On Our Wedding Night, My Husband Mistakenly Slept With My Best Friend

"No way." "I don't think Sylvia will agree to what you're asking." "She won't agree just for me. But she'll agree because of her mother." "Because blood ties would leave her with no choice but to give in." "And then I just have to win her over again. Sylvia will be so moved she'll take me back." "Sylvia really is pathetic when it comes to love. No wonder she's the one getting cheated on." "Wrong." "She's only like that with me. With anyone else, she wouldn't be." Jason said it with such smug certainty that he never suspected I was standing right there, hearing every word. I slipped the wedding ring off my finger and dropped it into the trash as I walked past. Jolene was coming the other way with a bag of fruit, and she stopped when she spotted me. "Syl, are you here to see Jason?" She said his name with such familiarity that, if I hadn't already learned their secret, it would have made my skin crawl. "Something came up, so I won't be going in. You can let him know." "So does that mean you've forgiven us?" "That's wonderful. Jason will be so happy when he hears." A cold smile curved my lips. I didn't stay a second longer. Outside the hospital gates, I pulled out my phone and called my boss. "Mr. Hamilton, didn't you mention an overseas assignment?" "I've changed my mind. I'll take it." "Are you sure? It'll take three years abroad. Didn't you say you couldn't stand being away from home for too long?" Before, I really did think being that far away was a problem. I was afraid no one would be there to look after my mother, and I worried Jason would be upset. But now I knew the two of them had been conspiring against me all along. I'd finally reached my breaking point. I had no choice but to make a decision. From now on, I'd focus on my career and leave the rest behind. "But I can't stand living like this anymore." My voice caught on the last few words. Tyson Hamilton noticed. He was a decent man. He knew when to ask questions and when to leave well enough alone. "Just put me down for the assignment. I have to go." "All right. Take care of yourself." After the call ended, I finally noticed the string of transaction alerts lighting up my phone. I had three million in savings, and two and a half million had just been spent in a single transaction. I called my mother right away. She was the only person who could have used my card without my permission. "What on earth did you buy that cost you two and a half million of my money?" Now that I knew the truth, I made no effort to soften my tone. She could tell I was angry, but she didn't think she'd done anything wrong. "I have my own uses for it, naturally." "Is there any need to get this worked up? When you were little, didn't you promise me that you'd grow up and make enough money to support me? It's only two and a half million. What's there to get upset about?" She said it so lightly. Only two and a half million? For ordinary people like us, two and a half million was a fortune we'd spend a lifetime trying to save. "I used it to buy a house. Jolene said she wanted to buy one to rent out and live in. Isn't that what you'd want for her too? She still needed furniture for the place, so I helped her pick some out." She didn't wait for me to say another word. She huffily hung up on me. I hurried to the nearest bank, closed the account, and withdrew the remaining five hundred thousand. Then I had the card canceled. I'm dutiful, but that doesn't mean I'm a fool. Why should Jolene get to use my money to buy herself a house? My money didn't fall out of the sky. She'd already taken Jason from me. Now she wanted my money as well? Less than an hour later, my phone rang. It was my mother. "Sylvia, you've got some nerve." "Why did you cancel my card? Jolene and I are at a restaurant, and now we can't even pay the bill!"

"Transfer the money. Now." "I'm not obligated to send you another cent. You're the ones eating, not me." "Besides, isn't Jolene right there? Are you telling me a thirty-year-old woman can't even pay for one meal?" "Sylvia! You—you ungrateful—" I wasn't about to waste another second arguing with her, so I hung up. A dull ache settled in my chest. No matter how determined I was to cut them off, it still hurt. And with it came the memories I'd rather forget. My mother had blown through the money my father had worked himself to the bone to save, all to help her younger brother. My parents fought over it, and my mother walked out. Then her family showed up at our door and ganged up on my father. No matter how right he was, he couldn't get a word in edgewise. Later, he worked himself into the ground and died on his way home. I was still young then. I didn't understand how a man with no illness, no accident, could just die. I only understood once I was grown. Years later, after my uncle died, my mother brought Jolene home. She made me give way to Jolene at every turn. At New Year's, Jolene got new clothes while I wore old ones washed so many times they'd gone gray. In college, she only paid Jolene's tuition and told me to drop out and get a job. Luckily, my grades were good, and a scholarship got me through to graduation. Looking back, I should have cut my mother out of my life years ago. When I got home, three people were waiting for me in the living room. They weren't there because they were worried about me. They were there to put me on trial. My mother snatched the teacup off the table and threw it at my head. "So you do remember how to come home." "Do you have any idea how humiliating today was for me?" "My dance friends were at the next table, and you cut off my card so I couldn't pay the bill. They laughed at me." I'd had enough of all of them. I pointed straight at Jolene. "Let me ask you—is she a grown adult or not?" Jolene shot to her feet. "Sylvia, what's that supposed to mean?" I turned and looked straight at her. "You're a grown woman. You sit there eating with your elders and you actually make her pay the bill? And you've got the nerve to act like you're in the right." "I'm only going to say this once, so all of you listen up." "From today on, I won't give you any more money, and I won't bail you out again." I turned back to my mother, whose face had gone dark. "If you've got a problem with that, we can sever ties for good." Jason and Jolene both froze. They never expected me to say something as drastic as cutting off the family. "Sylvia, all she did was ask you to cover the bill. Would you really take it as far as disowning your own mother?" "Hurry up and apologize to Mom—" "Do you think I'm angry about the cost of one meal?" This wasn't about the cost of one meal. It was about more than a decade of blatant favoritism—and the two and a half million she'd just charged to my card to buy Jolene a house. Jolene quickly stepped between me and my mother, her face full of guilt. "Auntie, Sylvia, please don’t argue." "I think Sylvia's right. I'll be more careful from now on." My mother's eyes settled on Jolene with open approval. It had always been like this. Right or wrong, the moment Jolene bowed her head and apologized, my mother praised her for being so mature. When it came to me, being "mature" just meant handing over my money without complaint. Only now did I understand: no matter how well I did, it never measured up to a single word from Jolene. "You ungrateful girl, for Jolene's sake, I'll let today go." "Get back to your room." "I can go to my room right now. But first, I want back the two and a half million you took from me." "If you don't return it, I'll call the police." I had nothing more to say. I picked up my black bag and headed back to my room, leaving them standing there.

My mother flew into a rage, storming over to my door and pounding on it with her fists and feet. "Ungrateful girl, I'm your own mother!" "If you call the police and have me arrested, heaven will strike you down for it." I felt nothing. I simply continued transferring the cash from my bag into the safe. Just then, Jason suddenly pushed the door open and walked in. "Sylvia, what has gotten into you today?" "You used to be so good to me, so attentive. You cared about me." "But this time, I was in a car accident and injured my leg, but you couldn't even be bothered to come to the hospital and check on me." His tone dripped with wounded reproach. I looked straight at him and gave him a cold smile. "Did you really get hurt in a car accident?" But the moment he met my emotionless gaze, he visibly faltered. "Why are you asking me that? I really am hurt." "Jason." I raised my voice, making him flinch. "I did come to see you that day. But I didn't go in. Do you know why?" He didn't answer. He only started to tremble, as if he already sensed that I'd seen through his lies long ago. When he stayed silent, I spoke coldly. "Because that day, outside the ward, I heard your little secret." "On our wedding night, you got me drunk on purpose, and my mother cut the power so you and Jolene could use the blackout as an excuse to sleep together." "And now she's carrying your child." "Am I wrong?" Jason froze on the spot. The two others at the door looked just as rattled. He stared at me, wide-eyed, but couldn't come up with a single excuse. It was Jolene who spoke. "Sylvia, we—it's not what you think..." She couldn't even figure out what to say next. My mother, though, suddenly went quiet and turned to leave. A sense of dread washed over me. Jason reached out and grabbed my arm. I jerked away from him. "Don't touch me!" "Sylvia, will you just listen to me?" I was about to speak when I heard the sound of glass shattering. "Auntie, stop smashing it. That's Uncle's memorial portrait—oh, don't burn it!" "Jolene, get out of the way. That bastard got off easy, dying like that and leaving me to raise his ungrateful daughter." "And she’s so damn disobedient, too." I bolted outside. The moment I saw my mother on the balcony, burning the last things my father had left behind, panic seized me. "What do you think you're doing?" "Stop it, now." In her hand was the only photo my father had left behind. If she loosened her grip even slightly, it would fall straight into the brazier. "Look how frantic you are. It just goes to show the dead are always more useful than the living." My face burned with rage, but I didn't dare rush her and snatch the photo away. One wrong move, and she'd drop it into the fire. "Why are you burning my father's things?!" "Because you don't listen to me. Because you don't know how to be a good daughter." What exactly did she expect me to do to prove I was a good, obedient daughter? Was I supposed to turn into a mindless robot, blindly doing whatever she told me? Then I remembered what Jason had said in the ward. My eyes went cold at once. "Then tell me. What do you want me to do?" "I want you to divorce Jason right now, so Jolene’s baby can be born legitimate." "Besides, I don't want people talking behind my back because of this." So this was what it was all about. She was using my father's keepsakes to force me to divorce Jason for Jolene's sake. I turned to look at Jason, who hadn't said a word this whole time. "And you? Is this what you want too?" "Sylvia, just go along with it for now. After she has the baby, we can—" I cut him off. "That won't be necessary."

"I accept your terms." Only then did my mother look pleased. I wanted my father's keepsakes back, but she was afraid I'd change my mind, so she insisted on holding them until the divorce was finalized. That night, I couldn't sleep. Jason was already spending the night at the house my mother had bought for Jolene, and now and then I could hear their voices drifting over. When morning came, he couldn't wait to come knocking and drag me to the courthouse to file the divorce papers. Once the paperwork was filed, I didn't wait for him. I just started walking, with no particular destination in mind. I don't know where I ended up. I only know that with every step, some of the weight I'd been carrying seemed to lift. When I got home, no one was there. All I saw was a fire basin full of ashes. And a photograph, more than half burned away, with part of it still intact. It was the last portrait my father had left behind. I crouched down in disbelief and, my hands trembling, the veins standing out beneath my skin, picked up the little scrap of a photo that had long gone cold. That was when I understood what it meant for your heart to turn to ash. Back in my room, I found the safe empty as well. The five hundred thousand in cash was gone without a trace. Just then, I got a call from a friend, Chelsea. "Sylvia, your mom is so biased. She didn't even blink when she bought your cousin a house." "She'd shown up with a bag containing $500,000 in cash to pay the remaining balance." "And isn't it strange—why does your husband keep his arm around Jolene?" I let out a bitter little laugh, and my friend thought I was losing my mind. I gave her a few halfhearted responses, then hung up and called a friend of mine who was a lawyer. "Suzanne, do me a favor." "I want to sue my mother. She stole three million from me to buy Jolene a house." "I won't settle. I'll fight to get every last cent back, no matter what it takes." My few sentences left Suzanne stunned. "Okay, sis, hold on. Who did you just say you wanted to sue?" "Your own mother? Are you sure?" Bitterness clogged my throat, and I couldn't find the words to answer. Suzanne heard the change in my voice and sighed. "You should have done this a long time ago." "You know what? I saw your mom, Jolene, and Jason on my way to work this morning." "It’s so weird that Jason had Jolene in his arms, the two of them all over each other, and your mother not only didn't stop them, she was even smiling as she led the way." "Chelsea told me too, before you called me— your mother handed over a bag with five hundred thousand in cash to pay the remaining balance." "Chelsea thought she was buying you a house, but she's just throwing money at your innocent-looking cousin again." "We completely understand how you feel right now, so just wait. We'll win this case for you." "So what are you going to do after this? Don't tell me you're going to keep living with that suffocating family." "I'm taking the overseas assignment. I'll be gone for three years." After a few more exchanges, we hung up. Then I saw Jolene had posted something. She'd posted several pictures—the property deed and the house. Her caption read: [So what if I don't have a mom and dad? My Auntie takes just as good care of me anyway!] "Thank you, Auntie. When I strike it rich someday, I'll never forget you." I could only wonder whether, once she struck it rich, her aunt would be the first person she'd throw away. A lot of people thought Jolene was a decent, well-bred girl. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes that day—when she grabbed a stray cat off the street and tortured it to death—I'd have been fooled too. She had the face of a sweet, obedient girl, but underneath it lurked something vicious and twisted. I can't forget that the cat was pregnant, and Jolene stomped straight on its belly. I couldn't reach it in time. I only heard it shriek in agony. And someone that cruel was supposed to be the devoted niece who would take care of my mother? I let out a derisive laugh. Jason and my mother had no idea what they were in for. I quickly packed up everything, grabbed my suitcase, and walked out the front door without looking back.