While waiting for my husband to pick me up at the parking lot, I came across a trending topic in my city.

"How do I deal with an overly-clingy wife?"

Amidst a flurry of boastful, lovey-dovey comments, one female username caught my attention.

"Just pretend to be incompetent! My childhood friend was forced to marry someone he didn’t love. I gave him the idea to pretend to be directionally-challenged, which he has done for five years now.

"When his wife got pregnant, he secretly mixed lubricant into the shower gel, causing her to slip. Then, on the way to the hospital, he pretended to get lost. He deliberately circled the suburbs several times, which led to her miscarriage and now she can't have children anymore."

"Coincidentally, today is supposed to be the selection day for her promotion to professor. He offered to drive her to work, but he actually plans to pretend to get lost to make her late so that I can get promoted instead.

"When she fails the selection, he’ll use that as a chance to convince her to quit her job, turn her into a useless housewife, and then kick her out!"

Reading this suspiciously familiar experience sent a chill down my spine. Before I could ponder further, I heard my husband’s apologetic voice.

"Sorry, honey, I got lost. I hope this won't affect your selection."

I turned to the voice and met Zayn Smith's dark and unreadable eyes.

"The selection starts in ten minutes. I'm not going to make it."

Zayn grabbed my hand, his face full of apology.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. I've already checked the route several times this morning, but I still got it wrong. The GPS also didn't warn me I was going the wrong way. Maybe God is also lamenting the child that we lost and is using this way to tell us to focus more on the family."

Hearing that, the comment from earlier resurfaced in my mind.

He pretended to be directionally-challenged for five years, deliberately caused me to miscarry, and now he wanted to persuade me to resign, turn me into a useless housewife, and then kick me out!

A faint smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

"Okay, then you should go resign right now. We'll stay home and nurture our relationship."

Zayn was stunned.

After a certain amount of time, he sighed softly.

"Honey, you're still mad at me about the miscarriage, aren't you? That's my baby too. I'm heartbroken too. You know I'm directionally-challenged. Given the urgency of the situation, you should have called 911 instead of waiting for me to take you to the hospital!"

I found his complaints laughable.

He claimed to be directionally-challenged.

Therefore, the drive home from work, which should only take twenty minutes, usually took him four or five hours.

Sometimes he couldn't be bothered and would just send me a text telling me that he would stay over at the company.

But Candace Jones' place was almost an hour's drive from his company, yet he often made it there in half an hour.

Zayn would always make me wait for hours on our dates because he would "get lost".

But whenever Candace called, he would always get to her in time, no matter how far away she was.

I had lost my temper with him more than once over this, but each time it ended with me apologizing because I couldn't bear to lose this ten-year relationship.

I was always torn between going crazy and apologizing.

After I got pregnant, I completely discarded the idea of separating from Zayn.

I thought that, as long as I loved him a little more, he would eventually see my good qualities and change his mind, and we would be a happy family of three.

However, a month ago, I missed the best timing for treatment for the miscarriage because he got lost again.

I had been looking forward to having a baby for five years.

In the end, I couldn't protect the baby.

However, looking at it from another perspective, maybe it was a good thing that the baby was gone.

At least the baby could re-select another set of parents who would truly love it.

Hearing my apology, Zayn's expression changed dramatically.

But before he could say anything, his phone rang. It was Candace's exclusive ringtone.

As soon as the call was connected, Candace's excited voice could be heard.

"Zayn, I got selected as a professor! Come pick me up at the university later. Let's celebrate together!"

Zayn subconsciously gave me a glance.

I smiled and said, "Go ahead. I'll take a taxi home myself."

With that, I swiftly got out of the car.

Even though I knew his gaze lingered on me, I didn't turn my head back once.

As soon as I got home, I received a text from Zayn.

He said he would come home early tonight.

He told me to wait for him because he had something to say to me.

I didn’t know what he wanted to tell me.

But I knew he wouldn’t be home.

Sure enough, as I expected, Zayn didn't come home all night.

I was used to it.

Truth be told, before Candace returned to the country, Zayn and I had our moments of sweetness.

Back then, he hadn’t yet developed the "directionally-challenged syndrome".

Every weekend, he would take me to various popular spots for photos.

He would also take me around to try all the snacks I wanted to eat.

Knowing that I liked fairy tales, he specifically chose Disneyland as the place to propose to me.

In front of a crowd, he held up a diamond ring and declared loudly, "It doesn't matter how lively or glamorous this city is; without you, it just feels like an empty city to me. Without you, there is no home. Shirley Anderson, will you give me a home?"

I was so moved that I agreed to his proposal without any hesitation.

He happily hugged me and spun me around.

He vowed loudly, "I, Zayn Smith, will only love Shirley Anderson for the rest of my life. She's the only woman I will be good to. I hope she'll bother me for the rest of her life."

Never could I have imagined back then that "the rest of his life" only lasted a few short years.

I already knew he had a childhood friend before we got married.

But at the time, he told me that Candace had settled abroad and would probably never come back.

He said he saw her as just a little sister.

But to my surprise, Candace suddenly returned to the country not long after we got married and became my coworker with Zayn's help.

And he suddenly had difficulty finding his way home.

When I questioned him, he said, "Do you think I want to suddenly become directionally-challenged? I only developed this rare condition because you're always being so unreasonable, which causes me a lot of mental stress.

"Candace needed a job after returning to the country. Of course I would help her in any way I could.

"Shirley, you're a university lecturer. Can you not be so narrow-minded? There can be pure friendship between men and women, you know?

"Just because you don't have a childhood friend, I can't have one?

"Shirley, if I had known you were such a jealous woman, I wouldn't have married you."

If I had decisively left him when he said those things to me, perhaps I could have avoided many unhappy things that would later happen.

However, no one could turn back time.

But that's okay. After experiencing pain and heartache again and again, it wouldn't hurt so much when the time came to leave him.

I was just gradually detaching myself while waiting for an opportunity to sever the relationship.

To my surprise, that opportunity came really soon.

That day, I was teaching as usual.

Suddenly, a large group of reporters rushed into the lecture room with cameras, snapping photos of me.

"Are you Ms. Shirley Anderson?"

I nodded with a frown, then sternly yelled at the reporters, "Who are you? I'm teaching right now. Please leave!"

However, not only did the reporters not leave, they shoved their microphones in my face.

"Ms. Anderson, do you have anything to say about your academic fraud and plagiarism?"

"Did you refrain from participating in the recent professor selection because you felt guilty?"

"Do your students know that their lecturer committed academic fraud?"

I thought I must have misheard them.

But when I saw the doubtful gazes of the students below the podium, I knew I had not misheard.

I looked at these obviously malicious reporters and denied loudly, "I did not commit academic fraud! I did not plagiarize other people's papers! If you keep spreading false rumors about me, I'll sue you for defamation!"

When I said that, someone among the reporters suddenly snorted.

"There's no need to deny it, Ms. Anderson. Your husband has already issued an apology statement on your behalf!"

That paper was something I had spent half a year on. I went through countless materials to complete it.

Zayn knew that.

I frantically called him to ask him what was going on.

But all my calls went unanswered.

Just like that, I was forcefully suspended from work.

That evening, Zayn finally came home.

As soon as he came in through the door, I gave him a hard slap.

"I already let Candace have the professor position. Why would you still help her frame me?! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Zayn’s face was turned to the side from the impact.

To my surprise, he wasn't angry at all.

Instead, he licked the side of his face that had been hit and chuckled.

"I knew that you were just pretending to be generous and understanding lately. See? All it took was a little trick for you to reveal your true colors."

I glared at him with bloodshot eyes full of disbelief.

"So, in order to make me reveal my true colors, you ruined my career? You've gone mad, Zayn Smith!"

He shook his head. "It's not entirely because of that.

"Candace just became a professor and needs a high-quality paper to gain a foothold. Your paper is just right for the job.

"Don't look at me like that. The fact that I chose a paper that you wrote is a recognition of your ability. I know, it might be a little unfair to you, but don't worry, I'll compensate you later.

"You had a miscarriage not long ago, so you should use this opportunity to recuperate."

I trembled with anger.

He happily hummed a little tune and went into the bedroom.

Not long after, I heard his voice from the bedroom.

"Candace, don't worry, I've already taken care of Shirley. She won't cause you any trouble. Just focus on preparing for the international seminar next week. Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you."

Listening to his gentle tone, I felt a trace of hatred growing in my heart.

Just then, my phone also rang. It was a text from Candace.

[Shirley, your paper is really good. Thank you! ]

[I always get what I want, whether it's your paper, the professor position, or Zayn. As long as I want it, you can't take it away from me.]

[So, if you have any self-awareness, just get out of the way. Otherwise, you’ll only lose everything and embarrass yourself.]

At that moment, I completely lost all reason.

I immediately sent screenshots of the chat to the dean and called him.

"Dean, did you see that? Candace herself admitted that she plagiarized my paper. She's the fraud! I hope the university will immediately publish a statement online to clarify my innocence, and then revoke Candace's professorship."

But before the dean could reply, my phone was snatched away by Zayn.

He held me back with one hand, and with the other hand, he held up my phone and said to the dean, "Sorry, my wife has developed delusions because she was under so much mental stress recently. She photoshopped all those screenshots. I plan to take her to Switzerland for treatment, so she probably won't be able to go to work for a while."