In My Lonesomeness

After that, Evelyn vanished for fifteen days.

I didn't ask what she was doing the way I used to. Instead, I just quietly packed my things and bought a plane ticket to leave the country fifteen days later.

Even though I had lived in this house for five years, Evelyn and I did not have a single photo together. To humiliate me, she burned our wedding photos on our wedding night and hung Julian's picture above our bed.

She even pressed Julian's photo onto my face before climbing on top of me and made me pretend to be him all night. She said I had forced Julian away, so she would make me live in his shadow forever.

Evelyn's mother suddenly called me. "Robin, I haven't seen you and Evelyn in a long time. Come to our place today. Let's have dinner together."

That was what she said, but I knew what she really wanted to do was to urge us to get a child soon.

After I hung up, I called Evelyn.

Instead, a strange man answered. "Hello?"

Evelyn hated anyone touching her things, so the only person who could be answering her phone was Julian, the man she had been thinking of all this time.

I pushed my feelings down and answered calmly. "I'm Evelyn's husband. Please pass her the phone."

The moment he learned who I was, he let out a sneer. "So, you're Evelyn's husband? She doesn't even have your name saved on her phone. She's in the shower right now, so she can't answer. Tell me what it's about and I'll pass it along."

My grip tightened around the phone as I repeated Evelyn's mother's message to him exactly, but Julian said in a provoking tone, "Sorry, but Evelyn's having dinner with me tonight. You can go back to the Brook Residence by yourself."

That night, I had no choice but to go to the Brook Residence alone.

What I didn't expect was that my foster sister Claire was there, too. She was sitting there chatting with Evelyn's mother, Dana.

When Claire saw me, she raised a brow. "Why are you here alone? Where's Evelyn?"

My fists tightened a little. I kept my voice as steady as I could. "Evelyn still has work at the office, so she can't make it."

The next second, the door opened, and Evelyn walked in holding Julian's hand.

Dana's face went pale and angrily asked, "You two...! How did you two get together?!"

Evelyn wrapped an arm around Julian's waist, her voice firm. "We were supposed to be together from the start. If you hadn't forced Julian away back then, he would've been the Brook family's son-in-law. Now that he's back, I'll give him every single thing that belongs to him back."

As she said that, her gaze fell on the antique watch on my wrist. Then, she said coldly, "That watch is an heirloom from my family. It belongs to Julian now. Give it back to him immediately."

I took off the watch without hesitation and put it on Julian's wrist. "It was never mine to begin with. I'm giving it back to you."

My quickness seemed to catch Evelyn off guard. She let out a cold laugh. "You really have no dignity at all when it comes to wanting to please me, do you? You're even willing to be a homewrecker as long as you can stay by my side?"

Before I could answer, Dana hurled a cup to the floor at Evelyn's feet, shattering it. "This is outrageous! Robin is the only son-in-law in this family that I recognize. I won't accept anyone else! Take Julian and get out right now!"

Claire stood up to calm Evelyn's mother, then looked at Evelyn in a helpless way. "Evelyn, your mother isn't in good health. Stop upsetting her like that."

Evelyn frowned. "I already followed your arrangement and stayed with Robin for five years, and I still didn't fall in love with him. If you keep forcing me to stay with him, it'll only make me hate him more!"