My Wife Cheated in Our Marital Home, So I Took Everything Back

Sophia Bennett’s words left me frozen in place. Even when boiling hot water poured over the back of my hand, I seemed unable to feel the pain. I lowered my eyes and looked at the shattered glass by my feet, its fragments glaring under the reflected light. It looked exactly like my relationship with Sophia Bennett. Beneath its glamorous surface, it had long been riddled with wounds. I took a deep breath, stared at the indifferent woman in front of me, and asked coldly: “Are you sure you want him to stay?” Adrian Gray was the first to walk toward the entryway, his tone full of considerate understanding. “I’m sorry, Ethan, I disturbed your wedding night with Sophia.” “But I didn’t mean anything else, and Sophia has always been picky, so I was afraid you wouldn’t take good care of her, and don’t be mad, I’ll leave right now.” Sophia Bennett chased after him and shielded him behind her. Without another word, she harshly scolded me. “Who do you think you are?” “You eat my food and use my things, and even this marital home was bought by me, so what right do you have to care who I bring back?” “I already agreed to marry you for your mother’s sake, so don’t push your luck.” I heard the disgust filling her words, and at that moment, I no longer hoped for anything. I took the wedding ring off my ring finger and slowly placed it on the coffee table in front of me. “In that case, I’ll make room for you two.” There was no need to force this unsuitable love to continue anymore. But just as I turned to leave, Sophia Bennett called out to me at an unhurried pace. She pinched the wedding ring I had thrown down between her fingers and walked up to me. Under my gaze, she let out a scoff. “You can leave if you want, but leave the house keys.” “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, because do you really think I’ll fall for this playing-hard-to-get act?” Before she could finish, I pulled the keys from my pocket and left through the door without hesitation. When the security guard downstairs saw me leaving in only my inner clothes, his face was filled with shock. As if he had remembered the man Sophia Bennett had just brought upstairs, he swallowed the question that had reached his lips. I even saw a trace of pity in his eyes. But I had no time to care, so I casually hailed a cab and returned to the place where my mother had lived before she passed away. When my mother was alive, she liked Sophia Bennett very much, gave her anything good she had, and was afraid of neglecting her. But during a fire six months ago, my mother ignored her own safety and rushed in to save Sophia Bennett. When she came out, she could not even care about the large burns across her body and was still concerned about Sophia Bennett’s condition. In the end, my mother could not be saved and died on the way to the hospital, and before she passed, she held both our hands and hoped we would get married. I still clearly remembered kneeling beside the ambulance at the time and desperately begging the nurse to save my mom again. And Sophia Bennett held me with tears all over her face, and she said: “Ethan, I won’t let your mother’s wish down, and we’ll get married by the end of the year, and I’ll be good to you for the rest of my life.” But in just half a year, everything had changed. Sophia Bennett had turned a life-saving kindness into moral blackmail. In her eyes, our three-year relationship could not compare to the few short months she had known Adrian Gray. I once thought Adrian Gray was only a small episode and would not affect the firm feelings between us. Little did I know that from that moment on, I had already stepped onto a road of no return. It was almost dawn by the time I entered the door. This apartment had originally been left by my mother as a marital home for Sophia Bennett and me. She looked down on this place for being old and run-down, calling it a rough neighborhood, but she did not know that just last week, the government had approved the redevelopment of this area. The compensation was expected to reach thirty million. And now, it no longer mattered whether I told her or not.I simply tidied up the place and slept just like that on the relatively clean sofa. Early the next morning, I was woken up by rapid knocking on the door. There seemed to be a woman’s voice outside too, and I instantly woke up, thinking Sophia Bennett had found me. I walked over and opened the door. However, when I clearly saw the young girl standing at the door in a pink dress, I did not react for a moment. Because of the redevelopment, many residents in this area had already moved away. When I came back last night, I had glanced around in passing, and everywhere nearby was pitch black and did not look like anyone was living there. “Ethan, you’re actually back?” Her eyes were full of surprise, and as she spoke, she opened her arms as if she wanted to hug me. I took a step back and looked her over with doubt in my eyes. It was not until I saw the red mole at the corner of her eye that a thin figure gradually surfaced in my mind. When I was little, there was a girl in the neighborhood with twin ponytails who always liked following behind me and calling my name. She had a baby face, and when she smiled, the red mole at the corner of her eye seemed vivid and alive. I still remembered that her father was addicted to gambling, and whenever he lost, he would come home and beat her and her mother. My mom was still around then, and because she felt bad that Mia was always injured, she often called her to our place for meals. I did not expect that after not seeing her for years, she would still be the same as before, with her eyes curving when she smiled. I suddenly thought of the photo I had seen in Sophia Bennett’s bedroom before. In the photo, she also had two ponytails and leaned against a young man, with a brilliant smile on her face that I had never seen before. It was also then that I learned Sophia Bennett was not someone who did not like to smile. She simply wanted to save all her beauty for another man. Because of this, I had argued with her too, but she only sneered and said that in her heart, I would never compare to her first love. Because of this, the two of us fell into a long cold war, and it was my mom who persuaded me. Why would a living person bother competing with a dead man for no reason? Later on, I coaxed myself into feeling better, but after that incident, Sophia Bennett’s first love became a forbidden topic between us. In the past, I was lost in my own fantasies, but only now did I realize something. If a woman was unwilling to leave even a heartfelt smile for you, then naturally, you had no place in her heart either. After some small talk, Mia Parker invited me to go hiking with her. She said there would be a Taurus meteor shower tonight, and if I had any wishes, I could take the opportunity to make one. I originally wanted to refuse, but looking at the anticipation all over her face, I still did not dampen her mood. On the way up the mountain, the two of us talked a lot. I learned that she had actually had a very hard time these past few years, and a year ago, because her mother could no longer endure the daily domestic violence, she stabbed Mia’s father to death while resisting him. On the surface, it was liberation for Mia Parker, but the death of both her parents and the huge debt left behind by her father would also crush her until she could hardly breathe. Yet even so, she still looked optimistic and positive. I lowered my head and stared at my toes, and suddenly felt that I had actually lived quite poorly these past few years. I thought that if I married Sophia Bennett and stayed with the person I loved, my future would also become very happy, but I was wrong. For her, I gave up the design work I was best at, and for her, I practiced cooking, learned flower arranging, and tried to have things in common with her. Now, I had only turned myself into a joke. But when I looked at Mia Parker in front of me, although everything she had experienced was full of hardship, she was still moving toward her dreams. She had always been herself. Just then, I received a voice message from Sophia Bennett.“Ethan, you’ve taken this far enough, and now you really want to be completely hands-off and ignore the company entirely?” “Do you know how much loss your disappearance has caused the company?” “I don’t have the patience to keep wasting time with you!” I clearly heard Adrian Gray’s voice coming from her end, “Sophia, have some fruit, and should I feed you?” I did not reply to Sophia Bennett’s message and immediately blocked and deleted her contact information. When I looked up, I saw Mia Parker standing a few steps higher than me and turning back to look at me in confusion. “What’s wrong, do you have something else to do?” I put my phone into my pocket, “Nothing, let’s hurry up, or we won’t reach the summit by tonight.” Mia Parker did not ask again either, and she hopped along in front to lead the way, turning back to talk to me from time to time. By the time we reached the summit, it was eight o’clock at night. The two of us set up the tents and sat shoulder to shoulder on a large rock. Looking at the dark sky and the mountains opposite us surrounded by thin clouds and mist, my heart was unusually calm. Mia Parker seemed to notice that I was in a bad mood, so she took two bottles of beer from her backpack and handed one to me. “Don’t think too much, Ethan, you’re still so young right now, and no matter what happens, you always have the chance to start over!” I took the can from her hand, looked at the light in her eyes, and in that moment, countless emotions rose in my heart. That was right. I was still very young, so just because I had spent five years on Sophia Bennett, did that mean my life was already over? When I thought about it carefully, even without the identity of “Sophia Bennett’s husband,” I was still an outstanding designer and an excellent curator. I should live for myself. “Oh my God!” “It’s a meteor shower!” Mia Parker’s startled cry sounded beside my ear, and I followed her gaze toward the horizon, only to see silver-white meteors streaking across the originally pitch-black sky one after another. While I was dazed, Mia Parker pushed my arm and urged me: “Hurry and make a wish, because if you miss this meteor shower, you’ll have to wait years for the next one.” I was amused by the way she pressed her hands together and closed her eyes seriously. When I was with Sophia Bennett in the past, I also believed that so-called wishes could come true, so whether it was a birthday wish or a New Year’s wish, I made them with complete seriousness. I had also asked Sophia Bennett to watch a meteor shower with me before, but she had scoffed at it. She always disliked that I was superstitious and thought those unnecessary things were a waste of time. She always said, “Ethan, instead of wasting time making wishes, you might as well take real action, and how old are you already, so why are you still so childish?” So after that, I never mentioned anything like making wishes in front of Sophia Bennett again. At this moment, I also copied Mia Parker and pressed my hands together, closed my eyes, and made a wish devoutly. I thought that if wishes really worked, I hoped I could completely let go of Sophia Bennett, say goodbye to the past, and welcome a new life. When I opened my eyes again, the meteor shower had already disappeared, and I met Mia Parker’s eyes as she looked over. Probably because I had drunk alcohol, my reaction was a little slow, so when Mia Parker leaned over, I did not immediately push her away. Mia Parker only leaned quietly on my shoulder, and after a while, steady breathing sounded beside my ear. I carefully carried her into her tent, then returned to my own tent. When I picked up my phone again, I realized that Adrian Gray had called me many times. I knew that Sophia Bennett had discovered that I had blocked her, so now she could only use Adrian Gray’s phone to call me. I did not read the new messages she had sent and blocked Adrian Gray’s number too.