"My little princess."

That was why my friends said to me, "Which man doesn't mess around? Jean is already considered good; he doesn't gamble, doesn't frequent prostitutes and doesn't keep mistresses. He's completely devoted to you, Juliet. Stop making a fuss."

I understood.

These were Jean’s messengers, his way of giving me a step down. If I played along, we could pretend nothing happened, just like after every fight before and start over again.

But suddenly, I didn't want to anymore. 

I was just stubborn, so stubborn that when I saw Gwen's latest WhatsApp Story update, it was a picture of her and her child sitting on a Ferris wheel, smiling brightly, with the caption,

[The child said, "Even if Dad isn't my biological father, as long as there's love, we're a family."]

In the corner of the photo, there was a pair of hands with clearly defined knuckles.

I couldn't possibly not recognize them.

I had seen those hands for almost thirty years and that ring, which Jean and I personally designed and had custom-made, was our wedding ring.

My heart ached so much that it was almost numb, almost to the point where I thought I couldn't feel anything anymore, when Gwen sent me a video.

 

 

In the video, Gwen's son, Gavin Ellison, was clinging to Jean, playfully asking him, "Uncle Jean, can you be my dad?"

"Can I call you Dad, please?" He shook Jean's arm and said, "I think you're the best uncle in the world, my superhero."

"I really like you and I really want a dad like you."

"Please be my dad, okay?"

Gwen smiled and called out to him, "Stop being silly."

Jean then said to Gwen, "Why is he being silly?"

Jean bent down, maintaining eye contact with Gavin, his eyes incredibly gentle.

"Do you like me so much?"

The child nodded.

"Do you want me to be your dad?"

Gavin nodded even more vigorously.

Jean said, "Okay, then call me Dad. I'll be your dad, okay?"

The child's joyful voice echoed in the video and Gwen sent me a voice message. "Juliet, what do you have to compete with me? You should just give up."

I listened to Gwen's voice repeatedly fading in and out and looked at my best friend sitting next to me, her face full of worry.

"Juliet, are you really not going to tell Jean about the child?" My best friend asked, "As long as you say you also have a child, that you and he have a child together, I believe Jean will come back."

"But I don't want to."

I placed my hand on my lower abdomen.