Chapter 1

When my daughter was in critical condition following a car accident, my wife was at the wedding of her "idealized past love."

I called her, and she yelled at me:

"I'm just attending Oliver's wedding! Can't you stop being so petty? You even made up a lie about Ella being critically injured in the hospital!"

At that moment, her "idealized past love" chimed in:

"Mr. Ethan, if you want Wanqiu to come back, just say it. My matters aren't urgent, but don't jinx the child with false stories!"

My wife angrily hung up and blocked my number.

I gripped the bedsheet so tightly that my knuckles turned white as I watched my child, still unconscious. It dawned on me that it was time to end this marriage.

The day after moving out of the ICU, my wife, Lily, unblocked me and called.

"Oliver had something come up. Come pick me up from his place!"

She spoke as if it was a given, with an air of inevitability, making it seem like it was my fault for making her wait even a second longer.

For seven years, I had followed her every instruction without question.

But this time, on the way to pick up our daughter, I got into a car accident, and Lily was still at her "idealized past love's" wedding.

Looking at my barely recovering body and thinking of our child still in the ICU, I hung up the phone.

I dragged my weak body to the hospital waiting room and sat silently, praying for my child.

When Lily finally arrived, she looked furious.

She stormed over to me, her eyebrows furrowed, and shouted:

" Ethan Johnson, what's your problem? I told you to pick me up, and you dare hang up on me?"

She paused, her glare intensifying, "Are you pretending to be sick to get away with this?"

I tried to speak, but pain shot through my injured organs, so I just bowed my head and silently endured.

Seeing my silence, her eyes flared up even more as she continued:

"Do you know how long I've been working non-stop for the company?"

"I brought you into the company to share my workload, not to slack off and then increase my workload when you get home!"

I looked at her, full of disappointment.

She didn't know how I tirelessly worked on various technologies to ease her burden, developing patents to earn money.

After endless effort, I finally brought her company to the verge of going public.

But Lily stubbornly believed the company's success was solely her doing, and I was just a parasite leeching off her and her company.

"Feeling guilty now?"

"Do you have any dignity as a man? Can't you learn something from Oliver Johnson?"

After barely managing to ease the pain in my organs, I finally spoke:

"I understand. It won't happen again."

Hearing that, her anger subsided a bit, and she commanded me as if I were her subordinate:

"Then why are you still sitting here? Don't you know I came straight from the airport? Hurry up and drive me home so I can take a bath."

"And what about our Bao'er? You left her alone at home. What if something happened?"

But after waiting a while and seeing I was still sitting in the hospital chair, her suppressed anger erupted again:

"I told you to get up and drive me home. Are you deaf? What's wrong with you now?"

I restrained my emotions, looked at her coldly, and said in a low, steady voice:

"Lily, tell me exactly what you've been doing with Oliver Johnson these past few days."

Her body stiffened, as if a sensitive nerve had been struck, and she angrily retorted:

"What do you mean? I've explained it to you countless times. I just helped him prepare for his wedding. What else could I do?"

I didn't reply, just took out my phone, opened Oliver's Snapchat, and turned the screen towards her.

On the screen, she was wearing a bright red wedding dress, standing gracefully on a stage draped in festive red, her face full of emotion as she reached for the dazzling diamond ring Oliver Johnson was giving her.

The comments were a flurry of congratulations on their marriage from friends and family.

And during our most vulnerable moment, my wife was standing at another man's wedding in a bridal gown, becoming someone else's bride.

When she saw the photo, her pupils quivered, and her angry expression froze for a moment.

But only for a second. Then she burst into a rage:

" Ethan Johnson! Are you done? I've known Oliver Johnson for thirteen years. I was just taking some photos for him. Who is as dirty-minded as you, spying on me?"

Her eyes showed a hint of grievance, each word sincere. Once, I would have believed her without hesitation.

But now, I just found it ridiculous.

Noticing the coldness in my expression, she softened her stance and tone.

She seemed to want to appease me, gently pulling on my arm, and kissed me softly on the corner of my lips, speaking tenderly:

"Okay, stop overthinking. Let's go home. Bao'er is waiting for us."

"Either way, leaving Bao'er alone at home isn't good."

But as she leaned over to pull me up, a bright red wedding invitation fell out of her open bag.

I instinctively bent down to pick it up, and when I saw the names on the invitation, my pupils shrank.

The groom was Oliver Johnson, and the bride was Lily!