Chapter1

City A had several heavy rainstorms in a row, and damp, lightless places grew a stifling, moldy smell.

The weather had been cooling down rapidly these past few days, the flu spreading throughout the city. Everyone was rushing to the hospital one after another.

Right now, I was also in the hospital, but not because of the flu.

I stood at the entrance to the obstetrics department, watching the man I loved accompany another woman for her prenatal checkup. Roger's smile was unconcealed, full of the joy of impending fatherhood.

What a loving couple.

If only that man with the nice smile wasn't my husband.

A few seconds later, the man looked up, and our eyes met.

Under the cold fluorescent lights, his face looked even paler.

In that instant, I suddenly felt it was all utterly pointless.

I had originally intended to cause a huge scene, to turn the hospital upside down.

Too ugly. That version of myself would have been both stupid and ugly.

I adjusted my emotions, pulled out my phone, and started snapping pictures frantically of the two of them. Especially the mistress's belly, which looked eight or nine months pregnant, almost ready to deliver.

Once I had my evidence, I put my phone away and walked off.

"Nora!"

Behind me, Roger called my name.

"Listen to me, it's not what you think."

I stopped and turned around, trying hard to keep my voice calm. "Alright, I'll listen to your explanation. How did you hook up with that little bitch? Did she climb into your bed, or did you fail to control your lower half? Is that little slut so good in bed? So good you kept going back for more?"

The woman looked displeased, gently stroking her belly. "Nora, stop calling me a little bitch. The one who isn't loved is the third wheel. Roger doesn't love you anymore, you're out."

"Ha!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

I walked up to her. She hugged her belly, trembling, afraid I would hurt her.

She was very pretty, with features somewhat reminiscent of how I looked back then.

"Girl, have Roger's parents agreed to let you into the family? Do you know you're a mistress, calling me the third wheel to my face?"

I took a step back and raised my voice slightly towards the surroundings. "I wanted to preserve some dignity, but who would have thought a mistress would dare tell the lawful wife to her face that the unloved one is the third wheel?"

"When you're out in the world, it's best not to be so arrogant."

I raised my hand and landed a slap.

Harper covered her face, tears streaming down.

If this person hadn't been the mistress stealing my husband, maybe even I would have been moved by her tears.

Roger stepped forward, his face full of suppressed emotion.

The people around started murmuring, saying all sorts of things, mostly criticizing the cheating couple.

Roger grabbed my hand. "Nora, let's talk outside."

"Why go outside? Let's talk right here." I waved my phone. "Do you want me to delete this? Even if I delete it, it's synced to my email. I have backups."

"Besides, with so many people watching, there's bound to be someone who can testify for me."

Sure enough, as soon as I said this, many people stepped forward.

"Right, we'll testify for you. I hate mistresses more than anything in my life. Shameless."

"The man's no good either. Can't control his urges."

"Scumbags like this should just die. They're just parasites, a scourge on society if they live."

Roger dragged me forward. I struggled fiercely. He exerted more force, hoisting me directly onto his shoulder and carrying me out.

"Roger, what about me? Roger! My stomach hurts, that woman hit me and it hurts."

"Roger, come back!"

Roger seemed not to hear her, closing the stairwell door behind him.

Chapter2

I could still hear the curses directed at Harper behind the door, and her sharp screams.

It seemed Roger didn't love her that much after all.

Once outside the hospital entrance, Roger set me down. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I slapped him hard across the face.

My palm stung with pain, but it was mostly satisfaction.

"Roger, don't touch me with your dirty hands. I find you disgusting."

I tried hard to suppress my trembling body. The thought of the man I'd shared a bed with for years entangled with another woman in some office made me want to vomit.

Roger and I met in university; he was my senior.

On my first day, he helped carry my luggage. You could say we fell for each other at first sight.

A very cliché beginning, but I'd thought we'd have an un-clichéd ending.

He was the basketball club captain, I was the cheerleading squad captain. Every time he played basketball for the school's glory, I would cheer him on.

The whole school knew when he pursued me.

From school uniforms to wedding gowns, I always thought I'd loved the right person.

"Nora, it's not what you think."

"Don't tell me you did this all for me?" I sneered.

Roger was silent for a moment. "The Moore family holds most of the investment now. I have to seize this opportunity. Nora, I won't marry her. The one I love has always been you."

"Stop disgusting me. You say you love me while doing things that sicken me."

I hit him hard with my purse, drawing blood on his forehead. "Your love became worthless the moment you betrayed me."

Back then, we were about to graduate. Many couples broke up after graduation. But we broke that curse; he proposed to me.

He knelt on one knee before me. The moment he opened the ring box, I felt I could defy all the world's slander for him.

Initially, his parents didn't agree.

My family was just ordinary. Later, my mother fell seriously ill, my father sold off our assets, and our family became increasingly impoverished.

In the end, my mother didn't make it, and my father died in a car accident.

When Roger brought me before his parents, his mother looked at me with utter disgust. As if I wasn't his son's beloved, but a demon stealing her son away.

"How dare you dream of having my son? Know your place."

"Thinking you can rise above your station with a bit of beauty? Do you think entering high society is that easy?"

"I've seen plenty of girls like you. Don't covet what isn't yours. If you want to climb into the Caspar family, see if you have the capability first."

Before going to the Caspar home, I had prepared myself for the humiliation.

"Mom, don't talk about the person I love like that. I will marry no one but Nora in this life. If you don't agree, then consider me no longer your son."

"You'd sever ties with the family for a woman?"

"I love her. I swore before her parents' graves that I would never wrong Nora in this lifetime."

We were thrown out of the Caspar house.

Starting that day, for the next three days, it poured torrential rain.

Roger secretly knelt in the rain for three days and three nights.

When he tried to stand up, his legs were numb, and he tumbled headfirst down the steps.

I rushed over and knelt, begging his mother to send him to the hospital.

Later, his mother really agreed to let us be together, on the condition that Roger would no longer be considered part of the Caspar family.

We started from scratch. Roger had a good head for business, and our life wasn't bad.

Only now did I understand that what I considered "not bad" was worlds apart from Roger's former life.

The so-called vows of eternal love had long been forgotten amidst the daily grind.

Chapter3

Outside, thunder rumbled, and soon heavy rain began to fall.

This downpour was as heavy as the rain on the night Roger knelt outside his family home.

The sky darkened considerably, the sound of car horns piercing the air.

People came and went near the hospital, many looking in our direction.

Roger pulled me aside, speaking low. "The rain's too heavy. Let's talk in the car. Be good, standing here you'll catch a cold. It's gotten very cold lately."

Roger's tone sounded gentle, but the hand gripping my arm was forceful.

If I didn't get in the car with him today, he wouldn't let me leave.

I slowly exhaled. "Let's go back. The divorce papers are on the coffee table."

Roger's face stiffened, pain in his eyes. "Are you so eager to separate? What good will it do you? Haven't I given enough for you all these years? For you, I was thrown out by my parents, groveled like a dog to others just to get investments."

"Did I make you grovel? Or did I force you to marry me?"

He was the one who pursued me, he was the one who confessed, he was even the one who proposed in the end.

I suddenly felt exhausted. I opened the car door and got in. "Drive. After you drop me off, you still need to go back to accompany your mistress for her checkup."

Roger drove in silence. We didn't speak the whole way.

He held an umbrella for me. Before I entered the house, he asked me.

"Nora, do we have to come to divorce?"

"Otherwise? Wait until Harper's child is born and we all sit happily around a table for a meal?"

I looked at the drizzling rain outside the umbrella, my voice calm. "It will soon be my father's death anniversary. I don't want to take you to my parents' graves anymore. Let's part amicably."

"Give me a few days to think. Divorce is a big deal, I can't just..."

"Whatever. But I'm determined to get this divorce."

For the next few days, I didn't see Roger at all.

I had collected all my evidence and stopped deliberately seeking information about Roger's life. I had even booked a ticket to the North City, planning to leave as soon as the divorce papers were signed.

My parents were in the North City. After they passed, they were buried there.

But just the day after I booked the ticket, something unexpected happened.

Roger's mother had actually acknowledged the unborn child in Harper's belly.

So, Roger keeping a mistress outside was something she had condoned.

When I got the lawyer's call and rushed over, I heard Harper's sharp voice just as I arrived.

I gripped the door handle, hesitated for a moment, and then opened my phone to record.

"I disagree with the property division. Nora didn't work after marriage, didn't bear a single child. I'm carrying a son! Why should half of the Caspar family assets be given to her?"

"Besides, the Caspar family never accepted Nora. The child in my belly is the true Caspar bloodline."

"Roger, you'd better think carefully. The world doesn't offer so many good things. You can't have it all."

"You want the Moore family's shares to help you secure your footing in the Caspar family? Then divorce Nora White now, and make sure she doesn't get a single cent!"

Actually, Roger and I had once had a child.

Back then, his career was on the rise. He was extremely busy, often coming home around two or three in the morning, reeking of alcohol. Feeling sorry for him working so hard, doing all the socializing while I couldn't help, I went to all the prenatal checkups alone.

In the third month of my pregnancy, I was hit by a car. The driver later admitted fault and apologized, but I lost the baby.

I grieved for a whole year, blaming myself for trying to cross at the last few seconds of the green light that day.

Roger comforted me every day, saying we would have another child later. That this unborn child would become the next one, reappearing in my womb.