Out of Your Control

Chapter 4.

As I lay there letting my mind wander, I casually pulled up our home security app to check if our son had made it back safely.

My heart almost leapt straight out of my chest.

Jiang Nian was inside my house.

I immediately locked my phone, rolled over, and decided to sleep it off.

By the time I woke up, it was already past nine in the evening. I pulled up the camera feed for my son’s bedroom and saw Li Huaijing lying on the bed, holding our boy in his arms while reading him a bedtime story. Father and son were laughing and chatting away.

Watching the scene, my heart softened just a touch.

Before I could get too sentimental, though, my boy started kicking up a storm: “I want Mommy!”

Me: …

Yup, definitely my biological son.

Li Huaijing coaxed him gently, “How about we video call Mommy?”

My son nodded eagerly.

Less than a minute later, my phone rang. I let out a sigh and picked up for the sake of my child.

“Mommy!” my boy beamed at the camera. “Daddy and I were super good at home!”

“That other lady insisted on staying, but Daddy threw her out!”

Me: …

Honestly, that piece of information doesn’t make me feel all that much better.

I pretended not to hear that part and focused entirely on chatting with my son. The two of us talked for nearly half an hour.

“Mommy, do you want to talk to Daddy?”

“Nope.”

Short, sweet, and straight to the point.

My son turned to look at Li Huaijing. He scooped our boy up and set him on his lap. Looking through the screen, I could tell his expression wasn’t looking too great.

“Mommy, I miss you… Daddy misses you, too… Please come home~”

Me: …

My sweet boy, speaking for yourself is plenty. You don’t need to tack on your father’s share.

After soothing him to sleep, I hung up. Checking the camera feed again, my boy was sleeping soundly. A short while later, Li Huaijing stepped out of the room and returned in his pajamas, holding his phone.

My immediate reflex: He’s probably texting Jiang Nian to sweet-talk her.

Instead, the text landed right in my inbox.

Li Huaijing: “You’re pregnant and I’m not by your side. Take good care of yourself.”

Li Huaijing: “I’m sleeping with our boy tonight.”

I stared at the screen and replied with three exact words: “Not my problem.”

Then, I saw him smile on the camera feed.

Me: ???

Before I could figure out what was going on, a second text popped up.

Li Huaijing: “Wife, our boy was telling the truth.”

Li Huaijing: “He misses you, and I miss you too.”

Li Huaijing: “In fact, I miss you way more than he does.”

It was accompanied by a custom sticker of a tiny puppy crying its eyes out.

I almost dropped my phone on the floor.

Aside from calling me “wife” in the heat of the moment during our intimate encounters, this man was usually stingier with sweet talk than a miser with his gold. Tonight, he had unlocked high-sugar mode way past his limits.

My suspicious mind immediately went into overdrive:

Was he terrified a divorce would blow up the family business?
Or was he scared I’d take half his fortune in the settlement?

After going in circles, I decided to stop overthinking it. I shut off my phone and headed out to eat. Adults could starve, but the little one in my belly couldn’t.

Seeing me up and about, Xiaoxiao immediately served up a feast. “Over here! Taste Chef Lu’s culinary masterpiece!”

I took a bite and nodded in approval. Genuinely delicious.

Once we stuffed ourselves silly, the two of us sprawled across the sofa to watch a movie.

Right at that moment…

DING DONG!

The doorbell chimed.

Xiaoxiao knit her brows. “Who on earth is causing a racket in the middle of the night?”

From outside, a familiar voice drifted in: “It’s me. Li Huaijing.”

I sat bolt upright.

Wait, wasn’t he supposed to be sleeping with our son?!

Xiaoxiao and I instantly came to a silent agreement: Do not open that door.

Outside, silence fell for three whole seconds.

Then…

“Not opening? Fine. I’m breaking the door down.”

I snapped fully awake in an instant. My imported custom door cost a fortune!!!

Xiaoxiao shot me a look. “Let me see what he thinks he’s going to do.”

With that, she swung the door open.

Li Huaijing strode inside without saying a word, walked straight up to me, scooped me up into his arms, sat down on the sofa, and placed me gently on his lap. One arm wrapped around my waist, while his other hand rested flat on my belly.

I squirmed, trying to get away.

“Don’t move,” he said softly. “Careful not to bump the baby.”

I gave up. For the sake of the kid, I lay perfectly still.

The atmosphere plunged into absolute awkwardness.

Xiaoxiao, stepping up as the champion of justice, spoke out: “Li Huaijing, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here, but our Niannian is NOT forgiving a rotten, cheating cucumber!”

“I’m a… rotten cucumber?” he blinked, genuinely baffled.

“You and Jiang Nian, do I really need to bring out the receipts?”

“Me and Jiang Nian? What receipts?”

My temper flared. “You’re still denying it?!”

“Are you talking about what happened at the mall?”

I nodded aggressively.

He let out a long sigh and began to explain, “A client requested Jiang Nian to help pick out a handbag. I tagged along because I saw you lingering on that exact bag’s page earlier. You seemed down lately, so I thought I’d buy it as a gift for you… and just went along while she picked it. I swear.”

Xiaoxiao and I exchanged glances. We didn’t know whether to believe him or smack him again just to be safe.

Xiaoxiao immediately unlocked her phone and presented the “receipts” right in front of his face.

As he scrolled through them, his face darkened visible by the second. “What kind of fanfiction is she fabricating here? And secretly taking pictures of me?!”

He immediately pulled up Jiang Nian’s profile on his own phone…

It was completely blank.

Me: ???

“She blocked everyone and set it so only you could see it,” he said.

Xiaoxiao checked on her phone too, nothing.

I froze on the spot. So I’d been played this whole damn time?!

I grabbed his phone, the very first time I had ever gone through my husband’s phone. He made no move to stop me. Xiaoxiao leaned her head in to snoop, too.

The results:

Lockscreen/Wallpaper: A family photo of me, him, and our boy.
Contact name for me: “My Wife”
Social media handle: Still “My Wife”
Text history with Jiang Nian: Strictly business-related. Long voice notes: ignored. Forced her to type out text instead.
Text history with me: Never missed a single message. 60-second voice notes: listened to every last second. Full, detailed replies.
Calendar Reminders: My birthday, our son’s birthday, both sets of parents’ birthdays… and my monthly cycle dates.

Me: …

No wonder he always remembered the exact dates.

Photo Album: Wall-to-wall family pictures… and candid shots he’d secretly taken of me.

I actually looked gorgeous in them.

At that point, I didn’t dare look any further, because everything before my eyes proved one single thing: he was an impeccably good husband.

I was stunned. Xiaoxiao was equally stunned.

“Su Niannian. Make it clear to me today: why do you want a divorce?”

“And while we’re at it… I have a question I need to ask you, too.”

My mind was a tangled mess of yarn. “Ask away.”

He looked at me, his eyes slightly bloodshot. “Am I… just a shared husband?”

Xiaoxiao & Me: “…HUH???”

“Don’t think I don’t know,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around me tightly and burying his face into the crook of my neck. “Xiaoxiao is straight as a rod. So are you, Niannian. You two have been joined at the hip since you were kids. You even intentionally dragged a twenty-minute car ride into a full hour every day…”

“Hold it right there!” I fired back immediately. “That’s because I wanted to spend more time with you!”

Li Huaijing froze.

“And senior prom!” he pressed on. “Only actual couples dance together!”

My temper exploded instantly. “You dare bring that up?! I waited for you the entire night and you never showed! You knew what that dance meant and you STILL danced with Jiang Nian?!”

The atmosphere was gearing up for an all-out battle.