On the first day of New Year's, my good buddy, Vincent Wales, sent me a video. “Leon, take a look. Does this woman look like your wife? It’s all over.”

In the video, a man and a woman were making out passionately. As the car rocked violently, the woman’s face came into view. It was unmistakably my wife.

My blood rushed straight to my head. My hands shook as I dialed her number. “Hello, honey… What’s the matter?”

Her breathing was uneven, like she had just been doing something intense.

I was about to speak when she suddenly let out a few loud cries.

“A-Ah… It’s nothing. I’ll hang up now. I’m just playing cards with friends."

With that, all I heard was the dial tone.

Playing cards? She had clearly told me she was working overtime!

My blood rushed to my head. I kept dialing Elsie Gadd’s number over and over, but she did not pick up. By the time I called again, her phone was already switched off. I sat on the couch and smoked through the entire night.

She did not come home all night. It was not until the next morning that she finally returned.

“Leon, you’re up so early?”

I looked up at her. She did not notice my bloodshot eyes. Those were the obvious signs I had not slept at all.

“I was playing cards all night. I’m exhausted. I’m going to sleep first.” She yawned and walked past me straight toward the bedroom.

I called out to her. My voice, unused for hours, came out hoarse and rough. “Didn’t you say you had to work overtime at the company last night? How did you end up playing cards?”

A flicker of panic crossed her face, but she quickly regained her composure.

“It was the first day of New Year's. The company's not that unreasonable. I only stayed a little while before my boss let me off early. Since I was already out and had nothing to do, I went to play cards with my friends. You’re not going to be jealous over that, right?”

She pouted, looking slightly annoyed. “I need my own social life too. I can’t revolve around you all the time, can I?”

Her explanation was flawless, but I still caught a hint of guilt in her voice.

I glanced at her and did not press further. “Alright. Go get some rest. I’ll call you when it’s time to have dinner.”

She quietly let out a sigh of relief, plugged her phone in to charge, and went to bed.

After she had been asleep for about half an hour, I went to pick up her phone. It asked for a passcode. We agreed that neither of us would put a passcode on our phones to give each other complete peace of mind.

I never thought she would be the one to break that promise.

Her phone lit up. It was a message that popped up from someone saved as Aaron.

[So? You got home that late. Did your husband suspect anything?]

I frowned. Before I could react, another message came through.

[Can we meet again next time? I really like you.]

[Let’s try something new next time. I promise it’ll take you to another level.]

My heart tightened violently, my fingers went cold, and my heart clenched. She had been lying to me all along. Lately, she had been leaving early and coming home late, saying work was crazy at the end of the year and she barely had a moment to breathe.

I even felt sorry for her, making her soup every day so she could recover, and it turned out everything I gave her was for someone else.

When no reply came, he stopped texting.

I tried a few passcodes, yet none worked. I was afraid that Elsie might wake up, so I put the phone back exactly where it was.

She finally woke up around noon. The moment she opened her eyes, she rushed out looking for her phone. Only when she saw it untouched on the table did she let out a sigh of relief.

“Honey, you didn’t go through my phone, did you?”

I glanced over at Elsie’s tense face and gave a faint smile. “No. Why? Did something come up today?”

“N-No, I was just checking if my friends texted me. If not, it’s nothing.”

She scrolled through her phone on her own. The smile never left her lips.

I held back from asking who Aaron was and instead reminded her of something else. “The food’s getting cold. Let’s eat first.” We still have to go to my parents’ place to pay them a visit. I’ve already prepared everything. We can leave right after.”

She was stunned for a moment. “Why do we still have to go? Didn’t we already visit before New Year's?”

She had never liked interacting with my family. Over the years, I had gone home less and less because of her.

This time, I did not budge. “We haven’t spent the holidays with them in five years. It won’t be right if we skip it again.”

Her expression darkened, but she did not argue. She just lowered her head and ate in silence.

Suddenly, I felt exhausted. To be with her, I had nearly cut ties with my family. Yet she never once tried to share the burden with me. She only ever pushed all the difficulties onto me to deal with.

Caught between them, I felt like I could barely breathe anymore. I was not going to give in this time.

Even after we got in the car, Elsie ignored me, glued to her phone. Halfway into the trip, she suddenly spoke up. “Pull over. I’m getting out.”

I frowned and stopped the car by the side of the road. “What’s wrong? Why do you suddenly want to get out?”

She unbuckled her seatbelt and said in a cold voice, “I’m going to my friend’s place. You can go back by yourself!”

That was how it always went. She would pull this same move, waiting for me to soothe her. Only after I coaxed her into a better mood would she agree to come back with me.

However, I did not this time. I only asked her one last question, “Are you really going to do this?”

She was startled for a moment. Back then, I would have rushed to soothe her right away, but not this time. That only made her angrier. “Yes. This is exactly what I’m going to do. If you want to go back, go by yourself. I’m not going back.”

I nodded, said nothing, and drove off.

She did not expect me to actually leave her there. She immediately erupted into a string of furious curses.

“You bastard! Leaving your wife on the roadside during the holidays. Are you even a man?!”

I ignored her. Was this not what she wanted? I was just doing exactly as she said.

For some reason, I did not go far. I parked a short distance away and watched her make a call.

Not long after, a car pulled up in front of her. A man with bleached hair got out. Their body language was unmistakably intimate. They got into the car together, and I followed behind.

About ten minutes later, the car stopped in front of a hotel. They got out hand in hand.

I calmly took out my camera and snapped photos, then followed them all the way to their room. As I stared at the gold-plated room number on the door, I suddenly lost the courage to knock. From inside came the muffled, suggestive sounds of a man and a woman.

I knew exactly what was happening. My wife was in the room with another man.

However, I also knew that the moment I opened that door, our marriage would be over. The evidence I had was not enough yet. I wanted her to leave with nothing, not a single cent.

Hence, I stayed outside, listening in silence throughout the night. I did not leave until dawn, just before they came out.

For an entire week, Elsie did not say a single word to me. Ever since she came back that day, she had been locking herself in the room and rarely came out. Even though we were living under the same roof, we barely crossed paths.

In order to gather more evidence, I hacked into Elsie’s computer. As expected, I found a large number of chat records with other men, spanning nearly three years.

The most frequent name was a man called Aaron. Their conversations were explicit, and the number of hotel bookings was shockingly high.

I stood frozen for a long time before slowly coming back to my senses.

I searched everywhere for the video my friend had sent me but could not find it on her computer. There were no other videos either. It seemed like she had saved it somewhere else. I carefully went through every record I could find.

It was not until after we got married that I truly saw another side of her.

She was a gentle and dutiful wife in front of me. In front of friends and colleagues, she was generous and well-liked.

I never imagined that she could be involved with so many other men behind my back. The thought that I had shared her with them all this time made my stomach turn.

To avoid alerting her, I simply took photos of the evidence and restored everything to its original state.

After that, I went to the hospital for a full check-up. After all, with how many men she had been with, there was no telling whether she had contracted anything.

Fortunately, we had always used protection since she did not want children, so the risk of infection should have been low.

Just to be safe, I went for a full medical check-up. Fortunately, all the results came back normal.

Meanwhile, Elsie had been waiting for me to give in and coax her. After a few days of silence from me, she started to panic. For the first time, she actually spoke to me first.

“Why aren’t you coming to comfort me? Don’t you know I’m angry?”

Just looking at her made my skin crawl. I could not even pretend anymore. “I didn’t know.”

She choked, clearly sensing my cold attitude, and her anger flared up again. “What’s wrong with you? What did I do to deserve this? Why are you treating me like this?!

“I didn’t want to go to your parents’ place in the first place. You forced me. I did nothing wrong! Let me tell you this. If you keep acting like this, we’re getting divorced!”

Every time we argued, she would always threaten me with a divorce. I always gave in for the sake of our relationship. However, I was not going to do it anymore. I would rather end this marriage as soon as possible.

“Fine. Then let’s divorce.”

She fell silent instantly. Her expression flickered with uncertainty.

I did not want to waste this chance. “What, changed your mind again? You’ve been bringing up a divorce all these years, and now that I've agreed, you’ve got nothing to say?”

After a long pause, she finally stammered, “I-I just wanted you to comfort me. If you had just lowered your head, I would’ve forgiven you. Why can’t you just spoil me?”

I let out a cold laugh. Who decided that men are the ones who must always apologize when the one in the wrong was clearly her?

She continued boldly without a hint of guilt, “That’s just how women are nowadays. Look at how other men treat their wives, and look at you.”

Did I treat her badly? In reality, I earned over ten thousand dollars a month, and nearly all of it was spent on her.

Whenever she wanted something, I would buy it for her right away, but even then, it was never enough. She was constantly involved with different men, using them to get whatever she wanted.

I suddenly calmed down and looked at her evenly. “And you? How do you treat me?”

Under my piercing gaze, Elsie immediately panicked. “I-I love you! How could I treat you badly? I gave up a whole world of options for you, didn’t I?”

However, her final words lacked confidence. It was obvious she was guilty.

I had nothing left to say. So I laid everything out, placing her chat logs with other men right in front of her.

“Then how are you going to explain all of this?”