When the engine was already running, it seemed to occur to him that we still existed.

"Find a place to wait it out," he said offhandedly. "I'll drop Rain off and come back for you."

"Vivian, if you want to take this out on me, fine. But don't punish Ian for it!"

I glanced into the back seat. It was crammed full of the gifts he'd bought Rain, no room left for anyone else.

Boxes I couldn't even count, each one wrapped to perfection.

I'd seen them in his study once, every single one wrapped slowly and carefully by his own hands.

Seven years of marriage. Ian was five.

The only gift my son and I had ever received was a music box Rain hadn't wanted.

The car peeled away, leaving nothing behind but exhaust fumes.

Soaked to the skin, I had no choice but to hurry Ian into a convenience store by the road, the two of us a sorry sight.

Chewing on a warm rice ball, I asked suddenly, "Would you be okay starting preschool in a new city, sweetheart?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead he asked, "Will Daddy come too?"

I shook my head. Ian gave a small, uncertain nod.

So I pulled out my phone and accepted the transfer.

If the marriage was beyond saving.

Then maybe letting go was the better choice.

By the time the downpour eased and the sun blazed back out, Vivian still hadn't come for us.

I was used to him breaking his word. I didn't bother waiting any longer and just hailed a cab home with Ian.

The second we stepped inside, Ian's face changed.

He didn't even stop to take off his shoes. He bolted straight to the trash can and snatched up the empty box inside.

"Mom, my limited-edition figure is gone..."

My son's eyes went red in an instant, staring at the empty box, on the verge of tears.

My stomach dropped. One person came to mind immediately.

When I called Vivian, he admitted it without hesitation.

"I took it. Tell me how much it cost and I'll send you the money."

"Chloe Whitlock kept pestering Rain for that one and Rain couldn't say no. Cut her some slack."

I almost laughed in disbelief. Through gritted teeth, I said, "You think this is about money?"

"That gift was something my mom bought for Ian. Who gave you the right to just hand it off to someone else?"

My mother is an illiterate woman from the country who doesn't even know how to ride the subway.

But because Ian once said he liked it, she snuck out on her own and asked around until she found the address of the mall.

A hundred-degree day, six hours in line under a brutal sun, just to barely snag this one.

Ian had cried when he got it.

But Vivian only said, light as air, "I'll cover whatever your mom paid as a shopping fee. Happy now?"

"Stop making a scene. Chloe's about to cut the cake. Don't ruin her birthday."

I was about to snap back when Rain cut in, sharp and impatient. "Katherine, I'll pay double, all right? Stop getting on his nerves."

"His experiments haven't been going well lately. He's already worked up over it!"

"It took me forever to cook him soup and porridge just to settle him down. Can you please not set him off again?"

The call clicked dead.

But I couldn't unhear his last words. "There, there. Don't be upset."

After getting Ian settled, I hailed a cab straight to the Whitlock house.

Through the window, I could see Vivian and Rain standing on either side of Chloe, watching over her as she made her wish.

Someone nearby asked her what she'd wished for.

Chloe smiled sweetly and pulled Vivian's and Rain's hands together.

"I wish Uncle Vivian and Auntie would be together forever, and stay by my side forever!"

The room erupted in teasing cheers. Rain's face flushed scarlet in an instant.

Vivian cleared his throat twice, stealing a glance at her.

Even as I shoved the door open with a bang, their clasped hands never came apart.

The moment they saw me storm in, everyone fell silent.

Vivian instinctively pulled Rain behind him, glaring at me with cold eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"You came to make trouble over a toy?"

"Katherine, when are you ever going to get over that cheap, penny-pinching streak of yours?"

Rain tugged at his hand and said in a soft, coaxing voice, "Come on now, Vivian."

"People who grow up poor are like this. Otherwise she wouldn't have gone working in a nightclub for spending money back then."

"It's all her hard-earned cash. I'll just pay her back, that's all."

She plucked a necklace off her own neck and tossed it on the floor in front of me. "This should cover it."

"Take it and go. Don't ruin our party, okay?"

But I didn't so much as glance at the chain she'd thrown me like alms to a beggar.

I stared straight at Vivian, who couldn't hold my gaze, and let out a bitter laugh. "What else did you tell her?"

"Vivian, you know perfectly well I only went there to save up for my mother's surgery!"

"And I kept myself clean the whole time. I never did a single sordid thing!"

But Vivian gave a cold little laugh, his face blank. "Drop the act. Working the floor as a 'pure' hostess in a nightclub. Isn't that a joke?"

"Just because I didn't call you out doesn't mean you can treat me like a fool!"

In an instant, the way everyone around me looked at me changed.

As if I were a woman who'd thrown herself away, and Vivian was the innocent, decent man I'd dragged down.

I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. I picked up the figure and turned to leave.

But Chloe darted out, snatched it from my hands, and slammed it to the floor. It shattered to pieces in an instant.

She pouted and glared at me, sulking. "You're a bad woman who picks on Auntie. I won't let you get your way!"

A shard sliced my foot, but Vivian didn't even bother to look.

Instead, he praised Chloe. "Good job, sweetheart."

"From now on, that's how you protect Auntie. Don't let anyone pick on her, understand?"

Chloe puffed out her chest proudly. Rain kissed her cheek again and again, and Vivian stood guard beside the two of them, looking for all the world like a family of three.

And I stared at the wound on my foot, and suddenly I laughed.

When the laughter had drained me almost numb, I calmly pulled out a document I'd printed long ago and dropped it in front of Vivian.

"Since I bother you so much, this marriage isn't worth keeping anyway."

"Sign it. Let's divorce."

"It's better for both of us."

In the end, Vivian still refused to sign.

He had me forcibly thrown out of the Whitlock house, leaving only one line behind. "We'll talk at home."

I didn't keep fighting. Instead, I turned around and called the police, reporting them for disturbing the peace.

On the way home, Vivian called me dozens of times. I didn't answer a single one.

So he switched to the cold shoulder too, simply staying away from home for days on end.

I didn't care in the least. After finishing my transfer paperwork at the office, I planned to head straight to Ian's preschool to handle the school transfer.

But when I got to the school, I found out Vivian had already moved Ian's enrollment record somewhere else.

The teacher sighed, then said through gritted teeth, "Ms. Cooley, don't blame me for speaking out of turn."

"I know that preschool. It's a new private one, and I hear the management is a real mess. There have been several incidents of students getting hurt."

"You should really talk it over with Mr. Simmons and bring Ian back here."

Swallowing my anger, I dialed Vivian and told him to cancel the transfer immediately.

But he only said flatly, "Absolutely not."

"That school was started by Rain's brother. He doesn't have many students yet, so he really needs the kids."

"And her brother studied early childhood education abroad. He's more qualified than a lot of teachers here."

"Rain said her brother will give Ian special attention."

I almost laughed out of sheer fury.

"Qualified? If he's so qualified, why have there been several incidents of students getting hurt?"

"Just to please your precious little colleague, you don't even care about your own son's safety!"

Vivian hung up on me, but I drove straight to the Whitlock house anyway, and walked in just in time to catch the two of them feeding each other lunch.

I didn't have the patience for it. I cut straight to the point. "Cancel the school transfer right now. I will never agree to it."

"Forget the safety issues for a second. That preschool is three hours from the house. Are you going to make Ian wake up at four every morning just to get to school?"

Vivian said nothing.

Rain, though, smiled brightly. "Don't worry about it, big sister. Ian can just live here with us."

She pushed open the door to the storage room beside her, then coughed as the dust hit her.

Still, she went on. "I'll have the housekeeper clean it out. It'll be livable in no time."

"My brother goes to work right past there, so he can take Ian to school. So convenient."

"And Vivian comes over all the time, so Ian will still get to see his daddy."

I looked at the room, barely fifty square feet, with nothing in it but a dust-coated iron-frame bed. I almost laughed.

"Vivian. You actually plan to make your son live in a place like this?"

"Her dog lives better than this."

Vivian's brow knit, and he said with irritation, "Enough. He's got a place to sleep, that's more than fine."

"You grew up in a worse hole than this back in the village, and you didn't lose an arm or a leg over it."

"Ian's too soft anyway. This is perfect for him. It'll toughen him up."

I stared at him, dumbstruck, and was about to speak when I caught the red marks on Rain's neck.

In that instant, another strained wire inside me snapped.

I rushed into the bedroom like a woman gone mad, and the rumpled bed was the first thing I saw.

And the used condoms in the trash can.

Not one. Five of them.

Vivian had followed close behind me, and when he saw I'd discovered everything, his composure cracked for only a heartbeat.

Then he steadied himself. "I drank too much last night. It was just a moment of weakness."

"I already made it clear to Rain this morning. This one time won't affect our relationship."

"Your relationship? Then what about ours?"

I stared at Vivian in disbelief, my stomach so sick I felt like I could throw up everything I'd eaten the night before.

"When you were sleeping with her, did you think about me even once? Did you think about Ian?"

"Filthy. You're disgusting."

"That's enough!"

Vivian shoved me away as I lunged to hit him, ice-cold and without a shred of patience.

"I make one mistake, and you want to nail me to the pillory for it?"

"You really want me to drag out every one of your past stunts and pick them apart one by one?"

"A woman who's been ridden by a thousand men, mounted by ten thousand. What right do you have to call me filthy?"

The words were out, and both of us froze.

After a long moment, he spoke slowly. "That came out too harsh. Don't take it to heart."

"Neither of us is thinking straight today. Go home and think it over."

"Don't ruin all these years we've had together over one small thing."

Every word came out calm, deliberate, as if I were the one who'd done something wrong.

Seeing me frozen there, Rain still smiled brightly. "Katherine, you know, this wasn't our first time."

Vivian moved to stop her, but he couldn't catch her words in time.

"Actually, the first time for me and Vivian was in the car."

"You remember. That day of the hurricane, when he was out looking for a hair tie for me."

"It wasn't until I got in the car that I found out he'd prepared twenty-five gifts for my twenty-fifth birthday."

"I was so moved that I made up an excuse to have him park in the garage, and then we just..."

"Honestly, he didn't want to at first, but once I made him feel good, he stopped holding back."

"We didn't even use anything that time. You know how wild he can get, don't you?"

Rain's smile was wrapped in undisguised malice, and it cut into me until my whole body ached.