He brought up Gabriella more and more often, praising her talent one day, updating me on her research the next.

The night I sat waiting for him again with a full dinner gone cold, I finally broke and confronted him. He barely glanced at me. ：“Claire, don't overthink it.”

I kept telling myself she was just his student. That he had principles. That he would never do that to me.

Then came our anniversary. I left work early to decorate the apartment. When I pushed open the bedroom door, Winston had his arms around Gabriella, her blouse half undone, their lips locked together.

He saw me. There was no panic in his eyes. He looked like a man who had already rehearsed this moment.

He draped his jacket over Gabriella's shoulders, pulled her into his chest, and spoke without a trace of guilt：“Claire, since you've seen it, I'm not going to hide it anymore.”

“I love her. But as long as you stay in line, I won't divorce you.”

Gabriella leaned into him, eyes rimmed red, voice trembling：“I truly love him. I don't need anything. Being near him is enough.”

“Please don't make a scene. I don't want to ruin his career because of me.”

Of course I couldn't accept that.

I couldn't accept Winston's betrayal, couldn't accept that his heart had moved on, couldn't accept that the person closest to him was now another woman.

My whole life revolved around him. I had poured every year of my youth into loving him, chasing him, and now that I stood at the edge of the cliff, I couldn't grab the hand he held out.

I filed a formal complaint with the university. Reality taught me a lesson fast.

No matter how many times I submitted it, the result was the same. Silence. Not a single response.

The university buried it. To keep things quiet, they suspended me instead.

I refused to give up. I swapped out Winston's award ceremony presentation slides for screenshots of his chat logs with Gabriella, hoping the exposure would force the issue.

But everyone already knew about them. Nobody dared leak those messages further. I was the only one who became office gossip.

For the first few days, I locked myself in the apartment and refused to leave.

Every corner was filled with our memories, and Winston barely came home anymore. He spent all his time with Gabriella.

I couldn't face reality. I sat with our old photos and cried through the night, night after night. The sympathy from people around me had long since curdled into mockery.

“That Claire used to think she married so well. Now nobody wants her.”

“This is why women can't depend on a man. She's a walking cautionary tale.”

“I always said those two wouldn't last. Average looks, average degree. Did she really think she was good enough for Professor Dudley?”

“Honestly? If I were him, I'd pick Gabriella too. Gorgeous and brilliant. Who'd choose Claire?”

I was exhausted. I didn't want to fight anymore, didn't want to cause scenes. I just wanted an answer.

Winston's voice was flat：“I need someone who understands me. We're the same kind of person. She's the only one who belongs at my side.”

“You've had your meltdown. You've cried, you've screamed. It's time to face facts. Everything you have came from me. The money, the position. Without me, you're nothing but a complete failure.”

“What can you change? You think the university is going to fire me and her, or you, the admin clerk whose only qualification was being married to me?”

“Leave things as they are. I won't divorce you. You'll have the title and the respect that come with it. Don't expect anything more. Don't bother me. That's better for both of us.”

So that was how he'd always seen me.

But he'd told me once that I was a beam of light in his life, that I was the one who pulled him out of the dark.

Over twenty years together. Did all of that really mean less than whatever brief thing they had?

Maybe he was just used to our quiet life, I told myself. Maybe one day he'd remember what I'd given him. I kept lying to myself like that.

Until I received a message from Gabriella Morton.

That morning, a text from her appeared on my phone out of nowhere.

“Professor Dudley is planning a wedding for me. I know you two are still technically married, but soon enough, everyone will know that I'm the one he truly considers his wife.”

“You're welcome to come watch, if you'd like. I don't mind~”

I thought back to when Winston and I got married. Our wedding had been simple. We only invited our closest family and friends. His colleagues and students didn't even learn I existed until much later.

He said he didn't like making a fuss. Marriage was something only the people closest to you needed to know about.

By the end, he'd stopped bringing me to any event that required his attendance.

I asked him why once. He just said flatly：“I don't like people prying into my personal life.”

But now he was willing to face every questioning look, willing to throw a wedding for Gabriella even before our divorce was finalized.

The last thread holding me together finally snapped.

I ran to the university without thinking, found Winston, and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

He stared at me in disbelief：“Have you lost your mind?!”

I screamed at him：“Yes, I have! You want to marry her? Then let me see just how shameless the two of you really are!”

Winston held back his fury：“What are you talking about? There's a time and place for this!”

Only then did the haze lift. Winston was clutching his cheek. The people around us were staring. Below the stage, a camera was pointed straight at us.

It hit me all at once. Today was his awards ceremony. Gabriella had sent that text on purpose, to push me over the edge, to make me unravel so completely that Winston would abandon me for good.

Everything that had just happened was captured on the livestream. The cheating scandal went viral, then was quietly buried by the university almost as fast.

Before, the rumors about us had stayed contained, whispered in small circles. This time, it was a full-blown PR crisis.

Comments flooded the university's official accounts, demanding answers, calling Winston out.

But the university was never going to discipline a talent like Winston over a personal matter.

Outrage on the internet burns hot and fades faster. Before long, nobody cared anymore.

After the storm died down, what I received was a divorce agreement.

This time, he held nothing back.

He hired a divorce attorney and made sure the terms taught me a lesson. I left the marriage with nothing.

The university let me go too, citing the divorce.

I locked myself in my room and cried through the nights. Then came the diagnosis: severe depression.

My parents brought me home the moment they found out. They took one look at me and couldn't stop the tears, saying over and over that they never should have let us be together.

My family wasn't well off. After the divorce, I had no savings at all. I couldn't afford any of the treatment.

My parents went to Winston. He wouldn't even see them.

Looking at the gray creeping into their hair, I knew I couldn't keep putting them through this.

I told myself I had to survive, that I had to hold this family together. It took a full year before my health finally started to come back.

For years, I'd trained myself not to think about any of it. Not until today, when I stumbled across that post.

Almost without meaning to, I opened my old photo album. Most of the pictures had been deleted during our fights, all except one.

It was the first photo Winston and I ever took together. He'd just received his full scholarship admission that day, while I was still grinding away for the SATs.

Dad suggested we take a picture together, and so we did.

Winston had been so full of confidence back then, brimming with ambition. But around me, he was careful, almost cautious.

We didn't dare stand too close, yet our hearts couldn't have been closer.

Back then, his world revolved around me, and I only had eyes for him.

I still remembered what happened after the photo was taken. Winston had secretly hooked his finger around mine, and his face turned red in an instant.

He leaned in and whispered：“I'll wait for you.”

But in the end, I never had what it took to get into Graymont. And he never chose me.

I closed my phone, unwilling to keep dredging up memories that brought no comfort. The screen had barely gone dark when a friend request popped up.

“It's Winston. What happened before was my fault.”

“I only just found out about a lot of things. I was too impulsive back then. Can we meet?”