Chapter 20
“What…? You mean about someone stalking Chloe?”
I slowly repeated Hayden’s words to myself, questioning him as I went over what he meant. I asked again, was he angry at me because I hadn’t told him about Chloe?
“Yes. I wish you had told me in advance.”
I was at a loss for words.
I didn’t see how anything would have changed if I’d told him.
Even if he had known, unless he was with Chloe all the time, there was nothing he could have done.
“What difference would it have made if you’d known in advance?”
I asked, frowning without realizing it, my voice sharpening.
“If I’d known ahead of time, Chloe might have…”
“If you’d known ahead of time, do you think you wouldn’t have ended up spending the night with another woman?”
“What do you mean, another woman…? Winter, are you seriously suspicious of me and Chloe?”
Hayden looked at me, flustered.
“How can you say something like that, knowing what state Chloe was in?”
“Still, I didn’t expect you wouldn’t come home all night.”
“Chloe is our friend. Isn’t it only natural to help a friend when they’re in danger?”
Hayden shook his head as if he couldn’t understand me.
‘Because she’s our friend.’
That phrase always left me powerless.
Just as I cared for Chloe, so too did Hayden because he had also been friends with her for years. I had to understand and accept that he, too, would care for her. She was our long-time friend.
So I had to accept that Hayden stayed by her side all night, not mine.
I had always done so. The reason I suddenly hated this arrangement now was probably because I was just a petty person.
But even knowing that, anger still flared up inside me.
“So, you chose to take care of Chloe instead of me?”
The anger I had been holding back finally burst out. I felt my eyes growing hot and red.
“What…?”
“You were worried about that thing, the one you thought I might have thrown away. You saw what happened to me. How it landed on me.”
Hayden stared at me, wide-eyed, as if he’d had no idea. I glared at him, a surge of indignation flooding me.
“When you took Chloe and left the banquet hall, did you ever once think about me, left there alone?”
“Th-that’s…”
“I was terrified. That awful feeling still hasn’t left me. Did you ever once, all night, think about me when I had to endure it all alone?”
Finally, Hayden’s face showed realization.
“I know exactly what kind of situation Chloe was in. But that doesn’t mean my husband should put my friend ahead of me.”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t think of that. Chloe was so shaken… I thought you’d understand. You know she has that problem.”
Yes. That problem. The very reason I always had to step back and look after her.
I knew Chloe had her own vulnerabilities. But that didn’t mean I wanted to give up my husband to her. I, too, had moments when I needed someone’s care.
“I was shocked, too, Hayden. Didn’t you hear what I said? When that mouse head fell on me, I was scared too.”
If only you’d come home and at least pretended to be worried about me, maybe I wouldn’t have been this angry.
When I spoke with more strength, Hayden fell silent. I let out a sigh and clenched my fist.
“How is it that even my oldest friend can notice how shaken I am, but you can’t?”
I said words I never wanted to say. I knew that they would do neither of us any good.
“Do you know what Eugene said to me? He said he didn’t understand how a man could leave his wife in such a state to look after a ‘friend’. You want to thank him for taking me home? Maybe you can say that because you have no idea what I went through on the way here.”
Hot tears rolled down my cheek. Hayden’s face clouded with confusion as he saw them.
“Chloe may be our friend, but to everyone else, that’s all she is. Isn’t it strange, to have a friend prioritized above one’s wife?”
“Winter…”
“Are you really my husband?”
Hayden opened and closed his mouth, then clamped it shut.
Was this man standing in front of me really the gentle husband I’d known? I didn’t know anymore.
Chloe, myself waiting for him, this whole argument—it all suddenly felt so pointless. I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand.
“……”
“……”
Standing together at the top of the stairs, an uneasy silence hung between us.
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