It was in our bedroom that I first found out about Nathaniel Foster's affair. My anger got the better of me, and I demanded a divorce right away.

Nathaniel broke down into tears and claimed it was a drunken mistake. He went down on his knees, begging for my forgiveness. He cried, "I'll jump off this building if we get a divorce!"

I relented, and things went on like this for five years. He was the sweetest, gentlest husband ever since that day. It was as if he was trying to pretend that night never happened, like I'd never noticed his infidelity. Everyone told me Nathaniel could throw his life away for me.

Then, his mother's 60th birthday came. She blurted, "Where's your son, Nathaniel? I'd like to see him."

That stunned me, but then I thought she'd gotten the date wrong. So, I smiled. "Melanie, the delivery date's in two months."

Melanie shot me a calm look. She muttered under her breath, "Ah, so you still don't know about the boy."

Something squeezed my heart, and my eyes darted to Nathaniel.

Nathaniel put his silverware down. "I have a five-year-old son." He spoke as if he'd just listed out his grocery list for next Tuesday.

The Affair Child

A chicken drumstick fell out of my hands. My mind was buzzing, while the world around me melted away into indistinct blurs. "What?" The word escaped my mouth, shaking.

"Helen got pregnant that night five years ago," answered Nathaniel. He didn't hide the truth. In fact, he seemed relieved that he was finally confessing the truth. "It's been hard, keeping this a secret for five years."

That threw me off, and I looked to Melanie for reassurance. "Is this a prank, Melanie? Are you in on this? It's a joke, isn't it? A prank?"

Melanie took another sip out of her cup but said nothing back to me. My heart sank.

Nathaniel continued, "It's not a joke. When we found out, the doctor told us that an abortion would hurt Helen. A life was at stake here. I couldn't make her go through it."

The mention of the child softened Nathaniel's expression. I put my hand on my swollen belly. I was in my third trimester, eight months along. The delivery date was due soon.

"You should thank God I didn't ask you to terminate your baby, or we'd never have our own child."

The truth was hard to accept, but Nathaniel and his mother's calm indifference told me this wasn't a lie. That answered why he had to go on a six-month work trip.

He video-called me every day while he was out, using that as a cover so he could take care of his mistress and their love child. For five years, he would go on a work trip one week every month to spend time with his other family.

I stupidly believed he was being a good and hardworking husband. Now, the truth pulled a bitter smile across my lips and sprinkled tears in my eyes. "You've kept it under wraps for years, so why'd you let the cat out of the bag now?"

Before Nathaniel could say anything, Melanie slammed her silverware on the table. Her voice agitated, she shouted, "Because I want to see my grandson!" Then, she took a deep breath and put on the look of a concerned elder.

"I've been nothing but nice to you, Ginny. I know you've done nothing wrong, but my grandson's been out there, living in the shadows for five years. I couldn't let this go on any longer!"

My limp hand clenched into a fist, and my pupils narrowed. So, I was the last one to know about this affair.

Melanie took out a file from her safe. The contract listed assets that had a combined worth of 1.5 million.

"We'll compensate you for this. All you have to do is accept the boy into your life and leave everything else to us. Nathaniel has promised me he'll never talk to Helen agai—"

Nathaniel interrupted, "A divorce is always an option if you can't accept this." He presented the divorce papers, signed with his name.

My eyes tried to bore a hole through the papers, but it was useless.

I demanded a divorce five years ago, but Nathaniel begged and pleaded and threatened to take his own life if I went through with my decision.

Just when I'd finally let go of his affair, he brought up the same thing he didn't want to do five years ago.

No one spoke. The only sound echoing in the air was the ticking of time. Then the door yawned open.

A crisp voice said, "I brought Nelson, Melanie! Happy birthday!"

Helen Shaw came in with a five-year-old boy, but the smile on her face froze when she saw me. Then, it was replaced by a hesitant pause before she greeted, "Ms. Holloway."

Consider It Done

The sight of her grandson put a big smile on Melanie's face. She scooped the boy up. "Come here, Nelson. Grandma's got kisses for you."

I sat rooted in my seat, my eyes refusing to pull away from Helen. Nathaniel kept his affair on the down low until he decided to let her into my life.

They were a perfectly happy little family, but here I was, carrying Nathaniel's baby. "You promised me heaven and earth, and this is what I get out of it? Do you think it's fun stringing me along, Nathaniel?"

That robbed all the color from their faces. Helen held her child tightly in her arms; the look on her face was filled with nervousness.

"I don't mind suffering, but I won't let my child go through the same. He's Nathaniel's and this is his family. If this family refuses to acknowledge him, then he has no father!" Helen declared, as if I were the one forcing her to make a choice.

Then, she left with the boy. Nathaniel rocketed up from his seat and went after them. Melanie glared at me with enough intensity to burn a forest, then she hurled the contract in my face.

"One and a half million is more than enough to live on comfortably for the rest of your life! The boy will join the family, and you will not do anything to stop it!"

Melanie left as well. I saw them off, my mind in a daze. Then, I bent down and picked up the contract. There was only another condition aside from the handsome sum of money, there was only one condition. I was to pretend this affair didn't exist and do nothing to stop them.

Something wrapped its arm around my throat. I tore the contract into shreds. Nathaniel had kept the affair a secret for five whole years. That was something I didn't see coming.

…

It happened one night when I came home—three months had passed since our wedding. The first thing that greeted my eyes was a house turned upside-down. I saw torn clothes, undergarments, and questionable stains all over the ground.

I walked into my bedroom. That was where I found Nathaniel in bed, naked with another woman. The scene hit me like a sledgehammer.

An affair was something I couldn't forgive.

Nathaniel staggered out of the bed and went down on his knees. With a trembling voice, he pleaded, "Please, I thought she was you! I swear… I… It was the alcohol! I didn't mean to! I swear!"

Nathaniel desperately explained himself again and again, trying to convince me. "I'll never drink again! I'll do anything! Anything, if you just call off the divorce!"

The news of his cheating reached his mother's ears. The old lady slapped her son as hard as she could and as many times as she allowed herself to. Then she bowed deeply to me.

"It's an honest mistake, Ginny. I swear he still loves you."

I didn't care about his reasons or excuses. A divorce was the only thing on my mind.

When Nathaniel saw that my mind was set, he climbed up the windowsill. "If you're going through with the divorce, I'm jumping off this building! Life is pointless without you anyway!"

That made me relent. I couldn't possibly watch him take his own life if I could stop it, so I yanked him off the windowsill. "Fine, divorce is off the table, but there will be no second time."

Although I'd relented, the affair still left a thorn in my heart. He gave me the best the world had to offer to make it up to me.

Houses, cars, the company's shares, everything.

My friends envied me.

"You must be blessed to get a man like that, Ginny."

As time went by, the people around us got in and out of marriages. They started betting on how long we could stay married.

Nathaniel came home one day and told me he had to stay overseas for a year. "Company business."

We videocalled every day, and he'd come back to see me because he knew I was still traumatized from the affair.

The man kept telling me he couldn't abandon me just because of work.

I wanted to stay with him for the rest of my life back then. Alas, the work trips and the business were all excuses so he could care for his other family.

I gobbled up his story for five years like a complete idiot.

…

Tears blurred my vision further, but I wiped them away. I looked at the signed divorce papers on the table, then I picked them up. If this was what they wanted, then they could consider it done.

Force

In the end, Nathaniel and his mother brought Helen and the boy back. Helen was protective of her grandson.

"Nelson will always be my grandson. No one's going to push him around as long as I still breathe." She kept giving me looks that said I was an evil witch who cooked children for dinner.

Helen's eyes shone smugly. The anxiety she showed earlier was gone, and she held Nathaniel's arm. "I won't take your place as Nathaniel's wife, Ms. Holloway. All I want is for my son to stay with his father so no one can call him a bastard child."

I grinned sardonically and shot back, "That wouldn't be an insult, but a description."

Helen paled, and she turned to Nathaniel like a hurt puppy. A frown creased Nathaniel's forehead. "That was crude. You're better than this," he said icily.

Something in my heart shook. I clenched my fists for a moment before slowly unclenching them. My throat was parched, and I said raspily, "I've told you, I wanted no second time."

Nathaniel held his son's arm. He shrugged me off and answered, "I've given you the papers. You can sign them. No one's stopping you, but you're still pregnant with my child." His eyes turned to my swollen belly.

"All I want is to take Nelson home. He's just a five-year-old boy. He needs his father. For God's sake, be the bigger woman. Besides, I know our baby will be happy they have a brother."

Nathaniel spoke so matter-of-factly. I could tell that he truly thought this was the most natural thing in the world, just like breathing. Still, those words had successfully snuffed out the last of my hopes.

Before I could say anything, he added, "Mom and I have decided to throw a ball next week. Nelson will be calling you his godmother after that. No one can call him a bastard anymore."

I shoved my sadness down before it could show. He'd thought that far ahead, huh? "I'm not playing along."

Nathaniel chuckled. "Sure, then you're getting a labor induction done at the hospital right now."

My head jerked up. My fury surged forth as I roared, "Are you mad? The baby's not even eight months along!"

Nathaniel was calm, but the words that came out of his mouth were filled with malice. "I'm the baby's father, and I have the right to approve that. It's only a baby if you've given birth to it. If you haven't, it's nothing more than a ball of flesh.

"Think about it. You can either take up the mantle as Nelson's godmother or get a labor induction. Of course, you can refuse, but I can always use force."

Then, he left with his other family.

We stayed out of each other's way after that disagreement, and Nathaniel never came home.

Now that the truth was out, Nathaniel kept updating his socials. That was something he'd never done before. Most of the photos were of him and his family.

Even the captions nearly told everyone they were a real family. My friends saw his new posts, and all of them wanted to know the story behind the scenes.

"Who's that woman in his stories, Ginny? And that boy looks just like him. Is he…"

"Is that woman his…"

I had no energy to answer my friends' questions. The one friend who knew about that night five years ago told me, "Your marriage is in a crisis, isn't it? I hate to say I told you so, but you shouldn't have forgiven him back then. Cheaters never change."

A bitter smile twisted my lips. My friend had seen through Nathaniel's act like he was glass, yet I stupidly placed my faith in him after his betrayal.