He Came Home Late Again

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Ever since I caught Lucas cheating on me.

The first thing he did every day when he came home was get pressed down on the sofa by me, pants pulled down, while I frantically sprayed high-concentration alcohol on his privates for disinfection.

Lucas, feeling guilty, would always cooperate gently with reddened eyes, coaxing me tenderly not to make a fuss.

But today he came home a full two hours late.

The moment I smelled the perfume on him, I went crazy again, desperately tearing at his belt.

"Last time you came back half an hour late, you'd slept with one woman! Today you're two hours late---tell me! Did you sleep with four women out there?"

After apologizing to me for the 29th time and being pushed away again, he finally broke down and roared at me.

"Enough! I have a high fever and I'm dying, and you don't even ask! How much longer are you going to act crazy every single day?"

"So I got drunk and slept with someone once---do you think you're so clean yourself?"

"You were dragged into that alley at sixteen and stripped naked and violated! Sophia, a paranoid crazy woman like you deserves it!"

The alcohol bottle dropped to the floor, the pungent smell choking away my voice.

Looking at his disgusted eyes, I suddenly felt tired.

Fine. This relationship full of holes---I don't want it anymore.

The living room was deathly silent.

The door wasn't fully closed. The two buddies who'd brought Lucas home stood awkwardly behind him, trying to smooth things over with embarrassed expressions.

"Lucas is really delirious from the fever today. He didn't mean to snap at you."

"Besides, you torture him with alcohol every day---who could stand that? Just let it go."

"Yeah, that drunken incident... he cut it off completely a long time ago."

At the mention of that incident, violent nausea surged in my stomach.

When I was sixteen, I was dragged into a pitch-black alley by my stepbrother and some of his lowlife friends.

When my clothes were being torn, it was eighteen-year-old Lucas who drove them away with reddened eyes, smashing them with bricks.

He took off his school uniform jacket and wrapped it tightly around my trembling body.

He cried even louder than I did while holding me. He said, "Sophia, don't be afraid. If anyone dares touch you, I'll kill them."

Because of that nightmare, after marriage I was extremely resistant to intimacy. Being touched made my whole body tremble.

Back then, Lucas would always hold me over and over, gently kissing my forehead.

"Don't be afraid, Sophia. It's okay. No matter how long it takes, I'm willing to wait for you."

I always thought he was my salvation, pulling me out of hell.

Until six months ago when his stomach problems flared up, and I went to the rescue station late at night to bring him medicine.

I saw with my own eyes as he pressed the new psychological counselor onto the sofa, kissing her frantically.

He was buried in the woman's neck, panting heavily, his movements showing a fervor and loss of control he'd never shown with me.

The woman's black lace lingerie was brazenly hanging on his rescue uniform---the one that symbolized honor.

When I caught them in the act, he knelt down with reddened eyes, swearing he was just drunk and mistook her for someone else.

Twelve whole years.

I always thought he was my salvation, pulling me out of hell.

I never expected that the person who pulled me from the abyss had pushed me into another one.

As my thoughts returned to the present, Lucas seemed to sober up a bit too. He stepped forward, trying to grab my hand.

"Sophia, I'm sorry. I was so angry I spoke nonsense. I really do have a fever, my head hurts so much..."

He approached softly, his face full of remorse.

I stepped back, avoiding his outstretched hand.

"Go rest."

Lucas's hand froze in mid-air.

His brow furrowed tightly. He seemed anxious and wanted to come closer.

"Sophia, let me explain..."

"I'm tired."

I cut him off, turned and walked into the guest bedroom, locking the door behind me.

Through the door, I heard his two buddies help him into the master bedroom, quietly reassuring him that since there was no fight, it was all settled.

Settled?

I leaned against the door and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

It wasn't settled. It was just that this book torn to shreds---I didn't want to turn its pages anymore.

Early the next morning, while Lucas was still unconscious, I left with an insulated food container.

Even though this marriage was riddled with holes, I still went to City Central Hospital.

My mother-in-law had been hospitalized for severe kidney failure for half a year, relying entirely on my round-the-clock care.

Consider it one last act of filial duty, a way to draw a final line under twelve years of feelings.

When I pushed open the hospital room door, my mother-in-law was praising me to the family member of another patient.

"I've been sick and it's all thanks to Sophia. She's been more devoted than my own daughter would be."

Seeing me arrive, she beamed with joy and quickly told me to sit down and rest.

I ladled out the fish soup I'd been simmering all night and placed it in her hands.

"Martha, Lucas had a fever last night. I need to go back and check on him in a bit."

My mother-in-law, Martha, was holding the bowl, drinking soup, when the phone propped on the small table for watching videos suddenly rang.

It was a SnapChat video call notification. The name "Bella" flashed on the screen.

My mother-in-law's hands were covered in soup, making it inconvenient to pick up, so she gestured with her chin.

"Sophia dear, help me answer it."

Without thinking much, I reached out and swiped the green answer button.

When I saw that familiar young face, my expression froze.

It was the woman who had been naked and entwined with Lucas six months ago after he got drunk---Bella White.

In the video, she was holding a little boy who looked about three years old.

The boy called sweetly toward the camera: "Grandma! Look at the car Daddy bought me!"

Bella, on the other hand, spoke with a coquettish complaint toward the screen.

"Martha, Lucas drank too much here last night and got a fever, so I let him sleep in a bit longer."

"That crazy woman didn't go nuts and torment him again because Lucas came home late, did she?"

The air in the hospital room became deathly silent in that instant.

My mother-in-law was so startled she trembled, and the scalding fish soup splashed all over the blanket.

"Soph... Sophia! Let me explain!"

Ignoring her burns, she lunged forward trying to grab the phone.

I stepped back, staring fixedly at the child on the screen who bore such a striking resemblance to Lucas. I felt cold all over, trembling.

"Cousin? This is the cousin you told me about?"

Caught red-handed, my mother-in-law sighed and simply stopped pretending.

She grabbed my hand, speaking earnestly, her face full of pity and helplessness.

"Sophia, don't blame Lucas for keeping this from you. Bella has been so accommodating these four years, never once asking for status."

Four years ago?

My head buzzed, my insides twisting together so painfully I couldn't breathe.

So this woman's existence... wasn't just a drunken accident from six months ago?

My mother-in-law gently patted the back of my hand, speaking softly and persuasively.

"I've watched you grow up, and I do care about you. But you have to think about Lucas too."

"You went through that kind of trauma. You won't let him touch you even once every ten days or half a month. He's a hot-blooded, normal man."

"You can't expect him to be a monk his whole life because of your little problem, can you?"

"Bella said the child can still call you Auntie. You're still the legitimate wife of the family."

"Nothing changes. Bella will never disturb you two. Isn't that good?"

My legs gave out instantly, and I collapsed into the chair behind me.

I didn't catch another word my mother-in-law said after that.

Memories and reality tore at each other in my head, literally ripping me in half.

Four years.

Every time Lucas went on a rescue mission to another city, he would stay on voice calls with me all night.

He said he knew I had no sense of security, that I was afraid of the dark, and that hearing his breathing would help me sleep.

Once he was in danger at a disaster site. Even risking his life to dig out a backup battery, he still had to report to me all night.

But I never imagined that what I thought was ultimate devotion was just a scam.

Every all-night phone call he made to comfort me---was Bella White lying beside him?

Was that child even sleeping next to him?

While lying together with another woman and child, he coaxed me---the clueless fool---on the phone.

A tremendous sense of absurdity drowned me.

I stood up, no longer acknowledging my mother-in-law, and stumbled out of the hospital room.

Since the "perfect ending" in everyone's eyes didn't include me, then I'd just give up my position as wife.

The next day, I took leave and packed my things at home.

There wasn't much. Taking a few changes of clothes and documents was enough.

The doorbell suddenly rang.

Thinking it was the courier delivering the divorce agreement via express, I opened the door and froze.

Standing outside was Bella White.

She wore a pure white cashmere coat, holding the hand of the boy from the video.

I gripped the doorknob so tightly my knuckles turned white.

"Sophia, won't you invite me in to sit?"

The woman looked at my pale face, unconcealed triumph on her own.

"We didn't make things clear in the video earlier, so I specially brought Harrison to see you."

She deliberately pushed the child forward, her movements full of showing off.

"Harrison's about to start kindergarten. Lucas feels bad that the child doesn't have a complete family."

"He said Harrison is the eldest son of the family. He wants me to bring the child and officially move in here."

Looking at that child who resembled Lucas seventy percent, my stomach churned violently.

"Get out!"

Red-eyed, I pointed toward the elevator, roaring.

"Take your bastard and get out of my house!"

I was about to slam the door shut, not wanting to look at them another second.

But Bella suddenly reached out her hand, jamming it firmly in the doorway.

She leaned close to my ear, lowering her voice, letting out a contemptuous laugh.

"Sophia, why are you acting so high and mighty? Do you think Lucas really loves you?"

"He told me himself---every time he lies in the same bed with you, he has to take sleeping pills just to suppress his nausea."

"Every time he touches you, his mind is full of images of those thugs riding on top of you back then."

She stared into my eyes, closing in step by step.

"He also said you're so dirty. He can only release himself with me. Because only a clean body like mine makes him feel anything."

The thread I'd been desperately holding onto in my mind completely snapped in that second.

The nightmare from when I was sixteen---I'd spent twelve whole years trying to heal from it.

And he actually turned it into pillow talk, sharing it with his mistress!

"How dare you bring that up---!"

I screamed out of control, raising my hand and using every ounce of strength in my body.

I slapped Bella hard across the face.

"Smack!"

An extremely crisp sound.

Bella staggered from the blow, her forehead hitting hard against the corner of the entryway shoe cabinet.

Blood immediately flowed down.

The child beside her burst into wailing tears.

Bella covered her bleeding forehead, scrambling backward on all fours.

"Crazy woman! You're a psycho! Just you wait!"

She scooped up the child and stumbled into the elevator.

I slid down the doorframe powerlessly, collapsing to the floor. Closing my eyes, I felt some coolness seep into my hair.

After making up my mind, I pulled out the ultrasound report I'd been anticipating for half a year from under the table and tore it to shreds.

What was supposed to be a surprise gift for Lucas now felt like a slap across my face, burning with pain.

Half an hour later, the lawyer delivered the documents. I signed them and placed the divorce agreement right in the center of the table.

Outside, pouring rain began to fall, thunder rumbling.

I pulled my suitcase, preparing to leave.

Just then---BANG!

Lucas kicked the door open from outside.

Before I could react, veins bulging on his forehead, he rushed up and grabbed me by the throat.

"Sophia! Where did you take Harrison?!"

I was being choked, unable to breathe, desperately slapping at his hands:

"Cough... what Harrison..."

Lucas furiously flung me aside and kicked the table over with one foot.

"Bella already told me! You attacked her like a madwoman this afternoon!"

"She just took the child to the pharmacy to bandage her wound, and when she turned around, Harrison was gone!"

"Besides you, who else would kidnap a three-year-old child?!"

I coughed violently, looking at the enraged man before me in disbelief.

"I haven't even left the house! Lucas, are you insane?!"

"You're the one who's insane!"

Lucas was so frantic his eyes were bloodshot, pointing at my nose and roaring.

"You've been spraying me with alcohol every day for half a year---your mind is already twisted! Now you won't even spare an innocent child!"

"Call back whoever you hired right now!"

I gritted my teeth and stepped back: "I told you I haven't seen him! If you can't stand it, then get a divorce!"

I turned to grab the divorce agreement on the table.

"Don't even think about going anywhere until you tell me where the child is!"

Lucas suddenly grabbed my collar from behind.

A ripping sound.

The tremendous force directly tore my shirt dress, buttons scattering across the floor.

My naked body was exposed to the air.

Before I could react, he seized my wrist and dragged me toward the bathroom like hauling a criminal.

"Lucas, what are you doing! Let me go!"

I screamed in terror.

The hands of those men in the alley when I was sixteen and Lucas's hands completely overlapped in this moment.

"If you won't hand over the child, I have to make you wake up today!"

He kicked open the bathroom door and threw me bodily into the ice-cold bathtub.

"SPLASH---"

He turned on the showerhead, and icy, bone-chilling cold water came pouring down on my head.

"Cough cough... help..."

I struggled violently, choking on water, trying to climb out of the tub.

Lucas pulled his belt from his waist, twisted my hands behind my back, and tied them tightly to the metal handrail of the bathtub.

I twisted my body frantically, trembling violently in the ice water.

Lucas turned around and pulled out that large container of high-concentration disinfectant alcohol from under the sink.

He unscrewed the cap and poured the pungent alcohol directly over me from above.

"Don't you love tormenting people with alcohol? Talk! Where is the child!"

The intense alcohol fumes instantly robbed me of oxygen, my eyes stinging with pain.

But Lucas didn't care at all. He pressed my head forcefully into the disinfectant water in the bathtub.

I choked until I could only make a few garbled sounds, my stomach cramping violently.

"It hurts..."

Before I finished speaking, my lower abdomen suddenly sent out an extremely sharp, knife-like pain.

Then a warm liquid flowed down my inner thigh.

That warmth merged into the icy bathwater, instantly blooming into a shocking red.

I stared blankly at the blood blossoming in the water, forgetting to struggle.

Just then, the phone he'd tossed on the sink counter rang.

After seeing the caller ID, he paused before answering.

On the other end, a police officer's voice came through, tinged with some exasperation:

"Is this Mr. Lucas? The child isn't missing!"

"The little guy ran to the top floor of the mall to play on the slide by himself. When we found him, he was eating ice cream."

"Parents don't watch their own kid properly, then claim it's a deliberate kidnapping and murder plot. Isn't this a waste of police resources?"

In an instant, only the sound of water from the showerhead remained in the bathroom.

CLANG.

Lucas's phone and the alcohol container both crashed to the floor simultaneously.

He whipped around, his face instantly turning deathly pale!