After being married to Caden Lancaster for seven years, I find a diamond ear stud that doesn't belong to me in his suit pocket for the first time. What's more, I haven't worn jewelry in a long time.

I calmly place the stud on the dining table in the living room and wait for Caden to come back with our son, Felix Lancaster.

As soon as Felix walks in, he spots the sparkling stud and says with disdain, "Mom, you're wasting money again."

I hold back the urge to hit him. I ignore him and shift my gaze to Caden, who is standing behind him.

"Explain yourself. Whose earring is this?" I say coolly.

Caden doesn't speak. He stands there as if he is frozen in place. His handsome features stiffen.

Seeing the scene, Felix suddenly bursts into laughter. "Dad, did you find me a new mom? That's great!"

My six-year-old son imitates the mocking tone he heard from short videos and shouts at me, "Having a plain Jane mom like you is so embarrassing! Get out of my house! This looks like Ms. Sulvan's earring. That's great! I want her to be my mom. She's pretty, gentle, and she really likes Dad."

Every word cuts deeply into my heart.

Upon hearing this, Caden loosens his clenched fist. He takes two shoehorns from the cabinet behind him and smacks Felix on the head.

He hands both of them to me and asks in a low, grim voice, "Which one do you want, honey? The wider one or the thinner one?"

I stared at the two shoehorns Caden Lancaster handed me. One was made of dark hardwood, wide and sturdy, clearly meant for delivering a proper beating. The other was plastic, thin and long, perfect for leaving bright red welts.

The seven-year itch that had been burning inside me was doused by my son's betrayal, leaving me feeling oddly amused despite everything.

Before I could choose one, little Felix Lancaster burst into tears with a wail loud enough to wake the dead, as if he'd suffered the greatest injustice in the world.

"Daddy, you're hitting me! You're hitting me for this old, ugly woman!" he cried, stamping his feet, his small body trembling with rage.

"I hate you! I hate her too! I want Ms. Sulvan to be my mom!"

Caden's expression turned stormy as thunder. Without a word, he grabbed the thick hardwood shoehorn and brought it down hard on Felix's backside with a sharp crack.

He put real force into it. Felix's crying stopped abruptly, his whole body frozen in shock, before he erupted into an even more agonized howl.

"You hit me again! I'm calling the police on you! This is abuse!"

I watched coldly, making no move to intervene. Caden dragged his wailing son to the corner and made him face the wall to think about what he'd done. Only then did he turn and walk over to me, his deep eyes filled with exhaustion and apology.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't raise our son properly."

He picked up the earring from the table, his brow furrowed. "This does seem to belong to Ms. Sulvan, but I have no idea how it ended up in my pocket."

I stared into his eyes.

Caden had beautiful eyes with slightly upturned corners. In his youth, those eyes made countless girls scream. Now, mellowed by time, they appeared even more tender.

He never lied to me. I knew that better than anyone. But the appearance of this earring wouldn't stop nagging at me.

"Ms. Sulvan, the one who teaches their class literature, the really pretty one?" I asked.

"Yes." Caden nodded.

He then added, "But I don't think she's pretty."

His survival instinct was strong, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to completely calm me down right now.

"Then how do you explain this?" I pointed at the earring.

Before Caden could answer, Felix sniffled from the corner and tattled, "It is Ms. Sulvan's! I saw her wearing it today. She dropped one and looked for it forever, but she couldn't find it.

"She even said she hoped a handsome guy would find it, and she'd marry him to say thanks. Ms. Sulvan said before that Daddy is really handsome."

Caden and I locked eyes, instantly understanding what had happened.

Caden walked over and dragged Felix, who was covered in snot and tears, back to us. His voice went dead serious.

"Felix Lancaster, you tell me the truth. Did you pick up Ms. Sulvan's earring and put it in my pocket?"

Felix's eyes darted around. He pouted stubbornly, refusing to speak.

"Speak!" Caden's voice went ice cold.

Felix finally cracked and burst into tears again. "I just wanted Ms. Sulvan to be part of our family!

"Ms. Sulvan is so nice, not like Mom, who wears those old pajamas every day with messy hair and doesn't look good at all! All my classmates laugh at me and say my mom looks like a maid!"

Kids often said the cruelest things. My heart clenched so tight I couldn't breathe.

After seven years of marriage, I'd gone from a career woman, a rising star in the design world with a name people recognized, to a housewife who spent her days circling the stove and chasing after a kid.

I gave up my dreams and the glamour all for this family. And in the end, in my own son's eyes, I was just some "old, ugly" woman who "looked like a maid".

Caden froze too. He stared at my face, which had gone white in an instant, and heartbreak filled his eyes filled. He let go of Felix and strode over to me, pulling me into his arms.

"What the hell are you saying!" he roared at our son, voice shaking with fury. "Felix, apologize to your mother right now!"

"I won't!" Felix's chin jutted out as he glared at me. "I'm not wrong! Just look at her! Look at what she's wearing! She doesn't even brush her hair!

"At the last parent meeting, all the other kids' moms wore dresses and makeup. But her? She showed up in a tracksuit! Tommy and the guys all laughed at me!"

I went stiff. I remembered that parent meeting.

That day, I'd been busy making the lunch Felix specifically asked for, then cleaning the house. By the time I looked at the clock, there was only half an hour left before the meeting started.

I rushed to change into what I thought was a decent enough tracksuit and hurried over. I didn't even have time to look in a mirror. Apparently, in my child's eyes, that was utterly humiliating.

Caden's arms tightened around me. He turned, his gaze ice-cold. "Felix, your mother gets up before dawn every single day to make you breakfast. After you go to bed at night, she's still cleaning the house.

"She doesn't have time to dress up because she spends all her time on you. Do you think the things you just said are fair to her?"

"I don't care!" Felix shouted. "I just want a pretty mom! Ms. Sulvan would be perfect!"

"Fine. That's just fine." I gently pushed Caden away and took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady.

I walked over to Felix and crouched down, looking straight into his eyes. Those eyes looked exactly like mine, except right now they were full of disgust.

"Felix, you think I'm not good enough anymore. You want to replace me, is that it?"

My calm stare unnerved him a little, but he still nodded.

"Alright." I stood up. The stabbing pain in my chest had gone numb, replaced by a hollow emptiness.

I looked at Caden and said, "Caden, let's get a divorce."

"What did you just say?" Caden's face went even whiter than mine.

He stared at me as if I'd just suggested flying to the moon.

Even Felix, still sniffling in the corner, stopped and stared at us with wide eyes.

"I said, let's get a divorce," I said again, quietly but clearly.

"Since your son wants a new mom so badly, I'll make it happen. I'm done being the maid around here."

I turned to head back to the bedroom, but Caden grabbed my wrist.

"Beatrice!" Caden's voice carried a hint of panic. "Don't say things you don't mean. Felix doesn't understand what he's saying. I'll deal with him later. Don't take it personally!"

"I'm not saying things I don't mean."

I turned back to look at him. My gaze was calm, though my throat felt tight. "Caden, I'm tired. I'm really tired."

The past seven years hadn't exactly been easy.

At gatherings with friends, I watched the women who used to be my equals become leaders in their fields. They wore tailored suits and talked about their latest projects and stock portfolios, while I could only chime in with parenting tips.

I never told Caden how that felt.

When I woke up in the middle of the night to crying, fumbling in the dark to warm bottles and change diapers while he slept soundly beside me, I never told him about that exhaustion either.

When I deleted the coat I'd been eyeing in my shopping cart for weeks so I could afford to sign Felix up for more expensive enrichment classes, I never told him how that stung.

I thought this was just marriage, a life that I had chosen. But when everything I'd sacrificed got thrown back in my face by my own son, when he treated it like something shameful, that was when I realized all my effort had become a joke.

"Honey…"

Caden swallowed hard, and his eyes filled with anguish. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I haven't paid enough attention to how you feel. We won't get divorced, okay? Give me a chance. Let me make this up to you."

"Daddy, is Mommy leaving us?"

Felix finally grasped how serious this was. He ran over crying and wrapped his arms around Caden's leg. "Then who's going to make me food…"

He hesitated, then said, "Ms. Sulvan?"

Caden's expression darkened instantly. Felix quickly ducked his head, realizing that was a stupid thing to say. His father clearly didn't like Ms. Sulvan.

Felix looked at me carefully. The disgust was gone from his eyes, replaced by fear.

I smiled bitterly. They should have been everything I was proud of. But right now, all I felt was how ridiculous it all was.

I didn't answer. I yanked my wrist free from Caden's grip, walked into the bedroom, and locked the door behind me.

Outside, Caden was yelling, and Felix was wailing.

"Felix! You just drove your mother away! I'm telling you right now, if this family loses her, you and I are done too!"

"Daddy, I was wrong. I'm sorry! I want Mommy back! I don't want Ms. Sulvan anymore."

"Now you know you were wrong? Too late!"

I leaned against the door, listening to the chaos outside. Finally, the tears came.

I didn't really want a divorce. I loved Caden, and I loved Felix too.

I just couldn't stand being looked down on anymore.

I needed a way out, a way to breathe. I needed to take a hard look at what these seven years had done to my life.