Tick, Tock—Marriage out of Time

When my wife, Ariel Sweeney returned home that day, I was in the midst of throwing out the list of items that I had to be mindful about after a gastrectomy.Ariel has just come back from a three-day "business trip" to celebrate her first love's birthday. When I saw that the gift she bought for him was a million-dollar home, I got so agitated that I fainted on the spot. And when I woke up, I was told that I had to undergo surgery.Right after coming home from the hospital, I looked at the 99 watches in my collection and decided to pay no heed to my doctor's orders by ordering a whole fried chicken and some coke.Ariel walked over to me and threw the chicken and coke into the trash can. She then chided me and said, "Your stomach is still recovering. You can't eat fried stuff or drink cold drinks yet. So, why are you still doing it?"She then took out an expensive watch from her handbag and gave it to me."Here. I got this especially for you, Dustin Cooper. It took me quite some effo

Claude was dressed in black. He held a box of ashes in his hands and had a sad look on his face.Ariel stood next to him, instructing two of her bodyguards to dig up the empty plot on the left of my mother's grave.Both of their backs were facing me, so nobody saw me entering quietly from the back.Soon, a large, deep hole appeared in the ground.Claude then bent down and put the box of ashes into the hole. He sniffed quietly as he said, "My dear Scooby, I'm finally laying you to rest."Scooby?A box of ashes?Laying it to rest?My brain nearly exploded at the moment. I rushed up to Claude in a few strides and punched him on the cheek."Claude Henner! Who gave you permission to dig up this empty grave?""I…"Claude spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at me, both in shock and dissatisfaction. It was as if he'd never expected me to turn up.I gritted my teeth and yelled, "Take that box of ashes out of there at once! Now! Do it!"I rarely ever lost my temper outside of my

However, Ariel was faster than Claude.She grabbed the papers first and gave them a quick scan. Then, her face immediately turned solemn and stern."You really did torture those animals. You lied to me?""I didn't!"Claude just kept shaking his head, glaring daggers at me."You! You're only stooping so low because you're trying to frame me for this crime!"I crossed my arms at my chest and looked at Ariel, saying calmly, "You can go ahead and get someone else to check out the legitimacy of this case."Your mother only forbade you from seeing him last time because he was an animal abuser! Think about it, Ariel. How could an animal abuser be so kind as to turn his dog into ashes and give him a proper burial like now?"Ariel went up to Claude and slapped him twice on the cheeks. Her eyes were bloodshot."Didn't you say that my mom only stopped us from seeing each other because she looked down on you and your family background?"After Claude was sent abroad for his studies, Ariel

Ariel tried to reach out to me to hug me, but I pushed her away."Honey? Why are you suddenly being so stubborn? Did you go around listening to rumors again? Is that why you misunderstood me again?"I know that I've been making you mad lately, but I can explain everything, including why I gave you all these watches."With that, she opened the watch storage box she brought and pointed at one of the watches."I gave you this Rolex because Claude told me he wanted to kill himself, and I was so worried he'd actually do it that I had to accompany him for his birthday. I couldn't possibly let him die before my eyes, could I?"I gave you this Geneva Watch on your birthday, but I'd been playing truth or dare with my friends and got dared to post a story of my ex on my social media, and that was why Claude was in my stories that day."I gave you this Piaget because…"I lost patience listening to her yap and went to the neighborhood Starbucks to get myself some coffee. Meanwhile, Ariel st