Chapter 1

“Your condoms are here!” 

Charles knocked on the hotel door, his palm slick with sweat. 

Charles was working. He usually had a lot of part-time jobs: firefighter, delivery person, truck driver. He would do anything to make money.

He needed to hit $100 today ... enough to pull off the grand anniversary surprise he’d been planning for his wife. This was his tenth delivery, and he had only managed to scrape together $50. One more order, one more chance.

The door opened.

“Thanks...” a voice said.

And then the world froze. His breath caught. His heart stopped.

Standing before him, in white lingerie that clung to her still-damp skin, was Tracy. His wife.

Charles blinked, praying he was imagining things. But no. It was real. She was real. And she was standing there half-naked, her face still wet from a shower, staring at him like a ghost had appeared.

“Tracy… What the hell are you doing here? You said you had important meetings!” His voice cracked, disbelief mixing with a rising heat in his chest.

She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, someone stepped into view behind her ... a man, shirtless, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

“Oh, is it here? Did you bring the lube too?” the man said casually, like Charles was nothing more than a delivery boy.

The words hit him like a bullet. His legs weakened. 

His vision blurred.

Yes, he had been told to bring condoms along with the lube. He was happy that such clients always pay tips, not knowing his wife was the client.

His wife… the same woman who always starved him of sex because of her Buddhist discipline and practicing celibacy, who made him wait until the fifteenth of each month and dictated every position, every mood. She was here, in a hotel room, half-naked with another man… ordering condoms.

His voice trembled. “What… What is this? Tracy, what the hell is going on? Tell me it’s not what it looks like.”

Tracy suddenly smirked, her tone dripping with contempt. “It’s for our company project.” She snatched the box of condoms from his hand.

Charles’ jaw fell open. “Project? You expect me to believe that? Condoms… for a project?”

She rolled her eyes. 

“Don’t be a fool,  THis is what I hate about poor people.  Always so small-minded, always thinking dirty. That’s why you are stuck as a poor delivery man…,”.

Her words sliced through him.Before he could speak again, a small voice called from inside the room:

“Mummy… Daddy, I’m hungry.”

Charles’ body turned to stone. A boy, no older than five, appeared in the doorway, clinging to Tracy’s legs.

He looked at her and whispered, “Mummy…”

Tracy stroked the boy’s hair gently, without a flicker of shame. 

“We are coming, baby. Go wait inside.” The boy shuffled back into the room.

Then, without hesitation, she yanked the lube from Charles’ other hand, sneered at him, and said, “We will talk at home.  I will explain everything. For now… leave.”

And just like that, she closed the door in his face.

The man behind her chuckled softly before disappearing into the room.

Charles stood there, frozen in the hallway, his chest caving in, his world collapsing in silence.

The door slammed in his face, and the sound echoed inside his skull like a gunshot. Charles stood frozen in the hallway, his arms limp at his sides, his heart tearing itself apart. His chest heaved. He couldn’t breathe.

No… no, this can’t be real.

Tracy, his wife, the woman he loved, the woman he had sacrificed for, starved for, worked like a dog for...standing half-naked with another man? Smiling at him like he was the fool in all of this? And condoms?.

Condoms for a project?

His mind screamed, It’s obvious, Charles. You saw it with your own eyes. She’s cheating.

But his heart clawed desperately for another answer. No… no, not Tracy. Not my wife. She wouldn’t do this. She’s strict, she’s difficult, but she’s faithful. She has to be.

He staggered backward, pressing his hand to the wall, the hallway spinning around him. His vision blurred with hot tears he refused to let fall. His throat burned with words he couldn’t say. whose child was that.

Charles stumbled down the hallway, his heart bleeding with every step. Even at that sad moment, he had to be quick and return to work.  Or else. He would be sacked.

The rest of the day was gloomy for him. Charles wandered through his deliveries like a ghost, smiling weakly at customers who barely noticed him, forcing words out of a throat that felt strangled. He couldn't wait until the day ended. 

××××

After work,  Charles dragged himself home. To his surprise, Tracy was already there. He stared at her, waiting...desperate...for an explanation. But instead of saying anything, she stood up, grabbed her laptop, and joined a Zoom meeting.

She acted like she didn’t care. Like he hadn’t just caught her in a hotel with another man… and a child.

Charles was distracted by a surprising aroma from the dining table. Tracy had set down a warm meal for him: porridge with sides. He was shocked...he was always the one who cooked. Maybe this was her way of apologizing. Maybe there was a big explanation for what happened earlier. Or maybe… It was poison.

He waited for her to finish. After an hour, her meeting ended.

Instead of explaining, she tossed a paper onto the table.

Charles picked it up, baffled. “What? Adoption documents? For what?”

“Yeah… the kid you saw today. We’re going to adopt him,” she said simply.

“What! I saw you in a hotel with a strange man, ordering a condom!. While he is shirtless. and also a boy, and you don’t explain anything? Instead, you throw me adoption papers?” he snapped.

“Chill, Charles. Don’t overthink. That was Derek Wilson, and that is his son, Francis. We are colleagues. Nothing more than that.”

“Wait...you think I’m stupid? I saw you two in a hotel., And you say it’s nothing more than colleagues?. Also, You said you are going to a very important meeting. Is that the meeting?Also, explain that condom!.”

Tracy crossed her arms, her voice steady but sharp. “Charles, you think everything is about sex. That’s your problem. Not every condom is for sleeping around. Do you even know half of the projects I’m handling at work? We are working on a product demonstration for a health campaign ... sexual education, protection against infections, family planning. Condoms are props, nothing more. They are cheaper than medical dummies, easier to explain with, and that’s what the company asked me to handle. You really think I would risk my marriage and my life just for some fling? Stop being so narrow-minded.”

Charles couldn't help but scoff. Did that explain the man in the hotel in a towel? Truly, Tracy was a master manipulator. 

“Charles, what are you thinking? Also, why are you saying such things? You know my devotion to Buddhism. Do you really think I would go against my beliefs and teachings?” she said, her face lowered.

For a moment, he nearly believed her. But then the thought struck him...she wouldn’t even let him that close because of her Buddhist rules, except on the fifteenth. Yet that man was shirtless with her in a hotel 

“Don’t bullshit me! How could you do this? On our anniversary day!” Charles barked.

Tracy scoffed. “Ugh, well, if that’s what you think! It’s your choice anyway. Since you insult my Buddhist beliefs, don’t bother coming to me on the fifteenth anymore. We have a child now to ride on that. If it wasn’t for carrying my lineage, I wouldn’t have even slept with you!. You poor useless man, I don't even know why I married you. Not that you add value in my life!. ”

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