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He accused me for trying to become his wife even though he didn’t remember anything the next morning.
People who praised him turned against him.
He hated me more and more as time went on.
He married me for the sake of the child, but he didn’t love me. He kept me at arm’s length, distant, and frigid.
He had always loved Tania. That’s the love he chose to go after.
Albert had been calling me every day, which he had never done before.
It was my turn not to answer the phone.
Every month, his company conducted a public welfare livestream. I used to be his co-host on every one of these. After I left, it was clear who his new co-host would be: Tania.
I logged onto the livestream with a second account since I was curious.
He was still sharp, still gorgeous, and naturally charming. Everything he said made people adore him.
And yeah, Tania was standing next to him.
They looked like the perfect couple because they were wearing the same clothes.
Someone asked a query about the laws about self-defence and murder.
Tania suddenly spoke up to give her views.
She said that killing someone in self-defence was still planned murder and shouldn’t be seen as self-defence at all. It should be penalised by death.
People quickly pushed back. They thought she was arrogant and that her argument wasn’t fair.
But instead of giving up, she took it personally and said the viewers were being rude to her. Then she proceeded to argue with them.
Albert continued looking at her and telling her to stop with his eyes. He even tried to grab her arm and pull it gently to get her to remain silent.
But she didn’t listen to him and kept chatting.
The talk on the livestream went out of hand and was full of obscenities. It became so nasty that the platform sent out a warning for breaking the rules.
Albert finally lost it when the comments got worse.
“Stop!” ” he yelled.
He put his hand over her mouth and tried to pull her away from the camera.
But she was so angry that she pushed him away.
“Albert, they’re all coming after me.  You should be standing up for me! ”
Albert let out a hopeless sigh and tried to talk to Tania.
“The people watching weren’t making fun of you.  They were merely making comments.
“They said I was stupid, impulsive, shallow, and selfish.  How does it not hurt my feelings? Tania shot back, her voice shaking. “I was just defending myself.”  Why won’t you stand up for me? ”
She cried as she broke down, throwing a fit like a child who wasn’t getting enough attention.
Albert looked tired. His expression, which was normally calm, now showed a hint of open scorn.
He couldn’t get angry here, not in front of people. Even though he was angry, he had to hold it back and swallow every syllable like shattered glass.
“Okay.”  “I messed up.”
He stopped the livestream without saying anything else.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
A perfectly excellent stream was ruined by Tania and turned into pandemonium. Albert, the calm and collected professional lawyer, was completely embarrassed. There was no way to avoid the fallout from this tragedy.
And sure enough, it came quickly.
People on the internet were very critical of Tania, saying she was unprofessional and lacked poise.
Some people even remarked they missed me and that the broadcasts were better when I was his co-host because I was bright, principled, and able to speak clearly.
People who watched Albert’s show sent him a lot of emails requesting him to invite me back.
But Albert? He didn’t say anything. No comment, no PR spin, nothing.
Then a coworker sent me a clip of Tania flinging herself into Albert’s arms and crying violently after the webcast stopped.
I saw Albert push her away, and his eyes were full of disappointment. He said only one thing.
“I thought you were smart.”  But you’re simply an idiot.  No awareness, no tact.  “You’re getting harder to deal with every day.”
And with that, he left her behind, almost running away from the scene.
I was shocked. Was he finally done with her? Had the charm of his so-called love and dedication worn off?
It didn’t matter to me anymore how he treated Tania.
I looked at my phone and saw that it was still connected to the home security system. I opened it one last time to clear the memory and get ready to remove the program.
I downloaded the old movies of our daughter that were kept in the cloud before I did that. I wanted to keep them.
The real-time feed flickered on by accident while I was scrolling.
Albert was back home.
He was inebriated and wobbling, and his steps were shaky.
“Ivan,” he shouted, and his voice echoed through the empty home. “My stomach hurts.”  “Please make me some soup.”
He yelled my name again, this time louder. But I didn’t answer.
He strolled through the home, room by room. There was no one there.
And then it appeared to hit him: we were gone. I had grabbed our daughter and fled.
He walked to the dining room table and poured himself a glass of water. Then he stopped.
He reached out and grabbed a cup with a cartoon on it that I used to drink from.
He looked at it for a long time, and then, curiously, he smiled. It was a soft, indulgent smile, like a reflex from a good memory.
I frowned. Was he losing it with that smile?