Back when we were dating, all I had to do was talk to Jack for a few extra minutes and Theodore would hold me close, murmuring jealous nothings into my ear for the rest of the night.

He used to bury his face in the crook of my neck, his voice muffled and low.

“Summer, you're only allowed to love me.”

Over the years since then, I had cut off nearly all contact with Jack on my own.

And now.

The same man who once couldn't stand me exchanging a single sentence with another man was openly doting on someone else, then turning around to interrogate me as though I were the one who'd been unfaithful.

I snatched my phone back.

The divorce agreement wasn't signed yet. I couldn't afford to tip him off.

I forced down the churning in my chest, kept my voice casual：

“Jack's getting married. He just wanted some wedding advice.”

The tension visibly drained from Theodore's shoulders the moment he heard that.

He let out a low, cold laugh.

“So he's finally willing to settle down.”

He reached out and pulled me into his arms, the familiar hold closing around me.

But the scent I breathed in wasn't the cedarwood that once made me feel safe.

It was the cloying jasmine that clung to Hilda.

I swallowed the nausea, steeled myself, and handed him the divorce agreement disguised as a property document.

“I found a house for the baby. Just sign here.”

“Already? I thought you were going to wait so we could look together.”

Theodore was about to check where the property was when his phone rang.

He signed his name on reflex and rushed out to answer the call.

He moved fast, but not fast enough. I saw the name on the screen. Hilda.

I laughed bitterly to myself and tucked the signed divorce agreement into my bag.

Minutes later, Theodore stormed back in, seized me by the throat, and slammed me against the wall.

His fingers locked around my neck like a vise. The whites of his eyes were streaked red.

“Summer Simmons, why the hell did you say those disgusting things to Hilda?!”

“Do you have any idea she's pregnant? She's already emotionally fragile, and because of you, she nearly slit her wrists!”

His voice was unhinged, almost hysterical, as if he wanted nothing more than to choke the life out of me.

I couldn't breathe.

I genuinely believed that if he squeezed any harder, I would die right there.

But worse than the suffocation was the disbelief, the realization that Theodore would actually put his hands on me for Hilda's sake.

There was a time when a tiny nick from a paring knife on my finger had him so panicked he couldn't sleep. He'd held me all the way to the hospital to get it bandaged.

Now this same man had his hands around my throat.

“I……what did I even……”

My voice shook.

Theodore shoved his phone in my face.

“See for yourself!”

My vision was already going dark.

But I could still make out the chat log on the screen.

In the message thread, “I” had sent line after line of vicious, cutting words.

【Some dirt-poor nobody from the sticks thinks she deserves to be near Theodore?】

【A motherless little tramp. Stay away from him, or I'll make you regret it.】

The last item was a photo of a slashed wrist.

Below it, Hilda had sent a single line.

【Professor, does someone like me even deserve to be alive?】

Hilda had done this on purpose.

And Theodore believed every word of it. He hadn't even asked me. He'd already decided I was the one who drove Hilda to cut herself.

My heart sank, inch by inch, like dropping into a frozen sea where the cold reached all the way to the bone.

The tears finally broke free.

I looked at Theodore, my voice scraped raw, barely holding together.

“Theodore……”

“You'd strangle me……for Hilda?”

That snapped him back. He released me.

I slid down the wall, coughing violently.

My throat felt like it had been sliced open.

Theodore looked down at the red marks blooming across my neck, and something close to guilt flickered through his eyes.

It was gone almost instantly.

“Summer, you never should have humiliated Hilda like that.”

“She saved my life!”

“If anything happens to her, do you have any idea what people will say about me?”

A hollow smile crossed my face. The light in my eyes died, bit by bit.

“It wasn't me.”

“Theodore, I never sent those messages.”

But he had already lost all patience for hearing me out.

He didn't even let me finish. He turned and headed for the door.

I grabbed his arm on instinct. ：“Grandmother's memorial is in a few days. You——”

“Handle that yourself. It doesn't matter. Right now I need to go save Hilda's life!”

Theodore wrenched his arm free.

In the struggle.

The jade pendant around my neck snapped from its cord and hit the floor, shattering into pieces.

I stared at the fragments on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

That jade.

Theodore had climbed nine hundred and ninety-nine temple steps on his knees, bowing at every one, to bring it back for me.

He'd even done something absurd: pricked his finger and smeared his own blood on the stone to “bless” it.

He told me that way, the gods would always protect me on his behalf.

Now the jade was broken.

Just like his love. Shattered beyond repair.

Theodore barely glanced down.

Then he turned and walked out to find Hilda without a second of hesitation.

I pressed both hands over my eyes.

The tears kept seeping through my fingers anyway.

My grandmother was the one who had taken Theodore under her wing, brought him into the world of research, given him every opportunity to climb.

Now her memorial meant nothing to him. Less than a mistress.

I didn't know how long I cried. Eventually I picked up my phone, sent the scanned copy of the signed divorce agreement to my lawyer, and typed a message to Jack.

“The wedding. I'll follow your lead.”

One month from now, I would take my child and remarry. Theodore Delgado would never have any part of my life again.

After I hung up with Jack, I started packing.

The more I packed, the more I realized how stupid I'd been.

How had I not seen it until now?

For over a decade, Theodore had loved giving me gifts.

He never forgot a holiday.

He never forgot an anniversary.

He even planned surprises for the anniversary of the first time we held hands.

But when did it start to change?

He started forgetting anniversaries. Forgetting to buy me gifts. Forgetting things I'd told him.

On my birthday, he rushed home just long enough to eat a slice of cake with me before Hilda called and he left.

Back then, I always made excuses for him.

He was busy. He was just repaying a debt of gratitude.

Looking back now, my obliviousness was almost laughable.

Theodore didn't come home for an entire week.

It was one of his lab colleagues who let it slip by accident. That whole time, he'd been traveling with Hilda. A vacation to help her relax.

As if to compensate me, Theodore had his assistant deliver a pile of expensive gifts to the house.

He sent me a string of gentle voice messages, apologizing, coaxing me the same way he used to whenever he'd made me angry.

But I knew it wasn't the same anymore.

Listening to those messages, the only thing I could think was whether Hilda had been right next to him when he recorded them.

I still couldn't stop myself from opening Hilda's Instagram.

Sure enough, she'd posted dozens of updates.

Watching the Northern Lights in Iceland. Nuzzling a baby elephant in Chiang Mai. Posing in a white dress on a beach. And in every single photo, there was Theodore.

The man who was always composed, always restrained, who thought even smiling too much in front of students was beneath his dignity.

There he was, standing beside Hilda with an indulgent grin, making silly faces with her.

I stared at those photos until a sharp sting in my palm made me look down. I'd dug my nails in so hard I'd drawn blood.

Even when Theodore loved me the most, he had never been that way with me.

He always said he was a professor. He had to be dignified. Composed. Mindful of how students and the public perceived him.

When we used to travel together, I'd playfully beg him to take those goofy couple photos with me.

He'd just ruffle my hair with a helpless smile.

“Summer, I'm a professor. What would my students think if they saw?”

I was disappointed every time, but I told myself that was just who Theodore was. That was his nature.

Now I understood. It wasn't that he wouldn't. I just wasn't worth it.

For Hilda, every one of his principles, every shred of his dignity, could be tossed aside without a second thought.

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and closed Instagram.

I didn't reply to any of Theodore's messages, which clearly caught him off guard.

He hesitated over whether to call me, but then Hilda walked over in a sheer negligee and straddled his lap, and he forgot all about it.

On the anniversary of his grandmother's death, Theodore still didn't come home.

I was kneeling in the memorial hall, burning paper offerings, when a sugary voice rang out from the doorway.

“Why is everyone so serious?”

The voice cut through the silence like a slap.

I jerked my head up. When I saw who it was, I stopped breathing.

Hilda stood there in a bright red dress, a husky on a leash in one hand, an innocent smile plastered across her face.

Every guest in the room went rigid.

Hilda just tilted her head and smiled：

“Professor Delgado said there was something important at home today, so I went out and got a special gift.”

“Isn't this puppy adorable?”

The rage I'd been choking down for months finally detonated.

“Get out! Who the hell let you in here?!”

Hilda flinched as though I'd struck her, and her eyes instantly reddened.

“Mrs. Delgado, did I do something wrong……”

As she spoke, the leash slipped from her fingers.

The husky lunged straight at me.

I stumbled backward, but the dog still slammed into me.

Shaking with fury, I reached out to shove it off.

But in the next second, Hilda threw herself over the husky, wailing：

“Don't hurt it!”

“It's just a baby, it didn't mean to!”

I couldn't pull back in time, and my full weight crashed into her.

Hilda let out a shriek and fell hard onto the floor.

The next instant, a vicious slap cracked across my face.

The sound of it echoed through the room. My head snapped to the side, my ears ringing, the taste of blood flooding my throat.

I looked up in shock and saw Theodore, who had rushed back just in time.

He was shielding Hilda, looking at me like I was something unhinged.

“Summer, have you lost your mind?!”

“I just brought her here to lift Grandma's spirits. I even had a Taoist priest check her birth chart. It's auspicious. It's good for the elders!”

“Why do you always have to go after her?”

“And now you're trying to hurt an innocent dog?!”

“When did you become so vicious?”

His words shattered something inside me. Every ounce of grief and fury I'd held back came crashing down at once.

My eyes burned red and my voice tore out of me, raw and hoarse：

“I'm the vicious one? Theodore, what about you?!”

“You knew today was the anniversary of Grandma's death, and you brought your mistress here in a red dress with a dog to desecrate her memorial!”

“Theodore, who's the vicious one here?!”

The color drained from Theodore's face.

He clearly hadn't expected me to rip the pretense apart in front of everyone.

In the end, he just set his jaw and spat out：

“Unbelievable.”

“Summer, you don't sound like a professor's wife right now. You sound like a shrew.”

All the fire raging inside me went out as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head.

Thirteen years together, and this was what I got in the end. Shrew.

What was I still expecting from Theodore? He hadn't been the man who loved me in a long, long time.

In twelve days I would leave him. What was the point of fighting?

I drew a deep breath, forced back the tears, and turned away from Theodore. I apologized to each of the guests and walked them to the door.

Being ignored rattled something in Theodore. Instinctively, he reached for my hand.

A flash of venom crossed Hilda's eyes before she dissolved into tears：

“Professor, what about the puppy? I bought it especially for Mrs. Delgado. Is it going to end up abandoned and unwanted, just like me?”

Theodore's heart ached at the sight of her. He pulled her close and murmured：

“Don't worry. She talks tough but she's soft underneath. She'll love your gift.”

“And you're not some unwanted orphan. You have me.”

I twisted my lips into something that wasn't quite a smile and walked upstairs without looking back.

Theodore started to follow, then glanced at Hilda and stayed where he was.

That night, a noise in my room jolted me awake. My eyes flew open and my stomach dropped.

Hilda's husky was inside my room.

In the corner, the suitcase I'd packed earlier had been torn apart.

My heart plummeted. I threw myself across the room.

When I saw what was inside, I couldn't breathe.

Five years of design drafts, every single one, ripped to shreds.

I sank to my knees and picked up a scrap with trembling hands.

It was a gown design I'd finished last year, one that had taken me three sleepless nights to complete.

Now only half the page remained.

My vision went black at the edges. The pain in my chest was so sharp I couldn't draw air.

After I married Theodore, his position as a professor came with expectations. He didn't want his wife in the public eye.

So I gave up the studio I'd already secured, and I willingly stayed home. I became the gentle, devoted Mrs. Delgado that everyone praised.

But all those years, I never let go of my dream.

I'd been drawing in secret.

My plan was simple: once the baby was born, I'd enter the International Interior Design Competition two years later.

Now everything was destroyed.

I clutched those torn scraps so hard my knuckles went white, tears streaming down my face, my whole body on the verge of collapse.

I was about to storm out and confront Theodore when the lock clicked shut from the other side.

His voice came through the door.

“That dog is a gift from Hilda. She spent every cent she earned from her part-time jobs to buy it for you. She's bending over backward to get on your good side. Would it kill you to be nice to her?”

“Stay in there with it. Bond with it. Don't disappoint me.”

Every drop of blood in my body turned to ice.

I threw myself at the door, pounding on it.

“Theodore! Let me out!”

Silence. Nothing but silence on the other side.

I stood frozen, listening to the heavy panting of the large dog somewhere behind me, and fear clawed up my spine.

Theodore knew. He knew I'd been bitten by a big dog as a child. He knew I was terrified of them.

Years ago, when he took me to visit his grandmother in the countryside, he saw me freeze at the sight of a farm dog and actually yelled at it until it backed off, not caring how ridiculous he looked.

Now, for Hilda, he had locked me in a room with one.

I wrapped my trembling arms around my belly and locked myself in the en suite bathroom.

In that cramped space, I hugged my knees in the corner and let the tears fall in silence.

Three days passed. Theodore never let me out.

Hunger blurred my vision, the darkness closing in from the edges until I lost consciousness entirely.

When I woke again, the sharp sting of disinfectant filled my nose.

Theodore was sitting at my bedside, gripping my hand so hard it hurt.

He looked haggard, hollowed out, like he'd been there for a long time.

The moment he saw my eyes open, his turned red.

“Summer!”

He pulled me into his arms, his voice shaking.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry……”

“I had no idea the food the housekeeper brought you was eaten by the dog. I just wanted you to cool down. I never meant to starve you……”

I pushed him away, slowly, and turned my face to the wall. I had nothing to say to him.

Panic flickered through Theodore's eyes. He had never seen me like this, and it unsettled him.

He lowered his voice and tried to explain.

“Hilda's been diagnosed with depression. The doctor says she has a serious risk of self-harm.”

“She saved my life once. I can't just abandon her.”

I listened in silence.

Nothing stirred inside me anymore.

“Okay. Got it.”

Theodore's expression shifted, but he quickly reassured himself: I was just jealous, throwing a little tantrum. A few kind gestures and I'd come around.

Over the next few days, he transformed back into the husband everyone envied.

He fed me by hand, blew on the hot porridge to cool it, sat up through the night checking my temperature.

The nurses couldn't stop gushing.

“Professor Delgado is so good to his wife. I heard he even hired a private caretaker just for her.”

The next day, the so-called caretaker was nowhere to be found.

I kept my eyes down and said nothing under the nurses' awkward glances.

That caretaker was probably with Hilda.

It didn't matter. Ten more days and I'd be free. Whoever Theodore wanted to dote on after that was no longer my concern.

But someone wasn't content to leave me in peace. The following day, Hilda walked into my hospital room with her chin held high.

“Summer, do you know something?”

“The one who isn't loved is the real other woman.”

“If you had any dignity left, you'd walk away from Theodore on your own.”

“And here's something else you probably don't know. The baby in my belly? It's his.”

I looked at her, cold and flat. “Get out. You're not welcome here.”

Venom flashed behind her eyes. She hadn't expected that. She'd come here to watch me shatter, and I hadn't given her the satisfaction.

Faint footsteps sounded outside the door.

Hilda's face changed in an instant.

She snatched the bowl of porridge from my bedside table, turned her back to the door, slipped something into it so fast I barely caught it, then tipped the bowl back and drank.

The next second, the door swung open.

Hilda let out a piercing scream and crumpled to the floor.

Blood ran down between her legs.

“Hilda!”

Theodore's face drained of color. He rushed to her like a man possessed and gathered her into his arms.

Hilda clawed at his shirt, sobbing, her whole body shaking.

“Professor……”

“I don't know why, but after I drank the porridge your wife gave me, my stomach……it hurts so bad……”

Theodore's head snapped toward me. Rage burned through every line of his face, and before I could speak, he kicked me square into the hospital bed. “How could you be vile enough to drug her?!”