And the woman in his arms, bare as the day she was born.

Meg Simmons. In college she'd been two years behind me, in my direct line of study.

Every finals week, she'd cling to me, begging for my course review notes so she could cram for her exams.

In the beginning, Morgan actually didn't think much of her. He used to complain to me that she was eating into our time together.

But little by little, things shifted.

He'd compliment Meg right in front of me, saying how pretty her dress was, how sweet and guileless she seemed.

There was even a time I caught the two of them coming out of the men's restroom together. Meg was crying and scolding him for being a brute, for having no tenderness toward a woman at all.

So that was when it began. They'd been carrying on behind my back since then.

About two hours passed.

Morgan came out of the bathroom with Meg cradled in one arm, then stood by the bed and gently dried her hair for her.

They tussled and teased for a good while before Meg finally pushed his shoulder away, pouting in mock reproach.

"Today was our son's first day at preschool, and you, his father, didn't even go. Hmph. You're not the least bit fit for the job."

Morgan pulled her into his chest. "Blame that Lucinda. Every single time she dawdles forever before she'll leave, holding up the three of us getting to be together as a family."

"Don't be cross anymore, baby. How about I get you a jewelry set to make it up to you?"

"And what about our son?"

Morgan smiled and raised three fingers, swearing an oath to the heavens.

"For the next week, dropping our son off and picking him up is all on me. Now are you finally satisfied?"

I clenched both fists, nails nearly digging into my flesh, yet I felt nothing of the pain.

I kept thinking: how could a person sink to such shamelessness?

Morgan had lain there faking illness for eight years. Eight years of cold words and colder looks aimed at me.

And all the while, behind my back, he and Meg had gone so far as to have a son.

That child. I'd seen him.

Morgan's parents had lied to me, said he was a relative's boy they were fostering for a while. Yet the two of them doted on him as if he were their own grandson.

Every time I went to drop off their living allowance, that child would leap out from behind me and deliberately squirt me with a toy water gun, his mouth full of filth, calling me a "wicked woman," shouting things like "you stole my daddy."

A child like his mother, sure enough.

By now the heat had risen in Meg's body again, and she wound herself around Morgan for three more rounds.

Afterward, she cupped the man's face triumphantly and looked toward my figure in the wedding photo.

The gesture seemed meant to stake her claim.

"Morgan, do you know why I threw out everything in this house that had anything to do with Lucinda, yet kept that one photo?"

Morgan smirked and reached out, doting, to flick the tip of her dainty nose.

"Up to no good again?"

"That's right. I want her to see with her own eyes that on every unremarkable night, you're right here in this honeymoon room she decorated with her own hands, tangled up with me, unable to bear letting go."

"It was so infuriating, the way she married you a step ahead of me. When we're so clearly the better-matched pair."

"Still, watching her get led around in circles by us all these years, I've finally vented my spite."

"Then again, don't you think she's pitiful? Trying to find a treatment for you, she's worn herself down into an old hag. She's not even thirty, and already a big patch of her hair's gone white, her whole face lined with wrinkles. Hahaha. Every time I see her she gives me the creeps."

"That was her own choice."

Morgan toyed with the ends of Meg's hair, his face full of amusement.

"Lying there crippled and faking it, I'm the more pitiful one. How come I never saw you feel sorry for me?"

"You're awful."

……

The night was as long as ever.

Some lay sleeping in each other's arms. Some were breaking apart inside.

The next morning, for the first time ever, I didn't show up at Morgan's bedside with a steaming breakfast in hand.

Instead, I took my time wandering through the mall, then stopped by a salon for a few treatments.

The waist-length hair that had gone patchy and gray, I cut short in one stroke and dyed a fresh chestnut brown. Pretty, but still dignified.

The fine lines that years of overwork had drawn at the corners of my eyes slowly faded under the power of money.

Just like the surging love I'd once felt for Morgan. Once it was gone, it was never coming back.

When I reached the hospital entrance, I suddenly didn't want to go in.

Morgan had cut me too deep. Even one look at his face felt like more than I could stand.

Right then, my assistant called in a rush.

"Ms. Floyd, that overseas building-materials deal. Should we follow the usual arrangement and send Vice President Sun to negotiate in your place?"

In the past, all I'd wanted was to stay by Morgan's side, hoping that when he finally stood up again, I'd be the first person he reached out to hold.

So even though sending a vice president to sign meant a lapse in propriety, even though it could indirectly cost the company half its profit on the deal, I hadn't cared.

But people have to grow up, don't they?

You have to learn to love yourself first, before you have the judgment to decide who else to love.

This time, I shook my head without hesitation.

"No need. I'll go myself."

The moment I hung up, my eyes met Meg's as she came walking toward me.

The air went awkward for a few seconds.

She broke into a smile and called out sweetly, "Lucinda, what a coincidence. You're at the hospital too?"

Her show of surprise was sickening.

I had no intention of small talk and turned to leave.

But Meg raised an eyebrow and blocked my path, then deliberately let the prenatal test slip from her hand.

"Lucinda, I'm a little awkward right now, I can't bend over. Could you pick it up for me?"

I didn't move. My gaze dropped to her belly, and I felt my breath go tight.

"Pregnant already? Where's the baby's father?"

Meg stroked her stomach, the picture of bliss, smiling sweetly.

"This is our second baby. Their daddy is over the moon. He can't be by our side every moment, but his love has never been missing for a day."

"He didn't just buy us a few villas, he set up billion-dollar trust funds for both children in advance. Oh, and the citywide fireworks show tonight? Their daddy arranged the whole thing just to make me happy. He told me himself: a woman is meant to be pampered from the day she's born."

Meg gushed on, lost in her daydream, gesturing as she went. Then she paused, as if remembering, and turned that pity on me.

"I'm so sorry, Lucinda. I brought up a sore spot for you. Morgan's been sick for so long. You must be terribly lonely."

I gave a slight tug at the corner of my mouth, my voice flat. "I've just arranged a new treatment plan for him. He'll be back on his feet soon. Looks like all my hard years are finally paying off."

"Oh, really? Well, congratulations, then."

She walked past me with a sneer.

Before I boarded the plane, I made a call to Morgan.

"Morgan, I won't be able to be with you for the next week. The company needs me."

He'd always been the steady type, and after he 'fell ill' he'd grown even quieter.

But now, his voice on the line was full of joy and excitement.

"So you've finally come around. You should've let go of me and thrown yourself into work a long time ago, Lucinda. To be honest, I like you better as the sharp, capable career woman."

I laughed softly. "All right, then I'll live up to exactly what you've been hoping for. I'll rule the business world and let nothing trivial get in my way. But you'll have to promise me one thing."

"What thing?"

His excitement gradually flattened out, sliding back into that impatient tone from before.

"I've arranged the latest treatment plan for you. A week from now, you'll cooperate nicely with the doctors, won't you? There'll be a pre-op agreement soon. Remember to sign it."

The words had barely left him when the doctor walked in carrying the agreement.

"Fine, you're so damn long-winded!"

Morgan's head was full of nothing but how he'd manage his next secret rendezvous with Meg. He didn't so much as glance at what the pre-op agreement said before cheerfully scrawling his signature across it.