Chapter 5: The Betrayal

With a sick feeling, I started reading their chat history from the beginning.

She hadn’t deleted everything.

"Your boyfriend won’t suddenly call you again today, right?"

"No, I already told him I’ll be home late."

"Professor Carter, I haven’t had my period this month, I’m a bit worried…"

"It’s okay, buy a test and check. If you really are, I’ll arrange it, we’ll go to a hospital out of town."

That’s how she talked about me to her advisor.

"He treats me well and spends money on me, but I’m so pretty—it’s only right he worships me."

"We’ve been together too long, there’s no spark anymore."

And that creep talked about me with total contempt.

"A clueless kid—what can he give you besides a dull, flavorless marriage and a life full of petty chores? Does he understand art? Does he understand women? Does he understand you?"

"You’re my most outstanding student. I can’t stand the thought of you cooking and having babies for some loser, ending up a boring old housewife."

"Heh, Professor Carter, then why don’t you divorce that old hag at home? If you dare to divorce, I’ll break up with you."

"Good girl, don’t make trouble. We’re fine as we are."

After reading all that, I felt icy cold, like I’d fallen into a frozen lake.

Every word, every sentence, lashed me like a whip.

I never imagined, not in a million years, that my girlfriend of nearly five years had been lying to me all along.

And then, thinking of that Q&A post…

I started shaking with rage.

Damn little angel.

I could almost see her with him, laughing behind my back, feeling untouchable. The betrayal burned so deep I had to stand up and pace the living room, nails digging into my palms, wishing I could scrub their words off my brain. I caught my reflection in the window—red-eyed, jaw set, a stranger glaring back at me. The weight of their words pressed on my chest until I could hardly breathe. There was no going back now.