His Secret Affair Broke Me,But I Rose Higher

The video had already hit the trending list. People were digging into who they were in real life. Sure enough, I found Elisa Walker's alt account in the comments. It had been updated forty minutes ago. Every single time, I'm the one who wins. The day before, she'd posted a photo: two silhouettes kissing by the ocean. Five years finally beat eleven. I win. My tears slid down in time with my scrolling finger. She's in the hospital recovering from surgery, and I cough twice and he comes running. So what if your little car accident dragged him away for a night? You're a dead fish in bed. The only one who ever makes him lose control between the sheets is me. He's mine now. Further back. So happy. Stood her up at dinner tonight. Win once and you'll win a thousand times. Made him a heart-shaped bento. He said it was delicious. First day of the semester. Maybe I just met the one. … I followed the posts one by one, scrolling back five years to the day they first met. I watched her shift from secretly thrilling at a stolen touch to showing off every scrap of his attention like a trophy. And I watched him drift from me, inch by inch, toward her. My face was wet with tears, yet I felt strangely calm. That surprised me. I thought about it. Maybe I'd always had a feeling. I don't know how much longer I sat there before I finally stood, dragged my stiff body to the kitchen, and threw the cake in the trash. And suddenly I was eighteen again, crouching with Robert outside a bakery, waiting for the prices to drop. It was the first time we'd ever had savings. Two hundred eighty-four yuan. We'd earned it wearing mascot costumes for an entire day in thirty-eight-degree heat. "Gabriella, your first-ever birthday cake is on me!" "It's only gonna get better from here. I promise." I'd wanted to say no. But his bangs were still dripping with sweat, and he said it like it was the most solemn vow he'd ever made, and my resolve just—gave. "Okay," I heard myself say. A minute before the bakery closed, we bought the very last birthday cake. Kiwi. I still remember the panic in Robert's eyes right before I passed out. And his empty pockets when we walked out of the hospital. But when, exactly, did he stop remembering any of this? Was it when he hired Elisa behind my back? Or was it the very first time he introduced her to me and said, "She's my junior from school." If Robert and I were weeds that had to fight just to survive, Elisa was a flower raised in full sun. I'd joked about it with him once. "Elisa's pretty, fun, her dad's some big official, her mom's a chairwoman—and they both just dote on her." "If it weren't for me, you'd definitely fall for her, wouldn't you?" Robert was quiet for a long time. "We've been through so much together." That relief numbed me. I let it. I never saw the dark look on his face when he dropped his eyes. So without my knowing, everything began to shift. Robert, who used to insist on coming home for dinner every night, started eating all three meals at the campus cafeteria. On my birthday, he was busy comforting Elisa because she was in a bad mood. On the anniversary of the day we escaped our living hell, he was at the beach with Elisa, setting off fireworks. Later and later nights. Excuse after excuse for leaving. And me, quieter and quieter. I was so tired. I just wanted to go lie down. Passing the study, I saw Robert's computer screen still lit up on the desk. A chat window with Elisa. I turned around and looked at the whole place. Pale hardwood floors. A lush monstera. Simple furniture. No leaking roof. No cursing echoing off the walls. Always clean, always bright. Home.

But in the end, I stepped into the study. …… "Is she mad at you?" "Yeah." "I'm sorry. It's because of me that you're suffering like this. But I'm not giving you up. I've loved you for five years. And besides, she doesn't even respect herself—she was just barely an adult when she—" "Don't be silly. Nobody's asking you to leave. I'm the one who's sorry, for not being able to love you openly. Gabriella… she's been with me for eleven years. I only got the manager position because she resigned. If I break up with her…" "I know. All I need is for you to love me. Besides, you already made me a promise." Elisa sent a photo. The engagement ring. I dropped into the chair. That ring. I'd had it designed three years ago. When I showed Robert the sketch, beaming, he looked away. Work's too busy. Not enough savings. I want to give you something better. He hid behind tenderness every time, putting me off again and again. The ring I'd waited for all those years and never received. Now it was on someone else's hand. The last message in the chat was from Robert. "Missing you. This home is suffocating. I'm coming to you now." The home we once dreamed of had become his cage. The years we'd clung to each other as teenagers were now proof of my looseness. My eleven years, reduced to a joke. "Sss—" My stomach seized and I doubled over. My stomach had been ruined for years. To put Robert through college and grad school, I went from supermarket promoter to general manager of the sales division in a single year. Three years after quitting, my body still hadn't recovered from what that cost. Nothing to eat or drink since last night, and now it was three in the afternoon. The flare-up was no surprise. Every ingredient in the house had gone into last night's birthday dinner. I rode out the worst of the cramping, then headed for the supermarket. Walking the familiar route, I felt untethered. Eleven years, and my favorite thing had always been going grocery shopping with Robert. From small things like bowls and plates to big purchases like furniture, we'd filled our lives together piece by piece—the cramped ten-square-meter rental, the twenty-seven-square-meter apartment, and finally this ninety-six-square-meter home, paid in full. We'd grown up the hard way and finally made it to the life we used to dream about. Then, just like that, it was over. But it was fine. From now on, I'd take care of myself. No matter what. "Gabriella? What are you doing here? You look terrible!" The older woman who stocked the produce section—she'd known me for years—looked flustered the moment she saw me. "Didn't sleep well." I forced a thin smile and started to leave, but she suddenly stepped into my path. "You're here for meat? Today's batch isn't great. Tomorrow! Come back tomorrow." Her smile was strained, and her fingers were locked around my arm. I was still puzzling over it when a familiar voice drifted from the meat section. "I'll make you chili pork tonight. Once you've eaten your fill… it's my turn." I looked toward the voice. Robert's eyes were soft as he spoke, and Elisa was swatting his arm with a coy little laugh. Their happiness looked like something rehearsed a thousand times. So the urgent work matter was taking Elisa grocery shopping. I opened my mouth, but it was like a hand had closed around my throat—nothing came out. The next second, someone in the crowd recognized them. "Hey—isn't that the couple from that proposal yesterday?" "Wow, taking his fiancée grocery shopping. Now that's a good man!" "This is literally my dream life! Your person right beside you, just living it together. I'm dying, they're so cute!!" "Perfect match!" "Wait—I could swear the woman who used to shop here with him wasn't her."

The skeptical voice drowned fast under the noise of the crowd. Through the shifting bodies, Elisa turned in my direction. She paused, then broke into an even brighter smile. Then she placed a hand on her stomach. "Actually, I have one more piece of good news to share with everyone." "No way—are you pregnant?!" "Oh my God! That's so sweet!" Elisa, face glowing with happiness, threw her arms around a stunned Robert. A high-pitched ringing flooded my ears. A baby. Elisa was having a baby. My hand drifted to my own stomach without thinking. I once had a baby, too. "Hey—it's her! I told you, the couple shopping earlier wasn't them." The person who'd spoken up before was suddenly pointing at me, announcing it to the whole crowd. "The mistress?!" A beat of silence, then someone blurted it out. "Why are you here?" Robert froze for a second, then immediately stepped sideways to shield Elisa behind him. Like he was protecting her from danger. Or like he was blocking me. The memory hit without warning—him on his knees at my hospital bed after I lost the baby, eyes red, voice breaking. "I failed to protect you and our child. Give me more time. I'll give you a home." He'd just graduated then. For his ambitions. For our future. I resigned as general manager and recommended him for the position. I handled his workload, took care of his daily life. That baby came and went in silence, right in the middle of all of it. I never even found out if it was a boy or a girl. But now. He was shielding another woman and her child. Looking at me like I was something dangerous. "Hah." What a joke. "So this is your choice?" I looked at Robert. My voice came out steady. But my nails had already broken through the skin of my palms. A flicker of panic crossed Robert's face. He opened his mouth, but before he could make a sound, Elisa dropped to her knees with a thud. Tears streamed down her face, pitiful and wretched. "Gabriella—I know you two grew up together, I know I don't compare—please, I'm begging you, don't drive me and my baby away!" That single line from Elisa set the crowd off like a bomb. "So she's been stringing this guy along and won't even let him date someone else?" "Childhood sweethearts, my ass—she's the mistress!" "Get up, girl. You don't kneel to someone like her." The naked hostility pressing in from all sides was enough to make my legs buckle. Robert's expression turned vicious. He ground his teeth and turned on me. "Gabriella! Do you want Elisa dead? She's carrying a child! You lost yours and now you can't stand seeing anyone else have one?" "Wait—is she that loose ex everyone's been talking about?" The onlookers seemed to think they'd cracked the case, and another wave of uproar tore through the crowd. I looked at Robert and couldn't comprehend what I was seeing—because he knew, he knew every sleepless night, every time I fell apart after losing that baby, and he had just ripped open the deepest wound I carried and held it up for a crowd of strangers. I stood there staring at him, frozen. "You'd smear me… for Elisa's sake—" Smack! Someone hurled a fistful of vegetable leaves straight into my face. I swayed, barely keeping my footing. "Shut your mouth. I hate homewreckers more than anything! I'll make sure everyone knows your face!" "Expose her! Shameless bitch!" Fingers jabbed toward my face, close enough to touch. Robert took an unconscious step forward. Conflict flashed across his face, and then he pulled his foot back. Behind him, Elisa couldn't quite hide the smirk of triumph on her face. "Stop it! What do you think you're doing, ganging up on a young woman? She's not the mistress!" A store worker pushed her way in front of me, shouting herself hoarse to defend me. Forget it. She'd already decided to leave. What would more words change. That single step Robert took backward had said everything. "Ma'am, let it go." I managed a bitter smile, took the older woman's arm, and turned to leave. But the instant I turned, an apple struck me square in the stomach. "Homewrecker! Drop the act already—take a good look at yourself and ask if you're even worth it!" Pain. My whole body seized inward, and the taste of iron flooded the back of my throat. My legs gave out and I crumpled to the floor. The crowd flinched back like a startled flock, opening a wide circle around me. "Gabriella!" I heard Robert's voice, sharp and involuntary, and the sound of his footsteps rushing closer. Then, a second later, Elisa cried out. "Robert, my stomach hurts so bad! What if something's wrong with the baby!" I forced my head up. Robert had stopped. One step away. His eyes moved between me and Elisa, something tangled and unreadable in them. In the end, he pulled back the foot he'd been about to set down. "Elisa's pregnant. I can't take any chances with that. Go home and wait for me—I'll take you to the hospital as soon as I get back." He turned without hesitation, scooped Elisa into his arms, and disappeared behind the shelves. The last thing I saw: His back walking away without looking back, and Elisa's smile appearing again over his shoulder. The supermarket went quiet. The crowd drifted away in silence. "Sweetheart, let me take you home." I let the older woman help me to my feet, then shook my head. "No need, ma'am. Thank you for protecting me." Some roads you can only walk alone. I straightened through the pain, and with every step toward home my stride grew steadier than the last. At the door, I turned and looked at this place one final time. So good. Such a shame.