I was the one who begged to marry her. I bought the rings. I arranged everything in our home. The one who loves more is always the one who gets overlooked.
I had poured my entire soul into this family. In the end, I lost my daughter, I lost my wife, and now, my life.
I let out a silent sigh.
When I looked up, Brandon was standing by the police tape, waving.
The contrast was brutal. Whenever I brought meals to her office, she would scold me for disturbing her work, complaining that I was a nuisance. But now? She rushed over to him, her face lighting up with surprise.
She positioned herself carefully, blocking his view of the gruesome scene behind her, her eyes crinkling with a smile she never showed me.
"It's freezing out here," she murmured. "What are you doing here?"
Brandon smiled, reaching out to adjust her scarf. "It's late. I was worried about you. I made some sweet rice dumplings. Make sure you eat them when you're done."
Bonnie sighed, a sound of affectionate exasperation. "You really... You shouldn't have come. This place is filthy. I didn't want you to see anything that might scare you."
Filthy.
The word echoed in my mind.
She wasn't afraid of rumors. She wasn't afraid that her husband might find out about her affair.
Her only fear was that my bloated, rotting corpse might offend Brandon's delicate eyes.
Tears fell in the silence of the afterlife, unseen and unheard.
Bonnie had guided Brandon to a nearby bench, sitting him down with a tenderness that made my stomach churn. To any passerby, they didn't look like people at a crime scene. They looked like college sweethearts revisiting their old campus, lost in their own world.
They chatted casually, ignoring the bloated, battered reality lying just yards away.
They were ignoring me.
Brandon spoke first, his voice laced with practiced vulnerability. "Bonnie, I can't take it anymore. I can't accept my child calling another man 'Dad.'"
He leaned in, eyes soft and pleading. "You've seen it yourself—Mandy has always been closer to me. I know I can be a good father to her. Bonnie... leave Justin. Be with me."
He grabbed her hand, his grip urgent.
Bonnie sat in silence for a long moment, her expression conflicted. It was a look I knew well—the burden of a woman trying to balance the world on her shoulders.
"Brandon, you don't understand," she finally said, voice strained. "My relationship with Justin... it's complicated."