Chapter 1
680 Words
That night, I finally got through to my husband on the phone.
"Honey, Chloe came home crying from kindergarten today. She said… the dad in some other kid's family photo looks exactly like you."
My husband chuckled on the other end of the line.
"Guess your husband just has one of those generic faces, no big deal."
I was about to ask more about the photo, but he said he had a conference call and rushed me off the phone.
'Maybe I'm just overthinking this?'
Looking back, from the day we started dating until now, my husband, Ethan Brown, has always been slammed with work. He's on business trips half the year.
Basically, I might as well be a single mom.
'Is it possible... he's got someone on the side?'
Too nervous to keep guessing, I immediately messaged Chloe's head teacher and asked to join the parent-teacher committee.
Soon after, the school organized a tour for committee members.
When I passed by Chloe's classroom, I stopped in front of the photo wall and looked carefully.
In the picture of the little boy named Liam, the man standing behind him really did look a lot like Ethan.
You could even say their faces were identical.
But his vibe was totally different.
He was wearing a tailored suit, his hair slicked back shiny.
The woman next to him was in an evening gown, dripping in designer jewelry.
Meanwhile, Ethan and I are just your average working-class couple. He's a low-level coder, always in a plaid shirt and cargo pants.
I took a photo of Liam's family picture with my phone and left quickly.
I sent the picture to Ethan.
Lily: Doesn't this guy look just like you?
It took him a while to reply.
Ethan: Yeah, he kinda does. Maybe he's my long-lost brother or something.
He even threw in a goofy emoji.
I typed back.
Lily: Why don't we meet up with him? What if that's actually the case?
Even though we were just texting, I could feel his tone turn cold.
Ethan: Don't joke like that. I'm busy. Gotta go.
Ethan's attitude made my heart skip a beat.
We usually chat pretty casually. I've made way crazier jokes before.
Any other time, this would've been nothing.
So why was he acting so weird now?
My gut told me this whole thing wasn't adding up.
I pulled out my phone and called my older brother.
"James, I need you to look into Ethan for me."
Back when Ethan and I first got together, my family was dead set against it.
Ethan came from a poor rural background, and he still has a younger brother with an intellectual disability back home.
To be with him, I had a huge fight with my family and cut them off.
James was quiet for a moment, then sighed.
"Lily, what's going on?"
"I think... he might be seeing someone else."
"Alright, I'll do it. If he really did you dirty, I'll break that bastard's legs."
I smiled bitterly, hoping he wouldn't find anything.
After leaving the kindergarten, I took a cab straight to the branch office where Ethan was supposed to be on a business trip.
It was only a two-hour drive away.
But Ethan always said he was too swamped to come home, even on weekends.
He once sent me a photo of his office building, and I found the place using the background in the picture.
I stood at the entrance, took a photo, and sent it to him.
"Honey, surprise!"
I could s'e his chat bubble stay on ‘typing…'
Then my phone rang. It was Ethan.
"What are you doing here? I'm not at the office today. My boss sent me out on a job. Go home. You still have to pick Chloe up from school this afternoon."
Well, so much for the surprise. Looks like I'm the one who got spooked instead.
I sat down at the lobby coffee bar and noticed a woman at the table across from me who looked very familiar.
It was Liam's mother, Sophia Johnson.
- Writer
