Chapter 9

I downed the black coffee in one gulp.

The game had just begun.

I picked up my phone and dialed Chen Chengjun’s number.

The moment the call connected.

My voice instantly softened, laced with just the right amount of choked-up vulnerability.

“Honey, are you busy?”

On the other end, the background noise was loud, and Chen Chengjun’s tone was clearly impatient.

“At the office, still have some things to finish. What’s up, honey? Is something wrong?”

The term “honey,” coming from his mouth now, sounded particularly ironic.

I sniffled lightly, as if holding back tears.

“Nothing special, I just… I just really miss you. I wanted to hear your voice…”

I paused for a second, as if trying to compose myself.

“Honey, you know? These past two months, I’ve been thinking so, so much. About when we first met, how you chased me down a whole street to give me an umbrella; about our first little apartment, where even the water heater was broken, and we’d huddle together for warmth in the winter; about the first time you clumsily cooked me birthday noodles, so salty they could kill a person…”

I was trying to use sweet memories to lure this man home tonight.

After all, from what I knew of him, he responded to softness, not force.

“These past two months have been a blur for me, and I’ve only just truly realized that over these seven years, you’ve become a part of my very being. Tearing even a small piece away is agonizingly painful. I don’t want to go on like this. I don’t want to give up on the home we worked so hard to build.”

The other end of the line was silent for two seconds, clearly not expecting me to say this.

I continued my act, my voice filled with cautious hope.

My voice was a careful plea.

“Honey, I know I might not have been good enough, that I’ve made you feel tired and weary. But can we, can we give each other another chance? A chance to start over, to properly mend things?”

“This time, I’m willing to change! I’ll try my best to be a better wife! I won’t let you down again, okay?”

Chen Chengjun was clearly hesitating. His tone softened a little.

“Why… why are you suddenly saying this?”

I let out a small laugh, one that sounded both relieved and resolute.

“Honey! I’ve thought it over. I can’t keep avoiding reality. The issue of children has been a weight on our hearts. So I’ve made up my mind. I agree to do IVF!”

“Really, honey. Let’s go try. We’ll find the best hospital. No matter how hard, how painful, or how expensive the process is, I’m willing to endure it! As long as we can fulfill our dream of becoming a mom and dad, our little family will finally be complete! Right?”

I knew he would be swayed.

In the past, he had comforted me on the surface.

He’d say it didn’t matter if we didn’t have children, but he actually loved kids very much.

Whenever we passed a park and saw toddlers taking their first steps.

A flicker of light would flash in his eyes.

At family gatherings, when faced with a relative’s new baby.

He would keep his distance on the surface, but inside, he was full of envy.

More than once, when he was drunk, his consciousness blurred, he had said:

“If only we had a daughter who looked like you… that would be so nice…”

“A son would be fine too. I’d teach him how to play soccer…”

The obsession with continuing his bloodline, which he fiercely suppressed when sober, was laid bare under the influence of alcohol.

But the next day, waking up, he would deny it all.

He’d brush it off as drunken nonsense, not to be taken seriously.

This couldn’t be an excuse for his affair!

Not an excuse for him to seek solace in someone else!

And that someone else was the best friend I grew up with!

What’s more, regarding children.

I had never declared our situation hopeless!

I just felt that it was a life!

A life that we needed to nurture with love and responsibility!

It’s just that at the moment, I wasn’t truly ready to welcome that profound happiness.

It wasn’t a refusal, but caution.

Not a denial, but an anticipation.

I just naively thought that he felt the same way, that he was willing to wait a little.

Wait until we could truly face the storms of life, hand in hand, to welcome a new life.

I thought that understanding was still there, unbreakable.

I just never, ever expected!

He cheated.

My bait had been cast.

I heard his breath catch on the other end of the line. His tone completely softened. “Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

“Mmm,” I replied softly.

“Tonight, can you come home for dinner? I’ll make your favorite braised pork ribs.”

I knew he was originally supposed to meet Mei Qing tonight.

But now, he had to come back.

Because he couldn’t refuse a wife who had seen the light.

On the other end, he was silent for a few seconds before finally conceding, “Okay, I’ll be home tonight.”

Hanging up the phone, the smile on my lips vanished instantly.