I managed to marry the dream girl I had fallen for since my youth.
Unexpectedly, she was entangled with her first love, who was a bully during school.
She even neglected our daughter, who had a high fever, to tutor the bully's son!
"I have to tutor my godson. Yasmine is no longer a baby. Can't she go to the hospital on her own?"
I divorced her in a fit of anger.
But to my amazement, less than a month later, she was betrayed by the bully and his family and begged in tears for my forgiveness.
1
I was working overtime at the company when my daughter called me.
My daughter's voice was weak and cautious.
"Dad, could you come to the hospital and help me pay the medical expenses?"
My heart skipped a beat. I was so anxious that I hurriedly took my belongings and left without even telling my colleagues what happened.
While driving to the hospital, I checked the time. It was 7:30 pm.
Rena should be off work by this time. How could she not be with the sick Yasmine?
As soon as I reached the hospital, I ran to my daughter Yasmine without any time to think too much.
I thought she just had a common cold, but I didn't expect her to have such a serious fever that she slept in the hospital bed in pain with a deep frown on her face.
Her lips and face were ashen, her hair soaked with sweat due to her high temperature.
I didn't dare disturb her. After paying the medical bill, I went to ask the doctor about Yasmine's condition.
The doctor, who was originally chatting with a patient in a friendly manner, immediately knitted his brows and uttered a snort when he saw me. "So, are you the father of that little girl? You should be blamed. The girl has such a severe fever, yet neither of her parents accompanied her here!
"Do you know her brain would be harmed if she came any later?"
I hastened to apologize and explained that I had been working overtime.
"Is your work more important than your child? Besides, if you couldn't come, what about your wife?"
"Yeah, where is my wife?" I wondered.
I picked up my phone and called Rena, only to hear a busy tone after a long wait.
"Sorry, the number you dialed is not answered. Please redial later."
I sighed, bought some things, and placed them beside my daughter's bed, waiting for her to wake up.
The thought of her tentative tone when she called me wrenched at my heart.
Yasmine and I were not very close. After Rena and I had Yasmine, the life we lived could be considered happy.
However, Rena always said we didn't have enough money. I was well aware that money was vital to life and hoped to give her and our daughter a better life, so I started to work overtime every night.
Although I got promoted by working hard this way, I seldom had time to keep Rena and Yasmine company. I always felt guilty about it.
But the more I thought about Yasmine's sentence, the weirder it seemed to me. Why would my daughter talk to me with such a cautious attitude?
"Dad." Yasmine woke up, trying to prop herself up on her elbows.
I quickly helped her up and handed her a glass of warm water.
"Yasmine, why did you suddenly have gastroenteritis and a fever?" I asked as I looked at her medical record in my hand.
It was stated in the medical record that she got gastroenteritis and a fever after consuming contaminated food. I continued to ask, "How could you get sick by eating home-cooked food?"
As if she had done something wrong, Yasmine hesitated for a long time before she replied, "Mom was not at home, so I ordered takeout."
In this case, the contaminated food was the takeout with poor quality.
Looking at her frightened expression, I stroked her head and said softly, "It's okay. The takeout food you ordered is to blame. It's not your fault.
"By the way, you said your mom was not at home. Where did she go? I couldn't get through to her either."
Yasmine dropped her gaze with a flicker of dejection in her eyes. I asked her worriedly what was wrong.
"Mom said she was busy and told me to go to the hospital myself."
"What is she busy with?" I furrowed my brow. Rena should have gotten off work at 5 pm.
Yasmine didn't say anything. She just lay back on the bed and turned over with her back to me.
"I need to sleep."
She refused to answer my question about Rena.
2
After I walked out of the ward, I leaned against the wall and took out my phone to call Rena again.
I wanted to talk to her. She was usually careless, but what she did today hurt our daughter.
I waited for a long time before the call was answered.
"Hello, what's up?" Rena's voice was filled with displeasure at being disturbed.
"Where are you now? Our daughter is in the hospital with a high fever," I said slowly with an effort to control my temper.
"I just finished tutoring my good friend's child."
"What? Your daughter is in the hospital, but you went to tutor someone else's child?"
Furthermore, Yasmine ordered takeout and ended up getting sick because she had nothing to eat at home.
"Enough, she's no longer a baby. Can't she go to the hospital herself? Besides, you are already there, aren't you?
"If she hadn't eaten something bad, how would she have gotten a fever?
"She should learn to be responsible for what she does!"
Faintly, I heard a little boy say, "Auntie Rena, I want ice cream."
Rena responded to him sweetly and hung up on me.
I remembered what Yasmine had just said.
"I had a stomachache. When I called Mom, she said she had something urgent to do and asked me to go to the hospital alone."
Her eyes turned red, but she managed to keep back her tears. She probably also didn't understand why her mother was like that.
Rena said Yasmine was not a baby anymore, but Yasmine was still a twelve-year-old little girl!
I couldn't imagine how she struggled to the hospital alone with a high fever!
I was heartbroken when I heard what Yasmine said. How could Rena not worry in the slightest?
How could she be at ease to leave Yasmine alone and tutor someone else's child?
3
When Yasmine's fever subsided, I took her home to rest.
Looking at my dear daughter's sleeping face, I gently closed the door of her room.
I looked out the window in the living room at the dark sky. It was so late, but why hadn't Rena come back yet?
No teacher at school would tutor until so late at night.
I was a little worried. Just when I picked up my phone to ask her what was going on, I found that she had posted a photo ten minutes ago.
"Having a lot of fun at the amusement park with my son."
The photo was of her and a little boy standing in front of a carousel. The boy was holding an ice cream in one hand and cotton candy in the other, grinning happily.
I felt a surge of anger in my heart.
I knew about this godson of hers. She often brought him home to play, saying he was a good friend's child. I even bought him toys.
He called me Uncle but called Rena Mom. I intended to correct him, but Rena interrupted me, "He's just a kid. What's the big deal? Besides, he's my best friend's son, and I'm his godmother."
I always thought that friend was a female friend until I saw the photo she just posted.
I clicked on the photo and zoomed in. At its edge, on Rena's shoulder, there was a lean hand with a mole between the thumb and forefinger.
Apparently, that was a man's hand!
I didn't want to wait for her to come back any longer and walked to the door to put on my shoes. I needed to find her.
But the door suddenly opened.
4
Rena acted as if she didn't see me and went to the bathroom to wash herself, humming a merry tune.
She seemed to be in a good mood.
She didn't ask about Yasmine's illness, nor did she go to Yasmine's room to check on her.
Rena walked out of the bathroom, lay leisurely on the sofa, and applied a mask to her face with enjoyment.
"How could you not worry about your sick daughter at all and even go to stay with someone else's son?"
Rena avoided my eyes and answered lightly, "Why should I worry about her? She's so good at lying at such a young age! How could she possibly be sick?"
I laughed in anger at her illogical words.
"She has already been to the hospital. What's the point of her lying to you?"
"So what if she went to the hospital? How serious could it be if she just had a stomachache? She knew I was busy, yet she still kept calling me. She's not well-behaved at all!
"Besides, why did she only know to order takeout instead of making something to eat by herself? She always likes to eat junk food. Now that she suffered from a stomachache, she only has herself to blame!" Rena shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Keep your voice down!" I turned to look at Yasmine's room, afraid that she might hear Rena's harsh words.
Constant overtime work kept me away from my family. I didn't even know until now that this was how Rena treated Yasmine!
When Rena saw me turning my head, she paused as if she understood something. She lowered her voice, but she didn't stop talking. "When I was her age, I could already do my laundry, cook, and wash dishes. She's spoiled!"
I rubbed my temples and took a deep breath.
Rena's family was poor and favored their son over her, so she suffered a lot.
In my eyes, however, she was very tenacious. She overcame many difficulties and studied hard, but she was inevitably influenced by her family.
I hugged her and said, "It's all in the past. Our family is getting better and better now, isn't it?"
I also intended to tell her that she shouldn't impose her values on our daughter and make such demands on a kid because everyone grew up differently.
But I didn't say it after some consideration.
She paused for a while before saying, "Well, then you should make more money for me to live a better life."
I caressed her head and said, "Of course, I will." I bent my head over her, but when my lips were about to touch hers, she unnaturally turned her face to the side.
My kiss fell on the corner of her mouth.
Seeing my questioning eyes, Rena scratched her hair uneasily.
"Hey, we are no longer a young and passionate couple. Why are you doing this?"
My eyes darkened. Every time I came back late at night, she was reluctant to let me touch her and always said, "It's too late now. I'm too tired."
But her attitude toward me and what happened today made me suspicious.
5
Complicated feelings flickered in my eyes. I turned to look at my wife, who was already fast asleep.
The dim bedside lamp shone on her face. I leaned over and kissed her, but what she said sent a chill down my spine.
She whispered in a haze, "Chester, be gentle."
Chester Wilson was my wife's first love.
He was also the father of the child she tutored.
I lay on the bed, my thoughts running wild.
I kept comforting myself that it was just something she mumbled in her dream, but I still couldn't help but take the phone that she had placed next to her pillow.
I unlocked her phone by simply putting it above her face.
With trembling hands, I clicked open her chat with Chester.
At the sight of the blank chat, I breathed a sigh of relief.
I continued to click on a hotel booking app on her phone.
Hope in my heart was completely shattered when I saw numerous hotels booking records!
In the past month, she had booked a hotel room for at least 20 days! The remaining 10 days were when I slept at home!
My chest kept heaving violently. "Rena, how dare you!" I raged in my heart.
I took pictures of it all with my phone.
Suddenly, Chester sent a video and a voice message.
"Honey, you were hot in bed last night. Scream a little louder next time.
“How about we do it at your place next time? Your husband doesn't come home very often anyway. Let's save the expense of a hotel room so that I can buy more cigarettes.
I didn't click open the video, but I could tell what it was from the two bodies entangled with each other on its cover.
With a sudden wave of nausea, I rushed to the bathroom to vomit into the toilet.
I wish I could send these two adulterers to hell. Thinking of Yasmine, who was still running a fever, I couldn't stand it anymore.
I made up my mind to divorce without further ado.
Without any mercy, I turned on the bright light when I returned to the room.
"Anthony Carter, what's the problem with you? Why are you turning on the light so late at night? Do you want to disturb my sleep so much?"
Since I had always indulged her unconditionally, she spoke to me harshly all the time.
I ignored her and pulled her collar down with a stern face.
Vague hickeys were on her fair chest.
"Who is it?
"Chester, right?"
Faced with her silence, I clicked on the video on the phone. The man's moans and the woman's screams resounded through the room.
Rena furiously snatched the phone away.
Seeing that her infidelity was exposed, she gave up pretending.
She said to me triumphantly, "Yes, it's Chester.
"You must be jealous of him. After all, I love him so much.
"Unfortunately, you can't compare to him at all!"
I let out a long breath and closed my eyes.
But I still couldn't resist slapping her with all my strength.
"We'll divorce tomorrow!"
She didn't expect such behavior from me, so she covered her face in shock and cried, "I knew it. Chester was right. You were just pretending to be nice to me! Now your true colors are revealed!
"Just divorce me if you want! If my parents hadn't forced me to do so, I wouldn't have married you under protest!
"I'll get married to Chester as soon as I get divorced! His genes are better than yours, so I'm sure he can get me pregnant with a son!"
I thought my heart had gone numb since the moment I saw the video, but I didn't expect that I would still feel pain when I heard these words.
It turned out that the marriage I was pleased to have been just a reluctant compromise she made.
The next day after the divorce, I saw Chester.
Riding a shabby second-hand motorcycle, he deliberately bumped against my shoulder and whispered to me smugly when he picked up Rena.
"Educated Mr. Carter, your wife is so good in bed. It's a pity that you don't have the chance to sleep with her anymore."
I thought I would be angry, but I was inexplicably emotionless as if he was talking about a stranger.
I gave him no response and just saw that they didn't go to get the marriage license like Rena told me she would.
Perhaps Chester hadn't divorced his wife yet.
I stopped thinking about all this and went to pick up Yasmine from school.
Before divorcing Rena, I specifically discussed it with Yasmine. After listening to my explanation of the situation, she only said one sentence, "I want to be with Dad."
Life with my daughter was simple, but we felt even happier together than when Rena was around.
I was making Yasmine's favorite dish in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.
As I opened the door, a disheveled woman came into view.
It was Rena.
Just when I was about to close the door, she grabbed it, revealing her bruised face, and started whining.
"Tony, can you remarry me?
"Chester is a beast! He, I can't believe he hit me!
"I finally understand that you are the best to me. Tony, please forgive me."