Chapter 1

When I got home and pulled back the covers, I found seven used condoms scattered across the bedsheet.

At the bedside, my husband Ethan Hart gave an awkward laugh.

"If I told you I used these while masturbating, would you believe me?"

Suddenly, the closet door opened, and a woman tumbled out, falling to the floor.

She wore only Ethan's white dress shirt, her body covered in dark red kiss marks.

She gave an awkward laugh too.

"Aria, if I told you I was here to clean, would you believe me?"

I also gave an awkward laugh, though my face was deathly pale.

"And if I said I don't believe you?"

Aria POV

When I returned to our marital home, Sofia was already asleep in the master bedroom. My master bedroom with Ethan.

She was wearing my nightgown and my slippers. The bedside lamp was dimmed to her liking.

Ethan stood at the bathroom door, a warm towel in his hands, ready to give it to her.

This was the same apartment where Ethan had once pressed the keys into my palm. "Now you have a place that's yours," he said.

Now, he let another woman lie in my bed, then turned to me and said, "Sleep in the guest room tonight."

I stood in the doorway, still holding work materials I'd just brought back from out of town.

A pair of women's shoes sat by the entrance. In the shoe cabinet, my shoes had been pushed to the very edge.

A shawl that wasn't mine draped over the living room sofa.

I took it all in as I walked through, finally seeing Sofia sitting on the bed's edge, adjusting the hem of the nightgown as if making sure I could clearly see whose things these were.

"Aria, don't misunderstand." Sofia spoke first, her voice so soft it seemed she'd suffered some great injustice.

"I really didn't dare sleep alone tonight. Ethan was worried something might happen to me, so he let me rest here first."

Yet as she spoke, she made no move to get up from the bed.

I looked at Ethan.

Ethan didn't explain the nightgown or the slippers.

He placed the warm towel on the nightstand, his brow slightly furrowed. "

Sofia's not doing well tonight. She's familiar with the master bedroom lamp, so sleeping here will help her feel more secure."

I said nothing.

Ethan continued. "Years ago, because of me, she got trapped in an old building during a power outage for an entire night. You know she's afraid of the dark and being alone. Tonight's situation is special, so just sleep in the guest room for one night."

Sofia lowered her head, fingers gripping the corner of the comforter. "Maybe I should just leave. I'm afraid Aria won't be happy."

She said she'd leave, but her body leaned against the bed, her feet showing no sign of wanting to remove the slippers.

Ethan immediately looked at me. I knew that look well. This past month, whenever Sofia said she was scared, he'd look at me exactly like this.

I pulled my materials closer to my chest and nodded. "Understood."

Ethan actually froze. He seemed to have prepared many words. Ready to explain how pitiful Sofia was, ready to say he was just temporarily taking care of her, ready to tell me not to overthink it.

But I didn't ask.

I turned and went to the guest room.

The guest room hadn't been occupied in a long time. The closet only held spare bedding, the window frame hadn't been fixed, and it was cold when the night wind seeped through.

I placed my materials on the nightstand and bent down to take out the comforter from the closet.

The first time I moved into this apartment, Ethan had also given me the master bedroom.

Back then, I'd just severed ties with my family and stood downstairs with my luggage, not even daring to go up in the elevator.

Ethan pressed the house keys into my hand and said, "Don't stand outside waiting for permission anymore. You have a place here too." That night he slept on the couch. From that day on, I started treating this place as home.

Now the master bedroom door was closed.

Inside, I could hear Ethan's lowered voice coaxing Sofia.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

"The lamp's already brighter."

"Sleep now, I won't leave."

I closed the guest room door too.

In the middle of the night, Sofia called for Ethan again from the master bedroom.

She complained the bedside lamp was too dim, that the curtain gaps looked like dark shadows seeping in from the old building, that the pillow was too high and made her feel she couldn't breathe.

Ethan responded to her. The sound of footsteps in the hallway kept reaching my ears.

I lay in the guest room, waves of pain washing through my stomach. I pulled out my pill box and swallowed painkillers with half a glass of cold water. The tablet stuck in my throat, the bitter taste taking a long time to go down.

Before long, someone knocked twice on the guest room door.

"Aria." Ethan stood outside. "Are you asleep?"

I leaned against the headboard, a layer of cold sweat on my forehead. I didn't open the door, only said, "I'm asleep."

Silence outside for a few seconds. Ethan's voice lowered. "Are you upset?"

From the master bedroom, Sofia called softly again. "Ethan..."

Ethan immediately turned back. I heard his footsteps fade away. He finally just tossed out one sentence through the door. "Get some rest."

I only fell asleep as dawn approached.

When I woke again, the master bedroom door was half open.

Sofia still slept inside while Ethan sat at the bedside looking at his phone, warm water and medicine beside him.

Sofia turned over, and Ethan immediately put down his phone, leaning in to ask where she felt uncomfortable.

I didn't go in.

I gathered my materials in the living room when my phone suddenly lit up.

The person in charge of the old town project sent a confirmation email, asking if I was certain about accepting the two-year old residence restoration project.

The early phase required closed access to the site, with long-term stationing afterward, making frequent returns to my current city impossible.

I looked at it for a long time.

In the master bedroom, Sofia's voice was hoarse. "Ethan, am I causing you trouble again?"

Ethan said, "No, don't overthink it."

I lowered my head and opened the reply box. I typed only one sentence: "Confirmed."

After sending the message, I put the project materials in my bag, pressing my ID documents at the very bottom. The sound of the zipper closing was soft. Neither of the two people in the master bedroom looked back.