Chapter 3

The box flaps opened, and everyone burst out laughing.

My face burned red.

Inside, neatly stacked, were box after box of condoms.

I still couldn't believe it. I looked hard at Linda. "How can you be sure I'm the one who bought these?"

Linda gave a cold laugh and said nothing.

Standing beside her, Ethan saw I still refused to admit anything, and his face went white with anger.

"Fine. Then I'll make sure you're convinced, so you can't say you were wronged."

The words had barely left his mouth when he lifted the box and dumped it upside down. Countless boxes of Sixth Sense condoms spilled across the floor. There was no sign of the face cream I'd bought.

Ethan's expression was stony. "What do you have to say now?"

Linda watched me too, gloating openly.

I was so mortified I wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.

"So it's really true! Not even a viper is this vicious!"

Hearing that, Linda, who had been gloating a moment earlier, instantly teared up again.

In the face of this so-called evidence, nobody was willing to hear my side.

I wanted to ask the seller for their packing video, but before I could even say so, Linda signaled Ethan to throw me out of the house.

Ethan looked at me like his eyes were about to shoot fire. "You're still not going to apologize?"

"I'll ask customer service and get this straightened out. They'll definitely have a packing video."

Hearing that, Ethan looked thoroughly disappointed. Shaking his head, he pushed me out the door. "Then go straighten it out!"

I turned around, and what met me was the heavy slam of the door behind me.

The neighbors who'd come to watch the show saw me get thrown out and scattered.

I was left standing alone in the hallway, the autumn wind cold and bleak, lost and dazed.

In all my years with Ethan, I had never been wronged this badly.

I even wondered if I'd ordered the wrong thing. I checked my purchase history again and again. It was clearly the luxury face cream, but what everyone had just seen was a pile of junk.

It felt like the sky was falling. Shivering, I kept at it until midnight.

Only when after-sales service sent me the packing video was I sure I hadn't made a mistake.

Just then, I heard Ethan and his mother talking inside.

"Mom, why did you do this?"

"I just wanted to knock her down a peg."

"What if she gets mad and won't marry me?"

"Just sweet-talk her and it'll be fine."

When Ethan said nothing, Linda's dismissive voice came again.

"A five-legged toad is hard to find, but two-legged women are a dime a dozen. Besides, this blew up so big her reputation's ruined. Who else but you would want her now?"

"Mom, you did this on purpose?"

"And you bought that box of stuff?"

"Yes. Go return it at the package pickup station."

"What about the skincare set Jessica mailed you?"

"Face cream that expensive? I couldn't bear to rub it on my face. I took it to a luxury resale shop and sold it. Twenty thousand dollars!"

Listening to the two of them, I couldn't help laughing at myself. If I'd known this was a setup to ruin my reputation, I never would have bought Linda such expensive face cream. I should have smeared her face with shit instead.

The next day, I was still asleep in the hotel.

The ping of a text woke me.

"Jessica, I spent all night apologizing to my mom. Come over in a bit, bow your head and admit you were wrong, and we'll put this behind us."

I rolled my eyes. Knowing Ethan couldn't see me, I typed back, "Tell your mom to wait."

"Okay. My mom loves the roast chicken from that place on the north side of town. Grab one if it's on your way."

Want roast chicken? How about a plate of shit?