###Chapter 3
Beside me, Anne ground her teeth, spitting out, “Damn it, I’ll help you kill that pair of dogs!”
“Forget it…”
I swallowed the tearing pain in my chest, forcing a bitter smile as I caught her fist. “Very soon, I won’t have anything to do with him anymore.”
While we soaked in the hot spring, Anne suddenly brought out a birthday cake.
“The day after tomorrow is your birthday. I thought you’d want to celebrate with your family, so I prepared it in advance.”
When she urged me to make a wish, I suddenly realized that my birthday was near. Every year, Cody had quietly prepared a birthday surprise for me. And this year?
Clutching onto an expectation I shouldn’t have, my birthday arrived in the blink of an eye.
That morning, as I went downstairs, I saw workers carrying several delicate boxes inside.
My son, Carlos, walked in front, giving instructions. "These were bought at a high price. They’re for tonight’s banquet, handle with care.”
My nose stung. So they did remember.
In the yard, Cody stepped out of a black sedan. He halted in front of me, hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, “Freya lives alone outside with no one to care for her, so I’ll bring her here to stay for a while.”
From the corner of my eye, Freya’s luxurious heels touched the ground. The smile I had not even managed to form froze at the corners of my lips.
A chill coursed through my body, and into my ears came Carlos’s voice. “To celebrate Aunt Freya’s photography award, Dad invited some guests tonight to hold a banquet for her.”
It had all been me being self-indulgent.
Things that never belonged to me, foolish fantasies, in the end, were never meant to be awaited.
I forced out a hum, swallowing back the tears that threatened to escape.
“I still have something to do, I’ll go back to my room first.”
Rushing into my room, I began packing my luggage in haste. Not another moment could I bear to stay.
The echo of high heels closed in; Freya’s voice carried arrogance and provocation.
“Karina Hawke, all these years you shamelessly clung to Cody, cherishing the trash I once discarded.”
“Oh, isn’t this the photo I threw away in high school? How did he pick it up and even print it to hang on the wall?”
“This vase wasn’t it the one we made while traveling? Our names carved beneath it—thirty years, and he still couldn’t let it go.”
“Oh my, this watch, just a twenty-dollar roadside trinket I once gave him, and he preserved it in a crystal box!”
Freya lifted her hand to her mouth, deliberately letting out a loud, mocking gasp.
I remembered, when we had first married, asking Cody where these things had come from.
“They were gifts from my parents, so I kept them.”
I had believed him. But now, that complicated look in his eyes resurfaced in my memory. What had it hidden?
It was love for her carved deep into his bones, a lifetime’s unwillingness, a desire forever out of reach.
I swallowed the bitterness in my throat, so be it. At least I no longer needed to pretend, to hope that the one who never loved me might one day look back.
A sharp pain twisted my stomach, and I collapsed, curling on the floor. The medicine box was on the bedside table; I reached for it, but Freya’s hand blocked my way.
Her voice lowered, venom dripping through my veins.
“Let me tell you, I never loved Cody.”
“Then why do you hold onto him? Why destroy my family?!” My trembling voice broke through the agony as I questioned her.
"Because I simply couldn’t bear to see you doing well. I enjoyed toying with these lapdogs in my grasp, watching Cody kneel at my feet."
"For twenty-five years, Cody hadn’t forgotten you for even a single day, yet you mocked his devotion, are you still human!?"
As rage burned in my eyes, she burst into bright laughter, her tone flaunting every word.
"What? Jealous of me? That’s right, even someone as proud as Cody spoiled me alone. Believe me, he would do even more for me."
Before I could stop her, she seized my medicine and hurled it out the window.
