Part 3Who Will Grow Old With Me?

Jessica drove all the way to her company's building.

So she'd lied about sending York abroad, too.

She'd been keeping York at her company all along, where she could see him every day when she went to work.

Nathaniel suddenly laughed.

Sometimes, when you were at a loss for words, all you could do was laugh.

Jessica had woven a beautiful, dreamlike illusion around him, trapping him inside and making him believe he was the happiest man in the world.

But beyond the illusion, she had another home outside her marriage. And soon, they would have a child together.

Nathaniel found it all utterly pointless.

Once the engine was off, the dashcam should have powered down with it.

But just a few minutes later, a notification popped up on the app. The dashcam had started recording again.

He opened the app again and was met with a disturbing sight.

Jessica and York were all over each other in the car, completely carried away.

Jessica's belly had already begun to round slightly. York kept one hand protectively over it while roughly pulling her toward him with the other.

He saw the look of rapture on York's face, while Jessica’s face was contorted with desire. He turned his head and threw up.

He felt sick.

He had no desire to find out how many rounds they'd gone for. In the early hours of the following morning, he simply copied all the footage the dashcam had recorded the night before and saved it to a USB drive.

The five hours of footage would make for quite a show.

It would be the perfect parting gift, putting a spectacular end to their relationship of more than a decade.

At nine that morning, Jessica returned with breakfast in hand.

"Nathaniel, why are you up so early? Why didn't you sleep in a little longer?"

Nathaniel was watering the flowers on the balcony.

They were rare night-blooming cereus plants he'd spent seven years carefully cultivating, and this year, they'd finally bloomed for the first time.

But he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the night-blooming cereus flowers, tossing them into the trash.

Jessica looked surprised. "Those flowers are so rare. Why did you cut them off?"

Nathaniel replied, "Night-blooming cereus flowers bloom for only a fleeting moment. They bloomed last night. There's no point keeping them now."

"Looks like I missed them at their most beautiful. It's my fault. I shouldn't have gone to the office last night. I should've stayed by your side."

He gave a faint smile. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Jessica wrapped her arms around him from behind, nuzzling close to his cheek as she whispered, "Since you're already up, why don't we keep trying for a baby?"

Her meaning was unmistakable.

Nathaniel wanted to ask her if she really thought she had the energy for another round after spending hours going at it with York the night before.

Wasn't she worried about the baby?

But when the words reached his lips, he decided it wasn't worth it.

He was already planning to leave. He couldn't be bothered to argue with her anymore.

"No, I... the incision from my surgery still hurts a little, so I shouldn't do anything too strenuous."

Jessica said nothing, but her expression darkened considerably.

"Nathaniel, I need to make a phone call."

She turned and went back into the bedroom. Once inside, she called a doctor friend of hers.

"Nathaniel had his vasectomy three years ago. How could it still be hurting? Are you sure the procedure was successful?"

Her friend answered confidently. "I can assure you the surgery was successful. I'm absolutely certain of that."

"Then why is he still in pain?"

"It could be the damp weather we've been having lately. Or perhaps you two have been a little too vigorous in bed recently and irritated the skin around the incision."

At that, Jessica's mood immediately brightened.

"That's possible, actually. The last time Nathaniel and I... well, things did get a little intense."

"Don't worry. A vasectomy is a relatively minor procedure. It won't harm his health."

Jessica finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. That's a relief."

When she came out of the bedroom, Nathaniel was still on the balcony tending to his plants.

He'd always tended to them with great care, nurturing each plant meticulously.

But today, he'd cut off all the flowers, pulled the plants out by their roots, and carelessly piled them all together.

"Nathaniel, you've always treasured these flowers. Why have you pulled them all out?"

"I don't like them anymore," Nathaniel replied.

"I feel like you haven't been yourself these past few days."

"Maybe it's just the bad weather lately."

Just then, the maid, Clara Bennett, passed by.

Nathaniel called out to her.

"Clara, could you throw all this junk away in a bit?"

"Mr. Scott, you mean these plants you pulled out?"

"Yeah, throw these flowerpots away, too."