Chapter 1

Not only did my wife have a wedding with her childhood sweetheart.

She even brought her childhood sweetheart back to my apartment, allowing him to hit and yell at me.

I only resisted slightly, and my wife immediately slapped me across the face.

She even told me to get the hell out of this apartment!

But she forgot, this house is mine.

When I brought up divorce, my wife finally panicked, kneeling on the ground begging for my forgiveness...

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Today, I left work early, wanting to celebrate my five-year wedding anniversary with my wife, Melody.

But I never expected that she'd be becoming the bride of Alec, her childhood sweetheart.

Sitting in a chair at the dining table, I scrolled through Alec's social media.

Ten minutes ago, he posted an update with two wedding photos.

One showed my wife Melody in a red dress, arm-in-arm with him as they toasted guests.

Though her face wasn't visible, I recognized the four-leaf clover necklace on Melody's neck, the one I had once placed there myself.

The other was a picture of them embracing and kissing on the wedding ceremony stage.

The caption read: [Long-awaited plans, finally fulfilled!]

In the past, I might have immediately rushed over there, causing a huge scene. It wouldn't have been surprising if I had turned the whole wedding upside down.

But now, I found that I didn't feel much of anything.

When you're deeply in love, that's when you get angry, when you care.

But when you don't love anymore, you don't have any emotions at all.

Looking at the candlelit dinner I had spent the afternoon preparing on the table, and the roses I had placed on the floor to surprise Melody,

I laughed at myself mockingly.

For myself, for five years of deep love and marriage, feeling it wasn't worth it. Melody returned home at eleven o'clock at night.

Her face was flushed, and a smile lingered on her lips, but it vanished the moment she saw me. She coldly issued her commands:

"Go heat some water for my foot bath, and give me a foot massage later. I'm exhausted today."

"Also, I want to eat a steak."

She didn't even glance at the dishes on the table, collapsing onto the couch without a care.

There was a time when she would joyfully leap into my arms the instant she saw me in our apartment, whispering softly in my ear.

She'd tell me how much she missed me after not seeing me all day.

Then she'd cling to me, refusing to let go, playfully asking me to carry her for washing.

Melody frowned when she saw I hadn't moved, about to open her mouth to scold me.

But when her eyes fell on the dishes on the table, she paused.

"You've already made dinner? Why didn't you tell me?"

As her words faded, the last shred of hope in my heart vanished completely.

She had forgotten that today was our wedding anniversary.

I suppose she was too caught up in being a bride today.

And the smell of smoke and alcohol on her made me nauseous.

Because it was the same brand of cigarettes that Alec smoked.

Seeing her pick up her fork, I said expressionlessly, "It's cold now. Don't eat it." "I thought you weren't coming home today, figured you'd be in the honeymoon suite with Alec, so I didn't heat anything up."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Melody's face turned ashen.

She violently threw her fork onto the table and swept all the food onto the floor with one swift motion.

In an instant, soup splattered everywhere, and shards of broken dishes sliced across my ankle, drawing a thin line of vivid red.

"Blaine, how long are you going to keep this up?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Alec's mother is terminally ill, and her only wish was to see her son get married!"

"We just had a fake wedding to fulfill her dying wish, for crying out loud! Do you have to be so heartless?"

With that, she coldly spat out "petty bastard" before retreating to the bedroom.

Throughout it all, she never noticed the roses I had placed under the table.