Chapter 4
The host finished this page.
By now, people online were already jumping in to defend me.
The comments: [When a woman loves you, she'll convince herself of anything.]
[Am I the only one who thinks Caspar is treating Claire like his unpaid servant right now?]
[Come on, is nobody else noticing Caspar's gaslighting?]
[Wait, she gave up that chance just for Caspar's mom?]
[Caspar literally just said he forgot. That's kind of ironic.]
Caspar looked a bit uneasy.
He said, "She was my wife, so it was normal for her to take care of my mom, wasn't it? And me trying to get famous? I just wanted to make good money for our family, that's all."
What a joke.
Funny how Caspar forgot.
Supporting his family was never his top priority after he got famous.
What he really wanted was to dump me, the dead weight, and get himself a new family.
The diary read: [October 4, 2019
Dear Diary, I just realized something.
Sometimes, giving your heart doesn't mean you'll get one in return.
I did my best to look after Peggy.
I was constantly worried something would go wrong.
But she just kept getting worse and worse with me.
She got hungry in the middle of the night.
Then she yanked me out of bed and barked orders at me.
She said, "I want pancakes. Make me some, now."
She always woke me up while I was sleeping.
Just because she wanted a cup of coffee from her favorite coffee shop.
And that coffee shop?
It's six miles away.
Peggy never treats me like family.
To her, I'm just her servant.
On call 24/7.
But Peggy just couldn't give up card games for anything, not even with a broken leg.
Day in and day out, I was pushing her wheelchair so much that my back was killing me. I could barely stand up straight anymore.
Life was hard, but I toughed it out.
Dear Diary, do you know what hurt me the most?
After a whole month, Caspar finally came back from set.
The first thing he said to me was, "Claire, your crow's feet are really showing.
"There's a woman in our crew in her thirties, and her crow's feet aren't nearly as obvious as yours.
"Maybe I should ask her what kind of eye cream she uses."
I took a deep breath.
Before I could say anything, Peggy complained.
She said, "You only ever care about your wife. How come I never hear you say you'll buy me some eye cream?
"Her crow's feet are so obvious? That's just from her staying up all night glued to her phone.
"Getting her to do any work is like pulling teeth."
I stared at Peggy, totally floored.
She played the victim, dabbing at tears that didn't even exist.
Lately, Peggy would sometimes be too scared to move.
She'd wet the bed.
I never complained but just quietly cleaned up after her.
She always insisted on being taken everywhere in her wheelchair, no matter how inconvenient it was.
No matter how worn out I was, I still handled everything myself.
She made it sound so real that even I almost bought her story.
And Caspar actually bought it.
He looked annoyed.
He said, "Claire, you're not filming. You're just resting at home and taking care of my mom by the way. How can you be lazy?
"It's not like I'm asking you to go out and make money."
Right then, Caspar was playing the role of the dutiful son.
And I? I was suddenly the villain in the family.
I collapsed onto the couch, completely exhausted.
I just sat there, listening to Peggy throw out random complaints about me.
All the care I'd given her was suddenly just me helping out every now and then.
To her, having me around was nothing but a burden.
Even if the fridge was out of eggs, she could rant about it for ages.
They just wouldn't stop.
Dear Diary, at that moment, I suddenly thought of the third female lead I gave up.
The role I was so attached to.
Dear Diary, tell me, what does marriage really give us?
Is it having to put my career on pause?
Or is it a mother-in-law who's always making things difficult?
Or maybe it's a husband who just doesn't understand me at all?
I spent the whole night on the couch.
Snores kept coming from both the master and guest bedrooms.
They really were sleeping soundly.]
The host finished reading this page.
Netizens were raging.
The comments: [Is Peggy for real? She's totally nuts.]
[If I were Claire, I would've slapped her by now.]
[No way, this has to be exaggerated.]
The host turned to Caspar. "Caspar, did Ms. Evans ever mention how tough it was looking after your mom?"
Caspar was stunned for a moment, and then shrugged. "Claire was probably just being dramatic. I mean, taking care of someone with a broken leg isn't all that hard."
He had no idea.
The hurt I never even put in dairy was so much more than he could ever imagine.
During those three months she spent looking after Peggy, I aged a whole decade.
The day Peggy packed up and left, I found myself with a few more gray hairs than before.
I mentioned it to Caspar.
Caspar just shrugged it off.
He said, "It's nothing, just a couple of gray hairs."
With that, I couldn't say another word.
Back then, I still believed Caspar and I would make up soon.
That we'd go back to those days when we were crazy in love.
But then it hit me that Caspar wasn't the same person anymore.
There was no way we could ever get back to what we once had.