Surprise, Surprise: I'm the Real Homewrecker

Nora Palmer's best friend, Jill Baker, rushed over to me. She looked anxious as she pulled me aside. "What's a disgraceful homewrecker like you doing here? If Nora finds out, she might cut off funding for you and your kid!"

Noticing that I was silently staring at my phone in my hand, she seemed to have realized something.

Her hands shot up to her mouth, and when she spoke again, she sounded shocked. "Don't tell me… you actually don't know anything?"

Then, she began to look panicked. "Um, that was all nonsense. Don't mind me. I have some matters to attend to, so I'll be off now."

As we watched Jill hurry off, my son, Rick Moore, tugged at my hand. Looking up at me, he asked in a confused tone, "Dad, what's 'a disgraceful homewrecker'?"

I smiled wryly as I said in a soft voice, "I guess that's me."

Maybe because it was my first time failing to respond to Nora's messages right away, my phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Nora.

The other end of the line was extremely noisy, and I could make out voices congratulating someone.

Nora asked, "What's going on? Didn't you see my message?"

Instead of responding to Nora's questions, I simply asked in a low voice, "Nora, where are you right now?"

Nora replied, "Where else can I be? Of course, I'm working in my office. Alright, I have to go. Remember to pick up the package."

With that, before I could even say anything else, she hung up in an instant.

As I gazed at my phone screen, which indicated that the call had ended, I forced a smile on my face.

I never knew. I had no idea that Nora could sound so calm when she was lying.

Something occurred to me. I tapped on my phone screen and navigated to an app in a corner.

It was a location tracking app.

Five years ago, before I left the country, Nora handed me my phone with tears welling up in her eyes.

"I've installed location tracking apps on our phones so we can see where the other person is at all times. Please take care of yourself when you're abroad. When all my debts are paid off, we can finally reunite and live happily ever after."

But I had been so busy working part-time to pay off the debts that I never had time to check Nora's location.

I tapped into the app and found Nora's current location. She was at the most luxurious restaurant in all of Einbrook.

…

When Rick and I arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, I spotted Nora standing nearby. She was holding a child in her arms, and she gently rocked the baby while playfully teasing a smile out of her.

I was stunned when I saw that.

Rick was already five years old. From what I could remember, Nora had never held him before.

Not long after Rick was born, he had a high fever, and he was crying at the top of his lungs. The doctor said that his mother's embrace would be more effective in helping Rick calm down.

Back then, Rick had been crying and refusing to go to sleep for three days. But even so, Nora simply lay on her hospital bed and rolled over without much emotion. She said, "I don't like children."

Now, as I looked at the same woman with so much love in her eyes, I finally realized something.

It wasn't that she didn't like children. She just didn't like my children.

Someone shouted nearby, and the loud noise jerked me back to reality. I turned to the side, but Rick was nowhere to be seen.

I subconsciously looked up to see Rick standing in front of Nora.

His head was tilted back, and his small face was filled with anticipation as he called out, "Mom! Mom, look! I made this gift just for you."

But in the next second, Nora simply stared at the boy with a bewildered look in her eyes. Then, she slapped the gift out of Rick's hands. "What is this, some kind of scam? I only have one child. I don't know you."