Patricia stopped sobbing. She lifted her head, cupped my face in her hands, and said softly, her eyes red-rimmed, "Honey, I wasn't actually working late tonight."

"Then why did you come home so late?"

"I went to see a friend's younger brother. He went to the same school as us—he's a junior there now. He told me about a new laser therapy abroad that can eliminate 99.99% of cancer cells in a patient's body."

"I didn't know if it was real, so I went to ask him about it in person."

The moment I heard "junior"—

It made me even more suspicious that the "goddess senior" in that video was her.

Almost certainly her.

But I didn't call her out. Didn't confront her.

Instead, I played along. "So what did he say?"

"He said the treatment is real, but it's expensive. I want to use the money in our joint account to pay for it. Even if there's just the tiniest chance, I don't want to give up."

"You'll support me, won't you, honey?"

"Of course I will."

I nodded, then kissed her gently on the forehead. "I'll drop everything and go abroad with you for treatment."

"If it's about money, I'll sell everything we own. I'd sell a kidney if I had to."

The moment she heard that, Patricia took two steps back.