I was married to my husband for ten years, but our relationship had long been a façade.

In front of his family, he acted like the perfect husband, keeping up appearances. Behind my back, he would have an affair with Mindy Benson, seeking excitement.

One day, while I was working at the hospital, my husband brought Mindy here for a prenatal checkup.

“The baby is already eight months along. Where is the father?”

“Tyler, the doctor is asking for you.”

Mindy clung to him, and the two looked like quite a pair.

Our eyes met, and I managed a bitter smile. This time, I would no longer go along with the charade.

Tyler Clark sat down across from me, pausing briefly as our eyes met.

I held back a bitter smile.

“Mr. Clark, are you sure the child is yours?”

Tyler’s expression shifted momentarily into shock when he saw me but quickly returned to his usual indifferent demeanor.

To the outside world, I was nothing more than a placeholder wife.

Just then, Mindy Benson, his childhood friend, noticed something was off.

“What’s going on, Tyler? Do you two know each other?”

Tyler awkwardly shook his head. “No, we don’t.”

With one sentence, he erased my existence as his wife in front of someone else.

I swallowed my anger, refusing to make a scene. This wasn’t the first time he had done this.

We’d been married for ten years, yet none of his friends knew I even existed. Only his family recognized me as his wife.

I took a deep breath and focused on the documents Mindy handed me, sorting through them before handing them back to her.

“We’ll need to do a preliminary prenatal exam to check the baby’s condition.”

As a doctor, I had a job to do.

After sending Mindy to the ultrasound room, I stood outside and turned to Tyler, my expression calm.

“When did you become a father?”

Now that we were alone, Tyler grabbed my hand, his tone softening.

“It’s not what you think,” he said. “Mindy is my childhood friend. Her family’s been a huge investor for me. She got duped by some guy, and I’m just helping her out. You know how important funding is for my next movie.”

He spoke earnestly, trying to explain. “Sarah, you have to understand.”

I pulled my hand away from his grip. “Understand what? That you’re playing dad to a child that isn’t even yours?”

My bluntness made Tyler frown. “It’s just a title. Why are you overreacting?”

“Just a title?” I laughed bitterly and asked, “Then what about our child? The one we lost?”

“What are you trying to say?”

Hearing footsteps nearby, Tyler lowered his voice and stared at me as he said, “You think I didn’t want it? Let’s be honest. Who’s really to blame?

“You’re in your mid-thirties now. Have some dignity. Why are you jealous of a girl in her twenties?”

I wanted to argue further, but just then, Mindy emerged from the ultrasound room. Swallowing my emotions, I reverted to a professional distance.

I watched silently as Tyler became doting. He gently placed a hand on her belly and spoke with a tenderness I hadn’t seen in years.

“Our little baby has to be born healthy, okay?”

It was a painful scene to witness.

I excused myself to the bathroom, needing a moment to process the ache in my chest.

Inside, I lifted my shirt, exposing the scarred skin of my abdomen.

I thought back to four years ago when Tyler was still an unknown actor. He spent months away chasing roles, leaving me to handle everything at home.

Then, I was four months pregnant, juggling prenatal checkups and caring for his mother, Rachel Green, who had just moved in from the countryside.

One day, I endured an excruciating medical procedure, an eight-centimeter needle piercing my lower back. The pain was nearly unbearable, but when I felt my baby’s gentle kicks, I reminded myself it was all worth it.

That night, despite my exhaustion, I returned home to cook dinner for Rachel.

I never complained, not once.

However, an accident changed everything, leading me to lose my child and creating a gap between me and Tyler.

That day, Rachel insisted on making soup for me, but unfamiliar with the gas stove, she caused a leak.

It led to an explosion that engulfed nearly the entire floor in flames.

It wasn’t until three days after I was hospitalized that Tyler finally arrived from his film set.

The severe burns I suffered left permanent damage, including to my uterus. Tyler stayed to take care of me for a week before returning to his production schedule.

Overwhelmed with guilt, Rachel moved back to her rural hometown.

For the next two years, every time I gently hinted at trying for another child, Tyler brushed me off, claiming he was too tired.

I knew the truth.

He was repulsed by the scars on my stomach. So, he found comfort with other women.

Tyler’s earlier words played in my mind. His denial of me as his wife felt like a sharp bone lodged in my throat.

Before I realized it, tears silently spilled from the corners of my eyes.

Just then, my phone buzzed with a text.

It was from Tyler.

[I couldn’t find you, so I left first.

[I’ve got a surprise waiting at home. Don’t be mad, okay?

[Oh, and Mom says she misses us. Let’s visit her when we get the chance.]

A knock at the door snapped me out of my thoughts. Wiping away my tears, I straightened myself and stepped out.

I’d tried confronting Tyler about his affairs before, catching him red-handed, yelling, and crying. However, it never worked. He kept doing what he wanted, refusing to divorce me.

Even my parents sided with him, insisting that a man’s infidelity was normal.

With pressure coming from all sides, I eventually gave up.

Today, though, Tyler had crossed a line.

I called my lawyer to discuss filing for divorce, forwarding all the evidence I’d gathered of his infidelity.

This time, the proof was undeniable. The lawyer agreed to take the case immediately.

However, he reminded me about the mandatory ten-day cooling-off period which I could reconsider about divorcing.

Ten days? What’s ten days compared to the years I’ve already endured?

The lawyer assured me I could cancel the proceedings at any time if I changed my mind.

As memories of our marriage played in my mind, I couldn’t help but sneer.

“Regret? Why would I regret this?”

For now, all I had to do was wait for those ten days to pass.

That evening, when I returned home from work, I found the house transformed.

Roses filled every corner. Candles, arranged in the shape of a heart, flickered in the middle of the living room.

The sofa was a mess, with petals littering the floor. The candles had clearly been burning for a while.

Tyler leaned halfway over the upstairs railing when he saw me enter.

“You’re home early! I was planning to pick you up.”

“It’s nearly ten,” I replied flatly.

He didn’t seem upset about our earlier argument. Instead, he smiled, walking down the stairs to take my hand and guide me into the center of the candlelit heart.

Dropping to one knee, he pulled out a ring.

“Sarah, I want to make it up to you. Let me put this on your finger.”

I was taken aback.

When we first got married, there wasn’t even a proper wedding, let alone a ring. As a handsome actor, Tyler’s manager had insisted he maintain a single, unattached image for his career.

For all these years, both of our ring fingers had remained bare.

I accepted the overdue gesture of affection.

Tyler had already put his own ring on at some point. Rising to his feet, he pulled me into a warm embrace and whispered softly against my ear.

“When this film wraps, let’s do IVF. We’ll have our own baby.

“No divorce, okay?”

It was clear he had already heard from his lawyer.

I snapped back to reality and looked at Tyler.

“I’m hungry,” I said, avoiding giving him a direct answer.

Tyler seemed to take my response as agreement.

After dinner, we began packing for our trip to his mother’s home in the countryside.

“Don’t forget to bring motion sickness pills.”

Everyone knew I got carsick easily.

Tyler nodded along, promising he’d remember.

However, halfway through packing, he claimed he had an urgent matter with the production team and left early.

I was used to this by now.

At the door, as I saw him off, I noticed a pile of birthday decorations in the corner.

Tyler said casually while putting on his coat, “Oh, Mindy had a birthday, so I decorated the house for her. Since you came back, I figured you could enjoy it, too.”

It finally clicked. The beautiful roses filling the house weren’t for me. I’d just been a convenient afterthought.

After he left, I sat alone on the couch, watching the heart-shaped candles burn down. It was then I realized how absurd it all was.

I was so done.

I removed the ring Tyler had slipped onto my finger earlier and let it sit on the table. Staring at the half-packed luggage, I suddenly felt there was no point anymore.

Then my phone rang. It was the hospital, calling to say a pregnant woman’s water had broken, and they needed an emergency delivery.

I pushed aside my emotions, got dressed, and rushed to the hospital.

“Dr. Graham, the patient is already prepped in the operating room,” a nurse informed me as she hurriedly helped me into my scrubs.

“Where’s the family? Do we know what caused the emergency?” I asked.

“Right here.” Tyler walked into view.

Our eyes met, and I struggled to hide my shock.

“Didn’t you say you had work to do with the crew?”

He averted his gaze. Before he could respond, a nurse called out urgently.

“Dr. Graham, the patient’s condition is worsening!”

There was no time to dwell on Tyler’s lies. I quickly disinfected my hands, donned my surgical gown, and entered the operating room.

After an intense hour, we managed to stabilize Mindy and save the baby.

Outside the recovery room, Tyler watched Mindy teasing her child.

Since the baby was born prematurely, it needed to be kept under observation in the incubator.

I stepped closer and looked at Tyler.

“Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

Tyler exhaled deeply. “Fine. I lied to you, okay? But it was only because I didn’t want you to get upset.”

“And you thought lying wouldn’t make me upset?”

“Why do you have to be so petty all the time?” His tone was growing impatient.

I scoffed bitterly. “Petty? Or are you just feeling guilty? You tell me, Tyler.”

Our voices rose, echoing through the hallway. Heads turned as the entire floor glanced curiously in our direction.

From inside the recovery room, Mindy called out sweetly, “Tyler, I think I might have leaked again. Could you come in and help me change my diaper?”

Her request sent my mind reeling.

“Are we not even pretending anymore?”

I stared at Tyler, hoping he would respect my presence and decline.

However, without hesitation, he turned and walked into her room, pulling the privacy curtain closed behind him.