The Lie That Breathed to Life

I met Ethan at a business gala hosted by our parents.

Even before we married, I knew Ethan's heart belonged to another woman.

His college sweetheart, Chloe Vance.

They were a couple from their freshman to junior years, a campus fairy tale everyone thought was destined for a happy ending.

Chloe thought so, too. From the moment she set foot on campus, she declared to anyone who would listen,

"Ethan Ashworth, you're mine for life!"

But fate, as always, had a flair for the dramatic.

During her junior year, Chloe became infatuated with a rock singer. To pursue what she called "true love," she dropped out of college without a second thought and followed the singer on tour across Europe.

She was direct and passionate, but the Ashworth family prized their reputation above all else. After the scandal she caused, they grimly warned Ethan to cut off all contact with her.

Ethan was heartbroken.

And that's when I entered the picture.

In our circle, arranged marriages were standard practice for business alliances. As long as the families were of equal social standing, the union was a foregone conclusion.

In ten years of marriage, Ethan never mentioned Chloe. He was a gentle and attentive husband, and we never had a serious argument.

Everyone envied me, saying I'd married a wonderful man and was living a perfect life.

My heart, too, had been filled with a quiet joy. I truly thought we could make it to the end together.

But in the tenth year of our marriage, Chloe returned.

She had always been bold. The moment she landed in Seattle, she shamelessly announced her return to the world on social media.

She was going to take back everything she had lost, including her first love.

She was a woman of her word. She rented a sports car and drove to the coffee shop where they used to have dates, just to taste the espresso they once shared.

And Ethan, a man who was notoriously frugal, cherished that lukewarm cup of coffee and downed it in one gulp.

They went to the beach to watch the sunset together.

They snuck onto their old university campus, pretending to be board members on an inspection tour, teasing the new freshmen before ducking away to laugh hysterically.

They went to high-end hotels, strolling hand-in-hand through the rooftop garden before hiding in a corner to kiss, unleashing a decade of pent-up longing.

For ten years, Ethan had been a model husband, but now he started coming home later and later.

Until one day, he didn't come home at all.

I sat in the living room all night, the tears refusing to fall, my heart turning to ice as I watched the sky slowly brighten.

He wasn't there, but an important contract at the company needed his signature, and the project manager was a nervous wreck.

After a sleepless night, I dragged my exhausted body to the office to clean up his mess.

I worked until dark, and when I finally got home, I stumbled upon one of Chloe's private Instagram accounts.

It was filled with photos and videos—all proof of their torrid affair.