Chapter 2

God, in a moment of reverie, Faye pulled out a used hand cream from her purse and held it out to me.

"Jaxon always says that hands are a woman's second face and need to be well taken care of. He's given me so many of these skincare products. Here, you can have this one."

Before I could say anything, Jaxon put the hand cream back in her purse.

Without even glancing at me, he said, "She doesn't need it."

I stared at my haggard reflection in the window, speechless.

In my younger years, I used to love dressing up too.

But Jaxon would say that the scent of makeup made him nauseous, the sound of high heels gave him a headache, and nail art looked frightening.

In his eyes, only the beautiful and radiant Faye deserved such nice things.

Someone like me, if I had these, would only be wasting time that could be spent on housework.

Across from me, Faye smiled contentedly and exclaimed loudly.

"Oh, you made lily porridge! You used to make this for me all the time when we were studying abroad together. I really miss this taste."

"And these jasmine flowers, they're my favorite too. After all these years, I can't believe you still remember these things."

Faye reached out to touch the petals and discovered a ring underneath.

Jaxon personally put it on her finger, his eyes full of tenderness.

"A welcome gift for you." She finished speaking, then belatedly glanced at me.

"Vivienne, yours... yours is a custom design, it's not ready yet."

I nodded indifferently, not bothering to expose his lie.

Jaxon, who couldn't remember my birthday, remembered every detail about Faye.

Jaxon, who lacked a sense of ceremony, loved creating surprises for Faye.

In my previous life, besides those thousand love letters, I also discovered several thick notebooks.

They meticulously recorded all of Faye's likes and dislikes, documenting their family's happy life.

Not a single word mentioned me.

I sighed softly, looking up to see Faye about to serve the porridge.

Jaxon immediately stopped her, handing the ladle to me.

"The porridge is too hot. Faye's hands are meant for healing and saving lives, not for this."

"Don't say that. Back then, Vivienne was the top student in our class, always first in the school. I'm far behind compared to her."

Faye laughed, bending over and leaning softly against Jaxon.

Jaxon didn't push her away, instead patiently coaxing her.

"How could that be? You're a respected Doctors Without Borders physician. She's... just a housewife." I didn't take the spoon, coldly eyeing the two people in front of me.

"There are only thirty Doctors Without Borders in the entire country, and I know all their names. I don't recall a Faye among them. Did you change your name?"

Hearing my words, Faye's smile froze on her face.

Jaxon slammed the spoon back down hard.

The scalding hot porridge splashed onto my hand, but he continued to berate me without a care.

"Vivienne, do you even know what Doctors Without Borders is? Stop pretending to be smart when you're not. You're embarrassing yourself!"

"Instead of wasting time here being jealous of Faye, why don't you go wash dishes in the kitchen? It's not like you can understand what we're talking about anyway."

Enduring the pain, I stood up to treat my wound.

How could I not understand?

Becoming a Doctor Without Borders had always been my dream. I had strived for it for many years.

The first time I applied, Jaxon strongly opposed it, threatening to break up with me.

Back then, he said, "Vivienne, I can give you everything you want - a happy family, a beautiful life. Are you really willing to abandon me and leave?"

Having lacked love since childhood, I hesitated repeatedly, but ultimately chose love over my dream.

Looking back now,

What he gave me was never happiness or beauty, but shackles I couldn't shake off. He trapped me in the prison of marriage with his false love, stepping on my spine to elevate his dreams with Faye.

I didn't want to listen to Jaxon's scolding, so I went straight to the bedroom.

Jaxon didn't try to comfort me either.

He continued chatting with Faye, waiting as usual for my anger to subside and for me to make up with him first.

While packing my bags, I accidentally overheard their conversation.

Faye said sourly, "You're so good to the one you like, just giving away such a luxurious mansion. No wonder you broke up with me back then, turns out you'd found true love."

"Don't misunderstand. The mansion is under my parents' names. You know my parents' personalities. I broke up with you because I was afraid you'd suffer if you married into the family. As for someone I like..."

Jaxon laughed helplessly.

"If I had really met someone I liked, how could I have dragged my feet for ten years without getting married?"

My heart sank.

I thought I wouldn't be upset, but my eyes slowly welled up with tears.

That's right, it had been ten years.

I'd been with Jaxon since we were in school. Every time I brought up getting married, he would find excuses to delay.

The Gevano family had a vast fortune, and I didn't want him to think I was after their wealth.

As time went on, I stopped bringing it up altogether. In my previous life, we only got our marriage license to register our daughter after she was born.

There was no wedding, no ring, no well-wishes.

His simple "Happy newlyweds" made me happy for a long time.

Now...

I slowly wiped away my tears, starting to feel grateful we hadn't gotten our marriage license.

This way, neither Jaxon nor marriage could trap me anymore.