In our daughter’s birthday party, my husband asked the driver to take us there while he went to the convenience store to buy sanitary pads for his younger sister.

I frowned and said that this was against the rules and that a married man should at least have some boundaries.

To my surprise, my parents-in-law were even angrier than I was. They joined forces to scold me.

“What do you mean by the rules? The Baron Family isn’t an ordinary family. We aren’t an old-fashioned family!”

“Nothing wrong of Theo taking care of his sister. It just proves he’s a good husband you’d be lucky to find!”

“You should be grateful to have married my son!”

My relatives also began mocking me, calling me petty and narrow-minded for lacking tolerance so soon after marriage.

I smiled faintly, grateful that they hadn’t gotten married yet.

Holding my daughter, I called my boss, who had pursued me for ten years.

“Want to be a father and get a wife thrown in? Just say the word.”

He immediately jumped for joy. “Are you serious? Send me the location, I’ll be right there!”

But later, at my daughter’s birthday party, I saw Stella being held by another man.

Theo went completely mad.

——

I had already booked the hotel and purchased all the materials for my daughter’s birthday party. I was just waiting for my husband to finish his night shift and come pick me and the child up.

But after waiting for a long time, he didn’t show up. Instead, I received some messages from him.

[Luna and you can take a taxi, okay? I’ve arranged a driver to pick up your parents and relatives.]

[Stella’s menstrual cycle suddenly came early and there’s no one at home to take care of her. I need to buy some sanitary pads and bring them to her.]

Looking out the window at the pouring rain, my heart sank.

I called him.

“What are you saying? Are you joking with me?”

Theo lost his patience, his tone growing harsher.

“I said Stella is living alone with no one to take care of her. As her older brother, I need to buy her sanitary pads and bring her to the hotel. You should take a taxi now; there’s still time.”

“Adele, Stella only has me as family. I said before we got married that I would take care of this sister until she’s old. Don’t cause trouble now.”

I felt nothing but sarcasm.

“Cause trouble? The house you bought is in the suburbs, thirty kilometers away from the hotel. In this downpour, you want me to take a taxi with our daughter? Why don’t you have your parents take a taxi too?”

“I just finished my postpartum period and my body hasn’t recovered yet. Is your sister’s menstrual cycle more important than me and our daughter? Luna just gave birth and has a weak immune system. If she catches a cold and something happens, who will be responsible?”

As I finished speaking, Stella’s sobbing could be heard over the phone.

“Theo, I’m in so much pain. Am I going to die?”

“Did you know giving birth was this painful? I’ll never get married. You promised to take care of me for the rest of my life…”

“Where’s my sanitary pad? If you don’t buy it for me, you can forget about getting your shirt back!”

Theo’s tone softened instantly.

“Just be nice, Stella. Your sister-in-law is upset. I need to take care of her and the baby first.”

“Let me explain to Adele. She’s so kind, she’ll understand.”

The phone was snatched away and Stella sobbed.

“Hello? Adele, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know my period would come early. I ran out of sanitary pads last time and didn’t stock up, so I had to bother my brother.”

“Don’t be angry with him. If you must blame someone, blame me. My body is too weak and I’m not strong enough.”

Her manipulative tone left me seething with anger, unable to vent it. I felt so frustrated that I was about to explode.

“Stella, you know Theo is just your brother, not your husband. You’ve been clinging to him since before we got married. Now he has his own family. This is way too much, don’t you think?”

“He made me and my daughter take a taxi to the birthday party. If something happens in this heavy rain, who will be responsible?”

Before I could finish, Theo interrupted me coldly.

“Enough! Is there no one good in this world in your eyes? We live in a peaceful society. What kind of accident could happen? How come you always get into accidents?”

“It’s rare for Stella to ask me for help. Are you really being so petty?”

“If you have time to argue with me, you could have called ten taxis by now!”

With that, he hung up the phone roughly, leaving me breathing heavily in anger.

My mother-in-law, Barbara, saw this and came over, looking impatient.

“Are you scolding my son again? He’s a man who has to support his family. He’s not your servant. What kind of attitude is that?”

“If Theo told you to take a taxi, why didn’t you just take one yourself? It’s such a nice day, why ruin it for everyone?”

It turned out that the entire family knew about Theo and Stella. All this time, I was the only one left in the dark.

Seeing my silence, Barbara thought I was feeling guilty and started lecturing me endlessly.

“Men have so much pressure at work, it’s already tough enough. As his wife, you should be a supportive partner. Instead, you’re always causing trouble and picking fights. How are we supposed to live like this?”

“Stella’s parents died trying to save Theo. All these years, who can he talk to about his guilt? You don’t understand, but you’re even jealous of a child. How can you be a mother?”

“I’m putting this out there. If you dare to look down on Stella, you can leave the Baron Family! Don’t even think about getting custody of the child!”

The relatives who had come to give gifts also took the opportunity to lecture me.

“Don’t get me started, Adele. The relationship between Stella and the Baron Family isn’t as simple as you think.”

“Stella and Theo have known each other for over a decade, longer than you’ve been married. If there was anything between them, it would’ve happened long ago. There wouldn’t have been a chance for you to come into the picture.”

“If it weren’t for your scheming and insistence on marrying Theo, they would’ve been a perfect match. Now that there’s a child involved, just let go of the past and focus on the present. Be patient and endure it.”

Some people started whispering, “I heard that back then, Stella worked really hard to get into the same university as Theo and was planning to confess her feelings, but then she found out that Theo had a girlfriend named Adele Weasly, who was so strict with him that he couldn’t even talk to female classmates.”

“It’s fine that Stella didn’t hold a grudge against her, but now she’s become the mistress and is acting all high and mighty. She’s just spoiled!”

“Look at her, she’s so angry her wrinkles are showing. Compared to Stella, she’s not even half as pretty. I don’t know what’s wrong with Theo, why he’d choose her.”

Barbara sat in the middle of the hall, clearly expecting me to handle the situation. Hearing others constantly criticize me, I was so angry I nearly fainted on the spot.

I didn’t know how the truth had been twisted in their ears. But as far as I remember, when I first met Theo, he never mentioned Stella a single time.

The only thing he ever said about Stella was that night when he was drunk and spoke his true feelings.

He said that when he was young, he was ignorant and made a mistake that cost two lives. He swore to take good care of the couple’s children to repay his debt.

Over the years, he had spent a lot on that child, ensuring that all his needs were met at the same standard as his own.

He cried as he hugged me, saying the pressure was too much for him to bear, that the weight of two lives was almost too much to carry.

I thought he was a responsible and reliable man. My guard gradually lowered. After that night, our relationship heated up quickly.

At the opening ceremony, he confessed his feelings to me in front of the entire school.

After I rejected him, he insisted on sending me flowers and meals for two hundred days.

I worked part-time to earn money for living expenses, so he rented out the entire restaurant so that I could have time to rest.

He hired a hundred passersby to support me when I was handing out flyers.

To give me a sense of security, he swore he wouldn’t speak to any other female students besides me.

The proposal banquet on graduation day was still posted on the school forum, envied by countless junior and senior students.

But time has passed and the once beautiful memories have faded into fleeting bubbles.

Looking back, there were already signs of his relationship with Stella.

On the wedding day, Stella took a bite of king crab and clutched her stomach, saying she was allergic.

Theo left me behind and rushed to the hospital with Stella without looking back.

***

I couldn’t stay in this house for another second.

Holding my daughter, Luna, I ran into the rain with an umbrella. Not a single person came out to stop me or show any concern.

I walked along the highway for hours before a car suddenly pulled up beside me.

The window rolled down, revealing my boss’s face, Charles Garnier, so flawlessly handsome it was almost infuriating.

He raised an eyebrow slightly.

“What’s the matter? Got kicked out so quickly?”

“I told you that man wasn’t reliable. There’s no such thing as pure friendship between a man and a woman, but you wouldn’t listen. What do you think now?”

“You lost the bet. You’ll have to work for me for free for two months.”

I took a deep breath.

“I accept the consequences of the bet. Deduct the two months’ wages from my year-end bonus. I don’t want it.”

“If you came here for money, you’ve miscalculated. I don’t have a single penny on me.”

Perhaps these men, Charles, were better at judging other men.

If I had listened to him earlier, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Unfortunately, there was no turning back now. It was too late.

“Do you really think I’m such a money-grabbing person? Do you really see me as a capitalist?”

“Didn’t you make me work overtime plenty of times before?”

Charles was speechless, swallowing the rest of his words.

“That’s not what I meant. Come on, get in the car. I just moved nearby.”

“If you don’t have a place to stay, my place is always open to you. You’ll just have to cook for yourself and I’ll have one more mouth to feed. It shouldn’t be too much trouble, right?”

I furrowed my brows and studied him.

I clearly remembered his place was near the company. Why did he move so far away?

I got into the car swiftly and gave him the hotel’s location.

“You still haven’t given up? What’s so special about that man that makes him better than me?”

“Adele, after all these years, can’t you give me another chance? Whatever Theo can give you, I can give you too. Whatever he can’t give you, I can give you as well!”

His eyes grew increasingly intense, but I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about this.

“Let’s just leave it to fate.”

As the Maybach started moving, I suddenly felt a warm current beneath me. I pressed my hand against his shoulder.

“Wait a sec!”

“I think… I need to buy something.”

Charles skillfully found a nearby convenience store, but after mentioning the hygiene products, the owner said all brands had been sold out.

I showed the owner the photo of Theo on the wallpaper just an hour ago and he nodded immediately.

“That’s him. I remember him. In all the years I’ve been running this store, I’ve never seen a man spend so much on this. It must be for his wife and he seemed pretty desperate!”

“These days, it’s hard to find a man who cares so much about his wife.”

So, Theo wasn’t too busy to come home. He just had come home because of Stella. But he only took a carload of sanitary pads.

The sound of the door closing woke his sleeping daughter, who started crying loudly in the car.