Chapter 1
My husband had been missing for a month, and the stress caused me to miscarry.
But right after my uterine evacuation surgery, I came across a post online.
"What should you do when you meet the person you want to protect most at an age when you're powerless to protect anyone?"
One highly upvoted reply read almost boastfully:
I couldn't bear to let her suffer, so I let her chase her future. But I also didn't want to lose contact with her, so I married her childhood friend, the kind of woman suited to hardship, and had her stay by my side while I built my success.
Now that my first love is back, I can finally stop letting her suffer. I kept hoping my wife would catch me cheating so I could use it as an excuse to divorce her, but she's too clueless. I left lipstick in the car, gave her a freebie necklace... I even disappeared for a month, and she still hadn't figured it out.
Lipstick. Necklace. Missing for a month.
Those familiar details made my fingers go numb.
Thank God she came back… I almost thought I'd have to spend my whole life with that ugly toad.
My mind went blank with a loud buzz.
'Toad.'
That was the nickname my childhood friend used to bully me with.
A chill spread through my entire body as I desperately hoped it was all just a coincidence.
Until I read the final line.
I pretended to go on a business trip to a dangerous region and disappeared for a month. In reality, I was on a honeymoon with my first love. Just got a text from my wife saying she's hospitalized. Tonight, I'm taking my sweetheart to the same hospital for her prenatal checkup. Maybe we'll run into each other if we're lucky.
My whole body trembled uncontrollably as I instinctively looked up.
At the entrance to the ward, my missing husband, Nathaniel Graves, stood in a perfectly tailored suit, his arm wrapped around a petite, charming woman as they laughed together on their way toward the obstetrics department.
As if sensing something, he casually turned his head.
Across the corridor, our eyes met.
A flash of panic crossed Nathaniel's face before he calmly looked at me again.
I knew he was waiting for me to rush over, catch him cheating, and demand a divorce.
My entire body shook, but I couldn't force out a single sound.
"Nathaniel?" Wendy Lawson pouted sweetly as she threw herself into his arms. "Hurry up. Don't you want to know who the baby looks like on the ultrasound?"
Nathaniel didn't look at me again. Holding her carefully, he walked toward obstetrics.
"Hopefully the eyes look like yours and the nose like mine."
The pain from my uterine evacuation surgery twisted through my lower abdomen like a tightening rope.
A month ago, he had said the exact same thing.
That day, he insisted on leaving for the disaster zone on a business trip.
"Summer, if this partnership succeeds, we'll finally establish ourselves in Kingsport. I want us to have a child. Eyes like yours, nose like mine. Then I'll give both of you the best life in the world."
Two weeks after he left, I discovered I was pregnant. But I couldn't reach him anymore.
I flew out to find him without hesitation, only to be struck in the stomach by falling debris during an aftershock.
The doctors called him again and again, but he never answered.
While I was losing our child... he was having another one with my childhood friend.
I curled beneath the blanket, crying so hard I could barely breathe, when suddenly the blanket was pulled away.
Nathaniel looked down at me calmly.
"Summer, why are you hospitalized?"
"Why did you cheat on me… and why did it have to be Wendy Lawson?" My voice was so hoarse it barely sounded human.
He frowned, his tone turning sharp with warning. "Don't talk about her like she's the other woman."
The irony was so absurd I almost laughed.
"If she isn't, then what am I?"
But instead of answering, he began telling a long story.
About him and Wendy. High school sweethearts. A perfect match. A tragic separation caused by chasing different futures.
"I really am a bastard."
He looked like he wanted a cigarette but restrained himself.
"I married you because you were Wendy's childhood friend. Unfortunately, you weren't much of a friend to her. You didn't even know where she was all these years, so I can't really say I wronged you."
After a long silence, he spoke again.
"So maybe… you were the other woman all along."
I bit my lip until blood filled my mouth and lost control, grabbing whatever I could throw at him.
He let me vent without resisting. "Summer, we've been married for seven years. There are still feelings between us. You can do whatever you want. But…" Suddenly, he looked at me with a warning in his eyes. "Don't cause trouble for Wendy. I don't want her upset."
I finally snapped completely and hurled a water glass at him. "Get out! Just get out!"
He obediently left, even thoughtfully asking the doctor to change my dressing before he went.
"Fine. Recover first, and then we'll talk. Don't make yourself sicker from anger."
I lay trembling in the hospital bed.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him seven years ago, confessing to me.
Back then, he had blushed while holding flowers, saying he truly liked me.
His eyes had shone so brightly. I couldn't understand how all of it had been fake.
I drifted through three miserable days in the hospital, and he never came again.
When I was discharged, the house was empty too.
But the next day, Wendy contacted me herself.
"Summer, I'm back in the country. Let's meet up. I have a surprise for you."
I still couldn't accept reality, but I went anyway.
Wendy grabbed my hand and placed it against her stomach, even though I had just miscarried.
"The baby's already three months old," she smiled carelessly. "We went to different universities, so you never met my boyfriend. Now that we're back together, I had to let my best friend help me judge him."
