All My Devotion, All for Nothing

My wife of three years, who had kept our marriage a secret, threw a welcome-home dinner for her childhood friend.

A sharp-eyed colleague noticed the wedding ring on her finger and teased, “Getting married, Ms. Jiang?”

She didn’t deny it. Instead, she exchanged a smile with Zhou Xun, then announced for everyone to hear, “Yes. Zhou Xun and I are getting engaged.”

She sent everyone a red envelope, including me.

Someone who’d had too much to drink called out, “I’ve seen Mr. Chen coming and going with Ms. Jiang these past three years. I thought they were the couple!”

I lowered my head and tightened my grip on my wineglass.

There it was in my chat with Jiang Nanxu: the same five hundred yuan she’d given everyone else. The sight made my eyes sting.

Then her voice drifted over, light and unconcerned.

“Mr. Chen is good at his job. Work is work. Romance is romance. Don’t confuse the two.”

The teasing only grew louder.

All through that dinner, everyone celebrated with her. No one knew that Jiang Nanxu and I had already been married for three years.

Our marriage was like some backroom deal that could never see the light of day.

For love, I’d gritted my teeth and held on for three years.

Now I was ready to give up.