Chapter 1

My wife, May Rydell, was known in her industry for being a workaholic. She was always in meetings.

Even when we went away together, she would leave me by myself, find a quiet spot, put on her headset, and join another meeting.

At our wedding, she did not even wait for the carefully planned reception to end before slipping away from everyone, putting on her headset, and joining a meeting.

Even on the day my father died, she simply turned away, found a corner, put on her headset, and joined yet another meeting.

Then one day, I was using May’s computer for a work call and happened to switch profiles.

By accident, I opened her meeting history. There were pages and pages of archived calls. Each one was titled “My Love.”

My fingers trembled as I clicked on one.

In the recording, the woman who had always been quiet and reserved with me was smiling as she chatted with another man about the little details of her day.

They talked about what to eat, where to go on vacation, where they should buy a house, and when they wanted to have a baby.

More than ten thousand archived calls documented the quiet, ordinary happiness of the life she shared with him.

It turned out that the ten-plus hours of meetings she attended every day were actually dates with another man.

Chapter 1

May Rydell walked over to me after her shower. She was towel-drying her hair as she said casually, “You don’t have to wait for me. Go to bed first. I have a meeting…”

May glanced up. When her eyes landed on the laptop in front of me, I caught a flicker of panic in them.

I had always known May to be cool and composed, but this time, she came rushing over and planted herself in front of me.

“W-What are you doing?”

Curling my fingers tightly into my palm, I pointed at the ongoing call and pressed a finger to my lips.

May watched me for a moment. When she saw nothing unusual about me, the tension finally left her face.

She silently mouthed, “I’ll let you finish then. I’m going to bed.”

When the door closed behind her, I inhaled deeply.

I switched back to the screen I had been looking at moments earlier.

With trembling fingers, I opened one of the recordings. I remembered that day.

We had been together for seven years. It was the first trip we had ever taken together.

Throughout the trip, May kept wandering off on her own to find a quiet corner to join a “meeting.”

When I finally asked her why she kept disappearing, she frowned and snapped at me, “Not everyone gets to sit around all day without a job like you. If I don’t work hard, how do you think we’ll pay for everything?”

Yet she was the one who had begged me over and over to quit my job and stay home full-time to care for her father after he became paralyzed.

In the recording, the man on the other end sounded dejected. “This is the third business I’ve started, and it failed again. I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong…”

He had not even finished before May cut in with a face full of concern. “Baby, don’t say that! To me, you’re amazing! You don’t even have to work if you don’t want to. I’ll support you!”

Barely a minute before comforting him, she had looked at me with nothing but impatience on her face and called me useless.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. Without hesitation, I opened another recording.

I remembered that day all too well. It was our wedding day.

I had proposed to May nine times before she finally said yes.

I planned every detail of the wedding around what she liked, right down to the smallest things.

However, on our wedding day, May seemed determined to rush through the ceremony as quickly as possible.

As soon as we finished exchanging vows and rings, she reached for the laptop she had left nearby.

She did not stay for the photographs or even stop to speak to our guests.

The moment the ceremony was over, she walked away from the altar.

When I caught up with her and asked what was going on, May said irritably, “I have a meeting. It’s extremely important, so please don’t bother me.”

In the recording, the man held up a spatula and asked with a smile, “Isn’t it your wedding today? How are you still here talking to me?”

Still dressed in her white wedding gown, May looked at him earnestly. “It’s your first time cooking. How could I miss something this important?”

The absurdity of it all began to sink in.

This was why she had abandoned our wedding that day. It was all because this man was cooking for the first time.

That was the “extremely important” matter she had been talking about.

When I finally focused on the screen again, another recording began playing.

I knew I would remember that day for the rest of my life.

It was my father’s funeral. Friends and relatives came up one after another to offer their condolences.

The entire evening passed without any sign of May.

Eventually, I slipped away to an empty corner and started crying. That was when I heard May’s irritated voice behind me. “Could you go somewhere else? I’m in a meeting, and you’re disturbing us.”

She did not ask if I was all right. She did not offer a single word of comfort, not even an empty one.

In the recording, May smiled warmly as she greeted the man’s parents. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. I’m sorry our first meeting has to be over video. I promise I’ll come visit you in person over the holidays this year.”

A wry smile crossed my face, but beneath it was an almost unbearable sadness.

On the day I had been grieving the most and needed her more than ever, she had been meeting another man’s parents.

Chapter 2

I saved the recordings one by one. After that, I got up and went back to the bedroom.

May was already asleep. The invisible line that had divided our bed for the past seven years was still there, as firmly established as ever.

On our wedding night seven years ago, May told me that she could not tolerate physical intimacy and that being touched by a man made her deeply uncomfortable.

I suggested that we each stay on our own side of the bed, simply because I wanted her to feel comfortable.

For seven years, I had lain right beside that invisible boundary, perfectly content just to look at May as she slept.

I had always believed that as long as we loved each other, there was nothing wrong with having a platonic marriage.

Perhaps sensing me watching her, May stirred and rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Why are you still awake?” she asked impatiently.

I ignored the question. Unable to keep the faint tremor from my voice, I asked her softly, “May, is there anything you want to tell me?”

All I got in response was, “What’s wrong with you?”

I smiled bitterly. For the first time in seven years, I walked out of our bedroom and headed for the guest room next door.

Perhaps May had grown so accustomed to me always giving in to her that she did not think anything of it. She just drifted back to sleep.

The next morning, I walked out of the guest room to find a man sitting in the dining room.

It was the man from the recordings.

Just then, May came out of the kitchen with a bright smile on her face. She looked at him and said gently, “Breakfast’s ready. Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

I glanced toward the dining table. It was covered with an elaborate breakfast spread. There were scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast, pastries, fruits, and more.

In seven years together, I had never even known May could cook or bake, much less that she was so good at it.

May walked over and took the man’s hand as naturally as if she had done it a thousand times. Then, she seemed to finally sense my presence.

She turned to me abruptly. When she saw me, a flicker of guilt crossed her face. “Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is my… new assistant, Damian Sullivan. He came over to brief me on some work.

“Anyway, why don’t you join us for breakfast?”

I sat down silently and reached for my fork, but my hand stopped before I touched the food.

May, who had been busy piling food onto Damian’s plate, noticed and immediately looked annoyed.

She snapped, “What is it now? Can’t you even get through one meal without making a fuss?”

My gaze grew solemn. Looking into May’s eyes, my voice was hoarse as I said, “I’m lactose intolerant. Almost everything here was made with milk, butter, or cheese.”

I pushed back my chair and got up to leave.

Then, a thought stopped me. I turned back to May.

For once, I looked at her in complete seriousness as I asked, “May, is there anything you want to tell me?”

This time, May slammed her fork down on the table. Her voice rose in anger.

“Harry, what’s your problem now? Can you act like a man for once? Don’t you have anything better to do with your life?

“What exactly am I supposed to say to you? What could we possibly have to talk about? When was the last time you had anything worth saying? Take a good look at yourself.

“Do you honestly think anyone besides me would even bother talking to you?”

One simple question had earned me a barrage of insults and contempt.

I smiled bitterly.

I turned and walked into the study. Behind me, Damian said something I could not make out. May’s voice immediately softened.

It was a tenderness she had never once shown me.

I opened a drawer and pulled out an old phone I had not used in years. I called my friend Ed Maude.

“Well, look who finally remembered I exist! I thought you were too busy revolving around your wife to call me.”

Ed teased me the moment he answered.

I shook my head with a bitter smile and glanced at the small potted rose on my desk. I had not even noticed when it had withered. “I was wrong, Ed. I need a favor. Please draw up divorce papers for me.”

There was a brief silence on the other end. Ed said quietly, almost in disbelief, “You two are getting divorced?”

I found myself looking at the withered rose again. When had the flowers I once associated with our love started dying?

Chapter 3

I ended the call and turned around to find May standing right behind me.

She stepped forward and, without hesitation, yanked the crystal cross necklace my father had left me.

She said indifferently, “It’s Damian’s birthday, and he wants your cross as a gift. Just let him have it. You’re not the only person who can wear it. Anyway, who were you talking to?

“I’m surprised there’s someone besides me who still wants anything to do with you.”

May leaned closer to look at my phone. I instinctively slipped it into my pocket.

Just then, the screen of my current phone on the desk lit up with a reminder.

Today marked three years since my father’s death.

I stepped forward and tried to take the necklace back. My voice trembled as I said, “That necklace is the only thing my dad left me!”

We struggled over it for a moment. Then, May’s grip slipped. The crystal cross hit the floor and shattered into pieces.

Before I could even process what had happened, May slapped me. She glared at me in anger and shouted, “Harry, you did that on purpose, didn’t you? Damian’s younger than you! Can’t you just let him have this one thing?”

Without a word, I crouched down and reached for the shattered pieces of the crystal cross.

Before my fingers could touch them, Damian brought his shoe down on the fragments. He ground them into the floor repeatedly until the cross was crushed beyond recognition.

I shot to my feet. My eyes were bloodshot. I lunged toward Damian, but before I could reach him, May stepped in front of him without hesitation.

She shielded him.

Then, she said, “Harry, haven’t you caused enough trouble?”

There it was again.

Everything I had tried to suppress came rushing back at once. This time, I could not contain it.

I kept my eyes on May, unable to hide the disappointment and hurt in my eyes. “Isn’t he just your assistant? Why are you protecting him like he’s the one you’re married to?

“Between him and me, which one of us actually belongs here?”

Perhaps because it was the first time I had ever challenged May so directly, she just stood there in silence for a full second.

I heard my own voice tremble as I continued, “May, do you really think I don’t know anything? Is lying to me some kind of game to you?”

“You…”

Before I could say anything more, May’s phone suddenly rang.

It was the hospital.

Her father’s condition had suddenly become critical. The doctors were fighting to stabilize him.

There was no time for anything else. We rushed to the hospital.

By the time we reached the hospital, her father was out of immediate danger, although the doctors warned that he might be left with lasting cognitive problems, including dementia.

Standing by his bed, my eyes were moist with tears as I took Albert Rydell’s hand. Before I could say anything, Albert smiled and said, “Damian, it’s you! It’s been so long since you visited. Want to know a secret?

“I keep that photo of you and May right here by my bed. I look at it every day! When are you bringing your little girl back from overseas? I miss her so much!”

Each revelation hit harder than the last. I stood there frozen while Albert carried on talking.

I looked sharply at May beside me. She did not seem rattled in the slightest. She just stepped forward and gently calmed her father down.

Then, she took my hand and led me out of the room.

I lowered my eyes to where her fingers were wrapped tightly around my left hand. In seven years together, this was the first time May had ever touched me like this.

Out in the hospital hallway, May leaned against the wall and said, “I can explain.”

May continued calmly, “My family never approved of me marrying you. They told me that if I went through with it, they’d cut me off completely. I had no choice but to find someone they’d accept to keep them happy.

“That way, I could give my family what they wanted without giving you up. It worked out for everyone.

“Nothing has to change between us. We can keep living exactly the way we always have. Besides, you’re the one I legally married, aren’t you? Why should anything else matter?”

When I remained silent, May let out a weary sigh. Impatience crept into her voice as she said, “Harry, you know better than anyone that you can’t live without me. So… stop making this into something it doesn’t need to be.”

Chapter 4

I had lost count of how many times May had told me that I could not live without her.

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, my phone chimed with a new text.

It was from Ed.

[Everything’s ready.]

As she had done countless times before, May reached over and took my phone. She tried to unlock it.

My phone no longer recognized her face. Her fingerprint no longer worked either. Even the passcode was no longer her birthday.

May froze for a moment.

Then, realization seemed to dawn on her. She scoffed, as though she had figured out exactly what I was doing.

“Is this what we’re doing now? You’re playing games to get my attention, aren’t you? Who sent you that text?”

“May, I want a divorce—”

Before I could finish, Damian came over from down the hall and stopped beside May.

“May, the company’s celebration party is about to start. We should get going,” he said.

As if something had just occurred to her, May looked at me and said, “We wouldn’t have landed this project without you. Come with us. Most of the team doesn’t even know who you are, so I’ll introduce you properly.”

A flicker of hope stirred within me.

Not long ago, May had come to me about a project that was crucial to the company. She said she needed the core technology I had spent years developing.

It was more than a decade of my life’s work. I handed it over to her without a second thought.

Before I realized what I was doing, I heard myself softly say, “Okay.”

When we reached the entrance of the venue, May turned around. For a moment, it looked as though she was about to reach for me, but instead, she took Damian’s hand.

I fell silent.

Amid the chatter and laughter filling the room, I watched May lead him by the hand toward the stage.

With a microphone in hand, May smiled at the crowd. “There’s one person we owe more than anyone for landing this project.”

My heart began to race.

“That person’s the man standing beside me, Damian, my husband. He gave the company the technology he spent more than a decade developing. Without him, we never would’ve won this project.

“While I have everyone’s attention, there’s something else I want to say to him. Damian, I love you. Happy seventh anniversary!”

My phone buzzed.

Another text from Ed appeared on the screen.

[Happy birthday, man.]

He was the only one who remembered my birthday.

Around me, the crowd began cheering and urging May and Damian to kiss. As I watched them turn toward each other with gazes full of affection and lean in for a kiss, rage surged inside me.

My eyes burned as I stared at them. Every last bit of my restraint was gone.

I stormed forward and grabbed May by the arm. “May, what the hell’s this? What gives you the right to give him credit for more than ten years of my work? Did you even ask for my permission? How could you do this?”

Perhaps because I had never spoken to May like that before, she stood frozen in place for a moment.

Recovering her composure, she looked irritated. Without hesitation, she shoved me.

I stumbled backward, lost my balance, and went tumbling off the stage.

When I fell, the back of my head slammed into the corner of a table.

I felt something warm running down the back of my neck as the room began to spin around me.

Still holding Damian’s hand, May looked down at me and said coldly, “What a lunatic! Pay him no attention. Let’s carry on.”

“Excuse me, is Ms. May Rydell here?”

A member of the venue staff approached with an envelope in hand. “A courier just dropped this off for her at the front desk.”