Chương 3 - Người Đàn Ông Đến Từ Singapore

I cried because every lonely moment of the last five years had suddenly changed meaning.

He hadn’t been unable to come home.

He had been somewhere else by choice.

The day Lily died.

My fever.

My ER visit.

My thirty-first birthday.

Christmas.

The funeral for my aunt.

Every time he said, I wish I could be there.

He could have.

He just wasn’t.

The first thing I did when I reached my apartment was call the locksmith.

The lease was mine.

I had moved there after Daniel’s supposed overseas assignment because it was closer to my new school.

He had a key.

By eight that night, he didn’t.

At ten, someone started pounding on the door.

“Claire.”

I sat on the couch and stared at it.

“Open the door.”

“No.”

“We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Please.”

“You’ve had five years to talk.”

“Things are not what you think.”

I almost smiled.

“That sentence should be printed on your tombstone.”

He lowered his voice.

“Tessa doesn’t know everything.”

“Neither did I.”

“I never stopped caring about you.”

I got up and walked closer to the door.

There was a chain, deadbolt, and brand-new lock between us.

“Then answer one question.”

“Anything.”

“If I told you right now that you had to choose, which house would you go home to?”

Silence.

I waited.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Thirty.

I closed my eyes.

“Go home, Daniel.”

“Claire.”

“She’s waiting.”

“You’re my wife.”

I looked at the door.

“Then why can’t you answer?”

He stayed outside for another fifteen minutes.

Then he left.

I developed a fever that night.

Nothing dramatic.

Stress.

Rain.

No sleep.

I called out of work for three days.

On the fourth morning, I walked into school and knew something was wrong before anybody spoke to me.

Two teachers stopped talking when I passed.

Our office manager looked at me, then quickly looked down.

Principal Harris appeared outside her office.

“Claire.”

Her voice was careful.

“Can you come in?”

Tessa was sitting inside.

Her eyes were swollen.

Her mother stood beside her.

I barely had time to process that before Tessa’s mother crossed the room and slapped me.

My head snapped sideways.

For a second, nobody moved.

Then Principal Harris shouted, “Ma’am!”

The office manager called security.

Tessa’s mother pointed at me.

“You stay away from my daughter’s husband!”

My cheek burned.

People were already gathering outside the office.

Tessa stood.

“Mom, stop.”

“You should have told me!”

“I just found out.”

Tessa looked at me.

Her face was devastated.

After the home visit, she had followed Daniel when he left their house.

She saw him come to my apartment.

She had watched him stand outside my door for nearly an hour.

Daniel had told her I was an ex-girlfriend.

According to him, I had never accepted the breakup.

For years, whenever my name appeared on his phone, he told her I was “having another emotional episode.”

I almost admired him again.

He had built two lies that protected each other.

To me, Tessa didn’t exist.

To Tessa, I was the unstable ex who refused to disappear.

She wiped her face.

“Noah loves you.”

I said nothing.

“He talks about you every day.”

“Tessa—”

“How could you do this?”

I stared at her.

“What exactly do you think I did?”

“You knew he was married.”

“No.”

“You had him at your apartment.”

“He came there.”

“You let him stay with you for years.”

“He is my husband.”

Tessa’s entire body stiffened.

Her mother laughed harshly.

“What?”

I pulled out my phone.

I had photographed our marriage certificate years ago for an insurance form.

Daniel Price.

Claire Morgan.

Marriage date.

County seal.

Certificate number.

I held it out.

“We have been married for five years.”

Tessa stared at the screen.

Then she started shaking her head.

“No.”

Her voice was small.

“No. That’s not possible.”

She grabbed her own phone.

Her hands trembled so badly she entered the passcode wrong twice.

Then she opened a photo.

Another marriage certificate.

Daniel Price.

Tessa Walker Price.

Same county.

Different date.

Seven days after Lily died.

The room went silent.

Principal Harris looked between us.

“This is not something we can resolve at school.”

Tessa whispered, “Mine is real.”

“So is mine.”

“No.”

She looked at me with genuine panic.

“Mine is real.”

Someone appeared in the doorway behind the security officer.

Daniel.

His tie was crooked.

He looked like he had driven too fast.

“Tessa.”

She spun toward him.

“Tell her.”

Daniel stopped.

“Tell her mine is real.”

He looked at me.

Then at Tessa.

Principal Harris said, “Mr. Price, I need you to understand that this situation is now disrupting school operations.”

Tessa thrust her phone toward him.

“She says she’s married to you.”

Daniel closed his eyes.

“Tessa—”

“Tell her.”

I held up my phone.

“Tell everyone.”

His face crumpled in a way I had never seen before.

Then he looked at me.

“I’m sorry, Claire.”

My chest tightened.

“What?”

“Your certificate isn’t real.”

I heard the words.