My wife invited me to the aquarium, and I was overjoyed.

I spent a fortune on a diamond ring, planning to surprise her.

Who would have thought that after her boss casually remarked, "This diamond ring looks like one of those 9.99 dollars deals with free shipping from Amazon," she would immediately throw the ring into the mermaid performance pool?

I dived into the water to search for it, but my wife and her boss deliberately teased me, refusing to let me back on land.

Exhausted, I desperately begged them for help, only to see the back of my boss holding my wife as they walked away.

I died, but she went mad.

***

I died, in the dreamy and fantastical mermaid performance pool.

Exhausted, I sank to the bottom of the water. As my consciousness gradually detached from my body, I saw myself drift behind an artificial rock formation, hidden from plain sight.

Good, at least I wouldn't scare anyone.

When my awareness returned, I found myself following my wife, now just a ghostly presence.

She was affectionately holding her boss's arm, speaking sweetly.

"Samuel, where should we go for dinner later?"

"Seeing that useless fool, Patrick, floundering in the water like that—did it make you feel any better?"

A few words from Janet and Samuel sent chills down my spine.

Even colder than when I had sunk into the water, losing consciousness.

So, everything today was just to make her boss a little happier?

No wonder she lowered herself to call me today, saying.

"Patrick, today is our seventh wedding anniversary. I'll give you ten minutes to get to my workplace so we can go on a date."

Her tone was still harsh, but there were hints of softness.

I thought she had changed, but it was just to deceive me and please her beloved boss?!

Samuel nodded in satisfaction, a malicious smile gleaming in his eyes.

"Janet, you know, I was just too jealous back then. If it weren't for that…how could someone like Patrick ever be worthy of marrying you?"

At the mention of my name, a look of disgust and disdain flashed across Janet's face, and she mercilessly belittled me.

"Ugh! Don't mention him. He's just a worthless fool! I've been married to him for seven years, and when I told him that past events had left me traumatized and I didn't want to…you know…he actually believed me!"

"All these years, he hasn't touched me once! Do you think there's something wrong with him?"

"And he keeps saying he loves me. I can't believe a man would have no feelings for the woman he loves! Patrick is such a loser; he can't even tell a lie properly!"

"If anything, he should thank me for hiding his problem all these years…"

Every word Janet said felt like a stone being hurled at me, hitting me with such force that my head spun.

So, this was how Janet always saw me?

Treating my restraint as a personal deficiency, trampling all over my genuine feelings.

I used to believe that if I treated her well enough, she would eventually forget the past and truly become my wife.

So, I did everything I could to be good to her. I never expected that, in the end, I'd still be called a "worthless fool."

When I got her call today, I was so happy I could cry.

I thought I had finally melted Janet's heart, which had been frozen for years. As soon as I hung up, I begged my boss for time off, withdrew all the savings I had accumulated over the years, and bought a diamond ring.

Janet had always complained about this.

"Why are you always lazing around at home? Don't you know you could be out delivering orders and making some money?"

"I've been married to you for so many years, and I don't even have a diamond ring! Go to the aquarium and see if there's anyone without a diamond ring!"

"You're such a useless fool! Marrying you must be the worst luck I've had in eight lifetimes!"

But I had handed over my salary card to her seven years ago, and for all these years, I never had more than a hundred bucks to my name.

Where was I supposed to find the money to buy her a diamond ring?

Yet, I didn't dare to argue back or even utter a word.

Out of guilt, I could only drag my exhausted body off the sofa and go out to continue earning money.

I scrimped and saved every penny I could by picking up bottles, delivering food, and running errands for others until I finally saved enough to buy a diamond ring.

I came to her full of joy, only to see her snuggled sweetly in the arms of another man.

In that moment, my heart fell from the edge of a cliff into an abyss, an unbearable pain.

I should have realized long ago that Janet's heart wasn't frozen; it was just that her springtime wasn't meant to be with me.

In seven years of marriage, she had never looked at me the way she did at that man.

Whenever she looked at me, her face was always filled with disdain, disgust, and coldness. She looked at me as if I were her worst enemy.

As if I had ruined her life.

I clenched my teeth and recalled how foolish I had been in life, wondering how I could have so easily believed her words.

But thinking back to the events of that time, perhaps Janet had every reason to hate me.

After all, I did destroy her bright future...

For a moment, the resentment and hatred in my heart dissipated like air from a balloon pricked with a needle.

I stood there in dejection, only regretting the mistake I made all those years ago.

Looking at my translucent body, I thought blankly.

Using my life to atone, I suppose I no longer owe Janet anything now, right?

Perhaps because the last person I thought of before dying was Janet, I found myself stuck by her side, unable to leave.

Janet spent lavishly; she would casually dine at a high-end restaurant where the average meal cost over a thousand dollars, even ordering live violin music.

The two of them enjoyed a romantic dinner in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, feeding each other tenderly, their affection evident.

Watching them from the side, my heart filled with jealousy, a mix of bitterness and pain.

Three thousand dollars—this was almost half of my monthly salary, and Janet spent it so effortlessly.

Meanwhile, on the rare occasion when I spent a bit over twenty dollars on braised chicken rice, she would mock me sarcastically when I got home.

"Oh, where did Patrick go to indulge himself again?"

"Are you making a fortune now, or have you struck it rich? You're eating out—do you have that much money to throw around?"

"Are we even trying to live? Patrick, if you don't want to be with me, just say it!"

Remembering the past, all I could do was smile bitterly.

It turned out Janet wasn't stingy or mean; she just couldn't stand to see me living well.

Of course, for someone like me who committed such a grave mistake, I deserved to spend a lifetime atoning for it.

"Janet, do you think Patrick managed to retrieve that fake ring? With the way he looked so poor, there's no way he could afford a real diamond ring, right?"

After their meal, I could only trail behind them, watching numbly as Janet, without blinking an eye, booked a room at a five-star hotel.

All of this was money I earned through my blood, sweat, and tears!

A cold expression crossed Janet's face, her words dripping with disdain and contempt.

"Don't mention that loser. He's worked for seven years and still can't afford a house, forcing me to live in a rented place all this time."

"A person like him, what's the point of even being alive? He might as well be dead!"

Each word was like a knife, cutting deeply into my heart, the pain making my soul tremble.

I had slaved away for her for seven years, giving her the best life I could, only to be told I didn't even deserve to live.

If this was the result of my seven years of atonement, then why didn't I just die right after the incident all those years ago?

What is the meaning of my life as a monk for these seven years?

"Forget that loser. Janet, it's been years; did you miss me? You little minx, you're even more beautiful than you were seven years ago!"

"Oh, stop talking. Let me taste you, this pure little lady, and see if you're as sweet as you were back then…"

Samuel said lasciviously as he stripped off both his and Janet's clothes, eagerly pressing himself on top of her.

Seeing the live pornographic show about to unfold before me, I was filled with hatred but couldn't avoid it. I could only turn around and face the wall.

I felt desolate.

So, the trauma Janet spoke of was really just reserved for me. With others, there was only pleasure, no pain.

But then again, I was the perpetrator of that time, wasn't I?

I deserved this!

I raised my arm high and slapped myself hard.

Seven years ago, at the high school graduation party, I got drunk and lost my senses.

When I woke up, I was faced with Janet, half-lying next to me, crying and accusing me, with red and white filthy stains all over her lower body.

"Last night, you were drunk and insisted on dragging me into bed… I couldn't overpower you, and you pinned me down…"

"Patrick, I'm going to report you for rape!"

I had a splitting headache from Janet's accusation, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember anything.

But the bruises all over her body didn't look fake…

In a panic, I could only tell my brother, who I rely on for everything.

In a panic, I could only confide in my older brother, who had been my only support. I clearly remember his hands trembling uncontrollably as he smoked. After hearing the whole story, he looked as though he had aged ten years.

It was Janet's brother who came to negotiate on her behalf.

At first, they refused to settle privately.

"Damn it! Settle this, my ass! My beautiful sister has been ruined by you, and who knows if there's a bastard in her belly now! How could we settle this privately?"

"A rapist like Patrick wants to go to college? What a load of crap!"

"A scumbag like you should be rotting in jail; that would be too easy on you! I think you deserve the death penalty!"

It was my brother who, dragging me along, almost smashed his head in bowing to them, saying all sorts of humble words, before Janet's brother finally agreed.

Twenty thousand dollars to settle, as if it were the bride price for marrying Janet.

To keep me out of jail, my brother had to sell the house our parents left behind to scrape together the money for Janet's brother.

But with the house sold and the money paid, I still didn't get to go to college.

That was always my regret, but I considered it my punishment for the crime I committed…

"Oh, stop it, you naughty thing! I've kept myself pure all these years just for you; you're my only man…"

What?!

Ignoring the obscene scene in front of me, I whipped my head around, eyes wide open, rushing over to Janet, staring at her intently.

"Say that again! What do you mean Samuel is your only man?!"