SHATTERED AND TEMPTED

FREYA

 I sat on the cold kitchen floor at 12am with Mark's iPad in my lap, staring at a video I never should have seen. My daughter, Luna, had fallen asleep on the couch with her unicorn cup still in her hand, so I carried her upstairs, tucked her in, and came back down to finish clearing up. That was when I noticed Mark's iPad sitting open on the counter. I wondered what made him forget it here. He always guarded it like he carried the country's nuclear codes. He even took it into the bathroom. Well... he said he had to monitor the company's live sales or something. I picked it up to drop it in the bedroom for him, but the screen lit up as soon as my fingers touched it. The first thing I saw made my whole body pause. The wallpaper was not the family photo from Luna's first birthday. It was Mark, Luna, and Lila Monroe at an outdoor café. Sunshine everywhere. Lila had Luna on her lap. Her arm sat around Mark's shoulders. They were smiling like one big happy family. My stomach tightened. I kept telling myself not to overthink it, but the picture felt wrong. Lila was supposed to be a family friend. A forced one, honestly. Luna loved her content as a popular children's creator, and Mark went to college with her, so I learned to tolerate her. I looked toward the stairs. Our bedroom light was off. Mark was probably asleep by now. I stood there for a second, not even knowing what to do with the picture burning in my head. Like, does it even make sense? Before I knew it, I walked into the kitchen, sat on the cold floor, pulled the iPad closer, and opened his photo album. I started scrolling. One picture. Then another. Then another. Every photo felt like a punch. Mark smiled boldly. Luna is smiling. Lila is smiling. All three of them are together in different places. Cafés. Parks. A toy store. A drive-through selfie with milkshakes. Every image gave a happy family energy. The kind of vibe I crave but always get excuses instead. Now I finally understood why Luna kept rejecting me these past few months. I kept brushing it off as kids being kids. Every time I tried taking her to school, she said Daddy and Aunty Lili wanted to. Even when I planned something small for us, she would say Aunty Lili already promised her. I picked it as innocent baby words. That stage where they copy whatever they hear online. And since Lila was a children's content creator, I never saw it as more than an influence. But then it became a pattern. For months, Mark and Luna went out together a lot. At first it looked like daddy and daughter bonding. Cute moments I never questioned. Until Luna kept coming home with Aunty Lili this and Aunty Lili that. New clothes. New toys. Bracelets. Expensive hair accessories.