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.

“Stephen, tell me the truth. Did you hear any rumors?”

“Timothy works hard and strives for progress. Everyone can see that.”

“He achieved a lot as soon as he joined the company, so it’s only natural that others are jealous.”

“Do you actually believe such obvious falsehoods?”

“I’m really disappointed in you, Stephen.”

I said, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t hear any rumors. Everything I said was what I saw with my own eyes.”

“What did you see with your own eyes?”

“Do you remember the gift you gave me on our tenth anniversary?”

“What’s wrong with the gift? I remember it was a watch I picked out for you after a lot of consideration. It wasn’t to your liking, was it…”

Looking at Regina’s expression, she was still unaware of the truth.

I couldn’t help but snort in derision, “That day, there was no watch in the gift box. There was only a used condom.”

Regina was stunned at first and then the expression on her face suddenly became unstable.

Like a child caught in the act, she cried out, “This isn’t true!”

“I’m sorry, Stephen. I really didn’t know what was inside. And I swear I’ve never had anything to do with Timothy. Please believe me.”

“I apologize to you and beg you to forgive my ignorance. Please, Stephen?”

I waved my hand and broke free.

“If you didn’t know about the gift box, then that night, I was drunk out of my mind, yet you didn’t come home until after 3 a.m. and your leggings were missing.”

Regina’s face turned pale. “That’s impossible. Maybe I didn’t even wear any that night?”

“Not only did you wear them, but you put them on right in front of me. I remember it clearly.” 

I said calmly, “If I’m not mistaken, the leggings you lost are the ones I found in the car.”

“And the lace panties that appeared in the bathroom that day were also left behind by you and Timothy, right?”

Regina’s face turned pale in an instant. “Stephen, what nonsense are you talking about?”

“Everyone in the company knows that Timothy and I are just ordinary colleagues.”

“He is my work colleague. We work closely together because of our jobs. What’s wrong with that?”

“And as old classmates, it’s only natural for me to care about him a little more.”

Regina looked flustered and her voice grew softer. But tears kept streaming down her face.

Seeing that she was still trying to play dumb, I finally couldn’t hold back anymore and picked up my luggage to leave the house.

Regina’s face turned pale. “Stephen, please listen to me!”

“Please don’t leave! It’s not what you think!”

“I’ve never done anything with Timothy.”

I cut her off. “Enough, Regina.”

“I’ve told you before, I can tolerate your domineering ways, your petty jealousy and all your flaws, but I can never tolerate your betrayal. That’s my bottom line.”

“Actually, I had already made up my mind long before the trip.”

“We were supposed to enjoy the last part of our journey together and then confront you on the seventh day.”

“But I never expected you to return to Dortmund alone on the first day because of Timothy.”

“You left so decisively, so ruthlessly.”

“I didn’t even get the chance to confront you.”

“Haha, looking back now, I was truly naive and ridiculous.”

“This five-year marriage was nothing but a big joke.”

Regina furrowed her brows. “Stephen, whether you believe me or not, I can swear to heaven that I am completely innocent with Timothy. I haven’t done anything to betray you!”