While I'm waiting for my wife, Anna Fulton, I happen to come across a popular post on social media that's posted by someone who lives in the same city as I do.

"What should I do if my husband clings to me too much?"

Among the comments that make fun of the original poster for flaunting her happy marriage on the Internet, the lengthy comment left by a masculine ID attracts my attention.

"You gotta pretend to be ditzy and dumb. My childhood friend was forced to marry the man she doesn't love, so I suggested to her that she should pretend to be a directionally-challenged idiot. She kept up that facade for five years so far.

"After that, her mother-in-law kept urging her to give birth to a baby. So, she secretly coated the stairs with grease, leading to her husband falling down the stairs. When she drove him to the hospital, she pretended to lose her way and drove a few laps around the suburban area. In the end, her husband could never get his manhood up ever again because the treatment got delayed.

"Her mother-in-law thought it was an accident. She was afraid that my childhood friend might abandon her husband, so she bought her a house and a car. You have no idea how much that mother-in-law sucked up to her!

"Today is her husband's professor selection day. She even suggested to him that she'd drive him to the campus. But the truth is, she plans on pretending to lose her way in the traffic just to drag the time out so that I can replace him in the selection.

"Once her husband fails the selection, she'll use the opportunity to convince him to resign from his job. He's already a loser, to begin with. Once he loses his job, she'll have a valid reason to divorce him once and for all."

The familiar experience makes my heart skip a beat. Before I can ruminate about the details, I hear Anna's guilt-ridden voice drifting into my ear.

"I think I'm lost, Claude. Surely you can make it to the selection on time, right?"

I turned my head and met Anna's obscure and unfathomable gaze.

"There are only ten minutes left until the professor selection starts. I'm not going to make it."

Anna took my hand apologetically.

"Darling, I'm sorry. I clearly checked the route several times when I left the house this morning, and the navigation didn't alert me that we were going the wrong way just now.

"Maybe the universe also hopes you won't push yourself too hard, so it's using this way to remind you to rest well. Let's get your health back in good shape so we can try for a baby."

As I listened to her, that comment from before surfaced once again before my eyes.

She'd been pretending to have no sense of direction for five years and deliberately caused me to fall and get hurt. Now she wanted to persuade me to quit my job, aiming to completely turn me into a useless person so she could kick me to the curb.

I gave a faint, wry smile. "Alright, then you can resign today. Let's stay home and focus on making a baby."

Anna was choked up for a moment. After what felt like a long pause, she let out a soft sigh.

"Claude, you're clearly still angry with me about that time I took you to the hospital. But I didn't mean for that to happen either. I was just so worried about you that I got lost.

"You've known for a long time that I have no sense of direction. When things were that urgent, you should have just called 911 yourself instead of waiting for me to take you to the hospital."

I found her complaints utterly ridiculous. She claimed she had no sense of direction, so much so that a trip from the company to our home, a drive that normally took just 20 minutes, required four or five hours for her.

Sometimes, she found it too much trouble and would simply text me, saying she was staying overnight at the company.

But Josh Lowry, her childhood sweetheart, lived nearly an hour's drive from her company, and she could usually get there in just 30 minutes.

When it came to our dates, Anna would always keep me waiting for hours because of her "getting lost". Yet, with just a phone call from Josh, she could always rush to his side in time, no matter the distance.

I'd lost my temper with her over this more than once. But it just always ended with me being the one to apologize. Because I couldn't bear to let go of this ten-year relationship, I was constantly torn between losing my mind and saying sorry.

A month ago, I once again missed the optimal window for treatment because of her getting lost.

After my body was damaged, I had thought about leaving her. But not only did she disagree, but she started treating me even better. This made me abandon the idea of separating from her.

My mother, Marcy Cooper, even withdrew her pension out of guilt to buy herself a house and a car.

I always thought that if I just loved Anna a little more, she'd eventually see my good qualities and have a change of heart. We'd surely be very happy together.

But as it turned out, I was still too naive.

Thinking of this, I said flatly, "Sorry for the trouble."

Anna's expression changed drastically at my apology. Before she could say anything more, Josh's exclusive ringtone sounded from her phone.

As soon as the call connected, Josh's excited voice came through immediately.

"Anna, I got the professor position! Come pick me up from the campus later, and we'll celebrate properly tonight!"

Anna instinctively looked at me.

I smiled and said, "Go ahead. I'll take a taxi home."

With that, I quickly got out of the car. Even though I knew her gaze was fixed on me, I didn't look back even once.

I had just gotten home when I received a message from Anna. She said she would come home early tonight and that I absolutely had to wait for her because she had something to tell me.

However, I waited the entire night, and she never came back.

Actually, before Josh returned to the country, Anna and I did have a sweet past together. Back then, she hadn't yet developed her terrible sense of direction.

Every weekend, she'd take me to various popular tourist spots to take photos. She'd also accompany me to eat all the snacks I craved.

Knowing I loved superheroes, she specially chose the Heroes Campus as our wedding venue.

She confessed to me loudly in front of everyone, "Claude Huffman, no matter how bustling and prosperous the city is, without you, it's just an empty city. A place without you is not a home, so starting today, I have a home."

I was so moved, I spun her around in circles right there on the spot.

She also loudly vowed to me, "I, Anna Fulton, will love only you in this life. I will only ever be good to you alone. I hope you will take care of me for a lifetime."

Back then, how could I have ever imagined that her "lifetime" would last merely a few short years?

Before we got married, I did know she had a childhood sweetheart.

But at that time, she told me Josh had settled abroad and probably would never come back. Besides, she also said she only ever saw him as a neighbor she grew up with.

Who would have guessed that Josh would suddenly return to the country shortly after our wedding, and with Anna's help, even become my colleague? Meanwhile, she herself had started to "forget" the way home.

When I confronted her, she retorted, "Do you think I wanted to suddenly become directionally challenged? It's because you're always making a fuss over nothing, keeping me on edge all day, that I ended up developing this rare condition.

"And of course, I helped Josh when he came back looking for a job. Claude, you're a college lecturer, so can't you keep your thoughts from being so twisted? Since when can't men and women have a purely platonic friendship?

"Just because you don't have a childhood sweetheart doesn't mean I can't have one! If I'd known you were such a jealous man, I never would have married you in the first place."

If I had walked away the moment I heard her say all that, perhaps many things that followed would never have happened. But in this world, there was no such thing as "if".

Still, maybe this was for the best. After experiencing hurt and heartache time and time again, when the moment came to truly let go, it wouldn't be so agonizingly painful.

Right now, I was waiting for the right moment to let go while slowly weaning myself off her. However, I never expected that moment to come so soon.

That day, I was teaching my class as usual when suddenly a crowd of reporters burst into the classroom with cameras, snapping photos of me frantically.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Claude Huffman?"

I nodded with a frown, then asked sternly, "Who are you people? I'm in the middle of a class right now. Please leave."

But instead of leaving, those reporters shoved their microphones right in my face.

"Mr. Huffman, do you have anything to say about the accusations of academic fraud and plagiarizing someone else's thesis?"

"Did you deliberately skip this year's professor selection because you have a guilty conscience?"

"Do your students know that you're actually a fraud who faked your academic research?"

For a moment, I even wondered if I had misheard. But when I met the suspicious gazes of the students down in the lecture hall, I knew I hadn't misheard.

I looked at the reporters in front of me, who were clearly ill-intentioned, and loudly denied, "I did not commit academic fraud, let alone plagiarize anyone else's thesis!

"If you keep spreading rumors and causing trouble, I will definitely sue you for defamation!"

The moment I finished speaking, someone in the crowd suddenly let out a sneer.

"Mr. Huffman, stop trying to deny it. Your wife has already issued an apology on your behalf."

That thesis was something I spent half a year on, poring over countless sources to complete.

Anna knew this too. So, I called her frantically, wanting to ask her what on earth was going on. But her phone just kept ringing with no answer.

And so, I was forced to be suspended from my position.

That night, Anna finally came home. The moment she walked in, I hurled our wedding photo at her feet.

"Anna, I already gave up the professor position to Josh, so why did you still have to help him frame me? Why are you doing this to me?"

Anna looked at the broken glass at her feet. Instead of getting angry, she chuckled softly.

"Claude, I knew it. Your sudden magnanimity and understanding about me spending time with Josh these past few days was all an act. See? One little test and your true colors come shining through."

My eyes reddened as I looked at her in disbelief. "So, you destroyed my career just to expose my true colors? Anna, you are absolutely insane!"

She shook her head. "That's not the whole reason. Josh just got promoted to professor and needs a high-quality thesis to solidify his standing, and your paper just happened to be a perfect fit.

"Don't look at me like that. The fact that I considered your work worthy is a compliment in itself. Sure, this situation has put you through a bit of trouble. But don't worry, I'll make it up to you later. Think of it as a chance to take a real break and recharge."

I was shaking with rage, but she hummed a little tune happily as she went into the room.

Before long, her voice drifted out from the bedroom. "Don't worry, Josh. I've already taken care of things on Claude's side. He won't cause you any trouble.

"Just focus on preparing for the international symposium next week. Rest assured that as long as I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you."

As I listened to her soft, tender words, threads of hatred quietly began to take root within me.

Just then, my phone chimed with a message from Josh.

"Thanks, Claude! Your thesis was really well-written. But whether it's the thesis, the professorship, or Anna—whenever I set my sights on something, you never stand a chance.

"So, if you have any self-awareness left, just piss off on your own. Don't wait until the end when you've lost both your reputation and your dignity."

In that moment, I completely lost all reason and immediately forwarded the chat history to the president of the college, Glenn Tanner.

Then, I called him. "Mr. Tanner, you saw it, right? Josh admitted to plagiarizing my thesis. He's the real fraud here! I want the college to immediately issue a statement online and revoke Josh's professorship!"

But before Mr. Tanner could even speak, my phone was snatched away by Anna.

Right in front of me, she said to him, "Mr. Tanner, Claude has been under too much mental stress lately, so he's developed delusions. Those screenshots are actually all photoshopped by him."