Visiting the Mistress

The next morning, Clyde miraculously made me breakfast, clearly intending to please me.

Since expanding his business scale, he hadn't made me breakfast in a long time.

What I used to think was a sweet gesture now seemed worthless.

I disposed of the food. Then, I returned to the baby store and asked for the delivery address he had left.

I didn't want a confrontation. I simply wanted to put an end to our marriage. I was curious about how far he would go to protect her.

I couldn't help but be surprised when I looked at the address.

Doubts gnaw at me. I wondered whether I had wrongly accused Clyde.

It was in the neighbourhood. All it took was a five-minute walk to his mistress' place.

"The best place to hide something is in plain sight, isn't it?" I thought.

Before I realized it, I had crumpled the paper.

I calmed my running thoughts and knocked on the door.

The woman I met yesterday answered the door.

With an exaggerated look, she put a hand on her belly, making sure I wouldn't miss what she did.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Despite her surprised expression, a smug grin flashed across her face.

My gaze lingered on her belly before I scoffed. "Everything went according to your plan. You sent me the picture and gave the baby store your address, all because you want me to come here."

She didn't expect my straightforwardness. After the initial surprise, her grin grew wider. "You're cleverer than I thought."

She blocked the doorway, holding her chin high, looking nothing like the timid woman I met yesterday. She didn't match the description of an abused daughter, either.

"Aren't you inviting me in?" I asked calmly, my tone betraying no emotion.

Stepping aside, she made a gesture of inviting me in, but her smile was unkind.

Walking into her place threw me off guard.

Her presence was the only thing that reminded me I had left home.

Her house's layout mirrored mine. The only difference was that she had luxurious furnishings.

Watching me touch the dining table, she smirked triumphantly. "Isn't it a lovely dining table? It's a foreign brand, worth hundreds of thousands. I don't know much about furniture, but Clyde liked it and insisted on buying it. He likes to treat me with indulgence. That's just the kind of man he is. "

I recognized it as one of the world's top home furnishing brands.

The same table had caught my eye when Clyde and I visited a furniture exhibition two years ago.

He suggested purchasing the table, but I persuaded him otherwise. It was too expensive for a piece of furniture.

I remembered him getting upset at my decision, but he didn't dwell on the matter.

Now I knew he had gotten it for his second home.

'His second home.' My heart ached at the thought.

I scanned my surroundings. Two pairs of slippers lay side by side in the hallway, and two cartoon couple mugs adorned the dining table.

Her place was full of life, resembling more like a loving couple's home than the house Clyde and I shared.

My dejected look didn't escape her. It fueled her enthusiasm and confidence as she brought my attention to every corner of her house.

"Did you see that silly mug? At first, Clyde didn't even want to use it. He claimed the mug didn't match a man of his status. However, he eventually got used to it because I'm fond of them."

A memory pushed itself to the front of my mind as I stared at the mugs.

I once bought matching electric toothbrushes for Clyde and me. One was blue and the other was pink.

I initially hoped he could make do with the blue one, but he thought blue didn't suit him and refused to use it.

I tried my very best to persuade him. In the end, he asked his assistant to bring him a black one to deal with my persistence, while the blue toothbrush was left unused in the mirror cabinet.

Confrontation

I couldn't remember how I felt back then.

I was disappointed, for sure. Still, I told myself it was pointless to dwell on it. After all, it was no big deal.

His refusal to compromise on that matter didn't change anything between us, but the sight of the matching mugs on the dining table now pierced my heart like a knife.

The truth was, he could compromise for the right person, and that person wasn't me.

I staggered to the bedroom to find an elegant, ornate king bed.

The woman drawled, "Clyde had the bed custom-designed, saying the color complemented my complexion. He would pounce on me after I bathed and waited for him on the bed, every time. Oh, by the way. That time, I was wearing my black lingerie when he got me pregnant. He loves it when I wear them. Can you even get him aroused?"

Her words were a wrenching punch to my gut.

I could almost imagine Clyde holding her and being intimate with her on the same king bed on many nights without my knowledge.

I took a deep breath to numb the incredible pain.

The gilded mahogany headboard shone under the lights, reflecting the true color of the marriage I once blindly believed was happy.

My parents' words from eight years ago rang in my ears. I was determined to sell my property to help Clyde's finances back then.

They told me Clyde would take my sacrifice for granted, even if I played an important role in supporting his career. They told me marrying a man of his status would break my heart. They didn't want me to choose the wrong person, yet I believed he truly loved me.

Later, I thought I had proven my parents wrong when he proposed to me with a 5% share of his company and a hillside villa, promising he would never let me down.

It turned out there was a limit to his promise.

…

When I snapped out of my trance, the woman was still talking. She told me she had lived there for three years.

Over the past three years, Clyde actually "worked overtime" at her place.

They didn't meet anywhere else but here because it satisfied his need for a thrill.

"I bet you didn't know he would ask me to meet him in the supermarket when the two of you were on your grocery trip. We would brush hands whenever we walked past each other. It's exciting to have a tryst right next to you.

"Clyde isn't worried about you discovering it at all. After all, you fully trusted him and would never suspect anything. As expected, you're unaware that we have been flirting," she mocked.

The suffocating pain made way for indescribable resentment. It wasn't because Clyde cheated on me.

I resented him for feigning affection and showering me with lies and deception after he cheated on me. It was ignorant of me to have put every effort into cherishing him.

I wiped my tears away and sneered at the woman who grinned at me. Then, I cut to the chase. "I guess you want to replace me, which is why you exposed your affair. You want to break me by letting me learn that he has been committing cheating so that I'll divorce him."

She nodded without shame. "That's right. Well, you know what to do now."

I shook my head with a wry smile. "I planned to divorce him without dragging it out until just now. Your arrogance irritates me, so I want you to suffer as well. As long as I don't divorce him, he can never acknowledge you as his wife. You should remember that your furniture was bought with our money.

"Besides, you don't know Clyde at all. He's a businessman; his interests are his priorities. He's currently taking his company public, so he won't risk his business and allow himself to be involved in a scandal at this time.

"He can't afford to let the public learn about his infidelity. He would kick you to the curb without batting an eye to avoid that. Remember, you're disposable. Soon, another woman will replace you."

Her face visibly paled.

She blanched as I provoked her, yet she tried to appear powerful. She protested, "I don't believe you! I have known Clyde since we were young! He said I'm special!"

Clyde vowed to be loyal to me when we got married, too. His words made me believe I was special as well.

I stared at her, finding her as pathetic as I was.

When I looked sideways, the matching mugs came into my view and immediately got on my nerves.

I picked up a mug without looking at her. "Did he say so? Then, you don't know how pathetic you are. Watch this."

She shot me a confused look.

Narrowing my eyes, I smashed the mug onto the ground.

It crashed, and the impact sent the shards flying everywhere. One of them even left a trail of blood on my face.

She let out a shriek.

I didn't feel any pain. Instead, a thrill ran through my body.

At the same time, the door opened, and Clyde entered the room.

Covering my face with a hand, I cried between sobs, "Clyde, you have been lying to me, right?"