Hannah

In less than an hour, the car I was driving stopped in front of a building on the edge of Riverford. A few minutes later, I was standing at the door.

After pressing the bell twice, the door opened. A woman with white hair and wrinkles covering most of her face immediately gave me a tight hug as soon as she saw me. Then, she invited me in and told me to sit down at the kitchen table.

I saw the stove on and a pot on top of it. Smoke was billowing out of the pot as it delivered the aroma of the food my mother was cooking.

"Tea or coffee?"

"Tea," I replied.

"Chicken cream soup?" Mom asked as she put a cup of tea on the table. I nodded.

A moment later, Mom put two bowls of soup on the table and then sat down in front of me. She folded her arms and used them to support her chin. I was sure she knew what was going on with me. It was just that she was waiting until I was ready to talk.

After eating a few spoon-full of soup and finishing half a bread, I couldn't hold back the tears that were already in my eyes. As a result, I sobbed in front of her. She didn't ask me anything, just gave me a few tissues. Occasionally, I heard her take a deep breath.

"Sorry," I said.

"It's okay. If you really can't tell me, it's okay. By crying, our feelings at least become lighter, even though the burden remains," she replied.

Her hands, which were also lined with wrinkles, caressed mine. The warmth and affection from her flowed through my whole body and it felt so peaceful, as if I had found a place to lean on.

After calming down enough, I ventured to ask her. "Mom, I have something to ask you about your past. Is that okay?" Mom nodded while putting a spoonful of soup in her mouth.

"When you found out about all the infidelities that Dad and his coworkers committed, what did you do?"

Mom was still putting the cream soup in her mouth. To be honest, I regretted asking her about her bitter past.

"I asked him to choose one of us and you already know the answer," she replied softly. And I decided not to ask her anything else. We continued eating without talking anymore.

When I was about to say goodbye, Mom hugged me tightly, as if reluctant to let me go. I assured her that Jensen and I would spend the weekend with her during the winter break and decorate the Christmas tree with her. She answered nothing, but I felt my T-shirt getting wet.

Before closing the door, I turned and waved at her. "Love you, mom. Bye."

"Hannah, remember one thing. Cheating is a disease. Stay strong for Jensen," Mom said.

Her words made me sob for the second time. I nodded while wiping my wet eyes.

"Come here whenever you need a hug." Then my mom waved at me with a sweet smile.

After waving back, I closed the door and went home feeling a little better, at least now I knew what I had to do.

On the way, I invited April, my friend, to meet me at a coffee shop. When I arrived there, April hadn't arrived yet, so I ordered coffee for myself and sat at a table in front of the barista.

After my coffee arrived, I sat and observed it while pondering. The coffee was like my life. I am the ground coffee, while Jason is the milk. When milk is not added to the ground coffee, the coffee tastes bitter-just like my life.

A few moments later, I heard someone sit down next to me. When I turned around, it wasn't April who came but another person. He smiled when he saw me, and I smiled back.

I saw the barista give him his coffee, and he drank it right away while I still had the coffee in my glass. I didn't think so, but he was paying attention to me.

"It won't taste good if the coffee gets cold before you drink it," he said. His voice sounded a little heavy but warm.

I turned and became so awkward that I couldn't answer anything. Then he said again, "Chris Walker. Sorry to surprise you." He held out his hand to introduce himself. I greeted his outstretched hand while forcing my lips to smile.

"Hannah Fox, I'll have the coffee when my friend arrives later." I knew my answer sounded strange, but he smiled. His blue eyes contrasted with his fair skin and brown hair, and his smile was quite sweet.

"You look sad. I know it's none of my business, but if I may offer some advice, it's best not to wallow in sadness or you will lose the beauty of real life. Hope your problem will be resolved soon. I have to go now. Hope we can meet again someday. Bye." He hurried away from there while continuing to wave at me. His attitude and friendliness were enough to cheer me up that morning.

Not long after, April came. After not seeing her for so long, I wanted to hold her tight for a very long time. And for the umpteenth time, I cried again. She caressed my back try to calm me down.

I explained the problem I was facing. She listened to my story seriously. After finishing telling her everything, I asked for her opinion.

"Find as much evidence of his infidelity as possible so that you can get custody of Jensen. First, change and become financially independent. Second, find evidence of his infidelity. Third, if your marriage is beyond repair, then divorce is the only way."

It felt like a huge rock hit my head when I heard the solution. All this time, I had been too complacent in my role as a wife and mother who dedicated all her time and life to her family, to where I had forgotten that I still had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

I nodded and asked April to help transform me into the new Hannah Fox. April agreed, and she invited me to her boutique.

When I got there, she picked out lots of clothes, shoes, and bags from several shelves and put them in front of me.

"Take off your clothes and try them on," April ordered.

Hannah

"All of them?" I asked, putting on a surprised face.

"Yes," April replied with a big smile.

Of course, I didn't mind trying out all the collections from April's boutique because her boutique was one of the famous fashion houses in Riverford.

April sat on a sofa right in front of the dressing room. For almost three hours, I tried on all the collections that April offered. According to her observation, most of the collection fit me, then she wrapped all the items and gave them to me for free.

When I wanted to pay her using a credit card that I had never used, she refused. She said she just wanted to help me get up from my problems and change for the better and be more independent.

No words can describe how I felt at that moment. When I felt down and broken inside, April was always there to support me in all conditions and I was very grateful to have a friend like her in my life.

Just before I said goodbye and went home, she also gave me a camera and told me I could collect evidence using her much more sophisticated camera. She also taught me how to operate it.

"Be careful and pretend as if you know nothing about their relationship. Remember, act as usual," April said. I nodded, even though it was hard to pretend after I saw with my own eyes what they were doing behind my back, but I had to do it all for Jensen's sake.

April also asked me to plan carefully so that my enemies wouldn't know that I already knew what they were doing.

After getting in the car, I kept convincing myself that I could get through everything. I had been at the bottom of a swamp of life that was pitch black. Therefore, I could definitely get through this trial in my marriage.

After picking up Jensen from school, I took him shopping at the supermarket, then went home to the apartment. These were all activities that I usually did with Jensen during the day. While waiting for Jason to come home from work, I opened my laptop and started making a plan of what I should do first and then next.

The thought of Jason's hand hugging Bella's slim waist and kissing her lips covered in nude lipstick made my blood boil. Unfortunately, I couldn't get that thought out of my mind.

"Come on, Hannah. You can do it," I thought to myself. But the disgusting image kept popping up as if mocking me.

I hurriedly ran into the room, locked the door, and stood in front of the large mirror in the corner of my room. I observed myself carefully and thoroughly. The result was that, as a woman, I would never be attracted to my ordinary and very unattractive appearance.

Since giving birth to Jensen, my body has become fatter. My stomach, which was originally slim, became fatty, so every time I wanted to buy clothes, I had to look for a bigger size. Usually, big-size clothes have less attractive models, so as a result, all my clothes look unattractive. Because I was too busy with all the household chores, I became lazy about taking care of my skin and applying makeup.

Could it be because of my unattractive appearance that Jason had an affair? Is appearance much more important than love?

I sat on the bed while continuing to stare at the reflection of myself in the mirror. I can't go on like this. Everything April said was true. I had to change and show Bella the power of a legal wife.

I left the room, grabbed my cell phone, and started looking for skincare and makeup that suited my skin type and face shape. Coincidentally, tomorrow afternoon, the community leader invited us to gather at a restaurant that had just had a grand opening.

I was going to astonish them all, including Bella.

After searching for and getting everything I needed, I immediately bought everything using money that I had never used before. All this time, I have always been very frugal, to the point of not caring about my appearance.

And for the umpteenth time, my intuition again made me realize that Jason always came home late for various reasons and I believed him. I never found out the truth about his reasons. Maybe it's time for me to find out.

The same night. He came home to the apartment at nine o'clock at night. As usual, he put his bag on the sofa, hugged Jensen, then hugged and kissed my lips. His attitude seemed normal as usual. As April suggested, I acted normally, even though it felt difficult. After taking a shower, he came out of the room and sat at the dining table.

"I have prepared dinner for you," I said while putting some food on the dining table.

"I'm full. Please, get me some water. Sorry, love. I will eat all your cooking in the morning," he replied.

"Ok," I replied while putting all the food in the refrigerator.

After getting the water and giving it to Jason, I went to the laundry room to wash clothes. For a moment, I saw a small stain on Jason's shirt pocket.

I grabbed the shirt and inspected it. The stain was pink and irregular. I brought the shirt closer to my nose and smelled a perfume that didn't belong to Jason.

It was the scent of a woman's perfume. Could this pink stain be Bella's lipstick stain?

I put the shirt in the basket and went to my room. I saw Jason glance at me and then ask, "Did something happen?"

"No, I just forgot to get my dirty clothes in the room," I replied.

Arriving at the room, I took a T-shirt and my lipstick, which was also pink. Then I hurried back to the laundry room.

I grabbed Jason's shirt, then I scratched a little of my lipstick on the inside of the shirt, then I rubbed the lipstick scratches gently and the stain was almost the same color as the stain in the shirt pocket.

They must have met earlier. Was Bella so important that Jason had to meet her after work instead of going straight home and meeting me and Jensen?

The clear liquid flowed unbearably again. I sobbed alone in the laundry room.

Maybe they met for dinner together, so Jason didn't eat my cooking. And stupidly, it had been going on for a very long time. At first, I thought it was normal. And now, fact after fact, that has slowly been revealed seems to have opened my eyes wider.

As if the lipstick and perfume stains weren't enough, I found new condoms in Jason's pants pocket again.

Hannah

While shed tears, I squeezed the condom's packaging tightly. It was slowly damaged. Same as my trust and love for him had been also damaged.

I thought Jason would forever be my soulmate, but it turned out he shared his soul with another woman. And maybe I was no longer a part of his soul.

What does love mean when we are no longer loved? What does a marriage mean without love?

I put the cursed shirt in the washing machine while sobbing as if the tears were reluctant to stop.

Be strong, Hannah!

I kept repeating the sentence, but the fact was that my tears kept flowing like a waterfall. If Jensen hadn't been present at our wedding, I would have sued Jason for divorce right away.

The condom in his pants pocket was proof that they most likely had sex last night. For seven years, when having sex, Jason never used a condom because he asked me to take birth control pills. And the condom was a sign that Bella might not take birth control pills.

April asked me to act normal and pretend that everything was fine. But how could I bear to face all this? When the facts about their forbidden relationship were revealed one by one.

If I insisted on keeping this marriage, I might end up in a mental hospital or, worst-case scenario, die from too much mental stress. However, if I separated from him, it would hurt Jensen, and history would repeat itself.

I felt like I was stuck at a crossroads without knowing which way to go. So, I had to move quickly to gather all the evidence related to their affair.

That night, I sprang into action when I was sure Jason was asleep. First, I picked up his cellphone that was lying on the nightstand. It turned out that Jason had changed his password.

I used to be the one who set the password on Jason's cellphone, which was Jensen's date of birth. But now he had changed it.

I was racking my brains to crack the six-digit password. I tried to put myself in Jason's shoes and realized that these six digits must be related to the birth of the people closest to him. As long as I knew him, Jason had that kind of habit.

I tried entering the date of birth of his parents but failed. The same goes for Jensen's date of birth and my date of birth. Everything failed.

Could Jason have entered Bella's date of birth as his cellphone password? Unfortunately, I didn't know Bella's date of birth.

My brain was thinking hard about how to find out Bella's details. There was no way I could contact the community leader in the middle of the night just to ask about the date of birth of the member. Waiting until morning was also very unlikely. That night, I had to find out Bella's date of birth immediately.

Half an hour had passed, but I couldn't find a single way. But I still hadn't given up. I hoped there was a way to solve my problem. Finally, I saw a post from one of the community members about last week's meeting on her social media account.

As I recall, I had filled in my details as a new member of the community in the group chat. The information about the name, date of birth, and apartment unit number of each member should still be stored in the group chat.

I hurriedly searched for the information in the group chat. Finally, after struggling for almost an hour while enduring a headache, I found a document containing the name, date of birth, and apartment unit number of each community member.

After I got Bella's date of birth, I tried entering her six-digit date of birth to unlock Jason's cell phone and it worked.

I was stunned as I stared at the cellphone screen and it felt like a thousand needles piercing my feelings. Jason couldn't wait to get rid of me. He set Bella's date of birth as his cellphone password.

The pain in my heart made tears kept coming out and wetting my face. I tried hard to cry as quietly as possible so that Jason wouldn't realize anything.

There is no time to continue grieving and wasting my tears for a man I shouldn't cry for. Maybe in the past my love for him was very great, but now everything is gone like feathers blown away by the wind.

I have been hurt once, and I will not let Jason or anyone else hurt me or Jensen.

Before Jason woke up and realized something had happened to his cellphone, I hurriedly opened the contact list of his coworkers at the office and then copied it to my cellphone. As if fate was merciful to me, my first mission was a success. Tomorrow, it was time to carry out another mission.

Shortly after putting Jason's cell phone on the table, I realized something. I should have opened the gallery to check if there were any photos or videos involving the two of them. Unfortunately, it was getting late and most of my time had been spent looking for a password to open his cellphone. I will open the gallery later while I steady my heart and strengthen my mind.

**

During the day, when the sun was shining brightly, I was standing in front of the large glass, observing my figure. A new figure that would surprise Bella and the other members of the community.

"You can do it, Hannah!" I said to myself.

As time was running out, I hurried to the restaurant where we would all gather.

Upon arrival, I saw that all the community members had gathered, including Bella. All the members waved their hands at me while calling my name so that I would know where they were.

My relationship with them was quite good. Long before I found out about the forbidden relationship between Jason and Bella, I was also nice to Bella. It's just that my kindness was repaid with betrayal.

"Hannah, come here!" The community leader waved at me. The restaurant was so crowded that I had to push through the crowd of visitors who were crowding the path to the seating area.

When I got there, I greeted everyone, including Bella. She smiled at me as she looked me up and down. So did everyone else there. They couldn't believe that I had come in a different outfit, carrying the latest limited-edition bag.

"What happened to Hannah? She looks different," the community leader said. I just smiled. Everyone admired my outfit. Suddenly, I saw the smile on Bella's face disappear. Could it be that she didn't want my outfit to outshine hers?

By chance or by fate, I sat right in front of Bella and saw that she was wearing a bracelet similar to mine. However, the bracelet was a limited edition and was only made to order for trusted customers. Could the bracelet have been a gift from Jason?