Wife v. Husband

A week ago, the news broke that I'd filed a lawsuit against my wife of more than 20 years, Hazel Cooper, the woman who had shared my bed and my life for over half my adulthood.From that moment on, I became the neighborhood's favorite villain. Everyone called me the heartless man who had climbed his way to success and abandoned his wife and child without remorse.In their eyes, Hazel was flawless.She'd married me when I was poor and struggling. She never complained, even when life was hard. She cared for my sickly mother until her final days. She raised our son almost entirely on her own and turned him into a top student, the kind every family boasted about.She was even named the town's model wife."I never thought he'd actually show up to court. I've never seen anyone sue their own wife before.""Hazel really had terrible judgment when she was young. She built everything with him from nothing, and this is how he repays her. You really do see all kinds of people in this world."

I pressed a hand to my chest and forced myself to breathe evenly as my memories were extracted.By then, the large screen had already begun playing Hazel's memories."Now playing selected memory segments from the defendant, Hazel Cooper," the court staff said.Onscreen, a younger Hazel leaned shyly against me, beautiful and gentle, her arms wrapped around my waist. "Dear, you're going on a business trip tomorrow. The baby and I will miss you. Come back quickly."My response was flat, almost distracted. "Okay. Go to bed early. If you stay up too late, the baby will start acting up in your belly and hurting you again."After that, it was shown that I was almost never home.Hazel was left to hold the household together—cleaning, cooking, doing laundry—her belly heavy with pregnancy.She went to every prenatal checkup alone and cared for my frail, ailing mother by herself.All that exhaustion never earned her a single kind word from me. Instead, she learned to read my moods, to tre

"Hazel, are you feeling better?" I asked.Hazel's face was downcast. "Why are you back? Didn't you say you were on a business trip?"I wiped the sweat from my brow and glanced at the tiny baby nestled in the crib beside her. I smiled and replied, "Of course I'd come back. You just gave birth to our child."She launched into a barrage of questions, worried I wouldn't secure the bonus. "And the business deal? Will they penalize you? What about the bonus?"I didn't notice anything unusual, thinking she was merely irritable from just having the baby. "Don't worry. I told my boss you were in labor, and he let me leave immediately. He even gave me a generous monetary gift."I pulled an envelope from my pocket and handed it to her, then slipped a gold necklace around her neck. "Thank you for everything, honey."Hazel's expression softened after that. "Alright. Help me bring the baby over to the bed. And you—go rinse your face first. You're dripping with sweat. Don't get it on the baby."

Hazel's face tightened, eyes wide, her voice caught in her throat. After a while, she muttered, "That's impossible. How could you have proof?"Alex was visibly shaken. "Was it really you? Did you really do it?"People said that Alex was raised by Hazel alone, but that was hardly true. He was raised by my mother. Hazel spent most of her time indulging herself. The one who actually took care of him was my mother.The judge immediately projected all of my photo and video evidence onto the screen.Every single photo showed Hazel meeting men in secret, behaving shamelessly and unrestrained. Most of them were with the man she publicly called her brother-in-law.After that came the photos with James and Joel. The indecent images made several people in the gallery bow their heads in embarrassment.Hazel stared at the screen, then suddenly screamed hysterically, "Stop it! Stop it now! You're not allowed to show any more!"But the judge had no reason to listen to her.The video from my U

Hazel continued, "I named my son Alex to make sure he always remembers who his real father is!"Alex stared at Hazel in horror, shaking his head before dropping to his knees. "My mother killed my grandmother… How could this have happened? Why?""Why? She did raise you, but why did you get attached to her? You're not related to her by blood!" Hazel yelled.Alex looked at her in disbelief, unable to reconcile this with the mother he thought he knew.Hazel's crazed ranting ignited public outrage even further. This time, no one laid a hand on her. Instead, they mocked her."You got pregnant out of wedlock. Do you not know shame?""No one here is on your side today. Don't forget, you're facing the death penalty."Hazel seemed to have just realized it, and her expression changed instantly. She began crying and begging, "Bryan, you wouldn't just let me die, right? We've been together for so long. If I die, who's going to take care of Alex?"I let out a cold laugh, amazed she had the g