On Our Tenth Anniversary, My Wife Wanted to Reward Her Male Assistant—With Herself

The consequence of eating an entire table of food alone was indigestion. At two in the morning, I was so bloated that I felt awful, so I shuffled into the living room in my slippers, found the medicine kit, and swallowed a few digestion pills with warm water. While waiting for the medicine to take effect, I realized Claire still had not come home. I opened my phone without thinking, and there were no new messages either. I opened Moments, and my wife’s male secretary had posted a new update three hours ago. This time, the background had changed to a hotel room, and although there was no one in the photo, half of a black stocking was faintly visible in the lower right corner. Moonlight poured through the glass and fell across the living room, and even though the windows were clearly shut tight, I felt as if a hole had opened in my chest, with cold wind howling through it. The pain went so deep that I could hardly breathe. I sat on the sofa for a long time, and after I felt a little strength return to my body, I moved to the study. I turned on the computer, dragged an email out of the trash folder, stared at it quietly for a moment, then left-clicked and replied. “Professor, I’ve thought it through, and I’m willing to go to America for further study.” Ding-dong! Because of the time difference, it was afternoon in America, and as soon as I sent the email, I received a reply. “Oh my god, that’s wonderful, I knew you would agree. You’re a genius in woodcarving, and as long as you put your heart into it, you’ll definitely become a top international master one day.” Even through the words, I could feel my professor’s excitement, and bitterness filled my heart. “I’m sorry…” During ten years of marriage, I had given up woodcarving because of Claire, but my professor had never given up on me. When I received disappointment after disappointment from Claire, wasn’t I also giving my professor disappointment again and again? “Professor, this time I won’t let you down again!” Looking at the reply email on the computer, I fell asleep with my head on the desk. When I woke up in the morning, I walked out of the study in a daze, and Claire was already sitting on the sofa in the living room. When she saw me come out, she questioned me with an unpleasant expression, “Ethan, I didn’t come home last night, so why didn’t you call me?” “Weren’t you afraid something might have happened to me?” With someone keeping her company, what could possibly happen? Besides, she had often stayed out all night in the past, and it wasn’t that I had never called to make sure she was safe, but every single time, she complained that I was meddling and nagging. “You were celebrating with someone, and I didn’t want to disturb you.” I lowered my eyes, and my gaze fell on her legs. Sure enough, the black stockings she had worn before leaving yesterday were gone. Maybe some word had hit a nerve, or maybe my attitude had provoked her, but Claire’s brows shot up and she stood up angrily. “Ryan made a contribution to the company, so what’s wrong with me celebrating for him as his boss?” “You’re a man, so can’t you be a little more generous and stop getting jealous over every little thing?” I replied calmly, “Yesterday was our wedding anniversary.” Claire’s tone froze, and she turned her head away awkwardly, “I’m so busy every day, how could I remember such a small thing, so I’ll make it up to you later, okay?” Last year it was overtime, the year before it was a party, and the year before that it was a business trip… In ten years of marriage, we had never celebrated our wedding anniversary even once, and every time she said she would make it up to me, it always ended with nothing. There would be no need to make it up in the future either. I did not answer her and turned toward the storage room. I had kept my old works and tools in the storage room, and after not touching them for years, they already felt unfamiliar, so I needed to practice several times before school started. But the moment I opened the box, I froze. The tools that had originally been neatly arranged were scattered everywhere, most of the packaging around the woodcarvings had been torn apart, and the oil coating on some areas was gone too. I even saw mold in some places. “Ryan was curious before, so I opened it and let him take a look, but he accidentally spilled some water on them…” Claire followed me inside, and at first, her tone was still careless, but after seeing my dark expression, her voice grew lower and lower… But when she saw that I still said nothing, she quickly became impatient again. “Enough, aren’t they just a few broken woodcarvings?” “Haven’t you always wanted to go to Celeste Restaurant? I’ll go with you today, okay?”Celeste Restaurant was the most famous lovers’ spot in River City. It was said that as long as a couple went there together, they would love each other for a hundred years and be bound together for three lifetimes. I had mentioned it many times before, and how had Claire responded every time? “Ethan, that’s just a gimmick created by the business, and I’m busy every day, so I don’t have time to play that kind of childish game with you.” She thought it was a waste of time, but the place where she had celebrated with Ryan yesterday was Celeste Restaurant. Thinking of her past replies and Ryan’s post, I looked again at Claire’s face, which had once made my heart race beyond control, and suddenly felt a wave of nausea. “No need, I don’t want to go anymore.” I suppressed the discomfort in my stomach, shook my head, and refused her charity. Perhaps she had not expected me to refuse, because Claire froze for a moment before putting on a disgusted look. “Ethan, you’re a man, so since when did you learn to play hard to get?” “Don’t overdo it, and if I weren’t trying to apologize on Ryan’s behalf, do you think I’d be willing to go to that kind of place with you?” Seeing that I did not answer and only crouched down to pick up the woodcarvings one by one, she frowned and looked full of disgust. “They’re already ruined, so why are you still picking them up? Just throw them all away.” Even though I had braced myself, my heart still trembled. My mother had once been a famous woodcarving master, and for a long time after she passed away, I survived by leaning on these woodcarvings. There was no way Claire did not know what these woodcarvings meant to me. But she still indulged Ryan and let him destroy them, and in her words, she also treated them as trash. And her attitude toward me was as dismissive as if she were treating trash too, “I’m already willing to go with you, so don’t be ungrateful, and I’m warning you, if…” A piercing ringtone suddenly rang out in the cramped storage room. Claire was interrupted, and she impatiently pulled out her phone, but the expression on her face turned gentle the next second after she saw the name. “Hurry up and change, and we’ll leave after I finish this call!” After throwing down those words, she went outside to take the call. A moment later… As expected, once the call ended, Claire was gone too. I ran my fingers across the broken part of the woodcarving, and the sharp texture brought a faint sting. This kind of thing had happened more than once, and no matter what she had promised me before, as soon as Ryan’s call came in, she forgot everything. I had fought and competed before, but what I got in return was her hating me even more. Why could a latecomer win everything, not because the latecomer fought and competed, but because that person’s heart had already fallen onto the latecomer. I laughed self-mockingly and continued cleaning up the scattered woodcarvings and tools, and aside from the ones too damaged to keep at all, I kept everything else. Not every obsession should be kept. Choosing to let go of some obsessions is choosing to let yourself go. After I finished cleaning up, I got up to get my phone, and just as I was about to check the time, my vision suddenly went black. Damn it. I had not eaten breakfast in the morning, and now I had stood up too fast, which triggered my old problem. A bad feeling rose in my heart, and by instinct, I held onto a box beside me, so I did not collapse to the floor. Low blood sugar could not wait, and if I did not take in sugar quickly, the worst possible consequence could be sudden death. My head was dizzy, my body was weak, and every signal from my body was telling me to fall down, but my survival instinct still made me support myself, and after I regained a little strength, I moved toward the kitchen. In a haze, I seemed to hear my phone ringing.After eating a piece of bread, I finally recovered. As the symptoms faded bit by bit, my mind gradually became clear too. Remembering that the phone had rung earlier, I chewed the bread and returned to the storage room while supporting my body, which had not fully recovered yet. The call just now was from Claire. I frowned slightly, because she had already gone to Ryan, so why was she calling me? Just as I was thinking that, my phone rang again. I hesitated for a moment, but still chose to answer, and Claire’s questioning voice came through, “What are you doing, how dare you not answer my call?” “My low blood sugar acted up just now.” The voice on the other end froze, and after a moment, it sounded with a hint of concern, “Are you okay? Are you feeling better?” “Much better, I just ate some bread.” Through the phone, I seemed to hear a sigh of relief from the other side, but what she said next made me feel that it had only been an illusion. “Since you’re much better, then hurry over to Ryan’s place.” “Buy some ingredients on the way here, because his low blood sugar acted up too, and right now he really wants to eat the cola chicken wings you make.” No wonder there had been a period before when Claire had taken the initiative to ask me to deliver meals to her, and she had often ordered cola chicken wings. So it had been for Ryan! That made sense, because aside from Ryan, what else could make her take the initiative with me? I unconsciously tightened my grip on the phone, and my tone carried a sorrow even I did not notice, “Claire, were you not listening carefully just now? My blood sugar was low.” “I heard you, but haven’t you recovered now?” Claire said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Since you’re already much better, coming over to make cola chicken wings won’t kill you.” “His appetite is bad right now, so hurry up.” After saying that, she hung up without waiting for me to answer. To be honest, at that moment, I was so angry that I laughed. Both of us had low blood sugar, yet she wanted her legal husband to drag his sick body over to cook for another man. After all these years of giving, this was the result I received, and for a moment, I did not know whether to pity myself or laugh at myself. Since she was so sure I would go, then she could just keep waiting. I raised my hand and was about to turn off my phone, but after thinking for a moment, I got up and changed my clothes. An hour and a half later, I stood at Ryan’s door and reached out to press the doorbell. Claire came to open the door in a set of pajamas, and the first thing she said when she saw me was a reprimand, “I told you to hurry, so why are you only here now?” I lowered my eyes and said calmly, “Traffic was bad on the road.” Claire frowned and still wanted to say something, but Ryan’s voice came from inside the apartment. “Is Ethan here? Claire, hurry and invite Ethan in.” When he saw me enter, he immediately said, “I only have low blood sugar, and my stomach feels a little uncomfortable, but I’ll be fine after resting, and it’s just that Claire cares about me and insisted on having you come make cola chicken wings for me.” “I heard from Claire that you’re not feeling well either, so do you want to rest first?” His mouth sounded attentive, but Ryan’s butt had never left the sofa, and the clothes he was wearing were the same style as Claire’s. “What are you waiting for? You only ate a tiny bit earlier, so what if you get hungry enough to hurt your body?” Claire gave Ryan a disapproving look, and a trace of reproach flashed in her eyes. Then she pointed at the kitchen and ordered me, “Hurry up and cook, Ryan is waiting to eat.” My gaze swept over the hidden provocation on Ryan’s face, and I took out a document and handed it to Claire. “Sign it, and I’ll cook!”