Just Ten Years Chapter 2

Although I had made my decision and finally seen this man's true colors, my heart still ached when the call ended.

Jack was right about his superiority complex when it came to me. After all, I was the one who had pursued him first.

Jack and I met at a party. He was a talented doctor-in-training, and I was the heiress to a medical equipment company.

I fell for him at first sight and began a long journey of chasing him.

They say it's easy for a woman to chase a man, but that saying didn't apply to me.

I pursued Jack for two full years, confessing my feelings dozens of times.

Jack's attitude toward me was always hot and cold, impossible to decipher.

Eventually, I grew tired and decided to give up. I was preparing to study abroad when Jack cornered me in a stairwell.

"Aria, why did you stop chasing me?" he asked.

"I won't let you give up," he said, pulling me into a kiss.

His sudden confession threw all my plans into disarray. I canceled my flight to France the next day.

Jack came from a modest background. To protect his male pride, I moved out of my spacious apartment and into his tiny rental.

When we decided to get married, everyone in my family tried to talk me out of it.

But because it was Jack, I chose love over financial security without hesitation.

Jack had no savings, so we only registered our marriage without holding a ceremony.

"Aria, wait for me. I want to earn enough money to give you the grandest wedding. I want to show everyone I can do it on my own," Jack would promise, holding me close on countless nights.

I would respond with passionate kisses.

I thought I was the happiest woman in the world.

Until Vanessa appeared.

She had suffered a miscarriage abroad and developed severe depression. Upon returning home, she became Jack's patient.

At first, I didn't pay much attention. But gradually, Jack's eyes were no longer focused solely on me. His world was no longer just the hospital and our home.

It was slowly being taken over by Vanessa.

"Vanessa has a cold. I'm staying at the hospital with her for IV fluids. Tell your dad I can't make the family dinner tonight."

"Vanessa is moving today. She doesn't have any friends or family here, so I'm going to help her."

"Vanessa is feeling unstable today. I'm worried about her being alone, so I won't be coming home tonight."

...

Jack spent less and less time at home, his excuses becoming increasingly flimsy.

I had argued with him about this, but whenever I mentioned Vanessa's name, it was like touching a raw nerve. He would immediately lash out.

He'd accuse me of being petty and unreasonable.

"Vanessa is my patient. What's wrong with me taking extra care of her?"

"Aria, I think you're just bored being a housewife all day, letting your imagination run wild. I'm already exhausted working to support us. Can't you stop causing more trouble?"

Housewife? Trouble?

Jack, I wasn't born to be the annoying housewife you despise.

I once had my own dreams, my own chance to become a top designer.

But now I'm reduced to doing housework and arguing with you over another woman.

And why? Because of you, I gave up pursuing my own dreams.

Time truly dulls everything. Jack had forgotten it all, leaving me with nothing but endless criticism and disappointment.

After each argument, I would be the one to apologize first.

This cycle repeated, and I gradually accepted it all.

I chose to retreat step by step, to endure in silence.

After all, I loved Jack. That was an undeniable fact.

I thought that as long as I didn't make a fuss, as long as I didn't expose the truth, this man would still belong to me.

We could still be the model couple in everyone's eyes.

Only now do I realize how completely wrong I was.

My tolerance only made Vanessa more brazen and diminished my importance in Jack's heart.

This time at the wedding, Jack, who was supposed to be the groom, abandoned me for Vanessa.

I'll never forget the disappointment when I couldn't reach Jack on the phone.

The pity and mockery in the guests' eyes.

The pain in my parents' eyes as they sat there in their finest clothes.

Jack, no matter how reluctant I am, this is where it has to end.