That day marked our fourth wedding anniversary, Simon and I.
As usual, I prepared a table full of his favorite dishes, waiting for him to come home. Simon was a busy man, but he never missed important occasions like this. I had spent a long time preparing, planning to surprise him with the news that I was three months pregnant. My belly was already showing, and I couldn’t help but imagine how happy he’d be once he found out. We were going to have a baby.
But I waited until 1 a. m., and Simon still hadn’t come back. The messages I sent went unanswered, and I started to worry. So, I called him. The phone rang, but when it was answered, it wasn’t Simon’s voice on the other end.
It was the voice of Hollie-the woman I despised more than anyone in the world.
“Don’t wait for him. He’s not coming back.”
“What do you mean? Why is Simon with you?”
“I had a cold yesterday, and Simon has been taking care of me at the hospital all night.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm and satisfaction.
My heart clenched tightly. “Impossible.”
“There’s nothing impossible about it, Laura. You can’t beat me. Your mother couldn’t, and neither can you.”
The call ended, leaving me staring blankly at the table of food I had prepared. I sat in silence all night. It wasn’t until dawn that Simon finally returned. I confronted him, asking why he had been with Hollie.
He wouldn’t answer.
“Why?”
I couldn’t believe it. Why was he suddenly treating me this way? Or had they been in contact behind my back all along? The more I thought about it, the more it hurt-so much that it was hard to breathe.
“She wasn’t feeling well, so I helped her out,” he said.
“You helped her until the middle of the night? Helped her by not coming home?”
“Laura, stop being unreasonable. Are you really going to fight with me over something this small?”
Small? He knew how much I hated Hollie, yet on our anniversary, he chose to be with her of all people. Anyone else would have been fine-but why her?
I didn’t understand. Why had the man who once promised to protect me turned into this?
“Simon, you know how much I hate her. Did you forget? Did you forget that you promised to protect me? Why? Why does it have to be Hollie?”
Simon started to lose his patience.
“Your mother ruined her family; this feud is between them, not the children. Hollie is innocent. Can’t you let it go?”
I stared at him in disbelief. Every word he said was to defend Hollie. Didn’t he remember? He had been there when Hollie called me a worthless bitch.
“Tomorrow, I’ve arranged a meeting with Hollie. You two can apologize to each other, and let’s put this whole thing behind us. You know I don’t like it when you act immature.”
“I’m pregnant with your child, and this is how you treat me?”
“Child?”
Simon suddenly let out a cold laugh. “Are you sure it’s mine? Or is it James’s?”
James was our childhood friend who had loved me for a long time. After Simon and I got married, he left the country, only returning two weeks ago.
I couldn’t believe what Simon had just said. My body began to tremble.
How could he say that?
I bit my lip hard, trembling with rage, and then slapped him.
“Simon, you bastard!”
He didn’t even get angry. He just looked at me. “Yes, I’m a bastard. But this child-how do I know it’s really mine? Either you get rid of it, or I’ll continue seeing Hollie.”
With that, he turned around and slammed the door, leaving me behind, sobbing uncontrollably.
In the end, I lost the baby.
Because by then, Simon was all I had left. I depended on him. I loved him deeply. Love made me back down.
But my retreat didn’t make him change his ways.
Later, I found out that Hollie had already joined his company as his personal assistant, and he never mentioned a word about it. While I worried about how hard he was working, they were getting closer and closer. Despite this, I turned a blind eye, just hoping he’d stay by my side.
I thought that losing the baby would prove my sincerity to him, and we could go back to how things used to be.
But after the miscarriage, during the month I spent in the hospital, he didn’t visit me even once.
I couldn’t accept that ten years of love had evaporated into nothing, so I decided to invite him on a getaway during the National Day holiday to rekindle our bond. Little did I know he’d bring Hollie with him.
Snapping back to the present, Simon was gently pulling Hollie into his arms, coaxing her like they were a couple who had just quarreled.
They were about to leave when we all heard the sound of a cat meowing behind us.
“Mr. Smith! A bunch of wild cats is gathering around the car!” his assistant cried out.
Simon turned around and saw three or four wild cats circling the car, making eerie and unsettling sounds. Hollie shrieked in terror and threw herself into Simon’s arms.
“Why are there suddenly so many wild cats?”
“Could it be…”
Simon’s assistant swallowed nervously, not daring to finish the sentence. Where there were many wild cats, it usually meant there was a corpse nearby. Not to mention the awful smell in the air…
Simon scoffed. “Assistant Patel, who gave you the idea to stage this show with Laura?”
The assistant quickly waved his hands in protest. I felt strange and thought for a moment before understanding what he meant. Simon thought I had arranged for the wild cats to come just to get his attention.
I laughed bitterly.
In his eyes, I had become someone so desperate I’d resort to these kinds of tricks.
“Open the trunk,” Simon ordered coldly. “I want to see what kind of stunt she’s pulling this time.”
The trunk was opened fully, and the stench hit us.
This was the first time, since my death, that I had come face-to-face with my own corpse. The body was decomposing, the features unrecognizable, a horrific sight.
I suddenly remembered.
The food I had been delivered, along with the acid that Hollie had secretly mixed in, were the reasons my face now looked this grotesque-purple-red, with dried glue around my mouth.
The assistant stumbled and fell, crawling towards Simon in a panic.
“Sir… Mr. Smith, it seems Mrs. Smith is dead!”