I traveled over a thousand eight hundred miles to find my wife. She was a professor at Harbor University.

As soon as I arrived, I received a call.

“Hi, Mr. Jaques. We’re just following up on the stroller your wife custom-ordered from us. Have you been happy with it? If so, would you mind leaving us a quick positive review?”

I was stunned. We had lived apart for years and did not have a child together.

Still, I remained calm and double-checked.

“Are you sure I’m the one who ordered that stroller?”

“Yes, sir, I can confirm that. Our system requires ID verification from both parents for all custom stroller orders. The mother on file is Shiloh Zoeller. Mr. Jaques, you are listed as the child’s father.”

The customer service agent sent me a screenshot of the child’s information as proof.

It indeed showed that I had a child around one month old.

The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. I went to the address listed on the order.

Downstairs, a young man was chatting with a group of people.

“As of today, I’m no longer your classmate. I’m now the professor’s husband!”

A male classmate laughed and teased him. “What a show off. But come on, the kid’s already a month old. When are you and Ms. Zoeller finally tying the knot? We’re still waiting to toast you!”

Just then, a very familiar female voice spoke.

“What’s taking you so long? Get up here. Our little boy is getting impatient.”

I followed the sound of the voice and saw Shiloh holding a swaddled baby. She leaned against that man’s chest as if she had done it countless times.

“Ms. Zoeller, honestly, your secret romance with him is so enviable. Now that the baby has even passed their one-month mark, it’s worth celebrating.

“None of the other students even know that you two have been together for the past three years. You’ve really kept him under wraps.”

My wife, Shiloh, laughed cheerfully with her students.

Three years, huh?

The news devastated me. I felt hollow, and my heart ached.

Just then, I received a message from her.

[Honey, I still have to handle some matters at the university. After you land, just grab a cab and head home, okay?]

Home? It seemed like the university was just as much of a home to her.

The students began playing with the baby in her arms. Shiloh said the child’s name was Conrad.

My heartache worsened. That was the name she and I had chosen together for our future child.

“Honey, I want a little boy. He’ll be as smart and sharp as you. I don’t mind it if he’s a little troublemaker.”

“Okay then, Conrad it is. He’ll be as gentle as his mother, and hopefully life treats him well.”

All these years, Shiloh had been busy helping batch after batch of students revise their theses, preparing lectures, and going on study trips.

I, on the other hand, remained at home to care for my bedridden father-in-law year-round.

Every time I traveled to this city to see her, I had to leave him with a temporary caretaker when his condition was at its best.

We barely had any time together as husband and wife.

The child I had hoped for never came. Meanwhile, her child with another man had already turned one month old.

“I just learned this too. It turns out that you’re the one giving him nearly two thousand five hundred dollars a month for living expenses. That’s some serious spending!

A male student’s teasing pulled me back to my senses.

I clenched my fists so hard that the knuckles cracked loudly.

Back then, to help her get the job she wanted at Harbor University, I agreed to live apart after much careful thought.

She felt guilty about it and sent me almost all of her monthly paycheck which amounted to eight thousand dollars.

The amount gradually dwindled. She claimed it was a department decision and that professors were getting pay cuts across the board.

I felt bad for her, so I started pinching pennies and cutting every expense. I spent no more than four hundred dollars a month on myself.

Evidently, she had long been using that money to support another family in comfort.

Shiloh gently wrapped her arms around the man’s waist.

“Easton, it’s getting chilly. Let’s all head upstairs.”

“Alright, Ms. Zoeller!”

He held her waist happily, which drew a round of teasing from the crowd.

I was in complete shock.

So, he was Easton Goodson.

Shiloh often mentioned him, intentionally or not. She said he was a clumsy troublemaker.

He would send me holiday greetings and call me “bro” in a friendly way.

He was also the only student who knew Shiloh and I were married.

I often cared about him and texted him, telling him not to take Shiloh’s bad temper to heart.

It turned out I had been a fool all along.

Just as everyone was about to head upstairs, Shiloh glanced back and accidentally caught sight of me.

The smile on her face vanished instantly.

Against all my expectations, the panic in her eyes disappeared in a flash. She continued ushering everyone upstairs.

A message popped up on my phone.

[Go home. Whatever you have to say, say it when I get back there.]

A bitter ache spread through my heart as I teared up while staring at the text.

Even after I caught her red-handed, she still would not give me an explanation or a second glance.

Just then, my phone abruptly rang.

It was Earl Zoeller, Shiloh’s father.

I answered quickly.

“Hey, Easton.”

He had addressed me by the wrong name. Words stuck in my throat.

I did not respond and let him continue to speak on the other end of the line.

“It’s Conrad’s one-month celebration. It’s a shame my condition got worse. I can’t come over and see my precious grandson in person.

“I had the nanny transfer eight thousand dollars to you. That’s for the kid and for you. You’re our family’s hero. Don’t worry about my illness. Cillian is here to take care of me. That’s all I need.”

I clenched my phone so hard that my fingertips turned white. I felt as if I had been struck by a massive wave of absurdity.

Earl also knew about Easton and the child’s existence. He had cooperated with Shiloh to keep me in the dark.

He would always call me a good son-in-law. I had accepted his praise. I willingly became the Zoeller family’s free caretaker.

It was utterly ironic.

After I returned home in the city, the house felt warm and cozy.

There were a couple of photos of us on the walls and an extra pair of slippers by the door just for me. These little things had made me fool myself into thinking I was the luckiest guy in the world.

Meanwhile, Shiloh had spent money on Easton, given him her companionship, and even bore him a child.

To her, I was a total joke.

When Shiloh came home, she simply said, “Cillian, you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

To take care of Earl’s nighttime needs, I set five or six alarms every night. I never once got a full night of sleep.

Sometimes, to make his legs feel better, I had to massage him constantly. I could not even find time to eat.

Sometimes even I was shocked by how withered and gaunt I had become over the years from all the weight loss.

I gave a bitter, self-mocking smile.

“Stop pretending to care about me. Three years, huh? You hid this really well.

“Apparently, I have a one-month-old kid under my name, too.”

Shiloh was stunned for a moment, but she quickly composed herself.

“It was an accident. I don’t want Conrad to be an illegitimate child. I had to name you as the father.”

She paused for a moment.

“You’re an illegitimate child, too. Look at how your mom turned out. She’s a complete mess.”

Her words felt like a knife piercing through my heart.

Back then, my father had secretly gone behind my mother’s back to marry another woman. That made my mother carry the label of “the other woman” for all those years.

My mother, who had always been so proud and strong, became so devastated that her hair turned white overnight. She drove herself insane and had been living in a psychiatric hospital ever since.

Naturally, I became an illegitimate child whom everyone looked down on.

At that time, Shiloh was still a university lecturer. She valued her reputation above all else, yet she accepted me as I was under enormous pressure.

Yet she was the one who called me an “illegitimate child” at that moment.

“That was my parents’ mistake. What does that have to do with you?”

She noticed the hurt in my eyes and realized she had misspoken.

“My bad. That was harsh.”

She then shifted her tone. “But, Cillian, Easton is still just a kid. He’s been under a lot of pressure ever since he found out I was pregnant. So just stop giving him a hard time, alright?”

Just as I was about to speak, her phone rang.

Judging by how she could barely hide her smile, I knew right away it was Easton.

After a while, she cheerfully hung up the phone.

“It’s Easton’s graduation ceremony tomorrow. He specifically asked me to invite you. Do him a favor and show up.”

With that, she left without giving me a second glance.

I almost laughed through my tears as I watched her leave in a hurry.

I had painstakingly maintained this marriage for years, and it was far more pathetic than I had ever imagined.

After wiping away my tears, I dialed the number of the person I once hated the most.

“You once said you wanted to make things up to Mom and me. Well, here’s your chance.”

At the graduation ceremony, everyone focused on Shiloh and Easton.

“I heard Ms. Zoeller had Easton’s kid. But hey, they’re both single. They actually make a cute couple.”

“They’re probably getting married soon, right? Easton graduates today. The next time we see them, it’ll be to toast at their wedding!”

While I sat in a corner and listened, I realized that Shiloh had never mentioned her married status to anyone.

Was I so embarrassing to her that she could not even bring herself to say it?

Easton, wearing his graduation gown, did not hesitate to wrap his arm around Shiloh’s waist in front of the cameras.

He looked just like a husband in a long-term marriage.

Cheers erupted from the audience.

“Propose to her already!”

Easton soaked it all in. He stared at me in the audience with a smug smile.

Meanwhile, Shiloh seemed to have forgotten she was married. She looked at Easton with doting eyes, like a girl in the throes of first love.

I could no longer stand the absurd scene. I stood up, holding a wedding photo of Shiloh and me.

“Mr. Goodson, you’re awfully young to be a homewrecker. You got a married woman to have your baby. What exactly are you so proud of?”

The crowd erupted in shock.

Shiloh’s smile also froze on her face.

“Cillian! What are you doing?!”

The students near me saw the wedding photo and gasped.

“Wait, for real? Easton is the other guy?”

Easton’s face turned pale. He covered his face and ran off the stage.

Shiloh dropped the microphone and prepared to chase after him.

I grabbed her arm. “Shiloh, if you run after him, then we’re done for good—”

She struggled and shoved me away hard.

“Don’t you dare say it. How is he supposed to face anyone after this? Even his graduation is going to be ruined!”

For the first time, she addressed me with unbridled hostility. “Get off this campus. Now!”

She slammed into me without holding back and rushed out desperately.

I fell backward. My lower back directly hit the corner of a table in the aisle.

I instantly felt a tearing pain. Blood dripped down my pant leg onto the floor.

A wave of terror surged through my head. I passed out amid the screams.

When I opened my eyes again, my lower back had gone numb.

On the school’s official website, Shiloh personally came forward to “debunk the rumors.”

“The man at the graduation ceremony photoshopped the wedding photo and deliberately tried to frame Easton. I’m not married, and I will give Easton the complete family I promised him.”

The accompanying images included a photo of my mother in a psychiatric hospital and a detailed account of me being an “illegitimate child”.

Netizens completely turned against me. Anonymous insults flooded my phone nonstop.

I lay on the hospital bed and touched the five-inch wound on my lower back. I laughed exasperatedly, feeling hurt and pathetic.

I no longer cared.

Shiloh texted an apology and a promise, along with two plane tickets to leave.

The first thing I did after being discharged was go to the psychiatric hospital. I planned to take my mother away.

However, the moment I pushed open the ward door, I saw Easton sitting at my mother’s bedside while holding a child.

My blood instantly ran cold.