without looking at the provocation in her eyes, I knew she was deliberately trying to humiliate me. I narrowed my eyes slightly. “Is this Gabriel’s idea too?” “I’m Gabe’s wife now. How could he refuse my little request?” Lily giggled, covering her mouth. She pointed behind me. “Oh, here comes Gabe. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself.” “Rachel, you’ve already resigned. Why are you still here?” Gabriel’s voice came from behind me before I saw him. He walked past me and pulled Lily into his arms, looking at me warily as if I was bullying his beloved. “Oh, Rachel wasn’t bullying me,” Lily said, snuggling into his embrace with a coy smile. “I saw she was reluctant to leave the company, so I was suggesting she stay. But she said she wanted to ask your opinion first.” Gabriel tweaked her nose. “You don’t need to ask me about such small matters. Just make the decision yourself.” Then he looked at me with disgust. “Since it’s Lily’s idea, go ahead and process your re-employment now.” I asked coldly, “She wants me to be a janitor. You agree with that too?” Hearing this, his tone became annoyed. “What’s with that attitude? What’s wrong with being a janitor? Lily is just being kind.” Whether it was kindness or not, Gabriel knew better than anyone. Looking into his impatient eyes, I suddenly understood. He was so confident because he was sure I wouldn’t leave the company. We had only been married for three years, but this company had been around for seven years. For the company’s development, I had not only worked long hours for the past seven years, but it was also common for me to stay up all night just to write a piece of code. This company held so much of my effort and dedication. My emotional attachment to it was deeper than anyone else’s. A while ago, Lily had just finished her internship and become a full-time employee when Gabriel wanted to promote her to Deputy CTO of the tech department. The tech department already had plenty of talented people. Adding an incompetent deputy wouldn’t make much difference. Many employees, both old and new, came forward to congratulate her. I was the only one who rejected his appointment on the spot. The tech department was the core of the company. I couldn’t let him mess around with it. He stayed quiet for a while after that, and I thought Gabriel had given up. I never expected him to use such a cliché method as pretending to lose his memory just to please his childhood friend. Seeing us standing there in silence, some of the older employees who had been watching quickly stepped in to defuse the situation. “Don’t be angry, Rachel. The boss is sick and has lost his memory. That’s why he’s talking like this.” “Yeah, the reason he’s protecting Lily is that he’s mistaking her for you. See how much he loves you?” “It’s just being a janitor! Just put up with it for a while. Once the boss regains his memory, everything will be fine.” They all chimed in, their words full of envy for Gabriel’s feelings for me, urging me to swallow my pride and bear with it. But why should I? If Gabriel really loved and cherished me, I might have put up with it. Before, when we were dating and even after we got married, Gabriel always seemed like a good man in others’ eyes – respectful and loving towards me. But the truth was… Whenever it came to making a choice, regardless of right or wrong, close or distant, I was always the first one he would abandon. He would persuade me to be more tolerant, to give in more. He said that as a married couple, we could fight at home but make up in bed. Any conflict could be resolved at home, but leaving a bad impression on others was irreparable. Is this how normal couples interact? I was confused for a long time, but as people around me kept expressing their envy, I gradually accepted it. But seeing Gabriel repeatedly shield Lily in his arms, repeatedly abandoning his principles and bottom line for her, I finally got my answer. If you truly love someone, how could you bear to let them get hurt? Love is about protection, care, and pampering. Love is everything, but it’s never a bargaining chip when weighing pros and cons. At this moment, I suddenly felt a bit ironic. I actually understood what true love meant by observing how my husband treated another woman. “All of you, shut up! I’m Gabe’s real wife. If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll have Gabe fire you all,” Lily suddenly burst out of Gabriel’s arms and slapped me across the face. “Rachel Quinn, is this what you’ve been spreading outside? How shameless can you be? I get it now. You joined this company just to seduce Gabe, didn’t you?” She was twisting facts and lashing out in anger, acting as if she really was Gabriel’s legitimate wife. My head was spinning, and I instinctively wanted to slap her back. But Gabriel quickly shielded Lily and pushed me hard. I was already unsteady from Lily’s slap, and wearing high heels, his sudden push sent me tumbling to the ground. My wrist hit the floor hard, and my face contorted in pain. Involuntary tears welled up in my eyes. “That’s enough. What are you crying for? If you hadn’t tried to hit Lily, I wouldn’t have pushed you,” Gabriel said. I looked up to see him avoiding my gaze, his tone stiff as he added, “You graduated from an Ivy League school with a Ph.D. It would be a waste of your talent to be a janitor. Go re-apply for a position as a programmer.” Lily’s previous position had been a programmer. She tugged at Gabriel’s sleeve, dissatisfied. “Gabe, the tech department isn’t short-staffed. Can’t we just let her be a janitor?” But this time, Gabriel didn’t indulge her. Was this compensation? Or a carrot? Did Gabriel think he could still manipulate me like this? But he didn’t know one thing. Sunk costs don’t factor into major decisions. When Gabriel deceived me and negated years of my hard work for another woman, there was no possibility of reconciliation between us. Now he was the one being abandoned by me. I tugged slightly at the corner of my mouth. He wanted to pretend to have amnesia? He wanted Lily to be the CTO? He wanted someone else to be his wife? I would grant him all of it. The newly developed software was the biggest project the company had taken on since its establishment. Its completion would take the company to the next level, but if something went wrong, the penalty would be more than Gabriel could bear. With less than a week left, I hoped he would remain as composed as he was today when it came time to deliver the software. Seeing me smile, Gabriel thought I had chosen to compromise as usual. The corner of his mouth was about to curl up when it froze due to what I said next. I stood up, tidied my disheveled appearance, and looked at him seriously. “No need.” “Gabriel, let’s get a divorce!”
“Are you crazy? You love me so much, how dare you mention divorce?” Gabriel blurted out. Realizing his tone was off, he quickly covered up, “What nonsense are you talking about? Why would I divorce you? Lily is my wife.” His expression was too unnatural; anyone could see something was wrong. But right now, I was willfully blind. Since Gabriel was pretending to have amnesia, I started spouting nonsense too. “That night you were drunk and mistook me for Lily. You insisted on dragging me to get a marriage license.” “Now let’s annul the marriage so you can marry Lily properly.” Lily, who had been hostile towards me, suddenly lit up when she heard this. She tugged at Gabriel’s sleeve, whining, “Gabe, let’s agree to her request. I can’t wait to marry you.” I pretended not to hear the flaw in her words and chimed in. “That’s right, don’t let me hold up your marriage.” Lily’s whining became even sweeter, but Gabriel suddenly shook her off and started to leave. “We’ll talk about this later. I have work to do.” His attitude seemed evasive? Could it be that he didn’t want a divorce? But if he didn’t want a divorce, where did that leave Lily? A bunch of questions popped into my head. In the past, I might have wanted to figure them out, but now I just felt irritated. I didn’t want to play some tragic love triangle drama with Gabriel here. Seeing him about to leave, I deliberately provoked him. “Could it be that you didn’t mistake me for Lily that day, but intentionally married me? Are you actually in love with me?” Lily immediately panicked. “You’re talking nonsense! Gabe only loves me.” Gabriel also turned back to glare at me. “Stop being ridiculous. Lily is the only one in my heart.” “Then why won’t you divorce me?” I smirked, deliberately sighing. “I understand. Men just like to act tough.” “Stop talking or I’ll tear you apart!” Lily glared at me furiously. I ignored her and raised an eyebrow at Gabriel. “Honey, since we’re not getting divorced, how about giving me back my CTO position?” “So that was your real motive all along.” Gabriel gradually regained his composure, his eyes filled with disgust towards me once again. “Such a calculating woman, you’ll never measure up to even Lily’s little finger.” “Yes, yes,” I said perfunctorily. “You can say whatever you want as long as you give me back the CTO position.” Lily screamed, “Don’t even think about it! I’m the CTO now.” Gabriel also snorted coldly. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. Since you want to use divorce to force my hand, I’ll give you what you want.” Hearing this, I deliberately provoked him a few more times. With Lily whining and fanning the flames beside him, Gabriel soon lost his cool. I struck while the iron was hot, grabbing our marriage certificate and dragging him to the courthouse. The staff there wanted to advise us out of duty, but after seeing Lily cuddling up to Gabriel, they stamped our papers without another word. It wasn’t until we walked out with the fresh divorce papers that he seemed to realize what he had done. His body swayed for a moment before he suddenly grabbed my hand as I was about to leave. “My… my head hurts so much…” Gabriel covered his head with his other hand, feigning pain. “I think I remember now. That day I didn’t mistake you for anyone else. I really wanted to marry you.” “Honey, can we not get divorced?” Gabriel rarely called me “honey” except in bed. In the past, he only used this term when he was apologizing to me. He was subtly trying to make amends, but I pushed his hand away without hesitation. “Your memory is confused. On our wedding day, you kept calling Lily’s name.” Lily clung tightly to his arm, eyeing me warily. “That’s right, Gabe. You’ve already divorced her. Let’s go get our marriage license now. Don’t pay any more attention to this woman.” Seeing my resolute attitude, Gabriel’s tone gradually cooled. “Rachel Quinn, think carefully. Once I marry Lily, it’ll be too late for you to regret it.” “Congratulations, best wishes, good riddance.” I threw out these words and left. Yesterday, I had overheard not only Gabriel’s plan to fake amnesia but also the reason he married me in the first place. In the hospital room, he had held Lily and said disdainfully, “A woman with nothing but code in her head, you don’t know how boring she is. If it weren’t for her talent, I wouldn’t have married her…” Three years ago, the company faced a huge crisis, and many employees jumped ship when they saw the situation going south. With the company on the verge of bankruptcy, Gabriel and I were so worried we couldn’t sleep, losing hair in clumps. It was at this time that Gabriel suddenly proposed to me. I thought it was love showing its true colors in times of adversity. I thought Gabriel agreed to marry me out of love, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I realized it was all one-sided. I graduated from an Ivy League school with a Ph.D. and was a core member of the company. He was afraid that if I jumped ship too, the company would be completely finished. That’s why he had no choice but to marry me. The marriage I thought was perfect was actually full of calculations and exploitation from the very beginning. No wonder he never let me participate in the company’s specific management except for the tech department. He had been guarding against me from the start. More and more details leaked out in my memory, and I increasingly felt that my decision to divorce was correct. My disgust towards Gabriel also deepened. This disgust reached its peak when I returned home. Looking at the house full of traces of life with Gabriel, I suddenly found I couldn’t stay for another moment. After booking a hotel on my phone, I started packing to leave. As I was leaving, I ran into Gabriel coming back. He seemed a bit anxious when he returned, still slightly out of breath. But upon seeing me, he still put on a condescending attitude. “I remember some more things. After we got married, we seemed to have moved in together.” “I remember you’re not from this city and have nowhere else to stay. I’m a kind person. Even though we’re divorced now, I’ll still allow you to continue living here.” If it weren’t for him, why would I have stayed in this unfamiliar city after graduation? “No need. I don’t want to disturb you and Lily’s love nest.” After coldly saying this, I left with my suitcase. Lily, who had just caught up, passed by me. Before the door closed, I vaguely heard a few lines of their conversation. “Gabe, I’m sorry. Maybe I went too far today. Should I go explain to her?” “Don’t bother with her. I told you, you can play however you want these few days.” “I know her. She’s just throwing a tantrum for a couple of days. When the time comes, I’ll say a few soft words, and she’ll come running back on her own.” As I pressed the elevator button, I lowered my eyes slightly. Gabriel, I won’t be fooled again this time.
Divorcing Gabriel wasn’t as hard to accept as I thought. During these few days staying at the hotel, I actually felt more relaxed than any day in the past seven years. Three days later, a former colleague from the tech department suddenly called me. “Rachel, when are you coming back? The software is about to be delivered, and we’re still missing part of the core source code.” “You should talk to Lily about this. I’ve already resigned.” “Stop joking around. You’re the boss’s wife. Even if everyone else resigned, you couldn’t really resign!” The person laughed it off, their tone so natural as if I hadn’t resigned but just taken a few days off. “I’m not joking.” I was about to hang up when I heard a series of noises. A moment later, Lily and that colleague’s conversation came through the phone. “Rachel has already resigned. I’m the CTO now. Why aren’t you talking to me about work matters?” “Lily, stop messing around. Do you know how much money the company will lose if this software isn’t delivered on time?”
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