"Then why did you come home so late?"

"I went to see a friend's younger brother. He went to the same school as us—he's a junior there now. He told me about a new laser therapy abroad that can eliminate 99.99% of cancer cells in a patient's body."

"I didn't know if it was real, so I went to ask him about it in person."

The moment I heard "junior"—

It made me even more suspicious that the "goddess senior" in that video was her.

Almost certainly her.

But I didn't call her out. Didn't confront her.

Instead, I played along. "So what did he say?"

"He said the treatment is real, but it's expensive. I want to use the money in our joint account to pay for it. Even if there's just the tiniest chance, I don't want to give up."

"You'll support me, won't you, honey?"

"Of course I will."

I nodded, then kissed her gently on the forehead. "I'll drop everything and go abroad with you for treatment."

"If it's about money, I'll sell everything we own. I'd sell a kidney if I had to."

The moment she heard that, Patricia took two steps back.

"You don't know your way around over there. Besides, the junior is coming with me. You stay here and look after my parents."

"This new treatment is risky. I might die, so I need you to lie to my parents for me."

"Tell them I died of cancer. If the treatment actually works, I'll come back and surprise them."

I frowned. "You think they'll buy that?"

"Trust me, my parents are easy to fool. If they insist on seeing my body, just tell them I didn't want them to grieve, so you had me cremated at the funeral home and scattered my ashes at sea—per my last wishes."

"You've really thought this through."

"Tomorrow we'll get divorced, then I'll go abroad for treatment."

"You're just going for treatment, not dying. Do we really have to divorce?"

"My junior from college said there's a new policy over there—unmarried women with breast cancer get a discount on the experimental therapy."

"Honey, I'm trying to save you money. Can't you understand? Besides, it's just a fake divorce, not a real one. Once I'm better, I'll come back and we'll get remarried."

"If it's for your own good, I won't argue."

"Thank you, honey. I love you so much."

Seeing me agree, Patricia finally smiled and stood on her tiptoes to give me a quick peck on the lips.

The next morning, we went to the County Clerk's Office and finalized the divorce.