I could no longer suppress the fury in my heart. I grabbed a pillow and hurled it at her with all my strength, "Get out!"
Helen caught the pillow effortlessly, looking at me with nothing but disdain and mockery, "Why pretend to be virtuous now? You had my Mom call me to force me home, weren't you just waiting for this moment?"
The taste of blood rose in my throat and my stomach cramped painfully, but Helen didn't care at all. She climbed onto the bed and sat down on top of me.
After a day and night without food or water, crushed both mentally and physically, I had already lost the last bit of strength to resist.
But I still used all my might to push her away and softly spoke before she could explode, "Helen, the kids are gone."
She froze for a moment, then sat up and looked me over before sneering, "Hendry, I really underestimated you. You'd even joke about the kids?"
I didn't look at her, my gaze fixed on the floor, "In weather over twenty degrees below zero, you locked me in the basement and made the kids crouching in the yard all night. Do you think they could survive …"
Before I could finish, Helen got up and began putting on her clothes, "You think I'll believe that crap? I told the nanny to punish them for only half an hour. How could she dare disobey me?"
"Hendry, drop the act. It only disgusts me more." With that, she left the bedroom without a backward glance.
The loud slam of the door echoed and I finally couldn't hold back anymore. I covered my eyes with the back of my hand and broke down in sobs.
Fifteen years of secret love, five years of marriage, twenty full years, I had loved Helen for twenty years.
The first time we met, I was ten. She came to visit with her parents. Ten-year-old Helen was half a head shorter than me and I thought, this girl is beautiful, just like a princess from a fairytale.
I pestered my parents to transfer me to her school. From that day on, I became her little follower.
At eighteen, just after coming of age, she stood in front of me, "Hendry, can I like you? Don't worry, I'll treat you really well."
Eight years of silent love finally came true. I nodded without hesitation. For two years after that, she truly kept her word and treated me wonderfully.
I cherished her like a treasure, wishing I could pluck the stars from the sky for her.
At twenty, both our parents went on a hiking trip together. But only my parents and her mother came back, her father had fallen off a cliff and remained forever in that mountain forest. From that day, she hated me and my parents deeply.
When I was twenty-five, her father's company, the Bale Group, was on the brink of bankruptcy. Her mother came to my house to propose marriage, begging my parents to save the Bale Group.
I quickly agreed, even though my parents repeatedly promised that they would help the Bale Group without a marriage.
But she was the woman I had loved for fifteen years. Even knowing she hated me, I dove in headfirst without regret.
Now, however, that blind determination had vanished completely with the loss of our children.
Weeping, I called my mother-in-law, "Martha, I really have nothing left. Please, let me go."
There was no response from the other end. After a long silence, I finally heard her sigh deeply, "Alright, I'll send someone to pick you up. Come to the old house and we'll talk."
