On our tenth anniversary, my deaf husband, Ethan, disappeared all morning. Assuming he was preparing a surprise for me, I joyfully went to the hotel we agreed on. But what awaited me was his guilt-ridden confession: "I'm sorry, I cheated." My mind went blank. The stain of bright red on the sheets stung my eyes. Ethan rubbed his forehead, looking defeated. "Sarah, this was an accident neither of us wanted. We were both drunk." His "female bro," Chloe, clutched the duvet tightly, breaking down in tears: "I'm not a virgin anymore. How am I supposed to get married in the future..." Ethan was silent for a long time. "I'm sorry. I'll take responsibility." I held back my tears. "What about me?" Ethan couldn't speak. I laughed sarcastically, tears bursting from my eyes. "Let's get a divorce." "No, I won't divorce you even if I die." Ethan took off his hearing aids with red-rimmed eyes, refusing to communicate with me. I looked at him in despair. My phone vibrated, a message popping up from my ex-boyfriend: 【Sarah, stop being mad at me, okay?】 1 "Miss Song, I won't ruin someone else's marriage." Chloe lifted her head stubbornly, the teardrops clinging to her lashes threatening to fall. "Don't worry, I won't ask Ethan to take responsibility." She sobbed twice. "I won't be a homewrecker!" Chloe stumbled out of bed. Ethan tried to support her, but she dodged him. She put on her clothes, wiped away her tears, glanced at Ethan with red eyes, grabbed her bag, and rushed out the door. My nails dug deep into my palms. Ethan looked anxious, quickly put on his clothes and hearing aids, brushed past me, and chased after her. I collapsed weakly onto the bed. A while later, Ethan returned, looking like he'd lost his soul. His gaze met mine, and he frowned disapprovingly. "How could you treat Chloe like that? She's innocent." I widened my eyes slightly in disbelief. Ethan's brows knitted tight. "Isn't she?" I gripped my phone tightly, turned my head away with tears in my eyes, and choked out, "Am I not innocent too?" Ethan fell silent. He scratched his head irritably. "We just had a little to drink while discussing business with a client. I didn't expect things to develop like this..." "Chloe was a virgin... I have to take responsibility for her." Ethan's head hung lower and lower. A sarcastic smile hung on my face. "So should I go find my ex-boyfriend to take responsibility for me?" Ethan was momentarily speechless. "That's not what I meant." I laughed, tears blurring my vision. "You still care that I wasn't a virgin." Ethan got anxious. "I don't! You know how much I love you." "But you slept with someone else, and you want to take responsibility for her." Ethan's voice trembled. "But I don't love her!" "I just accidentally made a mistake while drunk. Can't you forgive me once for the sake of our thirteen years of relationship?" Ethan squatted in front of me, trembling as he held my hand. I lowered my head to hide the tears about to fall. "I promise I won't sleep with another woman again, and I won't drink anymore, but..." He lowered his head. "This is my fault. I must take responsibility for Chloe." I broke free from Ethan's hand and looked up into his eyes. "How do you plan to take responsibility? Be with her?" Ethan didn't make a sound. I took his silence as a yes. "Let's divorce." Ethan pursed his lips, avoiding my gaze. "Chloe isn't in a good state. I'll go find her first." "Wait for me... I'll handle this matter properly. I won't divorce you." "I only love you." Ethan stood up and left in a hurry. I propped up my head helplessly, tears falling uncontrollably. My phone popped up with a new message. 【I won't badmouth Ethan anymore. I can apologize to him face-to-face for what happened before.】 【Don't ignore me. I've been given the cold shoulder by you for thirteen years, please...】 I replied with trembling hands. 【I want to go home.】 The reply came instantly: 【I'm coming to pick you up now. Wait for me.】 2 Returning to the home I shared with Ethan, my gaze swept over the small, damp apartment. For the first time, I realized that having grown up in luxury, I could endure so much hardship for a man. To accompany him for work, I left home and came to S City, thousands of miles away. Here, I had no friends or relatives, only Ethan. But he... Wiping away the moisture at the corners of my eyes, I went back to the room to pack my luggage. My elbow accidentally bumped Ethan's mouse. The computer screen lit up, displaying his WeChat chat window. It was the chat interface with Chloe. My pupils contracted as I scrolled mechanically with the mouse. The more I read, the colder my heart grew. 【Ethan oppa, wanna come out for a drink tonight?】 【Sarah is mad again? Women are like that, love throwing tantrums. You coax her.】 【My stockings ripped. Buy me a pair downstairs and bring them up. Don't overthink it, I'm asking you because you're my bro.】 【The coffee you just drank was pretty good, I took the rest. Bought you a bubble tea, left it on your desk.】 ... After reading the chat history, blood rushed to my head, and I swayed. I barely steadied myself by holding onto the desk, nails digging deep into the wood. Tears fell onto the desk, splashing. Memories surged. The scene of Ethan's confession replayed in my mind. Holding a huge bouquet of red roses, he knelt before me, swearing devoutly: "From now on, I will only love Sarah Song." "I will never let Sarah suffer a bit of grievance or shed a single tear." "Heaven and earth be my witness, I will never have a second heart." He broke his promise. I bit my lower lip hard, the taste of blood spreading in my mouth. The wedding photo on the wall suddenly fell, making a loud noise. I walked over to pick it up, fingers tracing the photo. When we first got married, Ethan and I were tight on money. We only registered the marriage and didn't hold a wedding. When conditions improved slightly, Ethan spent a month's salary to take wedding photos with me. In the photo, Ethan held me with eyes full of love, his lips pressing against my forehead. It was too ironic. I numbly picked up the scissors, cut the photo into pieces, and threw them into the trash can. A sound came from the entryway. Ethan was back. Seeing me at home, Ethan's lips pressed into a thin line. "Chloe is missing." "Mhm." I responded. He frowned. "Why do you have this attitude?" My eyelashes trembled. "Then what attitude should I have?" Ethan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his eyes were full of disappointment. "Sarah, you really feel like a stranger to me." "The old you was kind and tolerant, helping everyone in need. But now, how did you become so..." I clenched my fingertips, interrupting him. "You said it yourself, that was before." "I've changed, happy now?" The living room fell silent. I threw the marriage certificate in front of him, looking calmly into his eyes. "Let's go get a divorce now." Ethan was getting frantic. "How many times do I have to say it? I won't divorce you." "Why can you give up our thirteen years of feelings so easily!" I raised my hand and slapped him across the face, choking out with red eyes, "You gave up first." I knocked his hearing aids to the ground. Ethan covered his face in a daze, speechless for a long time. He silently bent down to pick up the hearing aids and put them on. Ignoring my resistance, he pulled me into his arms. "I'm really in a difficult position. Can you understand me a little, wifey?" Dull pain spread across my chest. I wanted to push him away, but my body felt too heavy to lift my hands. "Chloe is young and fragile inside. Encountering something like this, she easily thinks dark thoughts..." "I'll accompany her for a while first. Once her condition improves, we'll make plans." "In the future, can you stay away from her?" I felt like I was struck by lightning, speechless for a moment. The abrupt ringing of the phone interrupted us. Ethan took out his phone in confusion and swiped to answer. The next second, his pupils shook violently. "What did you say!" 3 Chloe was in a car accident. Ethan dragged me to the hospital. Before entering the ward, Ethan instructed me with a serious face: "Apologize to Chloe later." I frowned. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Ethan explained to me with a tired and helpless look: "If you hadn't hurt Chloe, would she have gotten into a car accident?" I laughed out of anger. Inside the ward, Chloe whimpered painfully and called weakly towards the door: "Ethan, Sarah, don't fight because of me." "I'm fine with anything... as long as it doesn't affect your relationship." Ethan forcefully pulled me in. "Quick, apologize to Chloe." Sharp pain shot through my arm. I shook off Ethan's hand. "You two slept together. What did I do wrong? Why should I apologize!" Chloe's face instantly turned pale, her shoulders trembling as she started to cry. "My purity is gone..." "My parents will beat me to death. I can't get married anymore..." Ethan glared at me. "Sarah!" "With my purity gone, I might as well die." Chloe looked like she wanted to get out of bed with empty eyes. Ethan hurriedly held her in his arms, preventing her from getting out of bed. Chloe buried her face in Ethan's chest, clutching his clothes, crying like a pear blossom bathed in rain. "Don't worry about me. I don't need you to care." "Just let me die. What's the point of living!" Ethan stroked the top of Chloe's head with heartache. "I'll take responsibility. Trust me." My vision went black, and I felt pain in all my internal organs. "Ethan!" Ethan, with his back to me, stiffened and took off his hearing aids. Chloe, crying out of breath, wrapped her arms around his waist. I didn't have the courage to watch any longer. Clutching my aching chest, I left with heavy steps. It was already dark when I got home. I sat on the sofa with a splitting headache. My tears had dried up, and my throat was too hoarse to speak. Ethan called me. After connecting, there was silence on the other end. After a long while, he spoke with a hoarse voice: "Sorry, I was impulsive just now." "I'm almost home. I bought you a gift. Let's have a good talk later." "Stop treating Chloe like that. She's the victim." "Apologize to her properly tomorrow, and don't appear in front of her again in the future." I gripped the phone tightly and spoke with difficulty: "Do you remember what day it is today?" The other end fell silent again. "Talk when I get home." The call ended. I slid weakly from the sofa to the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something under the sofa. I subconsciously reached out and pulled it out. It was a file folder with the logo of the Shen Group. The Shen Group is a rising corporation in recent years. It is said that their boss, like Ethan, is hearing impaired. Turning the folder over, Ethan's name was written on the back. I frowned and opened the folder. Inside was a thick stack of bidding documents. Opening the bidding documents, my face instantly turned pale. Eager to verify, I took out my phone and searched for the CEO of the Shen Group. The webpage was clean; nothing could be found. A flash of inspiration struck, and I clicked on Chloe's WeChat Moments. 【March 25th】 【Bags cure all diseases. Thanks to a certain bro who prefers to remain anonymous.】 The picture was a cute selfie of her carrying the latest top luxury bag. Zooming in on the picture with two fingers, there was an all-too-familiar hand in the bottom right corner. Only, he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. My fingers trembled as I continued to scroll down. 【March 1st】 【The necklace matches my outfit today perfectly. Thanks to Boss Shen for caring about his little assistant.】 The picture was of her wearing a white dress and a pink diamond necklace. Boss Shen, little assistant. The string in my brain snapped. I had mentioned this necklace to Ethan once. I liked this style very much, but its price of 5.2 million was an astronomical figure for me now. Ethan joked that he would buy me one when he got rich in the future. But now it was worn around Chloe's neck. 4 In my memory, Ethan was an orphan, very poor, so poor that he relied on student loans and part-time jobs for college. When he first started college, he only had an old-style phone, and his lunch and dinner were plain steamed buns. He couldn't afford hearing aids and had difficulty communicating with classmates, always alone. As the class monitor, I felt sorry for him and paid for his first pair of hearing aids. After graduation, Ethan had a job but was still poor as a church mouse. He was so poor that my parents didn't want me to marry him. But I still resolutely got the marriage license with him. To prove a point, I never asked for a penny from my family. The new pair of hearing aids on his ears now were also bought by me. But according to the timeline of the Shen Group's founding, Ethan became rich a year after graduation. Yet he still lied to me that he was poor, unwilling to even pay for a wedding. The apartment we lived in was rented. Thinking back, Ethan always asked me for money with various excuses. My monthly salary was spent on the family and him. And I never saw his salary. Severe pain came from my heart. I clutched the fabric on my chest, cold sweat seeping from my forehead, a sense of suffocation surging towards me. I fumbled for a plastic bag and put it over my mouth, breathing heavily to prevent fainting from hyperventilation. Ethan called me just then. "Sarah, I'm not coming back for now. Chloe is threatening suicide; I have to stay with her." Ignoring what he was saying, the survival instinct in my mind forced me to ask him for help: "Ethan, I feel so bad, come back quickly." Ethan's voice was full of exhaustion: "Sarah, stop pretending." "Chloe's situation is really critical right now. If I don't go, she'll die." "Stop making a scene, okay? I'll accompany you after I deal with this." Before I could speak, he quickly hung up the phone. I looked at the phone screen desolately. My ex-boyfriend's message popped up: 【Sarah, I'm almost there】 After recovering a bit, I propped myself up. I found Ethan's bank card from the cabinet and opened the balance inquiry page on the computer. I typed the password with trembling fingers. Because of nervousness, I typed it wrong several times. After unlocking it, I froze on the spot. The long string of zeros after the bank account made my ten-year marriage seem particularly ridiculous. My legs went weak, and I fell to the ground. Tears blurred my vision. Together for thirteen years... Ethan had been lying to me all along. I bit my lip hard and climbed up from the ground. Operating the computer, I transferred half the money from Ethan's card. The phone popped up a new message: 【Sarah, I'm here】 I stumbled, supporting myself against the wall, to the balcony. My childhood sweetheart, Leo Lu, stood under the streetlamp in a black suit, his car parked beside him. Not seeing him for thirteen years, he had matured a lot, with a touch of melancholy in his eyes, no longer the sunny boy from before. Perhaps sensing my gaze, he suddenly looked up, meeting my eyes. Driving all the way from home, Leo's eyes were bloodshot. In an instant, my nose soured, and tears started falling again. Leo panicked a bit and walked quickly upstairs. I opened the door and crashed into a warm embrace. Leo hugged me tightly. The accumulated grievances finally couldn't be held back at this moment. Leo patted my back gently, soothing me with a hoarse voice: "I'm here, don't cry." "No matter what happens, I'm here."
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