I had avoided Snow Judson’s father for the entire five years of our marriage.

My career never matched Snow’s, so in his eyes, I would always be beneath them.

That day, Snow had a work dinner and asked me to take his father for a medical checkup.

When we reached the hospital, the staff told us that the appointment was not scheduled for today.

Snow’s father blew up on the spot and swung his cane at me.

When I tried to call Snow, I accidentally opened a video that had been posted three minutes earlier.

Snow wore a lace camisole in the video. She stood at a sink in a bathroom and washed a man’s shirt by hand.

I looked at the caption.

[Dinner is over. My boss took great care of me. If I had a wife like her, I would want nothing more.]

Snow smiled so gently in the video that I suddenly felt empty.

I left a comment under the video.

[Wow, is he confessing?]

Before I took Richard Judson, Snow Judson’s father, for his checkup, I spent a long time mentally preparing myself.

Richard had always viewed me as a schoolteacher who was not good enough for Snow. Even so, I had hope. I wanted Snow’s family to accept me someday.

But things went wrong.

In the crowded hospital, Richard pointed at me and shouted. People around us turned to watch.

At that moment, I could not reach Snow no matter how many times I called.

I was so anxious that I even turned to the internet. I hoped to find a reasonable solution.

Then, I saw a video of Snow wearing a camisole and washing clothes at another man’s place.

I looked at the caption. [Dinner is over. My boss took great care of me. If I had a wife like her, I would want nothing more.]

The video had been posted just three minutes earlier.

Three minutes ago, the hospital told us we had arrived on the wrong day for the appointment, and Richard had swung his cane at me.

At that moment, Snow had refused to answer my calls. It turned out that she was busy taking care of another man.

The poster’s profile had his photo. He looked very familiar.

It was Yulan Ledger, Snow’s immediate subordinate.

The man Snow always called her junior had quietly intruded on my marriage with her.

Watching Snow carefully scrub the clothes clean in the video felt like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over me. Everything I had worked so hard for suddenly seemed like a joke.

I was not going to tolerate it. I tagged Snow under the video and left a comment.

[Wow, is he confessing?]

I put my phone away. Richard was still furious, and he yelled at me.

I took a deep breath and said calmly, “Richard, Snow made the appointment on the wrong day. I refuse to let you treat me this way. I have no solution for this. You’ll have to handle this yourself.”

Richard looked shocked at my defiance. He trembled and pointed at me, but he could not get a word out. He stormed off in anger.

After he left, I returned home. Snow was still not back.

Alone in the empty house, a wave of bitterness slowly rose in me. Exhaustion followed soon after.

I sank onto the couch and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Half-groggy, I was jolted awake by a loud bang on the door.

Outside, it was already dark.

Snow was standing in the doorway and glaring at me. When she saw I was awake, she strode over to the couch.

“Jared, do you have any idea how many times I called you? Why didn’t you answer?”

I rubbed my forehead and instinctively reached for my phone. That was when I realized it had died. I did not even notice that the battery had run out.

I held the phone out to her. She stared at the black screen for a moment, slightly stunned. She smelled faintly of a mix of alcohol and laundry detergent as she stood there.

My mind slowly cleared. Everything that had happened during the day suddenly came rushing back.

I finally understood why she, who normally never reached out to me, suddenly got angry when she could not reach me.

Was it because I had disrespected her father, or because of that comment I left?

Snow furrowed her brows. She said in a cold voice, “Then, you shouldn’t have made it impossible for me to find you.”

I asked, “When did you call me?”

“When?! I spent the entire day trying to reach you! I’ve been calling since 10 a.m.!”

‘10 a.m.…’ I remembered clearly.

That was shortly after I had posted that comment.

So, Snow had not been too busy to check her phone. It was not that she did not know how desperately I needed her at that moment. She simply did not care.

It was because I openly challenged Yulan that she could no longer stay calm.

I let out a bitter laugh and asked, “Snow, my life is just school and home every day. If you really had something important, you could have come to me yourself. Is there some reason you couldn’t?”

Snow furrowed her brows. She opened her mouth to speak but could not say a word.

“I would never do something as childish as deliberately ignoring your calls. I’ve been busy with a lot of things at school lately. Since you’re fine, there’s no need to force a conversation.”

I was completely drained and had no energy to argue with her. After that, I went back to my room.

Not long after, Snow came in.

She sat down beside me and, unusually patient, began explaining herself.

“Jared, my dad told me everything that happened today. I know you aren’t at fault, but he’s older. You need to show him some respect.”

‘Ha! Respect!’ I thought.

I had tiptoed around Richard for the past five years, but all I ever received was an accusation that I was the disrespectful one.

Besides, what had her family ever done over the years to show me an ounce of respect?

Thinking about it was pointless.

Snow thought I was still sulking, but the truth was, I had already started wondering if it was time to let her go.

When I did not react, Snow took my arm and said, “Come on! Look at how tired you are! If school’s really that busy, you should quit and rest at home for a while. Teaching doesn’t earn much anyway.”

I did not understand why, but her touch suddenly felt unpleasant to me. I silently pulled my arm away and thought about what she said. The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like mockery.

Back when she had just graduated and could not get a job, it was this so-called low-paying job that had kept her clothed and fed. I was the one who supported her and stood by her through everything.

In her eyes at the present, I was no different from the job she looked down on.

“Snow, my job doesn’t pay much, but teaching still means something to me. I’m not as free as you. I don’t have the time to run over to someone else’s place to do their laundry. But that doesn’t mean I should quit.”

Snow shot up from the couch as if my words had struck a nerve. Her face twisted with mockery.

“Jared, is that what you really think? You’ve been acting as if nothing bothers you, but you’re just angry because of the video Yulan posted!

“I haven’t even asked what that comment was supposed to mean! My coworker was drunk, and I couldn’t leave him alone. Do you really have to corner me like this?”

She had said things like this to me before.

Back then, Yulan had just joined the company as a new recruit. Snow worried he would not fit in, so she fussed over him and put him first every time.

Unfortunately, that was also when I came down with acute gastroenteritis. I went out to buy medicine and realized I had forgotten my keys when I got home.

It was the middle of winter. I crouched against the wall with stomach pain and called Snow. She did not answer until half an hour later. When she finally picked up and found out why I had called her, she lost her temper.

“Jared, how old are you? How can you still be so careless? It’s freezing right now. Yulan’s rental place has no heating, and I’m helping him buy a heater. Do you really need me to rush home just to open the door for you?”

That was the first time I was truly angry with Snow. I was aloof and distant when she finally returned.

She acted pitifully and told me repeatedly that Yulan was like a brother to her. She said she had not been thinking clearly earlier, and that was why she had snapped at me.

I let her soft words sway me. I even convinced myself that I had been too petty to get upset over someone much younger than me.

Thinking about that, it felt ridiculous and sad.