A Wife’s Suspicions

The bedroom air was thick with an ambiguous fragrance, laden with an unspoken meaning.

As she met her wife Bai Jie’s hazy eyes, brimming with desire, a wave of heat rushed over her.

Dongyi felt all the blood rush to her head, her heart pounding wildly as if it would leap from her chest.

“No… I can’t! Not right now, truly!” Just as her wife’s fingers were about to brush her shirt buttons, Dongyi gritted her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, and, with every ounce of strength, roared out her stern refusal.

Her wife’s movements froze, her outstretched hand suspended in mid-air.

The flush of desire quickly drained from her cheeks, and her burning gaze instantly cooled, becoming as sharp and distant as two frigid moons.

She slowly withdrew her hand and sat upright, the temperature in the room seemingly plummeting by several degrees.

“Heh—” a soft laugh escaped her lips, devoid of any warmth. “It seems your work truly exhausts you… so much so that you lack the strength even to touch me. You must be terribly tired.”

Bai Jie’s words sounded considerate, yet each one was like an ice-tempered needle, piercing deep into Dongyi’s heart.

“Very well then…” She rose to her feet, her movements crisp and decisive, without a hint of hesitation. “I’m leaving.”

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving behind only a cold, desolate silhouette.

“Bai Jie…” Dongyi watched her go, her heart twisting in agony. An impulse to chase after her and confess everything surged in her throat.

Yet, reason, like a tragic shackle, held her body firmly in its grasp.

‘[What good would chasing her do? Tell her that her husband is no longer a man?]’

‘[Tell her that the arm that once shielded her from wind and rain is now a young girl, even more delicate than she is?]’

‘[I can’t say it. If I do, this family will truly be over.]’

‘[But how long can this deception last?]’

Countless thoughts clashed and tore at her mind, ultimately dissolving into a single sigh.

A long sigh, heavy with exhaustion.

Having just endured such an awkward encounter, the home had become a suffocating cage for Dongyi. Unable to remain a moment longer, she disconsolately climbed out of bed, haphazardly straightened her wrinkled clothes, and left the house like a deserter.

The heavy thud of the door echoed in the silent night, striking another heart as well.

****

Shortly after Dongyi’s departure, the master bedroom door softly opened, and his wife, Bai Jie, emerged.

She had changed out of her seductive nightgown, now clad only in simple loungewear.

She didn’t turn on the lights, instead relying on the faint moonlight filtering through the window as she silently settled onto the living room sofa.

Periodically, an almost inaudible sigh escaped her lips, only to be followed by a tight furrow of her brow, born of frustration.

After an indeterminate amount of time, faint footsteps sounded, and their daughter, Liao Xinyi, emerged from her room, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Mom? It’s so late. Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

As she crossed the living room, she noticed the figure silently lost in thought amidst the darkness.

“Xinyi? Are you up for a bathroom break?”

Bai Jie’s voice was slightly hoarse.

“Yeah,” Liao Xinyi replied, sitting beside her. She asked with concern, “What happened? You look upset.”

“Is it… about Dad?”

Bai Jie remained silent for a moment before finally nodding. As mother and daughter, they shared an unusually close bond, discussing almost everything, including intimate topics.

She gazed at her daughter, who had grown into a graceful young woman, and recounted the events that had just transpired.

“What?!”

Liao Xinyi’s face was etched with astonishment, her sleepiness vanishing instantly.

She instinctively covered her mouth, then fell into deep thought.

“Mom, you don’t think… Dad, he’s, you know, incapable now, is he?”

As a daughter of the modern era, she spoke these words without a trace of shyness, only pure curiosity and concern.

“Impossible…! Your father is an Investigator! He’s in excellent health!”

Bai Jie instinctively blurted out a denial, yet the moment the words left her mouth, even she felt a lack of conviction.

She couldn’t help but recall the sensation of inadvertently holding her husband’s hand last night.

Those hands were no longer the calloused, strong hands she remembered.

Instead… they were soft and delicate, like a woman’s hands.

‘[Could it be that after being away from home for so long, he’s left the front lines, working in an office for extended periods, and his physical capabilities have deteriorated?]’

‘[Unless a man is truly impotent, how could he possibly refuse his wife’s advances?]’

‘[Or… does he have someone else outside?]’

This terrifying thought sent Bai Jie’s heart plummeting into a chasm of despair.

“Mom, there’s another possibility…” Liao Xinyi pondered for a moment, then spoke with some hesitation. “Perhaps… Dad, he actually likes men?”

“What?! What nonsense are you spouting?!” Bai Jie bristled instantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “What kind of strange comics do you and your classmates read all day? What’s filling your head?”

“Your father is a completely straight man! That’s an absolute fact! Otherwise, how would you even exist?”

As she said this, a faint blush crept onto Bai Jie’s cheeks.

“Just think, before you were born, your father knew my body so well… If he didn’t like women, how could he have been so passionate?”

“Besides, he was just a poor boy back then. If it weren’t for how… how strong and healthy he was, I wouldn’t have even given him a second glance!”

“Yes, yes, yes… Is it really appropriate to discuss such private matters with your daughter?”

Liao Xinyi responded dismissively, yet her mind involuntarily replayed the shocking scene she had witnessed that day upon waking in the park—

Her father, and that Young Master Li, were arm-in-arm, pressed tightly together, and Young Master Li’s hand was even ambiguously placed on her father’s chest.

‘[Even though they explained it as “meeting late in life, like old friends,” and thus becoming “good brothers,” was that gesture truly something “good brothers” would do?]’

‘[This isn’t some comic book plot. Can male friends in reality truly be that intimate?]’

Liao Xinyi’s mind was filled with doubt, but despite her questions, she saw that it was getting late.

She had to go to bed; after all, she had school tomorrow.

She yawned, bid her mother goodnight, and returned to her room.

In the living room, Bai Jie was once again left alone.

After her daughter’s interruption, she had lost all trace of sleepiness.

Driven by restlessness, she decided to get up and do some housework to distract herself.

Her first thought was that her husband, having left in such a hurry, surely hadn’t had time to tidy the guest room he’d slept in.

“Honestly, such a grown man, yet still so messy,” Bai Jie muttered as she stepped into the guest room.

Sure enough, the large bed was a chaotic mess of bedding; clearly, the person who had departed had no mind to tidy it.

She sighed and approached the bed, beginning to straighten it.

However, just as Bai Jie picked up the duvet, her nose caught a faint, unfamiliar scent.

“Hmm? Where is this scent coming from?” She sniffed the duvet suspiciously.

It was certainly not her usual gardenia perfume, nor the faint tobacco scent that clung to her husband.

It was a cool, elegant fragrance, like an ice lotus blooming on a snowy peak, carrying a hint of elusive sweetness.

Evidently, Dongyi herself was unaware she possessed such a body fragrance, which explained her carelessness.

At that moment, Bai Jie’s heart tightened abruptly; her woman’s intuition screamed the highest level of alarm.

Like a wary female dog, she began a meticulous search of the room.

Finally, in a corner of the bed, nestled in the gap between the pillow and the headboard, Bai Jie discovered a slender strand of hair that belonged to no one in her family.

It was an ice-blue hair, shimmering with a dreamlike luster under the light, and from it, the unfamiliar fragrance subtly emanated.

“Why… is there… another woman’s hair here?”

Bai Jie clutched the hair, her brow furrowed as she murmured to herself.