Chapter 4

I carried the soup and walked up the stairs, one step at a time, each step like stepping on the tip of a knife, drilling pain into my heart.

"Come in."

Sally's voice was lazy and casual, with a hint of undisguised smugness.

I pushed open the door to a blinding sight.

Frank wrapped his arms tenderly around Sally, his large hands gently stroking her long hair.

The pampering in his eyes was like nothing I'd ever felt before.

My heart, as if clutched hard by an invisible hand, could hardly breathe.

"Put it on the nightstand, Frank, I'm so tired, can you press it for me?"

Sally's sappy voice was like a sharp blade, lancing my heart one at a time.

I put the soup down and turned to escape the place that was suffocating me.

"Wait."

Frank's voice, as cold as ever, carried an unquestionable command.

"You press for her."

I looked up incredulously at the familiar yet strange man in front of me.

How dare he ask me, his wife, to serve his mistress?

"Frank, I want you to do it."

Sally pouted in displeasure, but deliberately bumped Frank's arm in an affectionate gesture.

Frank didn't say anything, just looked at me coldly with a warning and threat in his eyes.

I knew that I didn't have a choice.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, suppressing the emotions that were churning inside me, and walked over to the bed.

My hand, trembling, landed on Sally's shoulder.

There was a time when I longed to be this gentle with my beloved.

And now, my tenderness is only humbly bestowed on a woman who stole my husband.

"Well, the force is more focused."

Sally squinted comfortably, enjoying my service as if I was born to it.

My hand, tightening a little, my nails almost embedded in her flesh.

How I wanted, just to pinch down hard enough to make her taste the pain I was enduring as well.

But I can't.

I don't even have a final way back, alone, and I don't even know how I'm going to live.

"Okay, Ruth, you're out."

Sally waved her hand impatiently, like she was shooing away a pesky fly.

I turned stiffly, each step aching as if I were stepping on red-hot coals.

I closed the bedroom door softly.

The heart aches so much it can't breathe.

I leaned against the cold wall, trying to control my trembling body.

"Frank, why did you let her back in?"

Sally's pouting voice came through the doorway with a hint of resentment and jealousy.

"When are you going to divorce her? I don't want our child to be called illegitimate as soon as it's born ..."

Sally's voice was getting lower and lower, but it was like a thunderbolt that exploded in my ears.

A baby? They even have a baby?

I was so shocked that I could hardly think, and the blood in my body seemed to freeze in an instant, cold and piercing.

At one time, Frank also promised with all his heart that he would have a lovely child with me.

A happy family of three.

And now that promise has turned into a cruel mockery of me.

"Let's talk about it later, no more divorce talk!"

Frank's impatient voice, without a hint of hesitation or hesitation.

I smiled bitterly.

It turns out that in his mind, I don't even deserve to mention the word "divorce".

I thought that Frank at least had a shred of conjugal love for me.

Even if it's a falsehood, it's enough to keep me fooling myself.

But I was wrong, dead wrong.

Frank, you're so hard-hearted!

I covered my chest as a ripping pain came from there, as if it was going to consume me whole.

I slid helplessly to the floor, tears blurring my eyes and my heart.