Chapter 3

At one point, Helen stepped out, and Jeremy quickly made up an excuse about needing the restroom and followed her out.

It wasn't only the two of them who left the table. Other friends had stepped out too, so their absence didn't raise any eyebrows.

They had been away for almost twenty minutes before coming back, one after the other.

When Jeremy came back, he was clearly in a much better mood and got chattier. Somewhere in the conversation, he casually started talking about property.

The vibe at the table got tense. David's smile disappeared, and his hand holding the fork was trembling uncontrollably.

One of the guys sitting next to Jeremy gave him a playful punch, trying to lighten the mood. "Why bring that up? David's got nine lives."

Everyone jumped in to agree, and as things were starting to loosen up, Helen suddenly cut in, "Yeah, but Jeremy is right. David, even if you don't care about anyone else, you've got to think about your kid."

When she said "anyone else," she shot me a look, her gaze dripping with malice.

David and I both put down our forks at the same time. There was no way we could take another bite.

*****

I had a couple of drinks at dinner and crashed early that night.

I didn't know how long I'd been out when I was woken up by the faint sound of arguing.

Helen and David were quarrelling, but I couldn't tell if they were in the living room or the study.

I cracked my door open a bit and heard Sophie's name, and they were talking about a will.

I wondered whether Helen was trying to get David to put her in the will and give her a cut of the money.

All these years, David and I had our own jobs. He'd also done some business on the side with friends, but I never knew if he made any profit from it.

We never talked about our incomes, and we shared all the household and Sophie's expenses.

I knew David had been quietly helping Helen out all this time. With her raising a daughter whose mind was stuck at five or six, there was no way she could work.

All these years, I pretended I didn't notice.

*****

The next day, David said he'd made up his mind. He'd follow the doctor's treatment plan.

That was what I expected, so I said, "Okay."

After a moment of silence, David said, "Grace, I think I need to make a will."

I walked over and took his hand. "David, don't stress yourself out. Let's do what the doctor says and focus on getting better. It's not time for that yet."

David's eyes got teary for once, but he was still determined to make a will.

He said Sophie was our only child. He wanted to leave everything to her and asked if I had any objections.

Helen chimed in with a snarky tone, "Sophie is her daughter. What could she object to?"

She kept her eyes darting around, avoiding eye contact with me.

I smiled. "That's right. Sophie is my daughter. Of course, I had no objections."

As soon as I said that, both David and Helen visibly relaxed.

*****

During the time David was throwing himself into treatment, he was also talking to a lawyer about setting up his will.

In half a month, most of his hair had fallen out, and he looked more worn out and sickly every day.

I hired a caregiver to take care of David together with Helen.

Helen said she'd help out, but she'd always been a free spirit. She couldn't stick around the hospital.

Besides, she'd picked up a new fling in the last couple of years, and the two of them were inseparable, totally lost in their own romance.

Instead of showing up at the hospital to look after David, she left Emily for him and the caregiver to deal with.

The caregiver wasn't happy about it, so he came to me to complain, and I ended up bumping up his pay.

Anyway, David was the one footing the bill for the caregiver.

After I didn't see Helen at the hospital for the third time, I asked David, "Has Helen not been around lately?"

David had lost so much weight. His face was sallow, and his hair was so thin it looked like he'd aged decades. He was nothing like the energetic guy he used to be.

He shook his head, seemingly not wanting to talk about Helen.