Parking Lot Deception

I was filling up at a gas station when I scrolled past a trending local post:

I want my mistress to come over for an affair, but my wife's schedule is unpredictable. How can I avoid getting caught?

Someone replied:

I've got experience with this. I have two parking spots at home. Whenever I'm having an affair, I park my car horizontally across both spots. When my wife comes home and can't park, she calls me to move the car. While I'm going down to move it, my mistress slips away. I've been doing this for six months without getting caught.

The comments praised his clever scheme, and the original poster even liked the reply.

I rarely post online, but I couldn't help responding:

"A bunch of scumbags!"

But when I drove home, I found my parking spot blocked by my husband's car parked horizontally across both spaces.

Seeing my husband, who always parked carefully and never crossed the lines, suddenly park horizontally across two spots, I slammed on the brakes.

The post I'd just read flashed through my mind.

It had to be a coincidence, right?

Alexander was famous for being devoted to his wife.

We'd been dating for five years and married for twoseven years total. He was attentive and considerate, treating me like a treasure.

He never let me enter the kitchen or do any housework.

Knowing I loved to drive, he'd even given me a Porsche as a birthday gift and bought the parking spot right next to his.

Every time we parked, he'd always position his car closer to his side, leaving an extra eight inches of space for me to park more comfortably.

How could a man who loved and protected me so wholeheartedly possibly betray me?

But that post kept replaying in my mind.

I stared at Alexander's car for a long time before making a decision.

I didn't call him to move his car.

Instead, I drove to a temporary parking spot nearby, turned off the engine, got out, and went home.

I wanted to see if there really was an unfaithful husband inside, waiting for me to call about moving the car.

When I reached the front door, I quietly pulled out my key and opened it as silently as possible.

Once inside, I headed straight for the bedroom. The door was half-open. Through the gap, I saw the room was empty.

I turned to the guest room. Pushed open the doorstill empty.

The study, bathroom, balcony, even the storage roomI checked every single one.

Every room was quiet and empty. No one was there.

Where was Alexander?

Just as I was puzzling over this, the kitchen door opened.

Alexander came out wearing an apron, carrying a dish.

Seeing me, he froze for a moment, surprised:

"Why are you home so early today?"

He quickly set the dish on the dining table and gave me a simple smile:

"I was planning to make a few more dishes before you got off work. You came home earlyI haven't finished cooking yet."

I glanced at the kitchen. Cut vegetables were arranged on the cutting board, and in the pot, my favorite soup was simmering.

Clearly, he'd been busy in the kitchen for quite a while.

I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly:

"There wasn't much going on at the office today, so I came home early."

Alexander nodded. "Then rest for a bit. I'll finish the last two dishes and you can eat."

He went back into the kitchen to continue cooking.

Watching his busy figure, I couldn't help asking:

"Why did you suddenly park horizontally across my spot today?"

Alexander looked back at me, somewhat embarrassed:

"I was worried you'd be hungry when you got home, so I rushed upstairs to cook. I didn't pay attention to parking properlyjust left it there and ran up."

Alexander's behavior seemed completely natural, and his explanation was flawless.

After all, every day when I came home from work, there was always hot food waiting for me.

Alexander was a surgical doctor with an incredibly demanding workload, yet he always managed to find time to come home and cook for me.

Sometimes I'd tell him to rest and not work so hard, but he'd always say:

"You have a weak constitution. When you're hungry, you get heart palpitations and trembling hands. We can't be careless about that."

"I need to make sure you have hot, fresh food the moment you get home. Nothing can interfere with that."

After speaking, Alexander continued bustling about.

Soon, the food was readyall my favorites.

After serving me rice, Alexander was about to sit down and eat with me when suddenly his phone rang.

He answered, immediately frowning with concern:

"Alright, I'll be right there."

He quickly took off his apron and said to me urgently:

"There's an emergency patient at the hospital that only I can operate on. I need to go."

He grabbed his car keys, planted a gentle kiss on my forehead, then hurried out the door.

The moment the door closed, the house fell silent.

I sat at the dining table, looking at the spread of dishes, but had no appetite.

That post stuck in my mind like a thorn I couldn't pull out.

Alexander's behavior and explanation had no flaws, yet I still felt something was off.

I set down my chopsticks, stood up, and found myself walking into the bedroom as if possessed.

The bedroom was tidy. Alexander had made the bed with military precision. At first glance, nothing seemed wrong.

But the neater everything looked, the more uneasy I felt.

I began searching the bedroom thoroughly.

The bed had no strange odors or out-of-place items. Even the trash can was spotlessly clean.

Everything was exactly as it should be.

Was I really overthinking this?

I shook my head and was about to leave when, as I turned to close the door, I spotted something under the bed.

My heart skipped a beat. I immediately walked over, crouched down, and pulled it out.

It was an earring. And I didn't have pierced ears.

It belonged to another woman.

Realizing this, my head started buzzing.

I stood there, staring at the earring in my hand, frozen for a long time.

Then I pulled out my phone and found the post I'd read earlier.

Sure enough, the original poster had replied to the comment he'd liked just one minute ago:

"I parked across my wife's spot like you said, but she didn't call me to move the car and came straight inside."

"If I hadn't heard her opening the door and hidden my mistress in time, I would've been caught."

The commenter replied instantly: "Looks like your wife's pretty sharp."

The poster responded: "Yeah. I made up an excuse and slipped out. I'm driving my mistress home right now."

Alexander really had cheated on me, and he'd brought his mistress into our home.

My hands trembled as I put away my phone and walked out of the bedroom.

Looking at the food spread before me, my heart ached.

Alexander remembered all my preferences. He remembered that I got heart palpitations and trembling hands when hungry. He remembered I loved his goodbye kisses.

But he forgot that I despised betrayal above all else.

How ironic.

A person could express such deep love for me while bringing another woman into our home.

At that moment, I found myself curious.

How much of the love I'd once been so proud of was real, and how much was fake?

And when did things start between him and that woman?

I sat at the dining table, trying to compose myself for a long time. Then suddenly remembered something.

The thought made me immediately call my parents and ask them to come over.

Sensing my urgency, my parents arrived as quickly as possible.

"What's wrong, Grace? What's so urgent that you called us over?"

I didn't hide anything. I told them everything about Alexander's affair in one breath.

After hearing it, my dad couldn't believe it:

"Grace, could there be some misunderstanding? Everyone can see how good Alexander is to you."

"Plus, you know his jobhe's a surgeon, on call 24/7. Maybe he really does have an emergency surgery?"

"That postcould it just be a coincidence?"

But my mom slammed her hand on the table:

"Impossible! There's no such thing as this big a coincidence!"

"The post says park horizontally, and he parks horizontally."

"Grace doesn't call and walks straight in, and the post describes the exact same situation."

"The post says he slipped out to take his mistress home, and Alexander made up an excuse to leave."

"Plus there's a strange earring in the house. How could this possibly be a coincidence?"

My dad frowned. "But Alexander has always valued Grace more than his own life all these years!"

My mom scoffed. "So what?"

"Just because he's been good to Grace means he couldn't be cheating now?"

"Every man who keeps a mistress acts perfectly fine at home."

"The better they act, the more convincing their performance."

My dad had no response.

My mom grew angrier: "That Alexander!"

"When he was pursuing Grace, he knelt at our door for three days and nights, swearing he'd treat her well. That's when I agreed to let Grace marry him."

"And what happened?"

"It's only been two years of marriage and he's already bringing his mistress home? This is outrageous!"

My mom was furious. But I felt more confused than anything.

As my dad said, Alexander had been very good to me all these years.

He was young, accomplished, handsomenever short of young women throwing themselves at him.

Even the hospital director's daughter had openly pursued him.

She'd even publicly stated that if Alexander would be with her, she could give him the entire hospital.

But Alexander remained unmoved.

He even offended her over it and nearly got blacklisted from the medical field.

Despite all that, he stayed firmly devoted, telling me:

"I can lose the whole world, but I can't be without you."

Precisely because I'd genuinely felt how good he was to me, I couldn't understand.

What kind of woman could make someone like Alexander, who treated loyalty as his faith, change his heart?

"Grace, what do you want to do?"

My dad looked at me, his expression serious.

I paused, then said firmly: "I want to catch them in the act."

My mom immediately perked up: "How?"

I didn't answer right away. Instead, I looked down at my phone and opened an app I'd never used before.

It was a location tracking app.

Alexander had insisted on installing a tracker on his phone to put my mind at ease, saying it would let me check his location anytime.

I'd refused at firstI trusted him, and I believed couples didn't need such things.

But he'd insisted, saying it was just insurance. If something ever happened to him, I could find him immediately.

All these years, I'd been proud that I'd never once opened this app.

I never thought I'd be using it to catch him cheating.

I took a deep breath and opened the app.

The screen loaded for a few seconds, then a map appeared. A green dot was slowly moving across it.

My dad looked at the map, somewhat surprised:

"That's Alexander's real-time location?"

I nodded without speaking.

My mom said impatiently:

"Let's go. We're going there now."

"I want to see what kind of woman could bewitch someone like Alexander."

My dad said nothing, just grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.

My mom and I followed close behind and got into my dad's car.

In the car, my mom kept muttering:

"I thought Alexander truly loved you. I never imagined he could cook for you while bringing women home."

"In all my fifty-plus years, I've never seen anything so disgusting!"

"If he really didn't love you anymore, if he'd asked for a divorce, I'd be angry but I'd respect it."

"But instead, he treats you like a fool! Plays you for a monkey!"

"If I catch him keeping a woman today, I'm going to tear them both apart!"

My mom's eyes were red with anger.

When Alexander was pursuing me, she'd been against it.

She felt Alexander's family background was ordinary and he wasn't good enough for me.

It was only after Alexander knelt at our door for three days and nights that my mom relented.

My dad drove in silence, not joining the conversation.

I saw his furrowed brow in the rearview mirror. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

After about twenty minutes, I suddenly saw Alexander's location stop moving.

I immediately told my dad to speed up. We stopped near Alexander's position.

When we arrived, I spotted Alexander's car parked in front of a villa.

I quickly got out of the car and headed straight for the villa.

But I didn't notice that in the car, my parents' faces both changed dramatically when they saw the villa.

Seeing me walking toward it, my dad immediately got out and blocked my path:

"Grace, are you sure Alexander brought that woman here?"

Seeing my dad's strange expression, I sensed something was wrong:

"What's going on, Dad? Do you know this place?"

My dad opened his mouth but made no sound. Then my mom caught up.

She glanced at the villa, swallowed nervously with a panicked expression, then said gravely:

"Grace, let's go back. Stop investigating."

I looked at my mom in disbelief:

"Why?"

"Mom, you were the one who wanted to come investigate. You were the most insistent about catching them red-handed."

"Now they're right inside that villa, so why are you telling me to stop?"

My mom didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed my arm, her voice breaking:

"Grace, I'm begging you. Let's go back."

"Let this end here, okay?"

My dad also stepped forward, his face serious:

"Grace, listen to your mother. Let's go back first."

"We're doing this for your own good."

I was completely baffled.

I couldn't understand why my parents, who'd been so eager to defend me just moments ago, suddenly changed after seeing this villa.

Was there something wrong with the villa? Or was it the person inside?

Consumed by intense curiosity, I ignored my parents' objections, rushed to the villa entrance, and knocked on the door.

The door opened quickly.

The moment it did, I saw Alexander standing inside, and the woman behind him.

The instant I saw that woman's face, my eyes widened and I suddenly understood everything...