Chapter 7: Repeated Betrayal

Even though Steve and Amia had been married for a year, he hadn’t clearly seen her face. Still, he trusted that his grandmother wouldn’t have chosen the wrong person for him. “I understand, Grandma,” Steve replied as the driver pulled up to Amia’s apartment complex. “Mr. President, do you need me to go and get your wife?” the driver asked. Without waiting for an answer, Steve grabbed a large bouquet of roses and got out of the car, heading inside. He went to Building 5, Unit 2, took the elevator to the 20th floor, and stopped at the door of apartment 2001. He rang the doorbell. A man, wearing only a pair of swim trunks with no shirt, answered the door. “Who are you? Who are you looking for?” he asked. Steve’s face darkened. “Does Amia live here?” The man nodded, “Yes, she does.” Steve’s tone turned cold, “What’s your relationship with Amia?” At that moment, a woman walked up behind the man, looking puzzled. “Brook, who’s at the door?” she asked. Jonia, the woman, was in her pajamas, with wet hair, as if she had just showered. Steve’s eyes widened in shock. The situation seemed clear—this woman had just taken a shower, and the man was barely dressed. It looked like they had just shared an intimate moment. Jonia’s eyes lit up as she looked at Steve in surprise. “May I ask who you’re looking for?” she asked. Steve’s anger flared. Although the woman before him was a stranger, Steve assumed she was his wife. His expression turned furious. “What’s the relationship between you two? Why are you living together?” Brook wrapped his arm around Jonia and, with a proud tone, said, “We’re a couple. Isn’t it obvious? Now, get lost. If you keep bothering Jonia, I’ll make sure you leave here on a stretcher.” Brook then shoved Steve aside and slammed the door shut. The image of Brook holding Jonia flashed through Steve’s mind, along with the thought of them showering together. The very idea made Steve feel nauseous. The reality of seeing it with his own eyes made him want to vomit. Steve couldn’t believe that his wife was living with another man, that he had been so thoroughly betrayed. In his rage, he threw the bouquet of roses into the trash can in the stairwell before taking the elevator down. Inside the apartment, Jonia watched Steve leave through the security camera, sighing with relief as if she had just escaped a close call. “Brook, who was that guy?” she asked. Brook shook his head, also shaken. “I don’t know, but that guy was pretty scary.” At that moment, they realized that Amia would be returning soon with the turkey sauce. The two rushed out and ran into Amia as she exited the elevator. “What’s going on? Why are you two acting so frantic?” Amia asked, puzzled. Without wasting time on explanations, they quickly pulled Amia inside. Jonia, with a mysterious tone, said, “You won’t believe what just happened. Five minutes ago, a man was banging on our door.” “We tried to get rid of him, but he wouldn’t leave. We thought he might be a scammer, and it was a good thing we caught on, or we might have been tricked,” Brook added, nodding in agreement. Amia felt a chill run down her spine. “We really need to be more careful. I heard there was a break-in nearby recently. We need to be extra vigilant.” Jonia had already ordered a security camera online to install outside the door to prevent any future incidents. However, she couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s hard to believe such a handsome guy would do something like that. It’s just so disgusting.” Brook quickly added, “Just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover. What good is being handsome? He’s still just a scammer.” Jonia seemed lost in thought, “But he was really handsome…” Brook and Amia were left speechless. Meanwhile, Steve instructed the driver to take him back to his estate. By the time he arrived, it was already late, but the lights in the estate were still on. Steve got out of the car and saw his grandmother standing on the lawn. He hurried over to support her. “Grandma, why aren’t you resting? It’s late,” Steve asked, concerned. But his grandmother ignored his question, craning her neck to look around. “Didn’t I tell you to bring Amia back? Where is she? Don’t tell me you didn’t bring her.” “Grandma, I need to talk to you about something that happened between us,” Steve sighed, his expression darkening. His grandmother grew anxious. “What happened? You two didn’t have a fight, did you?” she asked. Steve shook his head and gritted his teeth. “No, it’s not that. Amia has been seeing another man behind my back.” “Are you joking? Amia would never do something like that. It’s impossible,” his grandmother exclaimed, her eyes wide with anger. “I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” Steve said, seething. But his grandmother shook her head in disbelief. “I’m sure there’s some kind of misunderstanding. I’ll call her right now.” Steve stopped her, his voice cold. “I already called her. A few days ago, I overheard a man asking her to dinner, and I thought it might be a misunderstanding. But today, I went to her place and saw her cuddling with a shirtless man. How can there be any mistake about that?” Feeling betrayed, Steve was furious. Even though his marriage to Amia wasn’t in the traditional sense, Steve couldn’t accept infidelity. “What do you plan to do now?” his grandmother sighed, feeling helpless. “What else can I do? Divorce,” Steve said calmly, as if he had already made up his mind. His grandmother looked at him and said, “Kid, I understand how you feel, but I think you should consider Amia’s situation. Think about it—she married you, saw you once, and then you disappeared.” “In a relationship like that, she must have felt so lonely and abandoned. Meeting a man who gave her attention doesn’t seem like a terrible thing, and it’s not entirely her fault.”