“May I ask, Paisley, who that tie was meant for?”

“For my husband.”

With a faint, weary smile, Evren rubbed his temple, as if my reply was only meant to stir him.

“That same brand and design, you used to get it for me all the time five years back.”

“So what?”

My eyes met his, calm and sure.

“You don’t have to act like you’re fine. After all these years, I only hope you’re doing alright, not like this.”

Like what?

In the glass by the community gate, my reflection appeared.

Simple clothes, plain flats, and a canvas bag packed with groceries.

I looked like any ordinary person working to get by.

For someone who once dressed in fine clothes and jewelry, this wasn’t bad at all.

With no irritation, I smiled. “I think it’s pretty good.”

For a moment, his expression wavered. “Paisley, you really don’t seem like the same person anymore.”

“Yeah, people tell me that a lot.”

Saying that, I turned and walked off, never once turning my head.

After climbing five floors, I unlocked the door.

Inside, the place still looked nearly the same as it had the year before.

Beside the old TV stood my mother’s photo, the candle before it long gone out.

I set new ones in place, tied on an apron, and headed for the kitchen.

Soon, I had three dishes and one soup ready.

Across the table sat a bowl of rice that no one had touched, and I ate slowly.

“Mom, I saw Evren today.”

“Don’t get upset. He can’t push your daughter around anymore. I’m not as naïve as I used to be.”

Only silence answered back.

With little hunger left, I laid down my utensils and walked into the bedroom, pulling out an old photo album.

“Let’s look at your beauty again, Mom. Staring at that black-and-white one all the time gets dull.”

Before I could flip open the album, a photo slipped loose and dropped onto the floor.

When I bent down to grab it, the faces in it came into view.

Evren and Leah.

Three young faces smiling easily at the camera.

I stood in the center, arms hooked around both of them, my smile the widest, one of my right canine teeth missing, making me look a little goofy.

That had been the summer when we were thirteen.

Debt collectors had tracked down Evren’s house, shouting and threatening to hurt people.

None of the neighbors dared to step in, not even my parents, but I ran in anyway.

The punch meant for Evren’s face landed square on mine.

My tooth broke right then, and my face stayed puffy for half a month.

My mother, upset and shaken, told me I must never have anything to do with the Hendrix family again.

But she never expected his mother, dragging her disabled legs, to kneel before my parents, bowing in respect.

With that, my mother’s heart softened.

For almost ten years, through every season, there was always one more pair of utensils and an extra bowl waiting for Evren at our table.

During every holiday or festival, there was always another set of new clothes, boys’ sizes.

Whenever she had free time, my mother would help Riley sell at her stall, and if anyone dared to cause her trouble, my mother’s temper would flare until no one ever bothered her again.

They began calling each other sisters.

Yet no one ever imagined that the quiet, self-conscious younger sister, who could barely speak without stuttering, would one day climb into her older sister’s husband’s bed.

That day when I walked through the door, the entire house was in ruins.

In the center of the room, my mother stood sobbing so hard it seemed she couldn’t catch her breath.

Across her face were five red handprints.

My father, meanwhile, stood shielding the woman clinging to his chest.

“Let’s divorce. You can take everything, I just want Riley.”

Next to me, Evren looked terrified, reaching out to grab Riley’s hand, but my mother struck her twice.

I shoved her, and she dropped to the floor, staring up at me in complete shock.

At that moment, I cried as well, but what I said cut straight to the heart.

“Mom, what gives you the right to hit Evren?”

Those broken pieces of memory stopped on the small picture I was holding.

After divorcing Evren that year, I had burned every single thing tied to him, yet I hadn’t realized one had still escaped the fire.

Just as I was ready to throw it into the trash, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

I figured it was Thelma Wagner, who always came by around this time every year, so I opened it right away.

What I hadn’t expected was to see Leah standing there, holding Evren’s arm.

Her smile was bright. “Paisley, long time no see! So many years have passed, and you haven’t changed at all.”

“Evren couldn’t refuse me. We just stopped in unexpectedly, hope we’re not disturbing you?”

I looked at the two of them calmly. “I’m not letting you come in. What do you want?”

A faint pause crossed Leah’s smile as she looked somewhat pitifully at the man beside her.

“She only wanted to see you, and she even brought a gift, nothing else in mind.”

After speaking, Evren set what he was holding down on the cabinet by the entryway.

Right away, Leah began introducing it with bright enthusiasm.

“These skincare products are the ones I’ve really liked lately. I happened to have an extra set at home. We used to share things like this all the time, so I thought I’d bring it over to you.”

Dropping my eyes for a quick look, I saw it was the same brand my housekeeper uses.

“That picture…”

Tears suddenly welled in Leah’s eyes.

“Paisley, after so many years, you still haven’t moved on, have you?”

I crushed the photo in my hand and tossed it easily into the trash. “Not that serious.”

She looked like she wanted to take my hand, but stopped partway.

“I know there’s still resentment in your heart. If you and Evren were still together, today would mark your wedding anniversary.”

“About what happened back then, I really didn’t have a choice. If you truly don’t mind anymore, let us buy you dinner. And if you ever need help with anything in your life, just tell us, we’re old friends after all.”

I was just about to turn them down right away when the candle in front of the memorial tablet suddenly crackled with a loud pop.

I gave a faint smile and changed my mind in an instant.

“All right.”

Leah spoke more than she used to. Her small gestures had also become more frequent.

As she talked about her and Evren’s trip to Turkey last month, she leaned over at a red light to apply her lip balm to his mouth.

“Every autumn and winter, I always have to remind you, last time you kissed too hard, you even bled a little, can’t you ever remember?”

Evren caught her wandering hand and looked slightly impatient. “Stop it.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, Paisley is here too.”

“Paisley, you don’t mind, do you? Evren and I have always been like this…”

I cut her off calmly. “Of course not.”

“I even saw the two of you rolling around in bed back then, so how could I care about something this small now?”

The car went completely silent. At last, quiet settled in.

As I turned my eyes to the view outside the window, I thought that if my mother were still alive, she would probably be stunned by how much everything had changed.

Back then, when Dad insisted on divorcing her for Riley, it almost drove her mad.

And when I secretly became Evren’s wife, that was what took her life.

At first, my anger was only toward my father and Riley.

They were the ones who betrayed my mother, forcing her to turn from a confident, unbreakable woman into a fragile, bitter person who lost control over the smallest things.

Time had been especially harsh on her, slowly taking away every bit of life she still had left.

Afterward, I began to hate myself.

Once I had tearfully arranged my mother’s funeral, I spent what should have been my honeymoon alone in the south for a month.

During that period, the only person I didn’t resent was Evren.

He was like a pearl buried in dust, a pitiful yet helpless child of fate.

Before leaving, I asked Leah to look after him for me.

She took excellent care of him. In the new home where we were meant to start our married life, she moved quickly and skillfully in the kitchen, making five dishes and a soup, all looking beautiful.

I sincerely thanked her.

That year, the connection between the three of us became closer than ever.

Evren treated me with growing affection.

With the first earnings from his company, he bought me the gemstone bracelet I had once admired.

For my birthday, he lit fireworks across the entire city to celebrate.

Each month during my period, he would cancel all his face-to-face meetings and stay home just to keep me company.

I had never questioned it.

He loved me down to his bones.

Until one day, by coincidence, I went to his office alone.

Through a half-closed, hidden door came faint, breathless sounds.

I pushed the door open.

Two bare bodies, pale as snow, cut into my sight like blades.

A scream tore out of me before I could stop it.

He reacted fast, moving to shield the woman under him.

“Who allowed you in?!”

“Get out!”

I lost control, throwing everything I could grab at them.

Blood ran from Evren’s temple, yet he still thought to cover the woman in his arms.

I wrecked everything around me, but I couldn’t bring myself to go closer.

They were the two people I had loved more than anyone.

The fear dug into my bones, and my teeth rattled as I tried to stay composed.

“Leah, look at me.”

Her face was swollen and red from crying. Wrapped in a blanket, she knelt before me.

“Paisley, I’m sorry.”

“What happened between Evren and me was wrong, but we’ve fallen helplessly in love.”

“I’m begging you, please let us be together, all right?”

The way she knelt there, pitiful and begging, looked exactly like that first year we met, when a group of delinquent girls had cornered her in an alley.

That year, to protect her, I, once the perfect student, completely offended that group, and for a long time afterward, I didn’t dare take shortcuts home.

At my wedding, I had personally handed her the bouquet, wishing her to find her own happiness someday.

And now, she lay in my husband’s arms, asking me to give her my blessing.

Tears ran down my face, and my voice came out barely above a whisper.

“When did it begin?”

Her shaking lips couldn’t make a sound, but another voice answered for her.

“Does that even matter? Haven’t you made enough of a scene? This is a company, not your home.”

“It doesn’t matter?! Evren, how can this not matter?!”

I screamed hysterically at him.

He stood completely bare, but his eyes stayed calm.

“Fine! I’ll tell you!”

“Last March, when you left me and went to the south alone, that’s when it began.”

“I never meant to hide it from you, but you had just lost your mother. I didn’t want to hurt you again, so I went along with your moods and kept the marriage going.”

“Leah has suffered enough. I couldn’t stand seeing her live in fear because of me. I planned to wait until after your mother’s death anniversary to ask for a divorce.”

“Now that you know, we might as well lay everything out.”

“Let’s divorce. You can take whatever you want. I only want Leah.”

It was only at that moment that I truly understood.

That slap I had given my mother back then, when I stood on Evren’s side, just how heavy it had been.

Before divorcing Evren, I still made a complete scene.