Half of My Life is Spent in Bloom, and then in Withering

Everyone knew that I had an enviable marriage and a wife who loved me dearly. But the day after she found out she was pregnant, I heard her conversation with her secretary.

"Madam, you are pregnant now, what about Mr. Spencer and the child? The child is already three years old. What if Mr. Spencer finds out about this..."

My wife's eyes were sharp. "He must not know about this. Let Mark keep his mouth shut!"

The child? Three years old? Before I understood what this meant, my phone vibrated.

It was a photo sent by Mark. In the photo, my wife held a little boy high up, her eyes full of doting and tenderness. I staggered back to the bedroom and called my sister who worked in the Overseas Security Bureau.

"Sister, help me create a fatal accident. I want to fake my death and leave Julie."

——

"What's wrong, Jhonny? Isn't Julie very good to you? What happened?"

I really wanted to say something, but as soon as I opened my mouth, my eyes couldn’t help but feel sour. Yes, everyone knew that Julie treated me very well. Ten years ago, she fell in love with me at first sight and started a crazy pursuit of me.

She was the only daughter of Montana Group, but I was just an orphan without a father or a mother, who could only depend on my sister. Everyone speculated that Julie was just used to seeing flowers and plants outside and she was just chasing me for a moment of novelty. Even I thought so.

But she pursued me for five years, until five years ago when I finally nodded and agreed. She immediately announced it to the world and gave me a century wedding. Everyone thought that this was her obsession with love that she couldn't get for five years, otherwise how could she rush to get married just after getting together.

Everyone was looking forward to it, waiting to see when Julie would get tired of me. But after getting married, she broke everyone's speculation with her own actions. For five years, I was still the one she held in her heart.

Until now, everyone in Chicago knew that Julie was vigorous and invincible in the business world. She had only one weakness, which was me. I understood my sister's doubts. Even I didn't expect that Julie would cheat.

Although I didn't say anything, my sister on the other end of the phone seemed to notice my emotions. After pondering for a long time, she spoke softly.

"The day after tomorrow, I will send a plane to pick you up. Leave the rest to me."

After hanging up the phone, I still kept the posture of making a call.

Just then, the phone vibrated again. It was from Mark.

"Jhonny, have you seen the photo?"

"Are you still complacent about her pregnancy? My son and her son are three years old. What is your child?"

Seeing this message, all my guesses just now were verified. Julie really cheated on me. We had only been married for five years, but her son with Mark was already three years old.

Thinking of this, I couldn't hold on any longer and my knees softened and I fell to the ground. I trembled with my hands, recalling that she was not with me for half a year three years ago.

At that time, we had just been married for more than a year and she said that she had an overseas project and needed to go on a business trip, which would take a long time. Now that I thought about it, she must have been pregnant at that time. During that half year, she was not on a business trip, but to have a baby.

Just when I was at a loss, Julie walked into the bedroom and found me slumped on the ground.

"Jhonny, the ground is cold, why are you sitting on the ground? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Her face was full of worry and her beautiful eyes were full of my reflection, which was almost exactly the same as every day in the past five years.

I quietly locked the screen of my phone and forced a smile.

"My legs were a little weak just now. I was probably too excited to be a father and couldn't stand steadily."

Julie breathed a sigh of relief and carefully helped me up from the ground. "Bad baby, you're making trouble for your father as soon as you get here. You're such a troublemaker. When you come out, I'll see how your mother will deal with you."

She continued, "By the way, Jhonny, do you like boys or girls? I hope it's a girl. I hope she grows up like a little princess."

There was nothing wrong with this sentence itself, but after what happened just now, I unconsciously derived other meanings from this sentence.

"Why do you want a girl? Didn't the Montana Family always want a son to inherit the Montana Group?"

Julie was stunned and then gently stroked the back of my hand as she said, "Both sons and daughters are fine. As long as they are our children, I like them."

I lowered my eyes and didn't want to see the tenderness in her eyes anymore. It made me feel sick. Julie didn't see that I was wrong and her eyes fell on her still flat belly.

"I have an appointment for tomorrow's checkup. We have been waiting for the baby for so long and there must be no mistakes." said Julie.

If I hadn't just heard her conversation with the secretary and received Mark's message, I would have believed 100% that what she said was true. But now, I really wanted to question her.

Was this child really the one she had been waiting for a long time? Did she want a daughter because she already had a son? I resisted the sourness in my eyes and nodded at her.

"Go to bed, Julie, I'm a little tired."

Early the next morning, Julie and I were packing up to go out and the text message alert sounded again. It was from Mark.

[Do you think which one is more important to Julie, your child or my child?]

As soon as I finished reading this message, Julie's phone rang. She waved at me and went to the balcony to answer the phone.

After a while, Julie walked up to me with an apologetic look on her face and gently held my hand.

"Jhonny, something urgent happened at the company, I have to rush over now. Don't worry, I'll contact you after I finish my work, we'll go for a checkup together, I've arranged for the doctor, you can go directly there later."

After saying this, Julie didn't even wait for my answer, she grabbed the coat on the sofa and was about to go out. I closed my eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were about to burst out.

When I opened my eyes again, Julie had already opened the door. I took a deep breath, wanting to give her and the baby in her belly another chance.

"Julie, are you really going to leave? Can you stay?"

Julie paused, with a hint of hesitation in her eyes, but after a moment, she still smiled and spoke to me. "Good boy Jhonny, I'll finish my work as soon as possible and come back to accompany you, you listen."

The dull sound of the door closing sounded and my tears finally fell.

Two hours later, the driver took me to the hospital on time, then Julie and I completed all the examinations under the doctor's arrangement. Just after the examination, Julie hurried away again, using the excuse that she had something else to do at the company.

I sat alone on a bench in the hospital, looking down at the color ultrasound report. In the black and white picture, there was a small circle the size of a peanut. The doctor said that it was my child.

I didn’t know how long it took, but the text message reminder rang again.

[Look, I just need to tell her that the child is crying for his mother and she will put down all the important things and run to me.]

I clicked on the picture that was sent to me.

The little boy was sitting in a small blue dining chair and Julie was feeding him breakfast attentively. Her eyebrows were full of pampering and tenderness. The little boy was also laughing and his little mouth was full, looking very cute. I had imagined this scene countless times, but I didn’t expect to see it in this way.

In fact, I could have blocked Mark, but I just wanted to read his messages again and again like a masochist to remind myself what kind of lies I had lived in the past few years.

I wiped my tears and put away the color Doppler ultrasound report in my hand. I called the driver and told him that I was going shopping and asked him to go back first.

I sat on the bench in the hospital in a daze, waiting for what was about to happen next. Sure enough, not long after, Mark sent me a message again. The difference was that this time it was a video.

"Enjoy it, she will go to the hospital in a while. The child you have been looking forward to for five years is a bastard that she can't wait to get rid of."

The video lasted for an hour. Julie in the video was extremely crazy and there were many small sex toys scattered on the bed. I had never seen Julie look so out of control.

After five years of marriage, Julie had always been gentle, even in bed, she looked gentle and shy. It turned out that she was not born to be selfsustaining, but the person who could ignite her passion had never been me.

I kept watching the video as if I was selfabusing, wanting to see the Julie I had never seen before. I didn’t know how long it took, a nurse came to my side.

"Sir, are you okay? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

It turned out that as the video played, I cried more and more. And now, I was shaking with tears and even the fingers holding the phone were shaking involuntarily.

It was not until now that I shamefully discovered that I still loved Julie. She was not an object that could be thrown away if it was broken, nor was she an ordinary friend that could be broken off at worst. She was a living person, my wife who I had been married to for five years. Loving her had already become an instinct that was deeply rooted in my bones and blood during these five years.

In these five years, everyone said that she loved me as much as her life, but didn't I treat her the same way? I couldn't bear to leave her after five years of accompanying her day and night. I really couldn't bear to leave her.

Thinking of the child who was only the size of a peanut on the ultrasound report just now, I took a deep breath and wiped away my tears, wanting to give Julie one last chance.

I called Julie. "Julie, are you done? I've finished the examination, can you come back?"

Julie's voice was indescribably hoarse, as if she was holding back something.

"Jhonny, I have something to do here, ask the driver to take you home first..."

"Um..."

A muffled groan sounded and the phone was hung up, leaving only a mechanical "beep" sound.

After a long pause, I looked up at the nurse waiting beside me.

"It's okay, I'll leave now."

It was dark when I got home and Julie came to meet me as soon as I opened the door.

"The driver said you didn't go home after the examination. Didn't you say you went shopping? Why didn't you buy anything..." she greeted me with curiosity.

Halfway through the conversation, Julie noticed my red and swollen eyes then she asked, "What's wrong, Jhonny, have you cried? Why are your eyes so swollen? Tell me what happened."

I looked at her eyebrows and eyes carefully, they were really beautiful, as beautiful as before, with my reflection in her eyes. As beautiful as the eyebrows and eyes in the afternoon video.

I lowered my eyes and avoided her worried look, then said "It's okay. Maybe it's because I saw the baby for the first time on the ultrasound report today. I'm a little excited."

I continued, "Julie, I miss my sister. I want to go see her. My sister said she would send a plane to pick me up tomorrow night."

Julie's shoulders sank and she seemed relieved. She took my hand and led me to the sofa.

"I've done my homework. Pregnant women are affected by progesterone levels. I should be excited. Why are you crying instead?"

She continued speaking in a gentle tone, "Okay, it's okay if you want to go see your sister. You two haven't seen each other for a long time. My little crybaby, you're going to be a father and still miss your sister."

"You go first. I'll find you after I finish my work these days. I'll play with you for a while." Listening to Julie's concerned words, my heart sank again and again.

Had she done her homework? She must have experience. Pregnant woman? Could she still be considered a pregnant woman if she already had an abortion?

But I didn’t want to dwell on these things anymore. I didn’t know if it was because my emotions fluctuated too much, but my head felt stuffy and I just wanted to rest.

"Julie, I'm tired and I want to rest."

I seemed to be really tired and slept until noon. Unexpectedly, Julie was still at home.

Seeing me wake up, Julie gently hugged my waist.

"Others say pregnant women are sleepy, but why do I think you, the prospective father, are even more sleepy? Look at my little lazy pig, who just woke up now. Get up and eat something. There's a cocktail party in the afternoon. Let's go together."

I calculated the time. The plane my sister sent to pick me up would arrive in the evening, so there was still time. In order not to arouse Julie's suspicion and to ensure that the plan would not go wrong, I nodded to Julie.

As soon as we arrived at the banquet hall, we both became the focus of the whole audience as expected.

"I really envy Mr. Derp. Look at Mrs. Montana. She has been married for so many years and still treats Mr. Derp like the apple of her eye."

"That's right. Look, she takes Mr. Derp with her no matter what the occasion is, for fear that Mr. Derp will be snatched away by someone else."

Julie accepted everyone's compliments with a smile on her face and seemed to be very pleased with everyone's words.

A greasy voice broke the harmony.

"Mr. Derp is a grown man, why are you so clingy? You follow Mrs. Montana wherever she goes? Are you afraid that you can't control your wife and that Mrs. Montana will be snatched away by someone else?"

The person who came was Mark. Everyone heard the gunpowder in his words. After all, Mark's love for Julie was known to everyone in the circle.

"What does he mean by that? Mrs. Montana can be taken away by others? Who is the other person? He won't say it about himself, right?"

"It's ridiculous. He was so persistent in pestering Mrs. Montana and Mrs. Montana went bankrupt in anger. He dared to speak nonsense here. Everyone knows that Mrs. Montana hates these men outside the most."

"Look at Mrs. Montana's face. I am about to mourn for Mark."

I ignored what others said and I didn't pay attention to Julie's gloomy face. I took a glass of red wine from the waiter's tray beside me.

"Mr. Spencer cares about my wife so much that I am beginning to suspect that there is a relationship between you two." When I said this, Julie was stunned. She looked at Mark with eyes that wanted to eat him.

A trace of panic flashed in Mark's eyes. Then he said hurriedly, "I was just joking. Mr. Derp wouldn't be so stingy, right? We are all men..."

Before he finished speaking, I suddenly poured all the red wine in my hand on his face.

"Let's just assume that what you said is true. Mr. Spencer must be drinking at the cocktail party today, right? Then Mr. Spencer, drink more." I snapped him calmly.

Red wine splashed all over Mark's head and face. The bright red wine dripped down his hair and kept flowing down his suit. Compared to me who was dressed properly, he looked very embarrassed now.

He stared at me intently, his eyes seemed to be poisoned. "Mr. Derp, the husband of Mrs. Montana of Montana Group, is this how you treat others? Even if I said something wrong, Mr. Derp doesn't have to embarrass me like this, right?"

Before I could say anything, Julie pulled me over and protected me behind her.

"My husband does whatever he wants. I, Julie, support him. Who dares to say a word more?" She spoke bravely and loud.

She turned to Mark and asked him, "As for you? Who are you? How dare you question my husband?"

Mark was stunned. It seemed that he didn't expect Julie to be so ruthless to him and Julie looked away.

"Mr. Spencer, I won't see you off."

Hearing Julie's order to leave, Mark glared at me angrily and turned to leave the banquet hall. Mark was really stupid. How could Julie stand on his side when he picked a fight with me in such an occasion?

After all, I was the legitimate husband of her.

Julie looked at me with concern and was about to ask something when the phone rang. She had just left to answer the phone when my message rang.

[Do you really think you won? Guess, will she choose you or me this time?]

I took my eyes off the phone screen and saw Julie hurried back to me.

"Jhonny, there is a multinational meeting. I will go to the car to deal with it and will be back soon."

My heart sank and I smiled and nodded.

As soon as Julie left, the message came again, this time with only 3 short words.

[Underground parking lot.]

At the same time, my sister's phone also came in.

"Jhonny, the plane has arrived, let's go."

After hanging up the phone, I looked at the words on the phone screen and walked to the underground parking lot. I had to leave, of course, but I had to give Julie and Mark a big gift. I also had to give it.