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 effort to hunt it down."

I spared a glance at the watch.

It was a Patek Philippe, and a rare design at that. It had to be valued at over ten million dollars.

Ariel hadn't been lying when she said that she put in effort to hunt down this watch. This was a limited edition version, and she must have exhausted all of her connections before finally locating it.

If I'd received this watch before we got married, I would have been over the moon by now and jumped into her arms to kiss her.

But now, I didn't even bother showing that I was delighted to receive it. Heck, I didn't even want to put it around my wrist to try it out.

Seeing that I wasn't saying a thing, she bent down and looked into my eyes.

"Are you mad? Is it because I hadn't accompanied you to visit your mother's grave the other day? Want me to go with you now?"

I lowered my gaze and answered calmly, "You don't have to anymore. Mom's death anniversary was three days ago. It's already over."

Before getting married, Ariel and I had come to an agreement.

I didn't mind forgoing any of the other celebrations and observations during the rest of the year. However, she had to promise to always come with me whenever I visit Mom's grave on her death anniversary each year.

For the first three years, Ariel kept up with her side of the bargain and purposely set time aside to accompany me.

However, three days ago, when I called her on her phone, she spoke to me in a gentle voice saying that she was out on a business trip in the next town over, and asked me what was the matter.

There was only a single nighttime flight left for the day coming back to Springville from the city she was now in, and I figured that she would never be able to make it in time.

In the end, I went to Mom's grave alone.

I only found out that Ariel had gone on the "business trip" simply to celebrate her first love's birthday. His name was Claude Henner, and she'd given him a mansion worth a million dollars as a birthday gift.

At that moment, I flew into such a rage that I'd fainted on the spot.

"Oh, was that your mom's death anniversary? I'm sorry, honey, but I must have forgotten."

Ariel looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. The look in her eyes suggested that she wasn't lying.

She got down on her knees and gently took my hand, trying to cheer me up a little.

"Honey, can I make it up to you? Maybe you'd like something new? Another Patek Philippe? This watch was worth 20 million dollars. Maybe I should get another watch that's worth 30 million dollars instead."

Ariel had always been the first to cave and apologize whenever she was in the wrong, ever since we first got together. Then, she would try to stabilize my emotions before trying to make it up to me with money.

I had never once seen her lose her temper at anyone in the past six years of our relationship.

To other people looking in, they would no doubt admit that Ariel was the perfect trophy wife material. However, I was the only one who knew that everything lovey-dovey was simply for show. It was dark, rotten, and disgusting beneath the surface after that.

Just as I thought I'd bring up the divorce, my stomach suddenly let out a dying whale sound.

Ariel just patted me lovingly on the head and spoke to me like I was a three-year-old kid.

"I'll reheat some chicken soup for you. In the meantime, think about whether you'd prefer the watch or some other item instead."

Ariel had only just walked into the kitchen when her phone that she'd left behind on the table buzzed to life repeatedly.

I picked up her phone and saw that it was a status update from Claude, on his social media.

"Thanks for the huge mansion today, Ari! The past three days have been the happiest time of my life."

I felt my heart shuddering as I clicked into Claude's Instagram.

He had just changed his profile photo to one of him and Ariel. The both of them were standing at the top of the mountain with a sun high up above them. Claude was smiling handsomely at the camera while Ariel's back was to him, her right arm extended all the way to the top in a sweet "peace" sign.

My fingers shook as I tapped forward on Ariel's Instagram stories.

Claude had tagged her in literally every post he made over the past three days. It was always something to do with either Ariel or their travels.

"Playing tourist with the girl boss today. All I had to do was just sit back and relax, and let her do all the planning!"

"We booked the entire hall!"

"Here's something for you guys to feast your eyes upon. This is how a male celeb and his CEO girlfriend travel!"

I could see that Ariel had liked every single post and story he'd ever published online.

The latest story actually featured a photo of the emerald-green Patek Philippe watch that Ariel had just given to me.

"Wow, talk about outdated. I'd never take it even if it was given to me for free."

This was the only post that Ariel hadn't liked.

Her phone suddenly vibrated in my hand again. It was another text message from Claude.

"Ari… I drank so much ever since you left… Can't you come and be with me tonight?"

I frowned. Ariel's gentle voice suddenly appeared from the kitchen.

"Alright, honey. Dinner's almost ready!"

I stealthily installed the eavesdropping software I'd researched for a long time in Ariel's phone. Then, I hurriedly got rid of all the downloading and installing evidence and placed her phone back on the table just like how it had been earlier.

Ariel then came back in with a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup.

She took her phone, glanced at it, and curled her lips upward in the faintest hint of a smile.

Moments later, she pretended to sigh as she hesitantly straightened back up and said, "Honey, I gotta get back to the office tonight. Something urgent just came up."

I pretended to think about it for a while as I stirred the soup with my spoon.

"If there are a lot of things for you to do, then you might as well stay the night there," I said.

"Alright."

Ariel was secretly overjoyed. She even warmed up a glass of milk for me just before she left.