A Burden from the Past

I am a top-tier architectural designer. I personally designed a mansion for my husband and his mistress.

I had been with Caleb for seven years. Three of those were spent in the pandemic. In the four years since, we’d built a life together: we moved in, I got pregnant, and our son was born.

The lakeside home I'd always dreamed of was a promise that always seemed to be just over the horizon, always "after this next big project," he'd say. Until the day I received a mysterious design commission.

The client representative was a young woman whose eyes curved into crescents when she smiled, a sweet expression full of hope.

"This is the plot my boyfriend picked out himself," she said softly. "He insisted the mansion had to be built here."

I took the documents from her, and my gaze fell upon the name of the plot.

Lake Serenity. The very land I had described to my husband countless times, the place of my dreams.

I was about to marvel that someone else in the world shared my exact taste when the beneficiary's name came into view.

Caleb Whitman.

My fingers froze on the page.

The woman sitting across from me was still immersed in her happiness. She added gently, "We've only been together for three months, but he said he wants to give me the most beautiful house in the world."

I curled my lips into a smile, my eyes locked on the name and the attached proof of identity.

After all this time, the day I would design a house for Caleb had finally arrived.

Unfortunately, the lady of the house was not me.

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1

I put down the documents and looked up, studying the young woman sitting across from me.

She was young, with fair skin and a petite figure.

My prolonged silence clearly made her uneasy.

Chloe Pierce spoke cautiously, her voice tentative, "Mrs. Hayes, is there a problem with the information I provided?"

I leaned back in my chair, my gaze drifting again to the beneficiary's name printed on the paper.

"No, there's no problem," I said, keeping my tone light. "It's just that the beneficiary's name rings a bell."

Chloe's eyes darted to the floor as a guilty blush crept up her neck. "I... I don't think so. You must be mistaken. My boyfriend has never been married."

The moment the words left her mouth, she froze, the realization of her blunder washing over her.

I lowered my gaze and let out a soft laugh.

One little question and she’d given the game away. Same terrible taste in women as always, Caleb.

I pretended not to have heard her slip-up, tapping my finger on the photo of the plot to steer the conversation back on track.

"Ms. Pierce, why did you choose this location? As far as I know, this lakeside area isn't exactly a hot spot for luxury homes."

Seeing that I wasn't pressing the issue, she visibly relaxed, a hint of pride creeping into her voice.

"My boyfriend chose it. He said he spent years finding the most suitable place to build a home. He's always dreamed of building an ideal home there with the woman he loves."

She looked up at me, the pride and satisfaction in her eyes impossible to hide.

"He told me he'd dated a few other women before, but he never once thought about taking them there to build a house. Then he met me, and he knew right away. I was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with."

Watching her lost in her fantasy, I lowered my gaze to hide the mockery in my eyes.

If I didn't know for a fact she hadn't recognized me, I’d have sworn she was deliberately trying to provoke me.

I had agreed to be with Caleb because while I was busy designing perfect homes for others, he was the first man to paint a picture of a dream home for me.

He had once held my hand, patiently sketching out the house that would belong to us.

Sunlight would pour through the floor-to-ceiling windows. We would be in our pajamas, standing in our lakeside mansion, enjoying the quiet morning.

He said he wanted to give me the most precious memories during our prime. And I held on to that single promise for seven years.

Now, he was finally building the house.

In a place he had described to me countless times. Except, the lady of the house was a woman he had only known for three months.

I chuckled softly. "What a touching love story."

A beautiful story, really. If only the hero wasn't my husband.

Perhaps my "praise" helped Chloe regain her confidence. She began to show off her relationship with Caleb.

"That night, I was on the night shift in the pediatric emergency room. I saw him outside his... his family member's hospital room," she paused, correcting herself. "He was grabbing the doctor's hand, begging them to ensure the treatment went smoothly. Seeing him so upset, I went over to comfort him."

She pursed her lips and smiled shyly.

"He said it was my calm and professionalism at that moment that made him fall completely for me."