After my husband came back from a business trip, he took me on a vacation to Hawaii.
We had just finished a swim in the infinity pool when Ethan Brooks suddenly looked at me under the sunlight and said,
“Baby, why do you look so pale?”
I froze for a second. After eight years together, it wasn’t like this was the first day he’d noticed.
I teased him with a playful smile. “What, did you see some tan beauty during your trip?”
Ethan’s body stiffened, then he laughed it off and pushed me against the pool’s edge to kiss me.
The kiss was fierce, almost punishing, and his voice carried a trace of irritation:
“Don’t joke around, baby. You know I don’t care about anyone else.”
That night, Ethan wanted me several times, each time carrying a hint of punishment.
Even after we returned home, my best friend Sophia Miller, who worked as a private investigator, teased me:
“Well, look at that glow! Looks like Ethan worked pretty hard during the trip, huh?”
But I only grabbed her hand and said, “Help me check on someone. I’m getting ready to divorce Ethan.”
“Are you sure it’s not a misunderstanding?”
We stood on the second-floor balcony of my villa, watching Ethan wave at me before getting into his car and heading to the office.
In my hand, I held a bouquet of fresh white lilies.
Sophia leaned in, inhaled their fragrance, and sighed. “He really hasn’t missed a single day.”
“Eight years, every day a different bouquet.”
“Honestly, I’ve never seen a man more romantic after marriage than him.”
I lowered my gaze and plucked a petal. “But for the past month, it’s only been lilies.”
“Sophia, you know what? That day he suddenly said I looked pale.”
“Put the two things together, and it feels… off.”
I was someone who thrived on novelty—Ethan knew that better than anyone.
That’s why he always took me to different countries, and why he paid so much attention to the flowers he sent every day.
He even spent three months abroad learning floral arrangement.
Even my parents would sigh, “Ethan really does spoil you to the heavens.”
But they also knew—I deserved it.
When I was eighteen, the Brooks family was in chaos.
The patriarch passed away, the will hadn’t been found, and the siblings fought ruthlessly among themselves.
Ethan nearly lost his life the night before his college entrance exam. I was the one who stepped in front of him and took that fatal blow.
I lay in a hospital bed for six months because of it, and in return, Ethan swore to me: “For life, for eternity, just the two of us.”
The scar on my back still ached whenever it rained.
The man who once stood at my hospital bed, eyes red with tears, promising to love me forever—
was now thoughtless enough to send me the same flowers for a whole month.
At first, I told myself he was just busy, overworked, that it was a mistake.
But now I wondered—was it really because of work?
Or… was it because another woman liked lilies?
At noon, Ethan called me on video as usual.
“Wife, I had six meetings today, I’m exhausted.”
“I don’t want to work anymore. I just want to come home and cuddle you.”
I didn’t say anything. That morning’s lilies were lying carelessly on the floor.
After eight years together, Ethan quickly noticed something was wrong.
“What’s wrong, wife? Wasn’t Hawaii fun enough? Or was today’s show not entertaining?”
I glanced at the time—1:30. On his desk, I saw some half-eaten Chinese takeout.
His mouth was still full, probably starving,
yet he immediately set down his chopsticks, noticing the flowers on the floor. His tone softened.
“Wife, did you not like today’s bouquet?”
“Oh, wait—are you upset because it’s been too many lilies lately?”
