Chapter 2
As I took the gift box from Jayceon, I quickly stopped him before he could open it.
"Let's keep it sealed until the baby arrives; it'll make for a bigger surprise then."
He paused for a moment, but didn't give it much thought. Obediently, he placed the box in the drawer next to him, displaying his usual willingness to listen to his wife.
He loosened his tie, shrugged off his suit jacket, and headed to the bathroom for a shower.
Perhaps because he was slightly tipsy, he left his phone behind on the table—a rare occurrence.
I picked it up, typed in Arielle's birthday as the passcode, and, unsurprisingly, it unlocked.
The home screen displayed Arielle's photo, which he had set as his wallpaper. It wasn't hard to see why his expression softened every time he opened his phone.
Scrolling through the gallery, I found thousands of photos of Arielle. Her smiling, in quiet moments, lost in thought.
I moved to the notes app, filled to the brim with her preferences.
"Arielle can't eat seafood; she's allergic."
"Arielle has a sweet tooth; desserts always cheer her up."
"Her favorite color is white, she despises red, loves sugary things, hates spicy food..."
In the messaging app, there was an account created just for her, filled with daily declarations of love.
"Arielle, I always watch you from afar, never daring to hope you'd notice me."
"Arielle, my birthday wish this year remains the same: for your happiness and peace."
"If I can't be with the one I love in this life, then seeing her happy is enough."
The account's timeline stretched back two years, to when my mother had died.
"No compatible heart for Arielle in the entire city, and the only match was Ezra's mother's. How can I possibly fix this?"
"I know it's shameless, but Arielle is everything to me. Without her, my life would be a living hell."
"Nothing matters more than Arielle. I've arranged the driver and the doctor for the accident. Everything is in place, there's no turning back. Ezra, what I owe you will have to be repaid in another life."
He had orchestrated the scheme to take my mother's heart with such cold precision; the realization made my heart ache unbearably.
Jayceon, betrayer of true feelings, deserved to taste endless bitterness!
The next day, when I woke up, Jayceon was already gone.
He had thoughtfully prepared breakfast and left a note, still using his usual gentle tone.
"Ezra, please make sure to eat breakfast when you wake up. I have an important meeting today and will be home late."
With a blank expression, I dumped the breakfast into the trash and tore the note to shreds.
Whether he returned or not no longer mattered to me; I had my own plans to set into motion.
The first step was calling my lawyer to start drafting the divorce papers.
The second was arranging my passport to leave the country.
Jayceon had a traumatic experience with flying, leaving him terrified of planes.
So, once I left the country, we’d be separated by oceans, never to see each other again.
But my ID was still at my old house, so I needed to return there.
Standing at the gate once more, I felt a pang of nostalgia.
In my memories, my parents were once very much in love.
But then Dad met Arielle's mother and had an affair.
It was as if he was bewitched, determined to marry that woman no matter what.
Mom cried every day and eventually had no choice but to sign the divorce papers. Losing the custody battle, she left me at the Bennett home while she moved to a damp, cold suburb, her health deteriorating.
Meanwhile, I endured years of bullying from Arielle.
Even though I was my father's biological daughter, he adored that woman, and so he adored her daughter too.
Buoyed by my father's affection, Arielle forced me into the worst room, took away my beloved puppy, and even made me forfeit my place in graduate school. Year after year, I conceded until I was left with nothing.
The ones I despised most were Arielle and her mother.
Yet all the men in my life seemed to fall for her!
Just as I was about to knock on the door, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
I turned around, and there was Jayceon, carrying Arielle in his arms as they got out of the car and walked straight toward me!