The Wasted Ten Years

Shannon Jervis took the phone I was holding up and tossed it onto the coffee table.

After glancing at the contents on the screen, she casually turned it off.

“To be honest, I’ve grown tired over the years.”

She suddenly spoke as she rubbed her temples. Her expression was unchanged.

“I’m already in my thirties, but I still feel that spark when I see younger guys.

“I originally planned to hide this from you for the rest of my life. But now that you’ve found out, I don’t have to worry about your feelings. I won’t have to keep it from you anymore.”

With that, Shannon let out a sigh of relief.

Yet every word she said felt like a needle piercing straight through my heart. The pain was so intense that I could barely stand upright.

I forced a faint smile.

“Shay, this isn’t funny. Just tell me it’s not true, and I’ll believe you.”

Shannon looked at me with a complicated expression.

Her eyes held pity and impatience, but there was no trace of guilt.

She brought out an agreement from the room and slid it in front of me.

The few words printed in black on the page left everything I wanted to say stuck in my throat.

“I’ve already signed my name. If you don’t wish to continue the marriage, do the same. We’ll part on good terms, and I’ll give you money.

“If you want to stay married, then we’ll remain husband and wife. But you can’t interfere with my private life, and I won’t interfere with yours.

“As long as we maintain appearances in front of the media and don’t affect the stock price, that’s all that matters.”

Shannon tapped her fingers against the table. There was a hint of impatience in the gesture.

I opened my mouth. My eyes were stinging with the ache of unshed tears.

“Why? We’ve been together for more than twenty years…”

Shannon stepped closer and took my hand.

Her fingers traced my wedding ring, and the words I had not finished saying caught in my throat.

“It’s because we’ve been together for so many years that I want to try being with someone else.”

She paused briefly before looking up with a smile. Her dimples appeared on her cheeks.

“Why don’t you try finding someone else too? I won’t stop you.”

I lowered my gaze, pulled my hand away, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

“I won’t get divorced. I devoted twenty years of my life to you. Do you really think you can wipe it all away with money?”

Silence settled over the room.

It was not until a shrill ringtone pierced the silence that Shannon finally picked up her purse from the couch.

She glanced back at me.

“Jude, sooner or later, you’ll understand.”

Then, the front door slammed shut behind her, sending a gust of air through the room.

The dinner I had prepared to celebrate Shannon’s return from her business trip still sat on the dining table.

I breathed heavily. The fury in my chest burned with nowhere to go.

My gaze landed on the divorce agreement on the table. I reached for it and tore it into shreds.

Then, I swept all the dishes and food onto the floor.

The sound of breaking glass echoed through the empty living room.

After ten years of marriage and another ten years of dating, I had spent a full twenty years of my life by Shannon’s side.

She kept making more money, and we kept moving into bigger homes. Yet her heart only grew colder.

When I received the video, I thought it was nothing more than an AI face swap or some kind of prank.

Never once did I imagine that Shannon would be the one to betray our marriage first.

The torn pieces of the divorce agreement lay at my feet, and seeing Shannon’s name in the signature section made my eyes sting.

As I bent down to clean up the mess, the sharp edges of the paper cut my fingers.

I did not even care about the blood dripping from my fingers.

I tried to keep myself busy, hoping to distract myself, but Shannon’s words from before she left continued to echo in my mind.

Just moments earlier, we had still been talking about our tenth wedding anniversary, but the very next moment, that video shattered everything.

The whole thing was so absurd that it felt like a dream.