Chapter 3
989 Words
I opened the social media account Gary had once hidden from me.
It contained eight years' worth of love, obsession, and heartbreak woven throughout his entire youth. And, of course, it included the three years after our marriage.
There were photos of him and Anna hiking through mountain ranges together, standing beneath snow-capped peaks and swearing they'd spend the rest of their lives side by side.
It turned out that long before Gary ever married me, he and Anna had already been deeply in love.
Then I found a post from my birthday last year, the day I was kidn*pped.
Gary had promised he was coming to rescue me, only to later claim he'd been injured in a car accident and fallen into a coma.
Anna's caption read:
Gary, I hope you remember this even in your next life: while your wife was being kidn*pped, you were in my bed, swearing that nothing in this world mattered more than me.
My fingers tightened around my phone.
A sharp, bitter wave of self-mockery rose from the depths of my chest.
Then I found a post dated April 5th of this year, our wedding anniversary.
That was the day Gary called me and said, "Olivia, let's have a child." Then he added, "There's just one problem. Because of my condition, I'll be asking you to make a sacrifice. If we want a baby, we'll have to use IVF."
I had been so happy that day. I'd even caught myself imagining what our child might look like.
But he'd insisted I travel overseas alone for the procedure.
When I asked him to come with me, he refused.
"I need to focus on my career right now," he'd said. "I want to become a better man for you."
I believed him.
Now I finally understood.
The person he'd ever wanted to spend time with had never been me.
What hurt even more was that every video Anna posted showed a side of Gary I had never seen.
The way he looked at her.
The tenderness.
The desire.
The devotion.
Gary wasn't asexual at all.
His love and desire simply had never belonged to me.
The most cruelly ironic video was one Anna had posted herself.
Laughing, she said, "Gary, I'll allow you to give your wife a chance to become a mother, but only through other means. Your body and your heart belong to me, and me alone."
Gary leaned over and kissed her.
The look in his eyes was so gentle it made my stomach twist.
"Anna," he said softly, "other than a legal title, there's nothing I wouldn't give you. Even my life. I promise that for the rest of my life, I'll belong only to you."
I stood frozen.
Cold seeped into every inch of my body.
Every bit of happiness I’d once believed to be real, turned into a thousand sharp, cutting blades.
So that was the truth.
The marriage I cherished.
The love I believed in.
The future I'd dreamed of.
I had never been anything more than a pawn in their story.
I didn't scroll any farther. Instead, I turned around and calmly headed toward my father's house.
When I entered his study, an incoming video call from Anna accidentally connected.
On the screen, Gary's eyes were glazed with alcohol. His expression twisted with contempt.
"Olivia, you worthless burden!"
I suppressed the suffocating ache in my chest, tossed the phone aside, and looked at my father.
"I came to tell you that Gary and I are getting divorced."
My father slammed his fist against the desk. "You ungrateful girl! This marriage affects your brother's business interests. You don't get to make impulsive decisions!"
My younger brother smiled. "Sis, if you want a divorce, that's fine. I'll even help arrange it. But I want seventy percent of the settlement."
Looking at their nearly identical expressions, I suddenly laughed.
Coldly.
Bitterly.
"Keep the money. All I want is a divorce."
When I left the house, heavy snow was falling.
For the first time in a long while, I realized I had nowhere to go.
In the end, I bought two steaming roasted sweet potatoes and made my way back to the old mansion my grandmother had left me.
It was the only thing she had left behind.
The only place that truly belonged to me.
But the moment I reached the front door, I heard laughter coming from inside.
I froze.
Anna's voice drifted through the house.
"Gary, maybe you should go make up with Olivia. After all, she's going to be raising our child for us. What if she gets angry and refuses later? What are we supposed to do then?"
My entire body went rigid.
Slowly, I peered through the c***k in the door.
Gary had actually brought Anna here.
He knew perfectly well what this place meant to me.
This house was the last gift my grandmother had left behind.
After her death, I had never allowed anyone inside.
No one except him.
Every corner of this house held precious memories.
Every room carried pieces of my grief, my comfort, and my love.
And now he had brought the woman who had trampled all over my dignity into the one sanctuary I had left.
But what made my knees nearly give out was the meaning behind Anna's words.
'Raising our child?'
What did she mean?
Wasn't the baby conceived through IVF supposed to be mine and Gary's?
Gary wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"Relax," he said confidently. "Olivia loves me too much. And she'll love the baby just as much."
A smug smile appeared on his face. "Besides, she still has no idea that the embryo was created using your egg."
My blood ran cold.
Gary continued casually, "And even if she finds out someday, it won't matter. A woman like Olivia will compromise for love.
"She'll accept the child anyway."
- Writer
