2

My family and Beckett Blackwood's were neighbors. We'd played together since kindergarten—childhood sweethearts with a deep bond.

It felt natural when Beckett Blackwood proposed right after college graduation. We entered married life with everyone's blessings.

After we got married, Beckett Blackwood had me stay home. He said he couldn't bear to see me work so hard and that he would earn enough money to make me the most beautiful woman.

When both our families started pressuring us to have kids, Beckett Blackwood said he wanted to wait until his career was more stable. I agreed.

After that, Beckett Blackwood's business did grow bigger and bigger. He even hired a housekeeper so I wouldn't have to toil with chores and supported me in learning anything I was interested in.

Among our old classmates, we were always seen as the enviable, picture-perfect couple, and Beckett Blackwood had always been a devoted and wonderful husband.

Back then, I naively believed that Beckett Blackwood and I would be like my parents, living a life full of love and happiness forever.

Three years into our marriage, Beckett Blackwood came home late and drunk for the first time. I found a lipstick stain on his shirt and the overwhelming scent of perfume all over him.

When Beckett Blackwood woke up, we had a huge fight. With tears in my eyes, I demanded to know how he could dare to cheat on me so soon after we got married.

Beckett Blackwood patiently soothed me, explaining it was a work dinner. He said his secretary had too much to drink on his behalf and accidentally brushed against him, and that it wasn't what I was thinking.

Seeing how sincere he looked, I believed him.

'I was so confident. How could some random outsider possibly change the bond Beckett Blackwood and I have had since we were kids?'

I trusted Beckett Blackwood with all my heart, but a woman's intuition still left me feeling uneasy. I started pressuring him to have a child, but he always refused, using his unstable career as an excuse.

I had a gut feeling that something was wrong with our marriage. Without telling Beckett Blackwood, I packed a lunch and went to his company to see him.

When I reached his office and pushed the door open, I saw Beckett Blackwood wrapped in a passionate kiss with another woman.

She was a sweet-looking girl with a youthful face, and she fled in a panic the moment she saw me. Guilt was written all over Beckett Blackwood's face. He immediately rushed over to hold me back, stopping me from going after the girl to settle the score.

I slapped Beckett Blackwood across the face. My whole body went cold, as if I'd been plunged into an ice cave. Trembling, I pointed a finger at him. "Beckett Blackwood, is this what you promised me?"

Tears blurred my vision. I bit down hard, feeling a pain so sharp it felt like it was piercing my heart and bones.

Beckett Blackwood just kept telling me, over and over again, that it was all a misunderstanding. He claimed the girl was interested in him and had suddenly kissed him, and he never expected me to walk in on them.

Listening to his clumsy lies, all I could do was laugh bitterly. I said coldly, "If that's the case, then fire her."

: Forgiveness

3

Beckett Blackwood's expression instantly stiffened. He stammered, "She's still young, after all... And she's a really hard worker. If I fire her, it might affect her ability to find another job..."

Beckett Blackwood and I grew up together. I've seen every side of him.

Whether he was sad, upset, or feeling guilty about a lie, I could always tell what he was thinking with just a single glance.

Everything he said, both explicitly and implicitly, showed he couldn't bear to fire that girl.

I always believed I was the only one who would ever occupy Beckett Blackwood's heart. But now I'd suddenly discovered that the chamber reserved exclusively for me had been quietly infiltrated by someone else.

Suppressing the ache in my chest, I stared at him quietly. "Beckett Blackwood, if you don't fire her, we're getting a divorce."

With that, I turned and went straight home.

The moment I stepped through the door and saw the home filled with all our sweet memories, tears streamed down my face like a broken dam.

My legs gave out, and I collapsed to my knees. I simply couldn't accept that something like this—being cheated on—could happen to me.

I dismissed the nanny and sat alone in the living room, my mind consumed by a single word.

'Why?'

In truth, I had vaguely sensed something was off ever since Beckett Blackwood came home late and drunk for the first time six months ago.

'It's just that it's so easy to deceive yourself, to refuse to accept reality.'

'Tia Thorne.'

'I knew who she was.'

'An intern at Blackwood Corporation, a star student from Brighton University, whom Beckett Blackwood had specifically kept by his side as a secretary.'

"Tia Thorne is really smart." Whenever Beckett Blackwood said those words, an unconcealable smile would spread across his face.

But he, who had always been so observant, never noticed the forlorn look on my face.

'What I walked in on today surely wasn't the first time. The memory of them tangled together so intimately made my chest ache as if pierced by a thousand needles.'

Beckett Blackwood rushed back home soon after. When he saw me, he visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

He knelt in front of me, carefully taking my hand. He looked at me and said, "Genna, I've already fired her. I promise you, something like this will never happen again."

I looked at him as if I were seeing him for the very first time.

'The Beckett Blackwood before me felt like a stranger. I even wondered if I was trapped in some absurd nightmare.'

'And yet, the dream felt so real.'

'As the saying goes, once a cheater, always a cheater. But Beckett Blackwood and I have such a long history. Asking me to let go of this relationship would be like having my heart ripped out of my chest.'

So, I chose to endure the pain and forgive him. I decided to give Beckett Blackwood one more chance.