Her hand had already reached down.

I felt a little repulsed and was about to make an excuse to get out of it when Regina’s phone rang.

She was stunned for a moment, glanced at the name on the screen and immediately jumped up, rushing to grab her phone.

I could guess who it was that made her so anxious in the middle of the night.

She hid in the bathroom to answer the phone. I glanced at the clock. The call had already lasted half an hour and showed no signs of ending.

Vaguely, I heard her joyful laughter from inside, occasionally accompanied by playful teasing into the phone. She sounded like a young girl newly in love flirting with her lover.

I stepped out onto the balcony, lit a cigarette and stared into the night sky, lost in thought.

We met at a small company under my father’s group.

At the time, I had hidden my wealthy background and wanted to start from the bottom and she was the one who greeted me.

Back then, Regina was just a junior staff member in the marketing department. In her eyes, I was just a naive newcomer who had just entered society and came from a low-income family.

After we started dating, I secretly helped her secure several major deals. She rose quickly through the ranks, eventually becoming the marketing department manager.

We have a good impression of each other and our relationship has progressed from acquaintanceship to love. However, fate had other plans and my parents opposed our relationship.

I broke ties with my parents and insisted on marrying her. Though we lost our parents’ blessing, we still lived a happy and fulfilling life together.

I thought it would be enough to love each other.

Until one day, a new director named Timothy Liguori was transferred to the company.

Later, I found out that he was Regina’s senior, or more accurately, her ex-boyfriend.

Timothy was handsome, smooth-talking and very good at flattering women.

From that day on, her sense of style changed. She started wearing lace underwear, high heels and black stockings while taking selfies in front of the mirror.

One day, I teased her.

“Who are you dressing up for? I like purple.”

She blurted out, “It’s not for you to show it.”

Realizing she had said the wrong thing, she quickly explained, “Black is more formal. It’s appropriate for the workplace.”

That day, I hadn’t yet noticed these changes.

Every time I looked at our wedding photos, I felt an overwhelming sweetness in my heart, thinking that having her by my side was enough for this lifetime.

If it weren’t for the gift she gave me on our anniversary today, I might have spent my entire life unaware of what was happening.

Whether it was due to emotional trauma or the effects of the medicine, I had a high fever of 41° that night and I was in a daze.

Regina rushed around trying to bring down my fever, but my temperature wouldn’t go down. With no other option, she had to take me to the hospital herself.

But halfway through the way, her cell phone suddenly rang.

Seeing that familiar phone number, she suddenly braked regardless of whether I would hit my head.

“What! Timothy… He got into a fight after drinking?”

Realizing she had said too much, she glanced at me. Seeing my eyes closed, she assumed I was asleep and sighed in relief.

“I’ll be right there!”

After hanging up, she shook me awake.

“Stephen, there’s an urgent matter at the company. I need to go back immediately. You get out and take a taxi by yourself.”

Before I could react, she got out of the car, went around to the passenger side, unbuckled my seatbelt and helped me out.

It was more like she was forcing me out than helping me.

Watching her get into the car with such determination, the bright red taillights completely disappeared into the darkness, leaving me feeling completely numb.

I made an international call.

“Mom, Dad’s mentioned the marriage with the Liguori Family’s daughter in his will. I agreed, so please cancel my domestic registration for me. I’ll be there in three days.”

I walked more than ten kilometres with a high fever, but finally fainted on the ground due to exhaustion.

When I woke up, I found that I had been taken to the hospital. It was already the next day.

Thirsty and parched, I wanted water, but there was no one by the bed. A nurse happened to pass by and poured me a cup of hot water.

“What’s wrong with you? You have a high fever and you’re running around everywhere. Luckily, a passing driver found you and brought you to the hospital.”

“The person listed as ‘wife’ in your phone is also at fault. I called your number, but it kept hanging up and eventually it was turned off.”

“Don’t you think your wife is worried about you?”

I responded with a bitter smile, picked up my phone and saw a red dot on my feed.

I clicked on it and saw that Timothy had updated his status last night.

The caption read: [I will not betray our encounter and I have no regrets in this life.]

The nine-grid layout was filled with live photos of Regina’s every smile and expression.

She seemed to be playfully scolding him, yet her eyes were filled with nothing but affection.

The sparkling ring on her ring finger pierced my eyes sharply.

The comments section was even more lively.

[Timothy, aren’t you afraid your wife will find out you’re divorcing her?]

[Nonsense! Regina is the sister-in-law. Timothy and Regina are the real deal.]

Timothy made a funny face.

[I’ve blocked the tiger at home. Everyone, remember to keep this a secret for me.]

He blocked his current girlfriend, my former fiancée Ursula Auxerre, but left me as the only one who could see his posts.

Just as I was about to log out of the social media app, I noticed that Timothy had sent me a link.

I accidentally clicked on it and found it was a couple’s chat room on the Line app.

It was filled with declarations of love, where the two confessed their feelings to each other and even said some explicit words of flirtation.

There were over a thousand photos, all of the two of them together, with the photo timestamps dating back as far as ten years ago.

They were hugging and kissing and even through the screen, I could feel the genuine love between them.

I flipped through my phone’s gallery. Over the past five years, the number of photos I had with Regina could be counted on one hand.

I had asked her to take photos with me hundreds of times, but every time we appeared in the frame, she would angrily push the camera away, saying she didn’t like taking photos.

It turned out she wasn’t against taking photos; it was just that the small frame couldn’t accommodate three people.

I was just the pitiful outsider excluded from her world.

I saved all the photos and screenshotted the ones Timothy had posted on his social media.

When I returned home from the hospital, I found Regina hadn’t come back. Checking the surveillance footage, I realized she hadn’t returned all night.

I looked at the crystal wedding photo hanging on the wall. At some point, the crystal had cracked, forming a line exactly between Regina and me.

I took down the wedding photo and my phone rang.

“Boss, don’t forget, today is our company’s new product launch. The event can’t go on without you. After all, you’re the architect of the entire system.”

“Got it, I’ll change and be right there.”

When I arrived at the event venue, I just heard the host inviting the responsible person to take the stage.

I straightened my suit, but before I could take a few steps, I was stopped by a figure.

“Stephen, please take a good rest. After all, you had a high fever last night. I’ve already asked Timothy to speak on your behalf.”

I looked at Regina in confusion, noticing the faint kiss mark on her half-covered neck and felt a pang of jealousy.

She subconsciously pulled up her collar and said with a guilty look on her face.

“You also know that Timothy has only been at the company for a short time. The people below him don’t respect him yet and he needs more opportunities to prove himself.”

“You’re a senior employee at the company and everyone holds you in high regard. I’m sure you don’t care about such superficial things, right?”

As Timothy passed by me, he shot me a challenging glance and whispered in a soft voice. So, only the two of us could hear.

“You’re such a pathetic loser. Not only did I steal your wife, but all the company’s achievements are mine too.”

“Let me tell you, Regina only has eyes for me. If you don’t believe me, just wait and see.”

I remained silent, but the older employees below couldn’t sit still. Their faces filled with indignation as they whispered among themselves.

Timothy glanced at me smugly from the stage and began his passionate speech. The audience below clapped enthusiastically.

Watching him so full of confidence, Regina’s eyes sparkled with admiration.

But my heart was as cold as ice because the content of Timothy’s speech sounded very familiar to me.

It was identical to the speech I had spent a month carefully crafting. The speech manuscript was locked in my office drawer and no one except Regina could open it.

Yet the achievements I had worked so hard for had been taken by her to flatter another man.

When Timothy came down from the stage, journalists rushed to interview him.

“Mr. Liguori, it is said that the success of your company’s intelligent car system is largely due to the contributions of the architect Stephen. What do you think about this?”

Timothy shrugged it off.

“This is a bad statement. After all, a person’s power is limited. If an intelligent system is built, everyone in the team will make a contribution.”

He erased five years of hard work with just a few words.

Those years, I worked tirelessly, even sleeping at the office, with the most extended overtime session lasting 20 hours.

I poured my heart and soul into every design and every version of the plan. What broke my heart was that Regina was clapping wildly beside me.

“Timothy said it very well. He is not arrogant or impatient. He’s humbled and doesn’t take credit for himself. He’s truly remarkable.”

When she noticed my gaze, her voice trailed off.

“Stephen, that’s not what I meant. Of course, I know that you are the biggest contributor here.”

As Timothy approached, Regina lost all interest in listening to me.

“I will definitely compensate you for this matter in the future. Can we talk about anything when we go home tonight?”

After saying that, she led Timothy to his seat and sat down beside him.

Later on, huh? Did we even have a later one?

Upon returning home, the first thing I did was pack my clothes and personal belongings.

Regina was stunned and asked me what I was doing.

“Packing my things and getting ready to move out,” I said expressionlessly. 

“As for the divorce agreement, I’ve already left it on the table. If you don’t want to sign it, I’ll go to court and file for divorce until we are completely separated.”

These words struck Regina like a thunderbolt, leaving her utterly shocked.

“Stephen, why do you want to divorce again?”

“You’re just causing trouble again, aren’t you? Don’t get angry, okay?”

“I’m not angry.”

“What’s the reason? Tell me the reason!”

I spoke calmly, “Do you remember what I said to you on the day we got married?”

Regina’s lips trembled slightly, but she didn’t speak.

“I can tolerate everything about you, but the one thing I cannot tolerate is betrayal.”

“What do you mean by that? Have I betrayed you?”

I said, “Whether you have betrayed me or not, you know it best in your heart.” 

Regina’s face immediately turned angry.