I understood, but I still told her.

“If you want a child one day, just tell me directly and we will discuss it.”

Melinda agreed.

Seven years ago, Melinda’s father suddenly stopped being angry and her mother stopped urging.

The two elders even proposed to live in another city with good food, drink and fun and Melinda would go there from time to time to check on their living conditions.

I thought the two elders had let it go and then... I saw a photo of her and another man’s family of three on the social platform account registered by my mother-in-law.

I then realized that Melinda’s original intention of traveling back and forth between the two cities for seven years was to care about another family...

The happy moments recorded by Melinda’s mother were like a sharp sword piercing my heart, making me feel so painful that I couldn’t breathe.

I opened my mouth and found that my voice was already hoarse.

“What about me? Melinda, aren’t you cruel and ruthless for treating me like this?”

A trace of guilt flashed across Melinda’s face and even her voice softened.

“I’m sorry, Jefferson. I just don’t want you to suffer the pain of ligation recanalization surgery again. If you want, I can bring them all over to live with us…”

I smiled bitterly.

“You mean, my wife cheated on me, so I should not only forgive my wife, but also accept her child with someone else and now I have to live under the same roof with the third party and see each other every day?”

Melinda fell silent and stopped making excuses. When she left, she even kindly called all the relatives in the house away.

“Jefferson, I know you can’t accept it for a while. It’s okay, you... accept it slowly; but I still insist on my idea. I can'’ abandon Kevin and the child!”

I sat there all night and when it was dawn, I called the company’s lawyer.

“Do you know how to draft a divorce agreement? Help me draft one, I want a divorce.”

Melinda really stayed there for a week, as she said and didn’t come back.

When the paparazzi I paid a big price to send me a stack of photos and videos, my hands were shaking and I almost didn’t even have the courage to click on them.

Since this incident became public, Melinda’s mother no longer concealed it and she no longer played the drama of the two elders thinking it through with me.

She wanted to post 800 videos a day to record the warm daily life of Melinda and her family of three.

Melinda was taking care of the baby, she taught the baby to write, stroking her belly and the one going out for a walk...

They were so happy.

[Mom takes the baby out for a parent-child trip again!]

[My dear grandson is in the first grade this year and he is still begging his mother to teach him to write.]

[Daughter and son-in-law.]

The content of the photos taken was similar to that of the photos taken by the paparazzi. They were obviously warm photos of daily life, but they hurt my eyes.

After thinking for a long time, I commented below.

[If he is your son-in-law, then what is the person in the column of your daughter’s spouse?]

Almost immediately after it was posted, the comment was deleted.

Immediately afterward, Melinda’s mother sent a 60-second voice message.

“What are you commenting on my video? What do you make others think of my grandson? He is still a child and you want him to be labeled as an illegitimate child. How can you be so vicious? I tell you, I still have a score to settle with you! Not only did you not give birth to a child with my daughter, you also instigated my daughter to abandon her husband and child…”

Then, several more 60-second voice messages followed.

Although I had been heartbroken and cried my eyes out for the past few days, when I heard my mother-in-law speculate about me with the most proud words, my tears still fell uncontrollably.

I didn’t understand. How could people change so easily?

My mother-in-law treated me like her own son and so did Melinda, who had been married to me for 20 years.

When Melinda came back, she saw me sitting by the window, decadent and haggard. When she hugged me, I was still cold from outside.

She simply took off her coat and stuffed my cold hands into her sweater to keep them warm.

For a moment, I suddenly felt that we had returned to 20 years ago when we loved each other the most.

We were very miserable at that time. Melinda’s father cut off all of her livelihood just to make her realize the mistake of not having children.

Her father didn’t like me either.

We slept in the basement and ate instant noodles and steamed buns in this huge city. When we were the poorest, we couldn’t even afford a bag of rice. When it was the coldest, we huddled together in a bed, wearing all our clothes and wrapped in quilts and we were so cold that we trembled when we spoke.

I was also so decadent.

I always thought about giving up. If it continued to freeze like this, Melinda’s already poor health would get worse.

“Melinda, let’s give up the divorce. Go back and admit your mistakes. Maybe you can drink hot chicken soup when you go back now.”

Melinda hugged me, stuffed my hands into her clothes and clamped my feet, with tension and fear.

“No, I won’t divorce you. Jefferson, I won’t admit my mistakes. I’m not wrong. I’m sorry, the ligation hurts so much. I didn’t want you to suffer, but in the end, I still made you suffer.”

The tears of that year overlapped with the tears of this year and the bitter taste spread from the tip of the tongue.

“Melinda, let’s move, okay? You like children. Let’s have our own, okay? Why? Why didn’t you tell me when you wanted a child?”

The long silence was like a stick, waking me up.

I came to my senses and looked at Melinda in a daze.

Following her hesitant and complicated profile, I realized that she was not the only one who came back.

This was the first time Kevin and I met.

Just like in the video shot by Melinda’s mother, he was young and considerate and the whole person looked like a good husband and a loving father.

And I...

I looked at the mirror by the window in a daze. My eyes were red and swollen like walnuts and even the wrinkles at the corners of my eyes were crying.

It was really embarrassing.

There was an indescribable feeling in my heart.

Kevin’s eyes were fixed on the place where Melinda warmed my hands. The sadness in his eyes did not seem fake, but he still resisted and pushed the child next to him up to say hello to me.

Melinda felt sorry for him, took my hand without hesitation and walked over to hug his waist.

She didn’t say anything, but stood on tiptoe and kissed Kevin’s lips with a soothing touch.

The sourness in his eyes surged up again and the fingertips that were not completely warmed up were stained with coldness again.

Kevin touched his hair embarrassedly and seemed to raise a smug smile to me unintentionally.

“Leon, go quickly. This is Uncle Jefferson, say hello to him.”

I was stunned and asked him in disbelief.

“What’s his... name?”

“Leon, Leon. Melinda said that she hopes he will be as bright and desirable as the stars in the sky in the future.”

In just a moment, my head was buzzing.

Leon pursed his lips and said something to me, but I couldn’t hear it clearly.

I looked at Melinda in disbelief. She lowered her head and she didn’t dare to look into my eyes because she was guilty.

Leon was the name Melinda and I agreed on when we first discussed what name to give our child.

Even Melinda did not change the name at all and transferred it to Kevin and his son!

Was she going to do this to tear my heart out...

“Melinda... How can you use the name you and I gave to give to the child you and another man gave birth to?”

Melinda immediately scolded me in a low voice, “Jefferson! Don’t talk nonsense!”

I suddenly came to my senses and watched Melinda hurriedly explain to Kevin. Only then did I realize that the sentence just now made Kevin pale.

My throat tightened and I subconsciously wanted to step forward to explain a few words.

But Melinda’s vigilant and sharp eyes stopped me in my tracks.

Kevin felt uncomfortable for a long time and said a lot in a discontinuous manner, “If your child and I are used to making up for the regret that you and Jefferson have no children, then I wish I had never let you give birth to this child! Melinda, I love you. You can despise me and neglect me, but Leon is innocent. I don’t want him to be born to make up for the regret between you and others.”

He continued, “I know Jefferson can’t accept us as father and son. I thought of this seven years ago, so I have always listened to you and waited for you in another city with my child. Today, you suddenly said that you could bring me here and I thought... I could be with you forever, but looking at Jefferson’s attitude... Melinda, send Leon and me back, please. I don’t want to… I don’t want to take the child to see other people’s faces.”

Melinda was so anxious that she agreed to everything he said.

“Kevin, look at me. Leon is your and my child. He is not a regret for me or anyone else. I love you and my child! I have never and will not despise you or neglect you and your child. I will give you the best I can. Don’t care what his attitude is! This is my home, the house I bought, my Blair family! No one dares to look at you and Leon in this family! Be good, don’t think too much, the baby in my belly doesn’t want to see his father sad.”

Melinda’s words were heartbreaking to me!

Yes, every brick and tile here belonged to her, Melinda. What did it have to do with me, Jefferson?

I smiled bitterly.

After Kevin and his son left, the divorce agreement was handed over.

“Sign it.”

Melinda glanced casually, picked up the clothes and passed me by without caring.

“Jefferson, you are not young anymore. You will be forty next year. Don’t make such jokes anymore. I have been married to you for twenty years. Now I am getting divorced. How do you want those media partners outside to see me?”

I sneered.

Yes, this was the current situation between Melinda and me.

All the changes started with the success of Melinda and me starting a business.

The cooperation signed by me ten years ago directly made our small company become the leading enterprise in the city.

However, Melinda and I had a disagreement on the allocation of positions.

I wanted to be the general manager and continue to do business.

But Melinda wanted me to return to the family and be a good husband and father.

Later, she made the decision for me and recruited a new person to replace my position.

I was angry, but I chose to keep quiet under the persuasion of Melinda’s mother.

But after that, Melinda and I were no longer close.

I tried many ways to get closer to her, but there was always an invisible and unbreakable veil between us.