I punched the glass door of the mall and cursed.

Passersby looked at us with curiosity.

Jimmy, looking somewhat innocent, pulled me away.

Back home, I took out the luggage I had packed the night before, piece by piece.

I tentatively chatted with Janet about examples of cheating and mistresses...

Janet listened attentively, and at the end, she asked with concern, "Yvonne, is Jimmy giving you a hard time? If he dares to bully you, tell me, and I'll deal with him."

See? That was my sister—her own life may be a mess, but she still worried that I was mistreated.

"Not at all! Wait, he's my boss now, so there's no such thing as bullying."

Jimmy was only a few years older than me, and our families had always liked to tease us. Since I saw his mother dressing him up in a skirt, I couldn't see him as a potential romantic interest.

What should have been a heartwarming tale of childhood friends turned into something quite different in my mind.

Janet looked at me with a smile but didn't say anything.

I went to my room, opened my computer, and checked on the recent performance of the hotel, but I found an updated post from that day.

It was a photo.

The poster claimed that his sister-in-law had refused him, but his secretary was obedient and convenient for a casual fling.

The picture was of a woman in an office outfit, her wavy hair particularly striking.

The back of the woman seemed familiar, but I couldn't immediately place her.

I instinctively checked the poster's profile.

The poster had shared many posts before, showing off houses, cars, and family photos.

When I saw the little girl with pigtails, I shook my head.

People would really make up anything for attention these days.

His kid was at the age of kindergarten.

I was about to close the window when something caught my eye—the car he had posted was identical to the one York drove.

5

My palms started to sweat.

I looked back at the photos of his wife and kid.

The wife was just a vague outline, making it hard to identify her.

But the little girl, with her lovely features, bore no resemblance to York.

I scrolled through the poster's other posts, mostly mundane daily matters, with no apparent anomalies.

It must be a coincidence, I told myself.

I returned to the previous page and saw the secretary's back again.

It suddenly struck me. This was the same woman York had been holding in the street during the day!

Was this account York's?

Had he been cheating and had a child?

The thought made me immediately get up. I wanted to tell Janet. But I stopped halfway to the door.

No.

These few photos alone couldn't prove anything. If I told Janet now, she would surely confront York immediately.

By then, he could deny everything and cover up the obvious clues, making it difficult to uncover his faults.

If he could make such disgusting remarks about Janet's inability to have children while already having a child himself, his intentions were truly malevolent.

He was such a beast!

I seethed with anger, returned to the computer, saved the photos from the post, and then called a friend in the tech department to help me investigate the poster's information.

Just then, Jimmy's call came in. He said the results were back, and it was indeed birth control pills.

I hung up, staring at the address sent by my friend from the tech department, my mind in turmoil. It was a villa district in the suburbs.

On Sunday, I took Janet to the hospital, lying that a friend of mine knew an international expert who specialized in infertility, but we needed some information from her.

I also told her not to mention it to York, and she agreed.

Even though I had seen many of her past medical reports, and Janet always believed her infertility was her own fault, I couldn't buy it.

Those reports were always taken by York after Janet's hospital visits and brought back with the doctor's comments.

If York could tamper with her fertility medication, who was to say he wouldn't do the same with the reports?

The hospital results weren't out yet, but York had returned.

6

He still carried that air of disdain, his hair impeccably groomed. Seeing me at home, he gave a habitual snort and then went into the bedroom to argue with Janet.

The usual ending followed—he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

This time, I was prepared. The moment he left, I put on a hat and mask and followed him.

Just outside the complex, I saw him drive off in his car.

I pulled out my phone to hail a ride, but fearing he'd get away before the car arrived, I hurriedly grabbed a bike parked at the entrance and set off after him.

But how could two wheels catch up with four? Soon enough, his car was out of sight.

Just as I was feeling desperate, a small car stopped in front of me.

The window rolled down to reveal Jimmy's face.

"Get in."

Without asking why he was there, I abandoned the bike and got into his car.

But even with this brief delay, York's car was lost in the traffic.

I then remembered the address from the tech department and directed Jimmy to head there.

Sure enough, we spotted York's car at the entrance of a high-end villa district.

Visitors had to register and get confirmation from a resident to enter.

We were stopped at the gate.

"I'll handle this," Jimmy said, heading to the security office.

After a while, a chubby security chief escorted him out with a smile, opened the gate for us, and even provided York's house number.

Parking the car, we hid in the greenery next to York's house, using an apple tree for cover.

Our eyes fixed on the tightly shut villa door.

"How did you convince the security chief?" I asked Jimmy, trying to ease my nerves.

"Take a guess." He handed me a bottle of water.

I waved it off, indicating I didn't want any.

He opened it and drank himself.

Looking at his handsome face, I couldn't help but joke. "Did you use your looks to seduce the security chief?"

Jimmy spat water all over me.

"Yvonne, what on earth is going on in that head of yours?"

"So, what was the reason?" I asked, now feeling sorry for Jimmy, picturing the rotund security chief.

Did he make too big a sacrifice?

"I have a friend living in this community. I called him, and he called the security office to let us in," Jimmy replied, annoyed.

"You sure have a lot of friends!" I laughed dryly. The next second, I swung my hand and slapped Jimmy across the face.

7

Jimmy was stunned.

I held up the dead mosquito in my hand and awkwardly explained, "There... there was a mosquito."

There were indeed a lot of mosquitoes.

The crisp autumn weather brought out mosquitoes in the greenbelt who greeted us like long-lost relatives, overly enthusiastic.

Jimmy and I were squatting outside, feeding the mosquitoes, while York was sleeping soundly in his villa. This made me feel very unfair.

When I had been bitten by mosquitoes one hundred and one times, I couldn't take it anymore. I picked up half a discarded brick from the ground and stormed toward the villa.

"What... what are you doing? Don't be impulsive," Jimmy grabbed me.

I glared at the window, about to speak.

Jimmy snatched the brick from my hand, saying, "I have a way to expose him."

I thought Jimmy had some clever idea, but he just lit a cigarette and ran to trigger the fire alarm in the villa district, scaring everyone out of their homes.

I quickly ducked back into the bushes, watching as more and more people gathered outside, even alerting the patrol car.

After a while, Jimmy finally returned.

"What kind of stupid method is that? Mine is better!" I fumed.

"Your method is to bash someone's head in with a brick and get us both locked up?" Jimmy still wouldn't admit his foolishness.

"I wasn't going to hit someone with the brick!" I was confused.

"Breaking the door won't work either. If York denies everything, we have no evidence. How will you seek justice for Janet then?"

"I... I was going to break the window!" I was speechless.

That night ended with Jimmy being taken away by the police for disturbing the peace.

The next day, I angrily went to bail him out.

"You're good for nothing but causing trouble."

"How am I good for nothing? Didn't I scare York out? He was holding a child and calling him 'Daddy' several times," Jimmy said, raising his phone.

"Really? How come I didn't see that?" I tried to grab his phone.

He wouldn't give it to me.

"I'm good for nothing?"

"No, you can accomplish great things!"

"I'm always causing trouble?"

"No, you never fail."

"Call me 'dear Jimmy' then."

"Screw you!" I kicked him, and Jimmy handed over the phone.

On the phone was indeed a video of York running out of the villa, holding a child.

The child was the same little girl I had seen online.

Following him was a short-haired woman, not the secretary I had seen before.

"Scumbag!"

He had swapped fertility pills for contraceptives and tricked Janet into taking them, then used her inability to conceive as an excuse to manipulate her.

Meanwhile, he had already started a family outside and even had a child.

Just thinking about how Janet ate those medicines every day without a frown just to have his child made me furious.

"Have you decided how to handle this?" Jimmy suddenly asked.

"Of course, divorce! He bullied Janet like this. Kicking him out with nothing is too lenient. I want him to lose everything, to ruin his reputation. He deserves to suffer!"

I gritted my teeth, wishing I could tear him to pieces.