After I Became The Perfect Husband, She Broke Down Chapter 01

Five years into our marriage, I finally got the good news:

I was leaving this world.

For the last 72 hours, I decided to play the perfect husband.

At hour twenty-four, my wife Vivian Vaughn thought I was too tacky.

She would only take her childhood friend Elliot to the dinner party.

I didn’t complain.

At hour forty-eight, my daughter thought I was too naggy and threw a fit to go find Elliot.

I smiled and brought her to him.

At hour seventy-two, a friend called and asked, unable to understand,

“If you keep this up, aren’t you afraid you’ll really lose them?”

“Both mother and daughter?”

I just smiled faintly. “It’s fine. I’m going home soon.”

But in Vivian’s eyes was a panic I’d never seen before.

“Besides me, what home do you even have?”

—

Seeing the shock in Vivian’s eyes, I hung up.

“I’m joking. Even if I had a home to go back to, they wouldn’t welcome me.”

At that, Vivian relaxed.

“Tonight I’m going to celebrate Elliot’s birthday. Our daughter’s going too.”

I smiled and asked, “Do you want me to come along?”

Vivian looked surprised.

If this had been before, and she’d said something like that to me.

I would’ve gotten angry and made a scene, refusing to let her and our daughter see Elliot.

But now, there wasn’t a trace of resentment in my expression.

I’d even offered to go along.

Still, Vivian refused me coldly.

“You don’t need to come.”

“Elliot’s parents raised you for years, but now Elliot’s back home.”

“This is the first birthday party his biological parents have prepared for him.”

“You going would only make everyone more uncomfortable.”

Everything she said made it clear I was superfluous.

I listened quietly.

A foster family I couldn’t fit into. A biological family I couldn’t return to.

A small home I couldn’t keep.

The word “orphan” from Vivian’s mouth—I lived up to it completely.

I nodded calmly. “Alright, I won’t go.”

“The gift for Elliot—please give it to him for me.”

Vivian looked me up and down in disbelief.

I ignored her gaze, took a box out of the cabinet, and handed it to her.

Inside was a pair of dazzling cufflinks.

Vivian opened it, took one look, and said with distaste,

“A gift like this is too tacky. It doesn’t suit Elliot.”

I stood there, watching her toss the gift box carelessly onto the table.

This “tacky” thing she mentioned was the best gift I could offer.

My relationship with Elliot wasn’t exactly good.

But since it was his birthday, I didn’t want to invite trouble for myself for no reason.

That day I searched through everything before I found this pair of exquisite, expensive cufflinks.

I hadn’t even been able to bring myself to wear them.

Vivian tossed them aside with distaste.

Actually, I knew. Vivian didn’t really think the cufflinks were tacky.

She simply looked down on any gift I gave.

Vivian knitted her brows and looked up at me.

“I prepared a watch a few days ago.”

“Where did you put it when you cleaned up?”

I’d seen that watch a few days ago.

It was the most thoughtful gift I’d seen in five years of marriage to Vivian.

I thought it was a gift she’d prepared for me.

I thought she’d noticed I was unhappy and wanted to make it up to me.

So she’d deliberately put it back on the bookshelf and pretended not to know.

But the owner of that gift was never me.

I went into the study, brought out the watch, and handed it to Vivian.

Vivian took the gift box, and her knitted brows eased a little.

“We will be back soon.”

“If you want anything to eat, just use my card and buy it yourself.”

I smiled and said okay.

The front door slammed shut.

I turned and walked toward my room.

Behind me came the servants’ mocking voices.

“He’s such a failure as a husband.”

“Can’t keep his wife’s heart, and can’t even keep his child’s.”

“It was his birthday today too, his wife and kid both ran off to celebrate someone else’s.”

“Not a single person remembers his birthday.”

“I give it a few days before his place gets handed to Elliot.”

Someone beside them sighed with feeling.

“Ethan really is pitiful.”

“His biological parents are dead, and his adoptive parents don’t care about him.”

“Elliot’s the lucky one.”

“He grew up in the Vaughn family for his first twenty years, and now his biological parents have risen in power.”

“He gets to live the good life again.”

The servants’ conversation reached my ears clearly.

I never looked back.

This wasn’t the first time I’d heard something like this.

At first, I’d retort with a displeased face.

I didn’t like Elliot, but I thought Vivian still cared about me.

But later, Elliot said he liked my tie.

And Vivian took it and gave it to him at his party.

My heart gradually went numb.

But it didn’t matter. Three days would pass quickly.

Tonight, I could go home.