We Shouldn’t Have Met

Winona tore the copy to shreds, and in her hysteria, she shouted, “But this isn’t what I want! I want the Shaun Zimmer who will cry, laugh, and be jealous! Give me back my husband!”

She grabbed me and started pleading with me in a choked-up voice.

I picked up the torn copy and put the pieces back together. “It took me a long time to copy down the family rules until I got to this part. Now that you’ve ruined it, I’ll have to start again.”

Winona just smacked the pieces from my hand, and her breathing turned hurried and chaotic. “Shaun, I’m talking to you. Could you stop ignoring me?! I was the center of your world back then!”

I rubbed the scar on my arm and could not understand why she was so angry.

She was the one who wanted me to behave.

I said nothing and simply looked down at the ring on her ring finger.

Winona hid her hand awkwardly, and there was a hint of frustration she could not hide in her voice. “That’s Jacob’s birthday wish. I couldn’t say no. It’s just a small thing. Don’t hold it against him.”

I stared at my own finger where there was the imprint of a ring.

It hurt and itched.

We dated for five years, then were married for another five.

I treated my ring as a treasure and refused to take it off, but Winona thought that it was a burden and kept her ring in a box. It sat there collecting dust for years.

No matter how I tried to win her favor and convince her to wear it, she refused to budge. Instead, she called me childish and lame.

In the end, she readily wore someone else’s ring.

This marriage was truly just a one-man show on my part.

I just grunted calmly and asked nothing else.

She wanted to continue defending herself, but I interrupted her. I asked, “What do you want for dinner? Once you’re done, I need to continue copying the family rules.”

Winona’s chest heaved, and she started shouting, “Stop copying them! Shaun, are you my husband or my servant?! Aside from driving me crazy, you’re accomplishing nothing else by doing this! Or do you really think that you’re a good husband by doing this?”

Driving her crazy?

When I went to the company to settle all her troubles, she was giving birth to Jacob’s baby in another country.

It was only when Jacob brought the child to us that I found out just how stupid I had been.

I had grabbed her wrist in a vice-tight grip and demanded an answer, only for her to say that I was a jealous man and could not even tolerate a child.

She then threw that dictionary-thick family rulebook at me and told me to copy it down.

I was doing it, but she was still making a fuss.

I asked her in confusion, “Don’t you like what I’m doing?”

Winona felt frustrated, but in the end, she melted into grief and helplessness. “I’m sorry, dear. I shouldn’t have said that, but I just couldn’t control myself.”

She hugged my waist and started trembling. “I really do love you. I’ll cut down on contact with Jacob from now on. I really do want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

I nodded but gave no other reaction.

Right after Winona sighed in relief, she got a phone call.

“Winona, Zephyr is sick and wants you. Could you drop by for a bit?”

Winona clenched her phone tightly and cast me a hesitant glance. “Dear, it’s not easy for Jacob to raise a child alone…”

I tensed up and clenched my fists. Then, I asked in a hoarse voice. “If I say no?”

Jacob started apologizing in a show of consideration. “It’s okay, Winona, your husband is more important. No matter how hard it is, I’ll take good care of Zephyr alone.”

Winona’s face instantly turned pale, and she growled at me. “Why are you being so aggressive? That’s my son too! You can’t be a father. That’s why you have no idea how hard it is for Jacob to raise Zephyr. Am I supposed to just ignore them and let them both die?”

I clenched my fists even harder, and my breathing turned labored as my eyes stung.

Did I not want to be a father? Was I sterile?

No. It was her.

On the second day of our marriage, I resigned and stayed home to take care of her because I wanted to have a child with her.

I trained hard and took all sorts of supplements, but she never gave it any thought and just kept telling me that we should let things happen on their own.

I was wondering why she was not anxious about it. It was because she already had a family elsewhere!

I was the only one who thought that I was doing her wrong and had felt guilty about it for years.

When she saw my chest heaving, Winona reached out to me but stopped short. “Dear, I didn’t get pregnant because I wanted you to pay attention to me. But it’s hard for Jacob to take care of Zephyr. I have to go.”

She left me standing there watching as she made her quick exit.

I started trembling nonstop as I remembered the medicine I found in the bedside drawer.

I started crying and laughing.

She kept calling me a husband, but she had been giving sterilization drugs for years.

Was this the love she mentioned?