The night my wife didn't come home was the night I ceased to exist. She was with him—the one that got away, her unforgettable first love—and she was ignoring my calls. I sent her a desperate text: 【Please, don't do this. If you do, I'll die. I'm not kidding.】 Her reply was to delete all my gaming accounts. Then she sent a threat: 【Still sulking, are we? If you don't come home right now, I'm getting rid of your precious husky next.】 I was frantic, losing my mind, but there was nothing I could do. The mission had failed. The System had already initiated my complete and utter erasure. The kind where not even a single hair is left behind. 1 My wife’s first love was back in the country. I’d done everything I could to keep the news from her. But she found out anyway. And she went to him behind my back, leaving me a note with a hollow promise: 【We're just friends now, Ethan. Don't get the wrong idea.】 I paced the living room, a knot of dread tightening in my stomach. A sour, suffocating feeling filled my chest. Lifelong Fidelity. That was the mission The System had assigned me. If my wife betrayed our marriage, I would be erased. For now, I chose to trust her. I had to. I had poured everything I had into this relationship. I couldn't help myself; I called her. She was drunk, her voice soft and slurring. "Honey..." "You don't need to pick me up," she purred. "I know my way home. Don't worry, sweetie. See you in a bit." I had no idea where they were, so I got in my car and started searching. I called her again and again. First, she rejected the calls. Then, her phone was off. My mind went into a tailspin. Okay, I was panicking. I started texting her, begging: 【If you can't let him go, then let's just get a divorce.】 【Please, whatever you do, don't cheat on me. It will kill me. I'm telling you, I will actually die.】 … The city lights smeared into a neon blur as I pulled into a deserted alley. A cold, robotic voice echoed in my head: 【Host, I regret to inform you that your conquest mission in this world has failed.】 My brain went blank. My hands clenched into fists, and I slammed them against the steering wheel, over and over. The tiny thread of hope I'd been clinging to finally snapped. But damn it, I wasn't ready to go. The mechanical voice of The System returned, this time with a stutter, as if it were glitching: 【Your wife has... with him...】 【As per the penalty protocol, you will be erased before dawn.】 I never expected her to come home. And I certainly never expected him to be the one to bring her. 2 The front door opened. Andrew had his arm wrapped around my wife, Claire’s, waist. His voice was laced with a suggestive intimacy. "You must be exhausted. You should get to bed." A searing pain shot through my heart, and rage burned away my reason. I pushed myself off the sofa, flicked on the living room lights, and cut straight through their charade. "Claire." "You already slept, didn't you? What more sleep do you need?" She froze, then straightened up, her expression turning to ice. "Ethan, what the hell is your problem? I had too much to drink, so Andrew gave me a ride home. That's it." A ride home? Even if he drove a lap around the entire city, it wouldn't take three hours. But arguing the details was pointless now. She saw the look on my face and turned it around on me. "When did you become so possessive? You can't even trust your own wife?" Andrew leaned lazily against the doorframe, a smirk on his face as he watched us fight. I snatched the vase from the coffee table and raised it, ready to hurl it at her. "He's the one who abandoned you for a career overseas, remember? Have you forgotten that you've been my wife for years?" But I couldn't do it. My arm swerved at the last second, and the vase shattered on the floor near her feet. The explosion of glass seemed to snap her out of her drunken haze. "I... I really did have too much to drink," she stammered. "And Andrew only came back to say a final goodbye. He's moving abroad permanently." "Besides," she added, her voice rising, "we've both moved on! If you were so bothered by our past, you shouldn't have married me in the first place! Why are you acting like a psycho?" I listened, then let out a low, bitter laugh. I pulled a cigarette from its pack and stuck it between my lips. "Stop pretending," I said, my voice dripping with scorn. "Own what you did." The smoke drifted towards her face. She scowled. "Own what? Andrew has been through so much, struggling all alone in another country. What did he do wrong? Can you just leave him alone? I'm begging you!" I shrugged. "Don't worry. It's not like you'll ever have to see me again anyway." Andrew actually laughed out loud, his lips curled in a mocking grin. "I'll let you two talk. I'm heading out." The door clicked shut. Claire's expression softened. She stepped forward, looping her arms around my neck and rising on her toes to brush her nose against mine. "Honey, are you still jealous?" she whispered. "Don't worry. You're the one I love most." I swept her off her feet, her soft body pliant in my arms. Her warm breath ghosted across my neck, a familiar spark igniting within me. Then the image of her with him flashed through my mind. And I let go. She hit the floor with a thud. I wiped my face where she had touched it, my voice filled with disgust. "You're filthy." I punctuated the insult by spitting on the floor beside her. She stared up at me, stunned, the pain on her face too deep for tears. It was a long moment before she scrambled to her feet, her face contorted with fury. She stormed out, slamming the door behind her. "Ethan, you'll regret humiliating me like this!" she screamed through the door. "If you hadn't paid Andrew off and threatened him to leave the country, I would have married him! I never would have chosen you!" 3 Back in college, my wife, Claire, was the goddess every guy on campus dreamed of. She had a kind of breathtaking beauty that needed no makeup, no enhancement. Any class she enrolled in was instantly packed, with guys spilling out into the hallways, just to catch a glimpse of her. I was one of them. And everyone knew she never gave any guy the time of day—except Andrew. "You like her too?" Andrew had approached me himself back then. He slid a bank card across the table. "Give me enough money to study abroad, and she's all yours." My rival in love was just handing her over. I transferred him the money without a second thought, sending my number one competitor on his way. The System's mission had activated the moment I first laid eyes on Claire. The initial task was simple: Marry her. I wasn't stressed; I was thrilled. I was genuinely, deeply in love with her. With Andrew gone, my relentless pursuit finally paid off. The day Claire agreed to marry me, she said: "When I see a rainbow, I want to show it to you. When I hear a beautiful song, I want to sing it for you. When I'm sad, I want you to be the one who understands. I want to share every beautiful thing with you. If you're slow to reply to my texts, I start to worry that you don't care about me anymore. I hate this feeling of uncertainty. So, Ethan, let's get married." I'll never forget how fast my heart was beating that day. Or the sweet, triumphant chime from The System, announcing the mission was complete. What I didn't expect was a second mission: 【Mission: Lifelong Fidelity.】 【If your partner is unfaithful, you will be erased by The System.】 At first, I thought it was just a test of my own resolve. The world is full of temptations, after all. Then I saw Andrew's name pinned to the top of her chat list. Panic set in. She always managed to soothe my fears with her actions. On stormy nights, with thunder rattling the windows, she would curl up in my arms, her gaze hazy with desire, the air thick with passion. I told her once, with all the seriousness I could muster, "If you ever fall out of love with me and want a divorce, I'll agree. But please, never, ever betray me. It would kill me." She'd just laughed, her promise ringing with confidence. "Honey, I'm not that kind of person." Now, it all feels like a sick joke. Do I regret it? Yes. I should have divorced her the second I realized she still had feelings for Andrew. I could have married a woman in a coma and had a better chance of survival. My company, which I built from the ground up. The millions in my bank accounts. My online buddies in all my gaming guilds. My collection of limited-edition figures, signed memorabilia, and rare sneakers—a collection worth hundreds of thousands. By dawn, it would all be gone. My phone rang. An unknown number. "Ethan. It's Andrew. She's with me again. Pathetic, isn't it? I handed her to you on a silver platter, and you couldn't even keep her." 4 "Take me to your hotel." Andrew hadn't hung up. He wanted me to hear this. It was Claire's voice, in his car. "Claire, what's wrong? You were so insistent on going home just a minute ago." "He's acting like a rabid dog. I don't want to talk about him. I'm tired, and I can't stand to look at him right now." I could hear Andrew's smug chuckle. "But you seemed so sure when you emailed me all those years ago, telling me you were going to marry him. Regretting it now? Maybe it's time for a change. I was your first love, after all. Haven't you missed me at all?" Claire's voice softened. "Stop it, Andrew. Don't tease me..." The line went dead. I sat there, head in my hands, the ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. My time was almost up. I pulled out my phone and called my "brother." He picked up, his voice thick with sleep. "Dude, what time is it? Waking up this early makes my soul want to leave my body." We'd grown up together. Our bond was stronger than steel. I needed to tell him my last wishes, but just hearing his voice calmed me down, strangely enough. "Claire cheated on me. I'm going to die." He didn't get it. "She would cheat? No freaking way. She doesn't even look at other guys." "Andrew's back." "Okay, divorce her. Right now!" his voice cracked with anger. "You're rich, you're handsome, you can have any woman you want! Once you stop loving her, she's nothing!" I didn't answer. I just started reciting my bank account passwords. Before we got married, Claire had insisted on a prenup to prove she wasn't after my money. I was glad for that now. After I was gone, I'd rather donate my fortune to charity than let her have a cent of it. My friend's voice turned frantic. "Ethan, are you insane? Don't do this. I'm coming over right now. We'll drink until we pass out. There's nothing you can't get through! It's just a woman! Divorce her, make her life hell, make her regret it! Isn't this the part where she’s supposed to grovel? The whole ‘redemption arc’ trope!” "Listen, man, stay with me," he pleaded. "I rode my bike all day, my balls are chafed so bad I can't even shower, isn't that hilarious? Think about your bank account! You can go stare at the ocean in the Maldives, feed pigeons in London, go diving in Australia! You can heal by traveling the world! If I got my heart broken, I'd just have to be like, ‘Well, this sucks,’ and get on with it. You're living the dream, man, don't throw it away!" His voice broke, and he started to cry. He knew I would never joke about something like this. The only one who didn't know—who refused to believe it—was Claire. No matter how many times I had warned her. I made the bet, and I lost. It was my own damn fault. I printed out the divorce papers, signed them, and prepared to send them to Claire. My last wish was to be free of her. She was still awake. She replied to my message almost instantly. 【Ethan, are you serious about this?】 The first rays of dawn crept through the window, weak and pale. My body began to turn transparent, weightless, floating upwards... So this is what it feels like to die. Claire. If The System wasn't erasing me, I swear I would have made you pay.
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