For the hundredth time, my dad hints at us that he really wants to become a grandfather during New Year Eve's dinner.

Lydia Cooper, my wife who has insisted on living a childless life for the past decade, just smiles before placing more food on his plate.

After dinner, she ducks out to the balcony and murmurs into her phone, "Be good, now. Mommy will visit you a few days later."

I can feel my blood running cold in my veins as I stand in the living room with a glass of water.

As I approach Lydia, I do my best to keep my voice light and teasing.

"I just heard you say the word 'mommy.' Do you have an illegitimate child out there somewhere?"

Lydia rubs her nose, her tone now awkward. "You might be hearing things. It was just my friend's child…"

My heart plunges into my stomach pit at her words.

I've been in love with Lydia for ten years. It's only natural that I know how she acts whenever she's lying.

Noticing that something was amiss, I decided to continue the conversation with my wife, Lydia Cooper.

"Is that so? You were smiling so warmly just now," I said.

Lydia averted her gaze, not daring to make eye contact with me.

"The child speaks so sweetly. She's very fond of calling me. Anyway, it's getting late. Let's sleep."

She didn't wait for me to respond before turning around and entering the bathroom.

Lydia and I had been together for a decade, so I was familiar with her microexpressions. The way she averted her eyes earlier made it clear that she was feeling guilty.

I was already lying in bed and pretending to sleep when the bathroom door creaked open.

Lydia gently crawled into bed and hugged me from behind as usual. However, her embrace felt completely unfamiliar that night.

I waited until her breathing turned even before carefully getting out of bed and picking up her phone that she had left on the bedside cabinet.

We had been together for a decade, but this was the first time I was going to go through her phone. A bitter sensation spread through me as I tapped into her chatting app.

Lydia's lists of chats were neat and orderly. My chat with her was pinned at the top, along with the family group chat and her work chat.

However, I was certain that she was hiding something. I navigated through the app until I found her locked chats. As expected, there was a chat that was named "Lindsey's Growth Diary."

I needed a password to access its history. I tried keying in her birthday, my birthday, and the date of our wedding anniversary, but none of them worked. In the end, I randomly typed in that day's date—0101.

My breath hitched when the password was accepted.

There was a collection of photos in the chat.

I tapped into a photo of a young girl holding a card with "Happy New Year" printed on it. She was smiling so wide that her eyes had crinkled into crescents. She was also clutching a box with a doll nestled inside.

The caption that was attached to the photo read, "Mommy's New Year's present for Lindsey. She was so happy that she started jumping for joy."

I continued scrolling through the chat.

In October, there was a photo that was captioned, "Lindsey's fifth birthday. Mommy promised to bring us to the beach."

In August, it read, "Lindsey's first parent-teacher conference. Mommy looked so beautiful in her suit."

In May, the text was, "Lindsey fell sick. Mommy kept vigil by her side the entire night."

The earliest photo was sent five years ago, showing a newborn's feet.

"Our princess was born at 6.8 pounds. Mommy cried her eyes out."

It turned out that Lydia wasn't opposed to the idea of being a mother. After all, she had already experienced motherhood.

I recalled how she had told me that she wanted to spend the rest of our lives with just the two of us.

Did she take me for a fool?

I placed Lydia's phone back on the bedside cabinet and crawled back into bed, keeping my eyes open until dawn broke on the horizon.

I pretended everything was normal, then got out of bed to freshen up and change into a clean set of clothes.

That morning played out just like any other.

However, right after Lydia left the house, I got into my car and tailed her. She drove along several winding roads before finally stopping in a residential area.

I took a deep breath and was just about to ring the doorbell when I heard the sounds of a child's laughter coming from inside the house. A few seconds later, an amused and masculine voice said, "Stop messing around, Lindsey. Hurry up and put away the present that Mommy got you for the New Year."

I felt as if the blood in my veins had turned to ice.

Mommy?

My hand was suspended in midair. I didn't get to ring the doorbell before another voice resounded from beyond the door.

It was a voice that I was incredibly familiar with—Lydia's voice.

"Alright. I promise that I'll bring you to the amusement park next week," she said affectionately.

I leaned my back against the icy wall and slowly slid down until I was sitting on the floor.

My phone slipped from my grasp and tumbled to the floor. The screen cracked, mirroring the state of my heart.

I took a deep breath before getting back up on my feet and finally ringing the doorbell.

A tiny head poked out when the door inched open. It was the same girl I had seen in the photos last night. She looked at me curiously before yelling, "Daddy, there's someone at the door!"

In the next second, a man I hadn't been expecting at all appeared. It was Simon Young, my university roommate.

He halted his footsteps when he was standing right in front of me, saying, "What a coincidence, Jasper. How did you find out that I'm staying here?"

"Tell Lydia to come out," I said softly.

A dead silence descended upon the living room.

Simon frowned before moving to block the doorway. "Lydia? Why would she be here? You're looking for her in the wrong place."

He paused before continuing in a low and warning tone, "There's a child here. There's no need to cause a scene."

As we stared at each other, a figure stepped out from the shadows of the living room.

"Please give me a chance to explain, Jasper," Lydia said in a trembling voice as she walked toward us.

I felt nothing but disgust as I looked at her hypocritical face.

"You can explain the situation to me when we're back home," I said coldly.

The moment we arrived home, Lydia fell to her knees in front of me with a loud thud. Her voice was shaking when she said, "I can explain, Jasper—"

I interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. My voice sounded eerily calm even to my own ears when I asked, "Explain what? Are you going to tell me that that child isn't your daughter?"

Tears streamed down Lydia's face as she grabbed my hand. "I made a mistake, Jasper. I've learned my lesson… It was Simon! He's the one who tricked me! I drank so much that night… I had no idea what happened. But he threatened me when I wanted to get an abortion after I found out I was pregnant."

"What about after the child was born?" I asked.

"I had no choice but to stay!" Lydia screamed shrilly, her voice pitching. "At the end of the day, she's still mine! She's my flesh and blood! What else could I do when you weren't willing to have a child with me?"

Her words were like knives that stabbed themselves into my heart.

I watched her as she pinned the blame on everyone else but herself.

"So," I said slowly, "You were lying to me when you said you hated children—that living a child-free life was your idea of a perfect life. You just wanted to tie me to you while you had a bastard child out of wedlock."

Lydia was stunned by my words, seeming to belatedly realize that she had misspoken. She softened her tone and said, "It's not like that, Jasper. I was forced to give birth to her. Please believe me. The person I love the most is still you!"

I didn't want to waste my breath talking to her any longer. I slammed the door behind me when I left the house, cutting off her shouts. I then got into my car and started the engine.

I drove for a long time before I noticed that tears were rolling down my cheeks. I scrolled through my phone, looking for the number that I had saved a long time ago but never had a chance to dial until now.

"Mr. Lambert, it's me, Jasper Swanson. I want Lydia to lose everything."

A low and steady voice echoed from the receiver, saying, "Understood, Mr. Swanson."

…

The next day, I showed up to work as usual.

I had just sat down at my desk when the sounds of a commotion and shouting echoed from outside the office.

An ominous feeling festered in my heart.

A few seconds later, someone barged into the office.

It was Simon, and he had his child, Lindsey Young, with him.

He looked completely different from yesterday, while Lindsey sobbed, tears running down her little face.

Simon made a beeline for my desk when he spotted me. He intentionally raised his voice when he shouted, "You'd better have a good explanation for what you did, Jasper!"

He had successfully caught the attention of the rest of the office staff.

"You can't expect Lydia to be so cruel and ignore her child's existence. You're her husband, so you had better explain yourself."

Simon tried to grab my sleeve with his free hand while keeping Lindsey in a death grip with his other.

Lindsey stumbled forward when he yanked her, causing her to wail even more loudly.

My colleagues had no idea what was unfolding and could only watch in shock as the scene played out before their eyes. They then began to whisper among themselves.

When Simon managed to grab my sleeve, Lindsey was pulled forward once again. She ultimately lost her balance and fell.

Chaos erupted in the office.

"I'm begging you, Jasper. Do it for Lindsey's sake. She can't be without her mother."

The ruckus he was causing spread through the entire floor, prompting my clueless colleagues to whisper among themselves.

"I didn't think that Jasper was this type of person…"

"That poor child."

"He carries himself with such a dignified demeanor normally. I never would have expected him to force another person into a corner…"

My entire body was shaking from anger, and I felt as if the blood in my veins had turned to ice.

"Let go of me right now, Simon. Take your child and leave. Stop trying to put on a show here!"

Frustrated beyond belief, I pulled out my phone and dialed Lydia's number.

"Lydia, Simon is causing a commotion at my office. Come here right now and deal with him."

Lydia showed up about ten minutes later. She was breathing heavily when she ran into the office, and there was sweat beading all across her forehead.

Simon immediately shoved Lindsey at Lydia the moment he spotted her. "Look at your child!" he shouted. "You can't be so cruel!"

Lydia had no choice but to kneel and comfort Lindsey first. She pulled Lindsey into her embrace and gently cooed, "Don't cry, Lindsey."

Once Lindsey stopped crying, Lydia looked up at us and spoke in a tone tinged with frustration and panic.

"Let's talk outside."

The confusion in my colleagues' eyes had morphed into disdain. It didn't take long before their whispered words filled the air.

I glared daggers at Lydia and hissed, "I'll remember what you did today, Lydia. You're the one who forced my hand. Don't blame me for being heartless for what happens next."

I straightened my back and marched out of the office once I was done speaking.

My phone vibrated then, informing me that I had received a message.

It was from Lydia's father, George Cooper.

"I heard that you know everything now. Let's meet at Phoenix Loft for a chat at 3:00 pm tomorrow."

I gripped my phone tightly as I stared at the screen.

I was going to make sure they understood that I wasn't a doormat they could trample.