Chapter 4 Lies
It was the first time I’d ever seen Elizabeth so panicked. She looked like she was about to cry, and it was because of me. For a second, I was dazed because it almost felt like she still loved me.
But the next moment, Gideon’s wailing broke through the noise. “Mom! Dad is bleeding too. I’m scared…”
Elizabeth turned and saw Callum clutching his arm, his face twisted in pain. The glass shards had left two gashes on his forearm, and blood was running down like a faucet.
“I’ll take you to the hospital, Callum,” she said. Then, without a second’s hesitation, she left me behind, grabbed Callum, and headed for the door.
Callum stopped her and said, “Bring Mr. Thornton with us, Elizabeth. His injuries are worse.”
But Gideon’s cry followed right after. “No, Dad, I don’t like blood. Don’t bring him!”
Gideon’s face was full of fear and disgust as he looked at me, and that was enough to make Callum stop pushing the issue. Instead, he turned to Elizabeth.
She only hesitated for a few seconds before making the call. “No. Gideon gets queasy around blood. Julian can’t come. He’s a firefighter anyway. He can take care of himself. Let’s go!”
Chapter 4 Lies
And with that, Elizabeth scooped Gideon into her arms, held onto Callum’s hand, and rushed out of the restaurant without looking back.
By then, my vision was completely blurred by blood. It mixed with tears and streamed down my face in hot, sticky waves.
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Eventually, it was the restaurant owner who had someone rush. me to the ER. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything serious–just some scrapes and cuts. Once they bandaged me up, they left me to rest. But truth be told, the cuts didn’t hurt half as much as what was going on inside. My heart had already gone completely
numb.
The moment Elizabeth chose to leave me behind without a second thought, it felt like a thousand knives slicing straight through my chest, leaving nothing but a hollow, bleeding mess.
I lay in the hospital bed, numb, no longer holding out any hope for her. All I could think about was making sure these injuries didn’t stop me from deploying to the wildfire zone tomorrow.
That night, I drifted in and out of sleep, stuck somewhere between the sharp throbs of pain and sudden jolts of waking up. My phone stayed dead silent the whole time–not a single message from Elizabeth. It was as if Callum and Gideon were her whole world now, and I was just some stranger to her.
The next morning, just as the sun was barely up, Kennedy’s call
Chapter 4 Lies
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pulled me out of whatever sleep I’d managed to get. I picked up and mumbled, “Yeah, Mr. Adams?”
“Julian, are you ready?” he asked.
I replied, “Yeah, I can rejoin the team now.”
My head didn’t hurt as much as it did the night before, and I managed to get out of bed without much trouble.
As for Elizabeth? I’m done chasing someone who’s already halfway to sainthood. She lives by rules I’ll never understand, and honestly, I’m just tired.
Kennedy said, “Alright. You don’t have to rush. The wildfire is serious, but the team is still waiting on a shipment of firefighting equipment. Once the gear gets here, we head out. For now, it looks like the deployment will be in the afternoon. I’ll update you when it’s confirmed.”
When the call ended, I just stood there, stunned. I suddenly had half a day free, but no place to go.
Go home? Yeah, no. I don’t want to spend what little time I’ve got left being humiliated again.
That was when Elizabeth called. As soon as I picked up, she got straight to the point, saying, “Don’t come home for now, Julian. Gideon doesn’t like you. He said every time you show up, something bad happens to his dad or he ends up upset. He’s still a kid. Let him adjust for a while, okay?
Chapter 4 Lies
“That said, I’ve booked a hotel room for
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. I’ll have the butler send your things over. And Callum is going to be living here for the time being. He’ll be sleeping in your room, but there’s nothing going on between us. You don’t need to worry about. that.”
Elizabeth was still just informing me. Once she finished saying all that, she added, “That’s all. I have a meeting to go to. I’m hanging up now.”
Then, the line went dead before I could even get a word in. The busy tone kicked in, and something twisted painfully in my chest.
You’ve really outdone yourself, Elizabeth. First, I caught you red–handed. After that, you adopted the kid. Not long after, Callum somehow ended up living under our roof. And now? You’re kicking me out entirely. You might as well just admit the truth about you and Callum.
But no. You’re too far up on that pedestal of yours to give someone like me the truth. Doesn’t matter anymore. Let’s just pretend the last five years were a waste. I’m about to be deployed to the frontlines anyway. No point clinging to some picture–perfect dream of home and love.
After I got discharged, I went to the hotel and picked up my luggage. What I didn’t expect was for the butler to include Elizabeth’s laptop.
I guessed the butler assumed it was mine. That laptop was the anniversary gift I gave Elizabeth. I’d accidentally bought the
Chapter 4 Lies
black one instead of the white one, but she didn’t mind, and
she’d been using it ever since.
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It was her work laptop, so I hadn’t planned on touching it. But then I remembered all the pictures and videos from when we were dating. That was before she got so devoted to her beliefs. We’d had some good times then.
I figured that since I was leaving anyway, I might as well erase every trace of myself, sparing Elizabeth the eyesore.
So, I opened her laptop, intending to wipe everything clean. What I didn’t expect was for it to auto–log into her WhatsApp.
The top–pinned chat jumped out at me–it was Callum. Not only had Elizabeth pinned him, but she’d also given him a special nickname–Cal.
Just one simple name, yet it reeked of something more. And me? I texted her dozens of times a day, but there wasn’t a single sign of me in sight.
With that in mind, a sharp pang shot through my chest. I couldn’t stop myself from scrolling.
Callum was the only one Elizabeth pinned to the top. Below him were the company’s group chats, a few VPs, and some clients. Further down were chats with her Buddhist groups, fellow practitioners, and even the abbot from the temple. And me? I didn’t even make the top hundred.
When I made it to my chat box, all I saw was my username.
Chapter 4 Lies
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After five years of marriage, I hadn’t even earned the dignity of a proper contact name. What gutted me even more was that I was the only one she’d muted.
No wonder she barely replied, no matter how many messages I sent. One–word answers every few days were all I ever got. Turns out, from the very beginning, she never once saw me as someone who mattered. So, this was the marriage I thought made me happy. What a joke.
The irony of it all hit me like a punch to the gut. That innocent nickname of Callum’s turned into something monstrous, like a predator sinking its teeth in and dragging my heart straight to the bottom of the sea. The pain was brutal, the cold unbearable. I was drowning in it.
I wanted to stop looking, but just then, Elizabeth’s WhatsApp pinged again. It was from Callum.
He’d sent a dozen photos of him and Elizabeth at school with Gideon, participating in some fun family day event.
The first photo showed Elizabeth, Callum, and Gideon in matching family outfits, holding hands and smiling like the perfect picture of happiness.
The second one had her and Callum standing
shoulder–to–shoulder, their bodies pressed close as they lifted Gideon up together to pop a balloon.
In the third photo, Gideon held out a little cookie, and both Elizabeth and Callum leaned in to take a bite–lips barely a
Chapter 4 Lies breath apart.
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Each new photo was more intimate than the last, and by the end of it, my chest ached so badly I could barely breathe. I had never seen Elizabeth, usually so cold and aloof, look so carefree, so
alive.
I looked closer and noticed that there was a timestamp watermarked on the bottom right corner–those pictures were taken just ten minutes ago. I laughed, but it came out cracked
and hollow.
So that’s why she wouldn’t let me come home. She was afraid I’d find out. Elizabeth, you told me you were stuck in a meeting at work. Didn’t you say that those who walk the spiritual path don’t lie? Then why is our marriage built on nothing but lies?
