I looked at his tired face and forced a smile.
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“I’m fine. You’ve been tired all day too. Go get
some rest.”
Chad kissed my forehead.
“Okay, if you need anything, wake me up.
Tomorrow I’ll take you to pick up Ryan. We’ll
live happily as a family of three from now on.
After he fell asleep, I quietly took his phone.
To show his loyalty to me, Chad never locked
his phone.
But I never knew he had set up a dual system.
And the password to switch systems was
Brittany’s birthday.
دو
As the system switched, the screen wallpaper
chanand to a college photo of him and Rrittany
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8:22
444
changed to a college photo of him and Brittany.
Only Brittany was in WeChat. Opening the chat
box, a photo of Brittany holding a child pierced
my eyes.
“Chad, look how beautiful our child is. When he
grows up, he’ll definitely be as handsome as
you.”
That child looked exactly like the one Chad
brought to me that evening.
The more I scrolled up through the chat history,
the colder my heart became.
During the eight months of my pregnancy, Chad
was constantly on business trips. I could count
the days he spent by my side on two hands.
I didn’t want to delay his work, so I silently
endured the discomfort of morning sickness
and went to the hospital alone for prenatal
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8:22
checkups.
1000
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Now I knew that the so–called business trips
were just excuses for him to be with Brittany
while she was carrying their child.
Tens of thousands of photos documented
everything from Brittany’s pregnancy to her
delivery.
Chad cooked nutritious meals for her every day,
accompanied her for walks and shopping, and
even used his own hands to hold her vomit
during morning sickness.
He was by her side every step of the way during
her checkups, his affectionate gaze as if he
were looking at a rare treasure.
I had asked Chad many times to give our child
a name.
He always took a long time to reply to my
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8:22
messages.
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“Ashley, names are just labels. Just pick one at
random. I’m busy. We’ll talk about it after he’s
born.”
But as soon as Brittany became pregnant, Chad
had already thought of hundreds of names for
the child in her belly.
“Brittany, how about we name our baby Ryan?
Promising future.”
“Or how about Owen? Knowledgeable and with
a great future.”
“Never mind, let’s just call him Ryan. I don’t ask
him to be successful, I just want him to be safe,
healthy, and live a long life.”
After each checkup, he would send Brittany a
gift, either luxury jewelry or a limited–edition
sports car.
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8:22
“Our Brittany safely passed another checkup.
We must celebrate it.”
He even sent her a European castle to
celebrate her smooth delivery.
And all I ever got was,
“Ashley, you’ve worked hard. I’m going to a
meeting first.”
444
So that was how obvious love and lack of love
could be.
Discouraged, I put down the phone and bought
a plane ticket to go abroad in three days.
Back in bed, I stared blankly at the ceiling.
Overwhelmed with sorrow, I didn’t sleep all
night.
The next day, Chad, as usual, had his assistant
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8:22
specially buy me nutritious meals.
I used to be touched by his thoughtfulness,
even when he wasn’t by my side, he
remembered my diet.
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But thinking of him wearing an apron, busying himself in the kitchen for Brittany, I realized it
was just perfunctory.
Money is worthless in the face of true feelings.
Seeing that I didn’t touch anything, Chad was a
little distressed.
“Ashley, why aren’t you eating? Is it not to your
taste?”
“It’s nothing. I miss the baby.”
Chad laughed.
“So you miss Ryan. I miss him too. I didn’t
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DROD
444
understand before, but now that I’m a dad, I realize I don’t want to be apart from him for even a second. Our Ryan is truly the cutest child in the world.”
“Mom is so happy to have her grandson. She’s celebrating at the old house. We’ll go pick up Ryan later.”
I didn’t say anything. Anyway, I had already decided to leave. Let him do what he wanted.
When we arrived at the old house, just as we entered, we saw Chad’s mom and Brittany holding Ryan, playing with him.
Brittany was dressed in high–end limited
editions, looking radiant and not at all haggard
after just giving birth.
Chad’s mom was fussing over the child while
feeding Brittany bird’s nest soup.
Truly ton–tier treatment
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8:22
Truly top–tier treatment.
444
2008
Brittany saw me and said to Chad’s mom in a
mocking tone,
“Mom, don’t be so nice to me. People will think
I’m your daughter–in–law. Ashley will get
jealous. She’s weak. She should have the bird’s
nest soup.”
Chad’s mom followed her gaze, looking at the
bloodstained clothes I was still wearing from
the day of the incident, and said with disgust,
“Is my son lacking in what you eat or wear?
Dressing so unlucky, are you deliberately
embarrassing my family? Look at Brittany.
She’s also a woman who has given birth, and
she’s much better than you. You’re just being
fussy.”
“You can’t keep yourself from running around
while pregnant, why didn’t you just fall to your
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444
Wille pitymall, VVITY UTUI you just tall To your
death? I’m glad my grandson is okay, otherwise
I would have made Chad divorce you
immediately.‘
11
“Knowing you have to breastfeed, you still dared to take medicine. If it weren’t for Brittany helping with breastfeeding, my grandson would have starved because of you. I now announce that I recognize Brittany as my goddaughter, and in the future, she’ll call me Mom, just like
Chad.”
I knew Chad’s mom had never liked me. She felt I wasn’t good enough for Chad, far from being as pleasing as Brittany, who had grown up with Chad, was beautiful, and had a sweet
mouth.
It wasn’t until Brittany married abroad and I became pregnant that she barely acknowledged me as her daughter–in–law, for the sake of the
child.
