3AM Betrayal With The Neighbor Novel – Chapter 8
Guilt flashed across Lena’s face as she stammered:
“I … I just dug up some information.”
“It’s not like it’s some big secret-anyone would know if they asked around.”
She bit her lip, tears glistening as she gazed at David:
“David, are you really angry over something so trivial?”
David didn’t look at her. He knelt down, trying to hold me.
I pushed him away with all my strength:
“Don’t … don’t touch me. You’re too dirty. Please don’t touch me!”
His hands hung in mid-air. After a long moment, they fell dejectedly to his sides.
Later, Richard and Maya came to take me away.
As I walked out the door, I spoke to David without turning around:
“Tomorrow at ten AM, meet me at the courthouse.”
Just as he started to speak, I cut him off:
“By the way, that night when I came upstairs looking for you two, my phone camera was
still recording.”
“Wonder if it caught anything interesting.”
The door closed behind me, Lena’s pitiful sobs echoing from inside.
Walking out of the residential complex, Lena’s words still echoed in my mind.
All the strength seemed drained from my body. I couldn’t hold on anymore and collapsed
into Richard’s arms.
Twelve years ago, summer after high school graduation.
My parents said they were taking me on a trip to Chicago.
The day before departure, I went to get shaved ice with David.
In the two hours I was gone, my father’s mistress showed up.
She came with her visibly pregnant belly, telling my mother she’d been with my father
for years.
Now that she was pregnant, she wanted recognition for herself and her unborn child.
My mother already suffered from depression. This news sent her into complete
breakdown.
She grabbed a kitchen knife, trying to hurt herself.
My father stepped in to stop her and accidentally got his artery slashed.
After he collapsed, my mother knelt over him, laughing and crying hysterically, before
cutting her own throat with the knife.
David and I had just returned from outside. He saw the scene first and immediately
turned to cover my eyes.
But I still saw it.
They lay in the center of the living room, surrounded by unpacked suitcases.
Dark red blood flowed from their bodies, spreading all the way to my feet.
My innocence and happiness completely shattered.
For years, I couldn’t emerge from that shadow.
David stayed with me through it all.
He said I was his first love and his only love.
He said we’d walk through school, marriage, all the way to the end of our lives together.
But now, before we reached the end, love had died first.
After officially filing our no fault divorce papers and completing all procedures at the
courthouse, I finally felt relief-like a massive weight had been lifted from my chest.
Walking out of the gray judicial building that housed family court, David spoke quietly:
“I never told Lena about your situation.”
“She heard it from mutual friends. Those details were her own sick fantasies.”
“I never hated you either. You were the first person I loved, and the last … I’m not lying
about that.”
“Stop making me sick, David.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, the sound dripping with sarcasm.
“David, do you still think you’re some romantic hero?”
“Cheating while ‘loving’ me-does that make you feel less despicable?”
“Or have you been playing the faithful husband so long you can’t tell reality from
performance?”
“I wasn’t performing. I really-“
“Enough, David! Stay away from me. Whether you love me doesn’t matter anymore!”
“Because your ‘love’ is worthless.”
He fell silent, something unfathomably desperate hiding in his pupils.
“When the cooling-off period ends, don’t forget to come back and sign the final papers.
Richard has already drafted the agreement.”
With that, I turned and walked away without looking back.