Chapter 5

"So you knew all along. You covered for him, let him hook up with my best friend, and even let her get pregnant by him," I said.

I felt like a total idiot: everyone else was in on it except me.

"Emmy, hang in there. Maybe once the baby's born, he'll stop messing around," my mother-in-law said.

I pictured myself, worn out and crying every day, holding a baby while waiting for a man who never came home.

A life where you can see the misery coming from a mile away: it was even more painful than being cut by a dull knife.

"I don't care how much he messes around. After the divorce, he can do whatever he wants," I said.

Seeing how determined I was, my mother-in-law was left speechless.

She tried calling Michael, but he didn't pick up.

Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door.

I opened it, and there they were: Michael and Sophie, standing side by side at the entrance.

Sophie looked healthy and full of energy, her smile sweet and bright. "Emmy, I'm here to mooch a meal off you."

Michael grinned. "You must've been bored at home, so I brought her over to hang out with you."

I couldn't even imagine what kind of attitude Sophie had, showing up here to make her presence known.

My mother-in-law pulled Michael into the bedroom to talk.

Sophie, still pretending to be all sweet and innocent, grabbed my hand and pressed it against her stomach.

At the same time, she reached over and put her hand on my stomach too. "Emmy, we're such good friends: even our pregnancies are happening together.

"Hey, should we arrange an engagement for our kids? Maybe they'll end up as close as we are."

If this had been before, I would've been all for it.

But now, seeing her innocent face up close, the more I looked, the more unsettling it felt. "Sophie, whose baby are you really carrying?"

She was stunned, clearly not expecting me to ask that out of nowhere.

When Michael came out, he looked at me with a complicated expression. "Who else do you think it is? We've already said it's Sophie's kid, haven't we?"

He pulled me aside, his voice was low with a warning edge. "Emmy, you'd better not let Sophie know you know about what's going on between us. She's pregnant, and if she gets too worked up, it could cause trouble.

"I don't want to see her upset. She'll end up blaming herself because of you, so keep your mouth shut."

I never thought Michael would actually ask me to keep pretending I didn't know anything, so Sophie wouldn't get upset.

I snorted. "Did you forget I'm pregnant too?"

He could worry about her all he wanted, but not once did he think about me.

Michael brushed it off. "Emmy, we've been together for years. We can get through anything. Don't blow this out of proportion and make everyone miserable."

With only one word "overreacting", all our good memories were wiped away.

Sophie frowned at us. "Hey, what are you two whispering about?"

Michael replied, "It's nothing."

I went back to my room, grabbed the document folder from the drawer, and walked straight out.

Without a word, I slammed the divorce papers down right in front of them. "Michael, sign it. I want a divorce," I said.

"Sophie, he's all yours now," I added.