After not seeing him for a month, John just thrust a divorce lawyer’s business card at me without even asking.

Are you okay? Or how are you feeling divorcing a wife who doesn’t work? Pay me $1,000 a month as alimony. Sounds good. Take care. John chuckled as he said this, standing beside him.

Emily was wrapping her arm around his, wearing a similar smug expression. Fine, let’s divorce then. I said it so casually that John seemed a bit surprised, but he quickly shared his smile with Emily.

Good thing John isn’t much of a thinker. It makes my plan easier to execute. After the divorce papers got approved, I decided to start my revenge plan on both of them.

I will make them cry as a celebration of my recovery. My name is Sarah Wolf. I’m a 47-year-old illustrator. I’d also work as a children’s book author. I just love drawing. I have two childhood friends, John and Emily.

They’re important friends to me, and John is also my husband. It all started when John asked me out as I was heading to a different college after high school.

I was surprised. I thought he was into Emily, but I couldn’t say no to a confession from John, whom I had secretly liked.

After some thought and consultation with Emily, I accepted John’s proposal. Emily’s behavior had been a bit problematic since teens, but she was still a dear friend to both John and me.

However, Emily had a tendency to snatch other people’s boyfriends and then dump them once they became obsessed with her, causing problems time and again.

Her parents were concerned, so John and I often spent time with her to watch over her. John and I got married when we were 25, four years later.

Emily brought her fiancé into our lives. His name was George. a professional working for a top-tier company. Nice to meet you, Sarah and John. I’ve heard so much about you.

Looking forward to our future together. George was very polite, and we all got along immediately. We would get together during holidays and vacations, taking trips or going on long train rides to enjoy some drinks.

However, things started falling apart. After Emily got pregnant two years into her marriage, John… and I originally had many siblings, so there was no worry about an heir.

 

So we decided we didn’t need children. Both of us loved kids, but weren’t keen on actively caring for them. Besides, we loved our freedom to travel and enjoy drinks…

We often found it heartwarming to see families with children, but it was never more or less than that.

When Emily announced her pregnancy, John’s attitude started to change. He quit smoking, because Emily said she couldn’t stand the smell and even offered to drive her to doctor’s appointments using his vacation days.

I warned him, George might get upset if you’re always with Emily. But John argued back, you have work, don’t you? She’s our childhood friend, and she’s reaching out for help.

 

You’re heartless. I said, I’ve been buying things and helping where I can, but going with her to the obstetrician is crossing the line.

When I said that, John frowned, and then he glared at me. Why? Because Emily wants it, right? She says she’s anxious about the checkup. I can’t just let her go alone, if she’s anxious.

All the more reason for George to go with her, right? If you go with her every time, it’s almost like you’re the father of the baby in her belly.

John jealous? You’re not going to get pregnant anyway, so what’s the problem? He didn’t take my concerns seriously. and instead started to snap, saying I was being annoying.

 

We had hardly ever had a fight during our marriage, but things changed when Emily got pregnant. Our arguments increased, and that didn’t change even after Emily gave birth.

In fact, John started spending even more time with Emily and their child, Emma. But when Emma was six, an incident occurred. It had to do with the attendees of Emma’s graduation ceremonies.

The day before the graduation, John suddenly started rummaging through the closet. John, what are you doing? Have a meeting tomorrow. John’s workplace had a casual dress code, but there was a rule to wear a suit during client meetings, so we always kept a few suits ready.

But they were all thrown on the bed. Now? Ah, no, just trying to decide what to wear for the graduation ceremony. What? You’re seriously thinking of attending the graduation?

 

Yeah, George. can’t make it. Emily asked me, wait, that’s absurd, no matter how you look at it. I inadvertently raised my voice in denial. Immediately, John’s face turned sour.

I knew he occasionally picked Emma up from kindergarten, and I had done so myself when asked, yet it was nonsensical for a biological parent to attend a graduation ceremony.

 

What? You still doubt me and Emily? I’m disappointed that you can’t even help out. That’s not the point. Point anyway. I’m attending the graduation tomorrow, so iron a shirt properly.John said that and abruptly ended the conversation, leaving me behind and going to the bedroom. I had no choice but to call Emily. Hello, Emily. About tomorrow. Ah, sorry about tomorrow.

I’m borrowing John. But won’t George be upset about the graduation attendance, Sarah? What are you talking about? Obviously, I haven’t told George that the graduation is tomorrow…

I’ll tell him after the ceremony. I was shocked to learn that George didn’t know about the graduation schedule. Upon further questioning, it seemed that Emily hadn’t informed George about any of the kindergarten events so far, and John had been acting as the father at the kindergarten, which made me dizzy with its selfishness.

Wait a minute, Emily. Isn’t that extremely unreasonable? It’s disrespectful to George, and just because he’s a childhood friend, eh?

What’s wrong? Sarah, you’re scary. Well, see you tomorrow. Wait, Emily. I was trembling with anger at Emily who unilaterally hung up the phone.

 

Still, in the end, I ironed a shirt, prepared a tie, and the next morning saw John off to Emma’s graduation ceremony.

Since then… Emily and John started going out more frequently, from once a month to once a week, and then to three times a week.

Eventually, even George seemed to have some suspicions, and one day, while John and Emily were out, he visited our house alone.

I’m sorry for visiting you late at night. There’s something that’s been bothering me. Is it about the two of them? Yes, I would like you to take a look at this.

George showed me the GPS history he had installed in Emily’s car. It showed that she had been staying at a hotel three times a week.

All of those days, she was out with John, and just by looking at George’s face, I understood what that meant.

What do you want to do, George? I want to take revenge on those two. Me too. I can’t forgive them for betraying us after all this time. We started planning our revenge on them secretly.

First, I started by increasing my income because I had been saving by doing housework and taking care of Emma.

My income had drastically decreased. George switched to working from home. And when Emily and John would go out, he would bring Emma to my house, and we would take care of her together.

 

Neither Emily nor John realized that we knew about their relationship, and we were able to gather solid evidence.

Once we had collected enough evidence and were ready to take our revenge, we discovered a shocking truth about Emma.

George and I struggled with the decision, but we both agreed that we didn’t want to hurt young Emma, so we decided to wait until she was an adult to take our revenge.

However, even though we decided to endure for 10 years, I was struck with a serious illness. I needed long-term hospitalization, and even at best, I wouldn’t be discharged for at least two years.

Although I could work from the hospital room, it was certain that I would have to reduce my workload.

After informing George about the situation, I consulted John. However, John’s reaction was no different from when we were making small talk…

Em, I’ll visit you once in a while. I felt that John no longer had any affection for me as he didn’t even ask about my condition or the name of the disease.

In reality, John only visited once a month or once every two months And after Emma’s 15th birthday, she started acting strangely.

Although she used to visit me almost every day right after I was hospitalized, she became distant after her 15th birthday.

However, neither George nor I could figure out why, and we were puzzled. Even when we asked Emma, she just said, don’t worry about it. However, we ended up learning the reason from John, who rarely showed up.

Hey, it’s been a while. Yeah, it has. John, who had completely transformed into a flashy appearance, walked in without even knocking.

After not seeing him for a month, John just thrust a divorce lawyer’s business card at me without even asking.

 

Are you okay? Or how are you feeling divorcing a wife who doesn’t work? Pay me $1,000 a month as alimony. That’s the deal. So take care. John said, grinning from ear to ear.

Beside him, Emily wrapped her arms around John’s with a similar expression on her face. Fine, let’s divorce then. I casually agreed, which seemed to surprise John for a moment.

But he quickly exchanged smiles with Emily. It was good that John wasn’t the type to think too deeply. That’s why my plan worked so well. After receiving a notification that the divorce was finalized from John, I decided to start my revenge plan against the two of them.

I will make them cry as a celebration of my recovery. I promptly started to take action. First, I contacted George to transfer hospitals. Then I informed my lawyer that they would be mediating between the two parties from now on.

George also began to act at the same time. He moved near my new hospital with Emma, and he started to visit me frequently.

Emma still had a gloomy expression, but I was happy that she came to see me every day. Most of my belongings were already in the hospital room.

So I told John to dispose of the rest. I didn’t want to bring anything that the two of them might have touched into my new life.

Once the hospital transfer and George and Emma’s move settled down, I received a call from John. I had only left my seat for a few minutes, but my smartphone already showed 30 missed calls.

I answered the phone, feeling exasperated. What? Hey! What the hell is going on? I could hear the voice of a troubled real estate agent behind John’s panicked voice.

I also heard Emily yelling, which made me feel sick. What do you mean? What’s going on? It’s obviously about the house. Why do we have to move out? John shouted at me as if it wasn’t his fault at all.

I replied to him coolly, obviously because that’s my house. Ha, John seemed to have completely forgotten. but the truth was the house we lived in was a room I rented as a workspace.

 

When I started to make a living as a freelancer, at that time, I didn’t have enough income to maintain two houses, and John didn’t have enough income to live alone.

So he ended up moving into my place. Therefore, Jan had never paid the rent or utility bills for that room. Although I received some money from him for living expenses, it wasn’t enough to maintain the place.

Unfortunately, That room was already canceled. It was far from the hospital I transferred to, so I had processed the cancellation the day after submitting the divorce papers…

I didn’t inform him because the real estate agent who knew the situation said they would contact him.

George and Emma suddenly disappeared, and our house was sold. What are we going to do about our new house? I don’t know. Maybe stay in a business hotel for now.

As I turned on the speaker and started working… John yelled in frustration, don’t screw with me. However, he seemed to remember something and started speaking in a more soothing tone.

Well, whatever. When will you transfer the money? We’re running low on cash. What are you talking about? Huh? Don’t mess around. I told you to pay $1,000, didn’t I?

Oh, I don’t recall agreeing to that. My non-tolent response was met with incoherent screaming from John on the other end of the phone.

Apparently, he thought he could get money from me and had been squandering it. Even if he had $1,000 left, how did he plan to get by for the rest of the month?

Hey, don’t just stay silent. Say something. There’s really nothing to talk about. My retort left John momentarily dumbfounded, but he soon started yelling again, growing increasingly annoyed.

I addressed John in as cheerful a tone as I could muster. Anyway, we’re basically strangers now. so please don’t contact me anymore. You’ll hear from my lawyer. Huh? Lawyer? Hey, wait a minute.

I hung up without listening to John’s response. He tried calling back several times, but I ignored it and eventually the calls stopped.

However, angry that I didn’t answer, John started ignoring calls from my lawyer. He certainly had a childish side, but I never imagined he’d He’d be the kind of person who didn’t mind causing trouble for others.

I sighed deeply at John’s selfishness. A few months later, after a temporary discharge from the hospital, I visited John’s parents’ house.

In front of me were John and Emily, both looking small and trembling. You telling my parents is a low blow. Oh, I just reported that we got divorced. Jan glared at me in response to my answer, but he shrank back under his father’s stern gaze.

 

Actually, I had a great relationship with my in-laws, even visiting and dining with them when John wasn’t around.

Despite being so well-loved, I felt it was wrong not to share the details of our divorce. So I went to visit them. Is it true that you’re remarrying Emily? Yes, it’s true. True. Emily, Emma, and are going to start over as a family.

What are you talking about? Your only family is Sarah. She’s not my family anymore. John’s words made his father frown with a look that seemed to say, Give me a break.

John shook his head a few times, then handed me a piece of paper. It was a bill from a nearby luxury hotel. What’s this? It’s the bill from the hotel we stayed at.

John, acting as if it was obvious, pointed at the bill on the table, then suddenly collapsed. Oh, what the heck, Mom? I… I didn’t raise you to be like this. My mother-in-law, gasping for breath, was met with a look of disbelief from John.

Next to him, Emily wore the same expression. Why are you so angry? It’s just that the family is changing because I’m getting married.

Plus, you’ll have a grandchild, a blood-related one at that. Aren’t you happy? You two didn’t. My mother-in-law, looking as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, glanced at Emily, then turned her gaze to me…

Both my in-laws understood that I didn’t want children and still treated me as their own daughter. Of course, they treated Emily, my childhood friend, similarly.

But there was always a boundary between a daughter-in-law and a friend. I remembered Emily often complaining about that. So I was certain my mother-in-law wouldn’t be happy about this situation, and Emily should have known it too.

You dote on Emma, right? It’ll be your grandchild, so you’ll be happy, right? It’s because she’s a child I’ve known since she was little. Oh, but half of her blood is from John, right?

Even after all this, Emily, showing no sign of remorse and acting as if she couldn’t understand the problem, gave me goosebumps.

At that moment, someone who had been silent until now spoke up. Enough already. It’s disgusting, ha? Emma, who had been playing with her smartphone in the corner of the room, spoke to Emily without looking up.

The room fell into a stunned silence. My dad is the only one I consider my father, whether we’re related by blood or not.

He’s the only one. But you know, John has always been the one to attend your school events. I heard everything from dad, how he was always informed of the event dates after they were over, how eventually even the events themselves were kept from him.

But dad always said I was his daughter, so I am his daughter, and I will never be yours. Emma glared at Emily as she said this. Then, sitting beside me, she switched to a more concerned tone.

You know, when I found out about this, I thought you would hate me. But Dad said that wasn’t the case, so I came here today. Emma, I love you so much. You were so kind to visit me every day while I was in the hospital.

I was really happy, Sarah. Emma, perhaps relieved of her anxiety, teared up and hugged me tightly. It might indeed be a child resulting from an affair between John and Emily.

Yet it’s a child I’ve taken care of for 15 years. There’s no way I don’t have affection for her. Speaking of which, Emily, weren’t you curious why I wasn’t surprised when I found out Emma is John’s daughter?

Ah, Emily looked startled. Before she could speak, a new person entered the room. We knew from the start, 10 years ago actually. George suddenly appeared. Understandably so, as she had recently unilaterally demanded a divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

I was shocked when you mentioned divorce. Oh, and, unfortunately, you’re not divorced yet. The divorce papers are still here. Didn’t you notice? What? I figured it wasn’t in Emily and John’s nature to confirm things.

But I couldn’t help but be stunned that Emily, despite the 100-day waiting period for women to remarry…

hadn’t noticed for months. So, Emily is still my wife, and Emma is still my daughter. Well, since there won’t be a wife, though… Wait, what do you mean? A 15-year-old can choose their parent.

That’s not true. Emma wants to be with Mom, right? Emily said that and looked at Emma. Emma frowned at Emily and held my hand. Emily was speechless at that and glared at me.

Then, John suddenly burst into laughter. So, that’s what it is. You two are together, huh? But too bad. Isn’t it impossible to live on George’s salary alone?

Can you stop making weird assumptions? Also, it seems George earns double the amount you think. Emily knows about it, huh? It’s probably a bluff. A lolol. Besides, it’s impossible for you to work while dealing with your illness.

You’ll just die miserably somewhere. This time, I laughed at John’s huge misunderstanding. John… Seeing me suddenly start laughing was getting frustrated.

You didn’t know about my income, did you, huh? It’s probably just a bit more than a part-time job. No, it’s different. My annual income is $500,000, huh? John’s eyes and mouth were wide open in shock.

Emily was also stunned. In fact, over the past 10 years, I had become a popular children’s book author, and my income had skyrocketed from essays, interviews, and the like.

Moreover, a film adaptation is planned soon, so my income is skyrocketing. Liar. Oh, do you want to see this? I said that and showed Emily my bank account screen.

It clearly showed a large amount of money being deposited every month. Emily was at a loss for words when she saw it. Sarah, let’s, uh, make up, huh? What are you saying? Emily was furious at John’s words.

Blinded by the money, I watched them blankly. and then opened my mouth. Well, if you want to get married, feel free. Oh, and I’ll definitely take the compensation for damages, Sarah.

Wait, Sarah. Ignoring John’s words, I took Emma’s hand, and after saying goodbye to my in-laws, I left their house.

John originally worked at my father-in-law’s company, but it was revealed that he was lying about going out for sales, and he was fired.

My father-in-law planned to forcibly put him on a friend’s fishing boat, and work him to the bone. Working on a fishing boat was tough for an indoor-loving John, and he contacted me several times.

But each time, I notified my father-in-law, and eventually, the calls stopped. Emily lost custody to George and got divorced. She seemed uninterested in John, who couldn’t afford luxuries and didn’t seem to chase after him…

She was disowned by her family and lived alone in a rundown apartment. She hadn’t worked at all since getting married. And since she had always made others do things for her, she couldn’t do anything herself.

And there were hardly any places that would hire her as a full-time employee. Still, she had to pay for her living expenses and child support.

So she worked multiple part-time jobs and barely made ends meet. After entering high school, Emma worked hard every day to study abroad and go to a prestigious university overseas.

Being originally diligent, her dream is to translate my picture books and deliver them to children all over the world, which makes me happy.

As for me, my picture books are selling well, and I am receiving more and more offers for anime adaptations and merchandise.

My illness is also progressing well, and although I am still hospitalized, my doctor recently told me that I might be able to leave the hospital next year.

And one more thing! George and Emma come to visit me every day. Actually, George recently confessed to me with remarriage in mind. I haven’t given my answer yet, but I can’t help but have feelings for him.

He said he wants to live together when I leave the hospital. While thinking about what to answer, I work on my picture books every day, hoping for a happy future for us.

I weave stories again today.