When Love Is Gone

I used to be a renowned reporter at the height of my career, but I gave it up to become a stay-at-home dad so I could support my wife, Sarah, in her rising career as a news anchor. Things went downhill fast after our daughter was born. Sarah constantly forgot to pick up formula and neglected our baby, and I kept finding evidence of her ongoing affair with her colleague, Mark. When I went back to the station to apply for my old job, Mark went out of his way to humiliate me. Even when our daughter ended up in the emergency room, Mark did everything he could to make things difficult for us. That was the last straw, and I decided to strike back. During a live broadcast, I exposed their affair to the public with irrefutable evidence. I tendered my resignation to the news director on the spot and immediately took a job at a rival network to start fresh. My new show focused on helping people who had gone through similar betrayals, and my career took off once again. Out of nowhere, Sarah's mother reached out to tell me that Sarah was critically ill. I went to the hospital to visit her, where a tearful Sarah expressed regret for everything she had done. I thought that chapter of my life was finally closed for good, but not long after, I heard a piece of news that turned everything upside down… Chapter 1 I put on my raincoat and rushed out into the pouring rain under Sarah Higgins’s surprised gaze. I hurried over to the neighborhood mail delivery hub and read my package number to the guy running the counter. The guy’s expression was terrible. He yanked the box of formula from the bottom shelf and slammed it right onto my foot. Pain shot up my leg as my ankle instantly swelled up, going red and numb. “What’s your problem?” I glared at him in confusion. Instead of backing down, the guy grew even more agitated, shaking his fists as he cursed at me. “Were you the one who chewed me out on the phone last night? Are you out of your mind? “I called your wife several times yesterday afternoon, urging her to pick up her package, but she ignored all my calls! Then at midnight, you call me a home-wrecker, accusing me of seducing your woman?” I froze, and color drained from my face. I had long promised my news anchor wife that if she were willing to sacrifice her career to have a child, I would take full responsibility for raising our baby. So last night at midnight, while our daughter Lily was fussing, I was busy trying to soothe her to sleep. How could I have called the guy to chew him out? I remembered pacing around the living room, cradling our ten-pound baby in my arms, which were so sore they barely felt like my own. I called Sarah several times, hoping she would come home to help me calm Lily down, but she hung up on me every time. A little while later, she sent me a quick text saying she was “working overtime.” However, as it turned out, she was with Mark Fisher, her colleague, the whole time. I let out a bitter smile. After apologizing sincerely to the guy, I clutched the box of formula and limped back home. In the pouring rain, my phone rang. It was Sarah calling. She sounded impatient as she questioned me. “We agreed that I’d give birth and you’d handle the raising! Why aren’t you at home taking care of the baby? Where did you run off to again? Lily has been crying non-stop. How do you call yourself a father?” I clenched my teeth and stayed silent. “Say something! You’ve only been without a job for six months. Did the famous Harry Baker suddenly go mute?” “I’m picking up the package.” Hearing my answer, she went quiet for a few seconds before saying coldly, “How was I supposed to know what you were up to when you didn’t say a word? Forget it, it’s raining heavily out there. I’ll come down to get you.” I looked down at my swollen, bruised ankle and turned her down. “It’s fine. Don’t you know a baby can’t be left unattended? It’s dangerous.” Before I could even finish my sentence, she hung up. When I dragged myself home looking bedraggled, Sarah was on a video call with Mark. He was asking her if wearing a white semi-sheer shirt for tomorrow’s outdoor shoot at the park would make him look good. He chatted away while trying on clothes right in front of the camera. By the time he took off his jeans, he was left wearing nothing but his underwear. Then, I heard Sarah call him “her star” and felt a lump in my throat. Chapter 2 Back when we covered breaking news and shot on location together, she fondly called me her star, saying I would always be the guiding light of her life. Yet now, in less than a decade, every vow had turned into a lie. Before I even had a chance to make Lily a bottle, she rolled over and nearly tumbled off the sofa. I lunged forward and caught her just in time, but the sudden move startled Sarah. “Harry! Do you have to spy on me all the time? Don’t you get sick of it?” When she turned around and saw Lily nearly hitting the floor and my swollen, sprained ankle, she instantly went silent. Mark’s provocative voice echoed through the phone speakers. “Come on, Harry, you used to be a star reporter yourself. Don’t you know how to respect people’s privacy? I’m not even fully dressed here!” I sneered. So he knew he shouldn’t be seen looking like that. “Let me give you a piece of advice,” Mark continued. “A woman is like sand in your palm. The tighter you squeeze, the faster she slips away.” Empowered by Mark’s backing, Sarah suddenly found her courage again. “Harry, you know how angry I can get. If you ever spy on me again–” I cut her off indifferently. “Don’t worry, it will never happen again.” I had resolved to get a divorce. How could there possibly be a next time? “Come to the station tomorrow at ten,” Sarah said. “I’ll take you to see the director to apply for your return to work.” I knew this was her way of making it up to me for not starting a fight. Coincidentally, I had a few things I wanted to say to the news director as well, so I agreed. The next morning, my mother-in-law picked up Lily to take care of her, and I arrived at the station building by nine-thirty. Since I didn’t have a keycard, I had to wait for Sarah to return from her field shoot to bring me upstairs. However, she didn’t pick up any of my calls. I gave a self-deprecating laugh. There was a time when she used to answer my calls on the first ring. I couldn’t even pinpoint when she began taking forever to pick up or simply declining my calls altogether. Perhaps she thought a stay-at-home dad couldn’t possibly have anything important to say. Or perhaps only Mark was on her mind. After I waited downstairs for a full hour, Sarah and Mark finally appeared. His blue tie matched the blue scarf around her neck, a subtle, unspoken sign of their secret intimacy. I glanced sideways, catching my reflection in the glass wall: unkempt and with stubble covering my face. I couldn’t help but frown at the sight. While I was lost in thought, the two of them walked into the building, laughing and chatting. Still without a keycard, I anxiously dialed Sarah’s phone again, only to be rejected once more. Mark turned to ask her, “Who is it?” Sarah gently smoothed down a strand of Mark’s hair that had been ruffled by the wind, smiling as she replied, “It’s just a scam call.” I stood outside in the freezing wind for a long time before a familiar former colleague finally bumped into me and brought me upstairs. When I met with the news director, he expressed his regrets. The show I used to host before taking my long sabbatical—a program dedicated to helping abused women and children—had been taken over by Mark. Worst of all, the audience now only recognized Mark as the face of the show. He even subtly suggested I needed to fix up my personal appearance before he could assign me any new work. I forced a smile on my face. Underneath my sleeves, however, my fists were clenched, and the veins were bulging on my forearms. Feeling disconsolate, I walked into the recording studio, where Sarah and Mark had just finished broadcasting a news segment about domestic violence. Mark had delivered his commentary with such emotion that his eyes reddened with tears. Even the crew at the control board were visibly moved. Sarah stared at his profile, with a mix of adoration and tenderness. However, when Sarah turned her head and saw me, her delicate brows instantly furrowed into a tight knot. “What are you doing here?” Before I could speak, Mark strode over and offered me a casual smile. “Hey, Harry, long time no see. How did you age so fast?” As Sarah walked over, Mark naturally slid his arm around her waist. He glanced at me with disgust and added, “Even if you’re just a stay-at-home dad taking care of a kid, you should groom yourself better to avoid grossing people out.” Chapter 3 “The audience says they hope I take over your show permanently. They find me much more attractive to look at,” Mark said. My eyes swept over his bespoke suit and the expensive brooch pinned to his lapel. A sudden, numbing pain pierced my heart. I had seen all those items sitting in Sarah’s online shopping cart, each meticulously handpicked by her. As my mind drifted, Mark pulled a bottle of cologne from his bag and held it out to me. “Sarah always says that a pleasant scent is a basic mark of a gentleman. Just smell yourself. You smell of spoiled milk. “Here, you can have this cologne. Sarah’s bought me so many anyway. Consider it my thanks for handing your show over to me.” Before I could refuse, Sarah snatched the cologne and shoved it back into his bag. “He doesn’t use stuff like this. You keep it.” I looked down at the milk stains on the hem of my shirt, a bitter feeling swelling inside me. Once upon a time, I was a glowing, renowned news reporter who loved high-end fashion and style. Yet back then, Sarah would complain that fine accessories might scratch her or that cologne gave her a headache. In her eyes, only a cool, handsome man like Mark deserved the finer things in life. Meanwhile, I was nothing more than the caretaker trapped at home, raising the baby and running the household. Mark smiled triumphantly, then gasped in deliberate surprise. “Wow, Sarah! You got pain au chocolat! You bought these for me back when we were covering that news story in the South, and I’ve craved them ever since.” He shot me another mocking glance. “What a shame, though. Harry is allergic to chocolate, so he won’t get to enjoy them.” Sarah smiled at him. “As long as you enjoy them, that’s all that matters.” Only after that did she seem to remember I was standing there, and she squinted her eyes as she looked over at me. It was strange. Usually, I would’ve been consumed with jealousy over her interactions with Mark, but today, I stood there in complete silence. Clearing her throat, Sarah said to me, “Harry, I ordered almond croissants on the delivery app for you since you like them. That should keep you satisfied, right?” The corner of my lips twitched into a self-deprecating smile. “It’s fine. I’ve eaten.” Sarah has probably forgotten that when I was rushed to the emergency room due to a serious allergy, she cried her eyes out right outside the door. Hearing my refusal, Sarah sneered sarcastically. “I give you an inch, and you take a mile, huh? Unemployed men sure love to overthink everything. Mark and I both have real jobs to worry about. We don’t have time to deal with your pathetic drama!” With that, she turned on her heel and walked away with Mark, who cast a triumphant look over his shoulder at me. Surrounding colleagues quickly averted their eyes, trying to spare me the humiliation, because every one of them remembered the truth. The prime-time show that Sarah and Mark now co-hosted was the very show I had willingly handed over to them when I kept my promise to step back, be a stay-at-home dad, and take care of the baby. Forcing myself to stay composed, I walked out the front door and immediately called my lawyer, getting him to draft two copies of the divorce papers. When I arrived home alone, I noticed that Sarah’s messaging account was still logged in on my tablet. I had never checked her phone before out of trust, but now, remembering the lawyer’s advice, I turned on the screen recorder. Six months ago… Waiting: [It’s not that I don’t love you. I just can’t accept a third person in our relationship, even if it’s a child.] Sarah: [Say no more. I understand. You’re a free-spirited bird. How could you be trapped at home raising a child? Once Harry takes a sabbatical to stay home and raise the baby, that prime-time show will be ours.] Waiting: [Baby, I love you.] Two days ago… Waiting: [When are you planning to bring up the divorce with him?] Sarah: [Soon. Relax, babe.] Waiting: [How can I relax? We agreed at the start that you’d slip him sleeping pills so he’d miss the late-night feedings and feel guilty, and then you’d use that chance to demand a divorce! But you’ve been dragging it out. Once the kid gets older, she’ll start recognizing her mother. How are we supposed to fly off together then?] Chapter 4 Later, “Waiting” sent a sixty-second voice note, but I didn’t play it. I slammed my laptop shut and rushed over to the toilet, vomiting until there was nothing left. I thought my heart had long gone numb to the pain, yet it still felt like it was being torn open by a blade. I never used to understand why Sarah had a contact named “Waiting.” Now, I finally knew. She was waiting for me to divorce me and marry Mark. My heart felt crushed. It wasn’t that I was unfit to be a father at all; Sarah was simply looking for a scapegoat to justify her own infidelity! While I was still covered in filth, my mother-in-law called in a panic, saying that Lily had a fever. There was no time for sorrow. I threw on a clean shirt as fast as I could and rushed over to pick up Lily for a doctor’s visit. By the time I arrived at the hospital, Lily was already lethargic from the high fever. However, there wasn’t a single bed available in the emergency room. I burst inside, only to see Mark posing for photos and shooting a video where he was visiting underprivileged children, occupying every single emergency bed. I pleaded with Mark for help, but he sneered and turned me down outright. “This is the show Sarah is working on! We have a hundred thousand viewers watching nationwide right now. Do you really expect us to give up a bed for your kid alone? Where are your professional ethics as a reporter?” Looking at Lily’s flushed, feverish little face, I begged the doctor to save her. As the doctor hesitated nervously under the camera lens, Mark—wearing spotless leather shoes—stepped just out of the frame. He closed the door to the emergency room, brought his shoe down, and ground his heel right onto the palm of my hand. “Ah!” The excruciating pain made me scream. “Useless trash! You couldn’t beat me in getting stories, you couldn’t keep your woman from me, and now you’re using this little bastard to play the pity card?” As he spoke, he raised his foot and kicked the six-month-old Lily in my arms! I instinctively shielded the baby tightly against my chest. Mark’s foot slammed right into my chest over my heart, and I couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan. Suddenly, the door opened wide. “Harry, what on earth are you doing lying on the ground with Lily?” Sarah asked in disbelief, freezing Mark dead in his tracks. Mark’s eyes flickered, and he instantly switched to make himself look like the victim. “Sarah, I’m so sorry. I was just filming the charity promotional video with the orphans, but Harry came in here with Lily to cause a scene and stop me from visiting the kids. “I knew this was your show, so I didn’t want to argue with Harry. I didn’t think he’d disregard the child’s health and set her right down on the floor? You know how I am. I just can’t bear to see children suffer…” Sarah’s face grew grimmer by the second, her initial hesitation shifting into a burning rage. “Harry! What kind of father are you? How could you put a six-month-old baby on the floor?” Gasping for air after taking that hard hit to the chest, I couldn’t utter a single word. I could only raise my hands with all my strength, trembling as I held our child up toward Sarah. Mark quickly stepped between us, wearing a worried look. “The children from the orphanage and the camera crew have been waiting for ages. My ankle was already swollen and throbbing today, and if it weren’t for our show, I would’ve given up and laid down long ago…” His words made Sarah’s gaze turn cold. “Stooping so low as to use our child to play the victim? You really do have no limits! Mark and I are taking care of orphans, yet you’re doing everything you can to sabotage us! Come on, let’s head back inside and keep shooting. As long as we don’t fall for his sob story, he’ll eventually take the child back home.” With that, Sarah ushered Mark—who was faking an ankle injury—back into the emergency room and slammed the door shut. For some reason, as Sarah watched Mark recite his lines according to the script for visiting the orphans, she felt strangely uneasy. Yet the moment she remembered me using Lily’s supposed illness to put on a show, she pushed that unsettling feeling aside. Chapter 5 Standing outside the door, I touched Lily’s forehead, which was growing hotter by the minute, and begged the nurse with a hoarse voice, “Please save my daughter…” The nurse took pity on us and, ten minutes later, knocked on the emergency room door again. “Please come look at the child outside. She’s burning up so bad she can’t even cry anymore.” Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly followed the nurse outside the emergency room, and when she saw me on the floor, unable to get up, her expression turned somber. Sarah took Lily into her arms and, startled by her heat, called urgently for a doctor. Turning back, she lectured me sternly, “If you hadn’t used Lily to make a scene, how could she have caught a cold and gotten a fever?” Watching Lily being taken into the emergency room, I finally couldn’t hold on any longer and passed out. I lay in bed in a daze for two days, my body cycling between cold and burning hot. A few times, I felt my soul leave my body, floating upward as I stared down at my pale self lying on the bed. I couldn’t help but wonder what this relationship had ever brought me. On the third day, I finally opened my eyes. Sarah was sitting by my bed, and when she saw me wake up, a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Harry, you’re finally awake. Lily’s fever has gone down. I might have… misunderstood you. My mom told me everything. Lily was already running a fever before you rushed her to the emergency room.” She leaned down, wanting to kiss my lips, but I dodged her. She froze, and her voice turned cold. “Because of your willful behavior, you’ve caused major trouble for Mark and me. Now everyone out there is spreading rumors that Mark is a homewrecker, and that I… cheated. Our segment helps women, so this puts us in an extremely bad position. “As a party involved, you should clear things up in person. Once this matter is behind us, the three of us will live happily together as a family. What do you say?” I thought I’d feel so heartbroken that I wouldn’t be able to breathe. However, after sleeping for three days, it felt as though the old me had died. At this moment, my heart was surprisingly calm. I looked up at her for two seconds, and then smiled as I spoke my first word in three days. “Sure.” Sarah was stunned, as if she hadn’t expected me to agree so readily. Her tone turned somewhat awkward, and she deliberately said with a hint of resentment, “Good. Then people won’t think I’m picking on you!” On the day of the special broadcast for clearing up the rumors, Mark wore a simple white outfit, his face deliberately made up to look exhausted and pale. He and Sarah sat on the same sofa as co-hosts of the show, while I, as a guest, sat opposite them. This setup naturally split us into opposing sides. I found it so funny that they had invited me here to prove how deeply Sarah and I loved each other as husband and wife. As soon as the live broadcast began, Mark lamented in front of the camera how deeply misunderstood he was and how difficult it had been for him to sleep in recent days, desperately garnering everyone’s sympathy. Then, under everyone’s expectant gaze, he handed the microphone to me, signaling with his eyes for me to clarify the “homewrecker rumors.” I took the microphone and said, “I heard that Mr. Fisher has always been extremely professional, devoting all his energy to his work over the years, so much that he doesn’t even have time to date.” Mark couldn’t hide the pride in his eyes as he smiled and nodded in agreement. Without making a scene, I pressed the remote control in my hand, and a photo appeared on the big screen. The audience immediately burst into a chorus of jeers. While Mark was still reveling in his feeling of superiority, I smiled and said…