After Losing to My Best Friend

When Yerik returned, I could vaguely hear Xenia sweetly clinging to him and said, "Daddy, you're amazing.

"You're the best dad in the whole world.

"I want to find a husband in the future who is as good as you, Daddy."

Yerik replied softly, "Xenia, take your time growing up. You'll always be my little princess."

I lay on the bed trembling, hearing Yerik open the door and forced myself to calm down.

"Xenia is still awake, why are you sleeping already?" Yerik's tone turned cold, as if the gentle person in the living room just moments ago wasn't him.

Knowing that I couldn't avoid it, I pulled the covers down a bit and replied sullenly, "If you wanted her to sleep earlier, why didn't you come back earlier? Don't you know she was waiting for you?"

Yerik looked at me coldly. "I work hard to support the family, and you can't even handle these small tasks at home? Why are you so irresponsible?"

"I'm not arguing or making a fuss. Did I say something wrong?"

Thinking that I couldn't offend him for the time being, I softened my tone. "Okay, dear, let's go to sleep! I know you've worked hard. Tomorrow, I'll wait for her to sleep first before I go to bed."

Yerik didn't persist further and went to freshen up with a sullen face.

While he was washing up, I put a sleeping pill into his cup.

I had bought this at the drugstore today and told a big lie about it.

When he came out of the shower, I kindly handed him a cup of hot milk. "Don't be angry anymore, have some hot milk and get a good sleep."

Yerik drank it without suspecting anything, then handed me the empty cup without even considering if I wanted one too.

I realized that my position in this family was nothing more than a nanny.

Thinking about it, the pain on my arm from where Xenia had jabbed me with a pencil intensified.

In the middle of the night, I listened to Yerik's long and steady snores, suspecting that the sleeping pills were taking effect.

Back when we first started living together, his snoring used to keep me awake every night.

Now, strangely enough, listening to his snores made me even more sleepy.

I secretly took Yerik's phone and used his fingerprint to unlock it.

I opened his WhatsApp and searched through the chat history but didn't find anything suspicious. Could it be that I misunderstood him?

But that lipstick was tucked away at the very back of the storage box. There was no way it could have been accidentally dropped by a careless colleague.

Besides, a woman's intuition is usually accurate.

I inexplicably opened the settings and clicked on "Switch Accounts."

Sure enough, there were traces of another account logged in, showing that it was logged in three hours ago.

Wasn't that when he came home? Did he switch accounts as soon as he entered the house?

This account only had one contact named Heartland.

Yerik's name on this account was Everlasting.

I clicked on the conversation between Yerik and Heartland and saw messages sent three hours ago, [What if your wife finds out? ]

Everlasting: [Don't worry, baby. She won't find out.]

Heartland: [Do we have to continue this affair? Have you ever thought about marrying me?]

Everlasting: [Of course I have, but what about Xenia?]

Heartland: [I will take good care of Xenia. You don't even know how much she likes me. Last weekend, I gave her a Barbie doll, and she said I'm nicer to her than her own mom.]

I felt dizzy, tears streaming down my face, and my throat choked up, unable to make a sound.

So they had already formed a family of their own somewhere else without me knowing it.

I copied their entire chat history onto a USB drive and deleted all browsing records.

Before logging out, I clicked on Heartland's Instagram profile.

Then I saw their photos together, videos, and even Heartland's true identity. It was the final straw that broke me.

Heartland was Yana, my childhood best friend whom I had known since we were kids.

I also saw my daughter.

That was a video of them eating together at a restaurant the day before Xenia's birthday.

That day, Yerik had lied to me, saying he was taking Xenia to his parents' house for dinner.

It turned out that he took her to meet his lover.

Xenia was sweetly snuggled up in Yana's arms, and they looked like a truly happy family.

Yana, Yvonne, and I have been childhood friends since we started school together.

In middle school, I became desk mates with Yerik, which marked the beginning of our love-hate relationship.

Because of my connection with Yerik, Yvonne and Yana also got to know him and they became close friends too.

The four of us would hang out and have fun together throughout middle and high school.

After graduating from high school, Yerik and I started dating, but our relationship as a group of four didn't seem to change much.

We continued going out together, having fun, and playfully teasing each other.

During the university entrance exams, my grades were better than Yerik's. I got accepted to a university in a northern city, while Yvonne went to a university in a coastal city. Yerik and Yana stayed in our hometown.

We had a long-distance relationship for four years. Whenever there was a break from school, Yerik would come to visit me at my university.

During summer and winter vacations, we would spend time together. When we graduated from university, I decided to stay and work in the city where I studied. Yerik wanted to come with me, but his family strongly disagreed.

With no other options, we could only work for two years before making any plans.

Yerik was someone who had a strong need for control, although others may not easily notice it. I didn't realize it before we got married.

It's time for me to take actions into my own hands.