The two of them didn’t react and once again, I was forced to watch another live sex show.
Numb, I walked out of the bedroom. Aiden ran to me and wrapped his little arms around my legs, whispering helplessly, “Mom, don’t cry. Aiden doesn’t hurt anymore… it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
But when I pulled him into my arms, my sobs only grew louder.
A crushing sorrow engulfed me, shaking my whole body as I wept.
My son. My five-year-old son…
The sounds from the bedroom slowly quieted and then came a sudden knock at the door.
Freddie stepped out, quickly shutting the bedroom door behind him. His face remained composed, but his movements were sloppy, disordered.
For the first time in my life, I looked at him with nothing but hatred.
When he opened the front door, several people bustled in, their arms full of bags and packages.
Both Freddie and I froze.
A young man in a hooded sweatshirt strode inside, grumbling, “Freddie, what are you and your wife doing? We agreed to have dinner together and then go watch the fireworks, but neither of you answered your phones.”
A woman with a head full of big curls followed, her arms stacked with dessert boxes. She scolded angrily, “That stupid girl Emma didn’t reply to my messages or pick up my calls. Unless you two were fighting all night, I swear I’m going to give her a good scolding. Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”
Behind her came a quiet young man who simply patted her on the head in comfort, saying nothing.
I glanced at the foods they carried and suddenly it hit me—I had a date tonight.
These three were our childhood friends. Freddie and I had grown up with them.
Because Freddie and I had been locked in a cold war these past few days, I had planned to use the fireworks show as a chance to reconcile. But since I was never good at taking the initiative, I feared it would be too awkward alone—so I invited them along.
Ricky Dominic, the hoodie-wearing jokester. Meggy Robbie, the fiery curly-haired woman. Adam Grint, the quiet one.
Their names flickered through my mind one by one and strangely, a sense of calm settled over me.
Meggy set down her boxes and turned to Freddie. “Hey, why are you here alone? Where’s Emma? And the two kids?”
That jolted him back to reality.
His face, unnervingly steady, betrayed no trace of guilt.
“They’re still sleeping,” he replied smoothly.
“It’s this late and they’re still asleep?”
Ricky chuckled. “A bunch of sleep gods.”
But when Freddie shot him a warning look, he shut his mouth.
“You guys should just find a club to hang out at,” Freddie added evenly. “We’ll meet you once Emma and the kids wake up.”
His tone was calm, his lie effortless—without even a blink.
“Alright, alright,” Ricky said, getting up from the sofa with a grin. “We know you dote on your wife, so of course we wouldn’t dare disturb her beauty sleep.”
He let out an exaggerated sigh. “But honestly, you’ve been feeding us dog food for more than a decade now. Don’t you two ever get tired of showing off your love?”
None of them suspected a thing.
Because for years, Freddie’s love for me had been real—tangible, overflowing like water, so natural he hadn’t even noticed it himself.
But no one knew his heart had changed.
Meggy rolled her eyes and rose from the sofa as well. “You should’ve told us earlier. Don’t just disappear like that next time. I was anxious all the way here. And then I saw the police investigating a robbery on the roadside. They said the victim was a mother with a son and a daughter. I nearly had a heart attack.”
They kept complaining as they headed toward the door.
Only Freddie stood frozen in place.
Ricky glanced back at him and laughed. “Freddie, come on, don’t be rude. Aren’t you going to see us out?”
Freddie swallowed hard. “What robbery case did you just mention?”
Meggy opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Freddie’s face drained of color in an instant. His hands trembled as he frantically dialed my number again.
