As Husbands Go

He said he loved her, but he chose 'her' every time. He married her, but spent his nights drinking with someone else. She gave up everything for him. Her dreams. Her time. Her heart. And in return? Betrayal served with a smile. But now, she’s done crying. Done begging. Done being the quiet, loyal wife who waits. He forgot their love… now he’ll remember her wrath. This isn’t just goodbye... it’s payback. She doesn’t want his money, his pity, or his promises. She wants revenge. And she’s about to take everything he thought she’d never touch. Love betrayed the wrong woman. Now she’s coming back, not to forgive, but to destroy.

Our bodies tangled in the car. My husband moved inside me, lips claiming my chest, when the sudden ring of a phone ripped me out of our intoxicating haze. Gabriel answered without hesitation. It was one of his closest friends from the medical world, speaking in German. “Don,” the voice said casually, “your mistress is two months pregnant. What are you going to do?” Gabriel didn’t pause. His tone was calm. “Grace can’t have children,” he replied. “I’ll let her carry the baby to term, then adopt it as my own. That secures the heir. This stays between us.” Something inside me froze. The one thing he had forgotten— I majored in German. And he learned it just to win me. I didn’t scream. I didn’t confront him. Instead, I smiled, stayed quiet, and kept playing the perfect wife. Later, I slipped the divorce papers into a real estate contract and watched him sign without reading. Then I quietly registered a new identity. For the next three days, his absence—and her taunting messages—erased the last illusions I had about love. When my new identity finally went live, I walked away without looking back. Carrying his child. And disappearing from his world forever.

My husband and I take leave from work to travel to Highland. It's also an opportunity for me to return to my hometown. Unexpectedly, we get into a fight over the itinerary on our first day there. I snap at him when we're standing by the side of the road, but he calms me down. He even coaxes me and offers to pay for a nice meal at a restaurant. When I return to the hotel, I discover that he's run off with my luggage and mobile phone. He even leaves a message telling me to reflect on my mistakes. I borrow a phone to call him, but he doesn't answer. It's freezing in Highland. I'm almost about to die from the frost when I suddenly see sense. I'm not putting up with this anymore!

While waiting for my husband to pick me up at the parking lot, I came across a trending topic in my city. "How do I deal with an overly-clingy wife?" Amidst a flurry of boastful, lovey-dovey comments, one female username caught my attention. "Just pretend to be incompetent! My childhood friend was forced to marry someone he didn’t love. I gave him the idea to pretend to be directionally-challenged, which he has done for five years now. "When his wife got pregnant, he secretly mixed lubricant into the shower gel, causing her to slip. Then, on the way to the hospital, he pretended to get lost. He deliberately circled the suburbs several times, which led to her miscarriage and now she can't have children anymore." "Coincidentally, today is supposed to be the selection day for her promotion to professor. He offered to drive her to work, but he actually plans to pretend to get lost to make her late so that I can get promoted instead. "When she fails the selection, he’ll use that as a chance to convince her to quit her job, turn her into a useless housewife, and then kick her out!" Reading this suspiciously familiar experience sent a chill down my spine. Before I could ponder further, I heard my husband’s apologetic voice. "Sorry, honey, I got lost. I hope this won't affect your selection."

After getting married, my wife, Eva Burnham, and I have been sleeping in separate rooms. I ask her if she wants to move into the master bedroom. She declines without hesitation. "It's okay. Charlie would mind. Also, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have come to this point in the first place. Let's just keep things like this." Charlie Springer is her first love. I stand where I am, stunned. It takes me a long time to just nod in response. Then, I realize that the marriage is only meant to help my family survive a cash flow crisis and to take care of that tricky lawsuit her company is facing. It's just a deal. When everything is settled, it will naturally be time for us to go our separate ways. So, I stop bringing it up. For the next three years, Eva attends every single event with Charlie. He's there for the family banquets and the annual meetings. Even on my dad's birthday, Charlie is the one standing next to her. Everyone is wondering if Charlie is her actual husband instead. Well, it's over now. Everything is settled. It's time for me to go.

At sixty-five, I got served divorce papers. The same day, my husband Sebastian — decked out in his wedding suit, of all things — popped a handful of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. For years, we were the perfect couple. The kind of pair neighbors whispered about with envy. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The divorce. The pills. None of it made sense. Not until I found the photo and letter in his pocket.