Chapter 3

I was pulling out when I saw someone standing in front of my car.

My father.

We looked at each other. Then I followed him into the house I'd grown up in.

The living room was the same room. But nothing in it was mine anymore.

The photos of me and my mother on the wall had all been replaced with Bianca and her mother.

My mother's orchids were gone. Stiff red roses in their place.

I stood in the middle of the room like I'd walked into the wrong house.

My father pointed at the sofa. I sat down and he got straight to it.

"Leave Ethan."

"No. Ethan can't live without me."

Once, when I found Bianca's number in his phone, I packed a bag and headed for the door.

He got there first. Didn't say a word. Just grabbed a knife from the coffee table and drove it into his own stomach.

Blood poured out and he didn't move. He just stood there between me and the door.

"You want to leave? Then I die first."

My father said nothing. He just looked at me.

Then he pointed at the wall behind me.

A photo wall.

All Bianca and Ethan.

Cuddled on a gondola in Venice.

Holding hands under cherry blossoms in Kyoto.

Kissing beneath the Eiffel Tower.

"He wasn't on a business trip last week. He took her around the world."

He stood up and walked to the wall and pointed at the photo in the center. A wedding photo.

"They got married overseas. Had a ceremony. Invited everyone."

"Including his parents."

"To get his parents to accept her, he knelt outside their door for seven days."

"Remind me, did anyone come to your wedding?"

My mouth opened but nothing came out.

Ethan's parents despised me. They thought I'd seduced their son and made him break up a friendship and ruined his reputation.

They didn't come to the wedding. They refused to see us after.

But in the photos, they were smiling and accepting tea from Bianca's hands.

"I heard you had a car accident a few days ago."

"You didn't tell Ethan because you didn't want him to worry."

My father let out a short laugh.

"You know where he was?"

"Right down the block from you. Shopping for a diamond ring with her."

My skull buzzed.

"He watched the whole thing. Watched the other driver get in your face. Watched that man shove you to the ground. Watched you lock yourself in your car and cry. Watched them bang on your window and scream at you. Watched you sit there shaking and call the police."

"He didn't move. Because she was thirsty and he wanted to get her a drink."

"That's a lie!"

I was on my feet, shaking.

I refused to believe that the man who agonized over a scratch on my finger could watch me get pushed to the ground and do nothing.

"You're making this up because you want me away from Ethan."

My father looked at me in silence.

The look in his eyes made my skin crawl.

After a long time, he spoke.

"Bianca's pregnant."

"The baby's name is Julian."

Julian.

Something inside my head snapped.

That name. Ethan and I spent a whole month on it. We went through every baby name book and argued and laughed and finally agreed.

It was our baby's name.

Only our baby's name.

"A man knows a man."

My father's voice came again.

"All he has left for you is obligation. Keep going like this and you'll end up exactly like your mother."

My mother.

When she found out about the affair, she refused to leave. My father brought the other woman into our home and kissed her in front of my mother. My mother couldn't take the humiliation. She killed herself.

Would I end up the same way?

I didn't know. I just felt tired.

I stopped listening to the man in front of me.

I pushed the door open and walked out.

The sun hit my skin and I couldn't feel it.