I spent three years on a medical aid mission in Afrikad. During that time, my husband and I could only video call twice a year.

In our third year, I missed him so much that I secretly flew home, hoping to surprise him. The moment I opened the front door, I froze. A wedding portrait I had never seen before hung in the living room. In the photo were my husband and another woman.

Then, I heard a burst of chatter. As I looked closer, I realized the plants in the house had started talking again. The pothos stretched its vines toward the living room. “She’s back! She’s back! That woman is wearing the doctor’s pajamas again!”

The spider plant snickered, “She claimed they were a gift from her best friend last week. That old hag comes up with a new story every few days.”

The cactus grumbled, “Quit arguing. She’s bringing that other man over for dinner today. How do you think she’ll explain this to her husband this time?”

The pothos replied, “She’ll probably call him her cousin. That’s what she said last time.”

Just then, a woman walked out carrying a child. She was startled for a moment when she saw me. “Who are you?”

I gave her a faint smile. “I'm Justin's mother.”

A flicker of awkwardness crossed Sophia Hayes’ face, but she quickly recovered and walked over with the baby in her arms. “Oh my! Justin told me you’re a doctor working overseas and very career-driven.“

She generously poured me a glass of water. ”He said you’ve been so busy that he couldn't even tell you that he remarried. He didn't want to disturb your work.”

I was born with the ability to understand what plants were saying. Afraid of being treated like a freak, I never told anyone about it, not even Justin Lake.

It seemed Sophia was putting on an act. The pothos beside me was practically shouting updates.

“Doc, she recognized you! Last month, she went through Justin’s phone and spent half an hour staring at your photos, calling you an old hag!”

The spider plant chimed in immediately, “That's right! She even saved your photos and sent them to her side piece. She said you looked like some country bumpkin and wasn’t a threat at all.”

A syrupy smile spread across Sophia's face as she motioned for me to sit down.

“Oh, Justin says you’re always busy. What brings you here all of a sudden?"

Pretending not to know who I was, she took the stance of the lady of the house and turned to pour me another drink.

I looked around.

The couch was different. The curtains had been replaced. Even my favorite coffee table had vanished, swapped out for a gaudy marble monstrosity. Every trace of me had been erased.

Sophia pushed the glass toward me and adjusted the baby’s clothes.

“Have some water. Justin went out to buy seafood. We have an important guest coming over today, so we’ll all be having dinner together.”

I lowered my gaze to the tea leaves floating in the cup and listened to the cactus sneering from its corner.

“Important guest? Please. It’s just that gigolo from the bar. This woman’s got nerve. Justin finally has a day off, yet she’s bringing her lover home for dinner, calling him a relative from her hometown.”

I lifted the cup and took a sip.

When Sophia handed me a plate of fruit, she deliberately tilted her wrist, revealing a Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra bracelet.

“Mother, look. Justin bought this for me last month to celebrate the baby turning six months old.” She raised her hand and let the bracelet sway in the air, unable to hide the pride in her voice. “And he said that his washed-up ex-wife working in Afrikad sends home enough foreign-aid money every month to keep the baby and me living comfortably.”

Sophia covered her mouth and let out a delicate giggle, clearly trying to provoke and disgust me. She probably wanted to push me into losing control like a shrew, so she could twist the story when Justin came home.

I held my glass of water steadily, watching her performance without a word.

Behind me, however, the plants had already exploded into chaos.

The spider plant screamed, “That’s nonsense! That bracelet was bought with Justin’s money. She swiped his card at the boutique herself! When he asked, she told him it was a knockoff and that it only cost 200 dollars!”

The pothos immediately cut in, “Exactly! And there are three Chanel bags in her vanity drawer, all bought with your overseas allowance! Justin is such a blind idiot. He actually believed she got them from some cheap reseller."

The cactus let out a cold snort and dropped the most devastating bomb of all. “Not only that, the baby in her arms isn’t even Justin’s! It’s her lover’s kid. Her so-called ‘cousin' and that gigolo from the bar!

"And Justin, that absolute fool, still comes home every day and kisses that kid. I feel sick just watching it."

My grip tightened around the glass. My knuckles turned white. Justin was my husband of five years. I thought he had been waiting for me faithfully in the country, holding our home together.

Before I left for Afrikad, he had held me at the airport, his eyes red from crying. He promised he would take care of both our families, keep up with the mortgage payments every month, and wait for me to come back so that we could finally have a child together.

I believed him.

For three years, I worked under nearly 122-degree heat, performing surgeries in tents without air conditioning. I faced armed conflicts, riots, and even the impossibility of finding clean drinking water.

Every month, I sent back my entire overseas aid salary and bonuses. I thought that money was going toward the mortgage, my in-laws’ medical checkups, and new shirts for Justin to wear.

I never imagined it would be spent on the Van Cleef bracelet around this woman’s wrist and imported formula for the child in her arms.

When Sophia noticed me staring at her bracelet, she grew even more pleased and gently stroked the baby’s hair. “Justin is so kind to me. He said that when that woman dies overseas or her contract ends and she comes back, he’ll immediately force her to leave with nothing and transfer this house to me.

“Mother, don’t you think Justin is a good son? He’s even planned our future so carefully.”

She smiled sweetly, like a woman fully immersed in happiness.

I looked at her and suddenly found it all absurd. “Yes, he is,” I replied calmly, setting my glass down. My voice was so steady that it surprised even me. “He's such a good son that he’ll even play father to another man’s child. How could anyone say he’s not a good son?”

Sophia’s smile froze instantly. She jerked her head up and stared at me. For the first time, a flicker of genuine panic flashed in her eyes. “W-What did you just say?”

I ignored her. Leaning back against the couch, I quietly listened as the cactus in the corner continued spilling secrets. What the plants revealed next was the most chilling thing I had heard all day.

“Doc, do you remember last October?” asked the cactus. Its voice was unusually sympathetic. "The night you almost died?”

How could I forget? Last October, I contracted severe malaria at a medical camp in Afrikad. My fever soared past 104 degrees. Cold sweat drenched my body, and my organs were beginning to show signs of failure.

In the middle of the night, with my consciousness fading, I was certain I was running out of time. I used the camp’s only working satellite phone to call Justin. It was a cry for help and what I believed might be my final goodbye.

The phone rang for a long time before he answered. When he finally picked up, his voice was impatient. He sounded almost irritated at being disturbed.

“It's the middle of the night! I've got two surgeries tomorrow. I’m exhausted. Whatever it is, tell me tomorrow.”

Using every ounce of strength I had left, I whispered into the phone, “Justin, I don't think I'm going to make it…”

“Enough with the paranoia. Afrikad isn’t that dangerous. I’m busy. We’ll talk later.”

The dead tone echoed in my ear.

Alone in a hospital bed thousands of miles from home, I listened to that cold, indifferent sound and closed my eyes in despair.

If a local boy had not run for miles through the night to bring back the medication I needed, I would have become a box of ashes left forever on that red Afrikad soil.

The pothos shook its leaves furiously and blurted out the truth. “He wasn’t preparing for surgery that night at all! He was at a dealership picking up a car with this woman! Right after hanging up on you, he withdrew all 600,000 dollars from the investment account under his name and paid for the BMW in cash for her!”

The spider plant immediately chimed in, “That’s right! She even complained that your call ruined her mood, and Justin blocked your number for three whole days! And he told her that since you couldn’t spend the money in Afrikad anyway, they might as well use it to build a better life for their little family!”

My chest tightened so violently that I could barely breathe. I had risked my life every day in Afrikad, saving strangers while dancing on the edge of death.

While I was begging for help, he was using my hard-earned money to buy a luxury car for his mistress.

Six hundred thousand dollars. Every cent of it was savings I accumulated during the first five years of my career. I had put that money in his care out of a wife’s unconditional trust in her husband.

He had taken that trust, crushed it beneath his feet, and traded it for another woman’s smile.

I lowered my head and drew in a slow breath, forcing back the tears and the burning rage threatening to spill over.

When I looked up again, my gaze settled on Sophia, who was still rambling nervously in an attempt to hide her panic. A cold smile curved across my lips.

My comment about 'another man’s child' had clearly rattled her.

However, she had quickly convinced herself that I had only just returned from overseas and could not possibly know any real secrets. She thought I was bluffing.

“Mother, you’re quite the joker,” Sophia replied with a strained laugh. “The baby is Justin's pride and joy. He looks exactly like his father.”

She stepped closer and held the child out slightly, as though that alone could prove her confidence.

I glanced at the baby, who had a flat nose and tiny eyes. Not a single feature resembled Justin’s sharply defined face.

“Really?” I let out a cold laugh. “In that case, when that important guest arrives, I’ll have to take a good look and see who this child actually resembles.”

The color drained from Sophia’s face. At last, she realized I was not some gullible country bumpkin she could manipulate. She opened her mouth to say something. Just then, the sound of a key turning came from the front door.

The door swung open.

“Honey, I bought your favorite crabs. Let’s make a few extra dishes since your cousin’s coming over today…”

Justin walked in carrying several grocery bags, chirping as he kicked off his shoes. His voice was relaxed and warm. He was the perfect image of a devoted family man.

Then, he looked up. His gaze traveled past the entryway and landed on me sitting in the living room. The smile vanished from his face. Time seemed to stop at this moment. One of the bags slipped from his fingers and hit the floor.

Several live crabs crawled out through the torn plastic and scattered across the hardwood.

“M-Megan?!”