Chapter 4

I laughed in disbelief when I heard that.

I had wondered why she had suddenly come to visit me at my stall.

It turned out she had only come for Liam.

Shining shoes was a small business, and what I earned wasn’t even enough to pay for my leg treatment.

I held back my tears and said hoarsely,

“Maya, do you know what it means for you to take my money?”

“It means I’m one step farther away from treating my leg.”

“Do you want to see me become crippled?”

“Besides, your family is pretty wealthy. Why don’t you use your own money? Why take mine?”

Maya was left utterly humiliated by my words.

“I...”

She raised her head to look at me, her eyes turning red as tears slid down her cheeks.

I froze.

She had never cried for me before, yet at that moment, she was shedding tears for someone else.

My voice went dry as I said,

“Do whatever you want.”

“But you took the money today. From now on, we...”

Before I could finish, she grabbed the cash and ran away.

I watched her back gradually disappear into the crowd.

Then I lowered my head and let my tears fall.

I used to say that men should bleed rather than cry, and that crying over a woman was pathetic.

But now, I was being exactly that pathetic.

As I thought back over our more than ten years of marriage, I couldn’t help wondering what I had actually gained.

I thought about it for a long time, but couldn’t even come up with one excuse to deceive myself.

That evening, I packed up my stall and slowly walked home.

On the way, a gossip-loving neighbor said excitedly,

“Did you hear? That young Liam bought a house!”

An older woman beside her asked,

“Which Liam?”

The neighbor clapped her hands and answered excitedly,

“Liam, of course!”

“I heard Maya helped pay quite a bit too. The two of them went around looking at houses together, just like a married couple!”

“Her parents even put up a lot of money. They completely treat him like their son-in-law. I’m so jealous!”

“Do you think Maya regrets marrying Ethan? I feel like she and Liam look more like a couple.”

After saying that, she laughed cheerfully, completely unaware that I was standing behind her.

The hand holding my cloth bag loosened, and I stared at her in a daze.

The women all turned to look at me at once, then hurriedly ran away.

I clenched both hands and punched the tiled wall.

The tiles cut my hand, and blood dripped down the wall.

At that moment, I felt bitterly unwilling to accept it.

Why was Maya willing to use money to buy Liam a house, but unwilling to use money to treat my leg?

Back then, she had held me tightly and cried,

“Ethan, believe me. I want to pay for your treatment too, but I really don’t have any money left.”

“Prices have gone up, and what we have is barely enough to get by.”

“As for my parents, you know how they are. They strongly opposed us from the beginning. If we ask them for money now, they’ll definitely use the chance to criticize you.”

“We wouldn’t get the money, and we’d only be humiliated. I don’t want that.”

“Can we wait a little longer? We’ll save up for your treatment. I promise I’ll get your leg healed.”

I had believed her then.

I had even thought that, despite my condition, she hadn’t abandoned me and had stayed by my side, so I had to cherish her even more.

But now, I only felt like a fool.

I had clearly been able to guess the truth, yet I had still chosen to believe her.

At that moment, I finally let go.

If we couldn’t be honest with each other and love each other wholeheartedly, then it was time for everything to end.

It was time to put an end to my ridiculous, pitiful love.