Melodramatic Short Stories & Mistress Cheating Novels

Caleb Gallagher is still under the influence of anesthesia post-surgery when he calls out to his first love, Naomi Whitmore, while holding me. "I regret getting engaged to her, Naomi. It wasn't until after I left you that I realized I never stopped loving you. It's no big deal that I got stabbed while protecting you; I would have given up my life for you if you'd asked." A hush fills the room, and everyone looks at me with sympathy. I don't make a scene or throw a fit. Instead, I do Caleb a generous favor and call Naomi on the phone. "Come look after your husband. He is in surgery."

The pair of pink diamonds I've had my eye on for the longest time is finally auctioned off for a staggering price. Outside the auction hall, the young woman who won the bid is talking sweetly to someone on the phone. "Babe, you really don't have to come all the way here. Margot will be with me, so I'm good… Okay, fine. Love you!" I watch her with slight envy. Those pink diamonds are supposed to be my fifth-anniversary wedding gift. Before the auction, I've called my husband, Gabriel Hudson, and asked if he could come with me. But he said it was a trivial matter and that I could handle the bidding myself. The woman was on the phone earlier, and from what I could make out, they're planning to have dinner together to celebrate. My rideshare arrives. I'm about to leave when the woman suddenly shouts excitedly, "Margot, over here!" I follow her gaze. The person approaching is none other than my housekeeper, Margot Lawrence.

Mom is hospitalized for 20 days with a serious illness. My girlfriend, Nicole Davis, works as a doctor at the same hospital. Still, she doesn't visit Mom at all. On the first day, Nicole takes time off to help her childhood friend, Kevin Shaw, move. On the second, Kevin starts interning at the hospital, so Nicole spends the entire day showing him the ropes and taking care of every little thing for him. The third day passes, then the fourth. Mom's room is on the 13th floor, while Nicole works on the 17th. They're only four floors apart, which means a ten-second elevator ride or a two-minute walk down the stairs. Still, 20 days pass without Nicole ever making it down those four floors. On the day Mom is discharged, I take her to the train station alone. While we're on the way, I finally receive a text from Nicole. "Kevin's dog is getting vaccinated today. I need to take it to the vet first." This time, I finally break my silence. "Okay, got it. Be safe." Then, I smile and add, "And one more thing. We're done."

It was the summer holidays. I was going to Shinborder to see my wife, then comments started popping right in front of me. "Five minutes later, your wife's going to tell you to not give up your seat for anyone." "A pregnant woman's going to ask for your seat. You refuse, as per your wife's request. That pregnant woman ends up dying a sudden death from standing too long. Her baby dies too." "Your wife's male bestie is this cabin's attendant. He'll testify that you caused the woman's death by refusing to give up your seat." "The Internet will hunt you down. Your wife will stand against you. In the end, the pregnant woman's mother will stab you eighteen times, and you die." I was stunned. Maybe this was a hallucination from teaching the SAT students for too long. Then, the moment I sat down, I got a text from my wife. "It's hard to get tickets this time of the year, Michael. It took me forever to get a first-class seat. Enjoy it. Don't give it to anyone." My hand shook. I was reminded of the last line of the comment. "Your wife and male bestie set this up. They bought out the pregnant woman so you'll be killed, all so they can get your mountain of inheritance and insurance payout." I looked at the nearby pregnant woman and went to the second-class cabin right away.

My girlfriend, Eloise Harper, sought efficiency in everything. She could barely tolerate anything she considered a waste of time. She decided that our wedding ceremony rehearsal was a waste of time and canceled it. When she found a long line forming at City Hall for marriage registration, she spun on her heel and left at once. On Valentine’s Day, I reserved a table for the two of us at a private restaurant known only to a few people. I arrived early at her company to pick her up. But I accidentally overheard her colleagues gossiping. "Have you heard? Ms. Harper deliberately took the service elevator every day to leave work with Mr. Pierce." In the elevator hall, I was shocked to find Eloise waiting at the back of the line. She was casually discussing work with her secretary, Matthew Pierce. Later, I caught up with them on the first floor. Eloise turned around and greeted me with a displeased frown. The reproach in her voice was obvious. "Andrew, we aren't even married yet. Are you really so desperate to show up here and taint my reputation?" I choked on her groundless accusation and could only shake my head in resignation. She had forbidden me from visiting her at the office, saying she wanted to avoid gossip. Today, I had not wanted to test her patience and risk having her cancel our date as usual, so I rushed all the way to her workplace to pick her up after work. Before I could explain, Matthew put on a panicked expression and chimed in. "I forgot my laptop. I need to go back to the office to pick it up." Then, he turned to Eloise and apologized, "I'm sorry, but it seems I can't drive you home today. You should go with him. No need to wait for me." She held his shoulder, her expression visibly softened. "I'll get it for you. Just get Andrew out of here now." Finally, she walked away and joined the crowd waiting for the elevator. At that moment, realization dawned on me. If she could not even be bothered to maintain our relationship, then we should end it now.

After three years in a long-distance relationship, I secretly traveled a thousand miles to give my girlfriend a surprise. That afternoon, right outside her apartment building, I caught her playing the claw machine with her first love. The girl I had always considered the perfect, completely devoted girlfriend was gazing at him with a bright, tender smile as he manipulated the joystick. The moment the plushie dropped into the chute, she threw her arms around him, her eyes brimming with delight. I clenched my phone and dialed her number. She answered almost instantly, her voice as soft and caring as ever. "Parker? Why are you calling right now? Did you miss me?" I stared fixedly at her from barely ten feet away, my voice tight. "Where are you? What are you up to?" While cooing into the receiver to reassure me, she attentively reached over and zipped up Benedict Wooten's jacket. Her tone carried just the right mix of fatigue and apology. "I'm still at the office, working late with my team to pull the proposal together. Get some sleep, okay? As soon as this crazy rush is over, I'll fly out to see you." The line went dead. On the street side, an electronic billboard was flashing a breaking news alert. [A major hurricane will make landfall tonight. All residents are urged to seek shelter immediately...] A sudden gale swept through the street, blowing away the last remnants of my wishful thinking. It turned out that her three years of single-minded devotion were nothing more than a masterclass in time management. Candace Richards wasn't loyal. She just wanted to have her cake and eat it too.

My CEO girlfriend promised to marry me if only I handed over my billion-dollar-worth project to her first love. I agreed without hesitation. Yet on the day we were supposed to make things official, she never showed up. I called her 99 times, but she didn't pick up once. Just when I was about to give up, I saw a post from her first love on social media, featuring a picture of them holding their newly issued marriage license. [From school uniforms to wedding vows. A love that never changes.] I quietly liked the post without making a scene. Moments later, my long-lost girlfriend finally called back. "Cyrus got into a car accident trying to save me, and he lost his memory. The doctors say he needs emotional stimulation to recover. Don't worry, though. Once he gets better, we'll get married. You're the one I love most." What she didn't know was that there would be no future for us. The moment she stood me up at City Hall, the system I'd bound myself to declared my mission a failure. I had seven days left. After that, I would be completely erased from existence.

On our wedding night, my new wife casually proposed an open marriage. "I'm pregnant. From now on, I'll spend Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with Finley, and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at home." I forced myself to steady my trembling body and looked up at her. "When did this start?" "When you introduced us. We fell in love at first sight." A faint smile played at the corners of her lips. "The moment I met him, I finally understood what real passion felt like. With you, it was just familiarity after all these years. "By then, the news of our families' marriage alliance had already gone public. I figured I'd just settle for you and make the best of it. Then I found out I was pregnant." She rested a hand over her belly, her eyes softening with unmistakable maternal tenderness. "The baby needs a father. If you stay, you'll still be my husband. That won't change. But Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays belong to him. "If you want a divorce, that's fine too. House, cars, or whatever. Name your price. I'll give you whatever compensation you want."

Lynette Kensington's rules took effect on the second day of our marriage. "Your monthly spending is capped at 2,000 dollars. For any single purchase over 100 dollars, photograph the receipt and send it to me for approval. It's not that I'm cheap. I'm helping you learn how to budget. You've never had any discipline with money," she claimed. I thought she had a point. So for three years, buying a single jacket meant budgeting for half the month, and replacing a pair of contact lenses meant waiting for her approval. Then, last month, I found a supplementary card statement tucked inside the pocket of her trench coat. The cardholder was Jayden Scott, her Administrative Director. The transactions from the previous three months: A luxury menswear boutique: 17,400 dollars. A high-end annual golf membership: 6,400 dollars. A Michelin-starred restaurant: 2,800 dollars. The total amounted to more than a year of my living expenses. I carefully refolded the statement exactly as I had found it and slipped it back into the same pocket. That night, Lynette came home and found me sitting with the ledger. "How much did you spend today?" she asked, barely sparing me a glance. I didn't look up. "25 dollars. 13 dollars on groceries, and 12 dollars on utilities." She gave a satisfied hum and walked into the study. But what I wrote on the last page of the ledger wasn't a number. It was my name, my signature on a divorce agreement she hadn't seen yet.

When the bullet train tickets to Kellmore went on sale, Elaine Hartwell did what she always did and booked two, one for herself and one for Bradley Collier. She turned to me once the order went through. "Leo, did you get your ticket yet?" I froze for a moment. On the screen, her seat and Bradley's were right next to each other. By the time I checked, the only seats left on that train were in the next carriage. I stared at the seat number and almost laughed, as something inside me clicked. From weekend trips out of Portmill to college move-in day, it was always the same. The three of us traveled together, but they were always a pair, and I was always the one trailing behind. Not long after, Bradley sent a rental agreement in our group chat. The co-tenants line listed his name and Elaine's. He tagged me with a grin. [Leo, Elaine figured the dorms would make more sense for you. [You can come over to our place for dinner on weekends.] "Our place." The words pricked at my chest like something small and sharp. So even before college had started, I had already been written out of their future. Elaine messaged me privately. [Don't overthink things. [Bradley's living off campus alone and no one's looking after him. I'm just keeping an eye on him for his parents. [Don't throw a tantrum over something this small.] I stared at those last three words, then slowly opened the admissions portal. My acceptance page for Alderton University was still sitting there. I closed it and pulled up the late-enrollment page for Pennington University instead. This time, I did not pursue their train, and I did not pursue Elaine's life anymore, either.

On the morning we were supposed to leave for our elopement trip to the stunning Calistia Mountains, my girlfriend, Jeanie Portman, was nowhere to be found. Worried something had happened to her, I drove to her family's house to look for her, only to find the whole neighborhood strung with wedding banners and streamers. A big outdoor reception was underway, the tables loaded with food. Jeanie stood there in a white gown, leaning into my foster brother's arms as she poured him a toast. Relatives showered the two of them with compliments, calling them a perfect match, while my father sat at the head table, grinning so wide he could barely close his mouth. I nearly lost it and started toward them, but my mother yanked me into a corner before I could get there. "What's gotten into you, making a scene like this? His birth parents died saving your father and me. Handing Jeanie over to him is the least we can do to pay that debt back." My voice shook as I demanded to know why no one had told me sooner. My mother just gave me a flat, dismissive look. "Because you're a teacher, and you've got too sharp a tongue for your own good. If we'd told you ahead of time, you'd have blabbed it to the whole world, and then how were the two of them supposed to have a proper wedding? "That's enough. Don't make a scene. "You've got a stable job. You won't have any trouble finding someone else. Don't ruin our family peace over some woman." I looked past my mother, toward the red carpet where Jeanie and my foster brother stood glowing with happiness, then at the relatives cheering beside them. Something inside me went hollow.

A day before my wedding, my fiancee, Claudia George, was suddenly required to go on a business trip to North City. “There are some issues with the project. The issue should be settled by tomorrow morning, and I’ll return immediately. I won’t delay the wedding at all.” She was afraid that I would overthink the situation, so she video-called me right after she landed. In the video call, she was wearing the down jacket that I had bought her. Behind her was the white wall of the hotel. It was snowing heavily outside the window. She showed me the entire room. There was one pillow on the bed, and one set of toiletries on the sink. She even opened the closet for me to have a look. I nodded with a smile and urged her to go to sleep early. However, after she hung up, my tears trickled down my cheeks uncontrollably. It was a super El Nino year. No snow was supposed to fall upon North City.

To cure her indecisiveness, my wife Vivian started drawing lots to decide whether she would spend time with me or with Julian, her childhood sweetheart. The short slip had my name. The long slip had his. Every wedding anniversary, every holiday, every birthday that should have belonged to us, she somehow "happened" to draw the long slip. "Can't help it. You're just unlucky. I have to go with Julian." I cried. I argued. I even stood on a rooftop begging her to stay, and all she did was call me crazy. Eventually, she stopped answering my calls and stopped coming home at all. Only after Julian landed an engagement with an old-money heiress and blocked Vivian the night before the engagement did she finally decide to return to our marriage. She threw away the lot-drawing jar herself. She cooked, she did laundry, and she became the perfect wife everyone praised. On my birthday, she made an entire table of food and knelt to help me change my shoes. "I was confused before. From now on, I'll spend every birthday with you." I took out the lot-drawing jar and smiled at her. "This past year, I developed indecisiveness too." Right in front of her, I drew the long slip with Lily's name on it. Lily was waiting outside. I picked up the suitcase I had packed long ago and repeated Vivian's old words back to her. "What a shame. I didn't draw your name. "You're just too unlucky. Nothing I can do."

When my father died, he left me with two prospective husbands. I was supposed to marry one of them, Nolan Mercer. But on our wedding day, he ran off with a housekeeper's daughter. So his younger brother, James Mercer, married me instead. On our wedding night, I slipped out onto the balcony and cried because I missed my father. James kicked the door open, mockery in his eyes and a sneer on his lips. "Are you really that heartbroken just because you had to marry me instead of Nolan?" For the next five years, he brought a different woman home every week. I swallowed the pain and did everything I could to be a good wife. But this time was different. Four months had passed, and the woman by his side was still the same one. My heart sank. She slipped her arm through his and said, "James, looks like the lady of the house is upset." James looked at me, his face unreadable, and let out a mocking laugh. "Lady of the house? She doesn't even want to be. She'd rather be the lady of the house across the street." That night, a gas leak sparked a fire in our home. James scooped the woman into his arms and rushed outside. I'd inhaled so much gas that my limbs had gone weak. I collapsed to the floor and watched him leave without a second thought. Something inside me finally snapped. I'd had enough of this miserable five-year marriage. This time, I was going to end it myself.

I finish my studies and return to the company, only to find my wife, Sophia Cooper, holding a wedding ceremony with her assistant, Robert Miller. Sophia asks me to give them a wedding gift. "It's our big day, so don't be a cheapskate. Give us at least ten grand." I stand rooted to the spot. If memory serves, it's actually our fifth wedding anniversary today. "Is this some kind of joke? Cut it out—" I force myself to come up with an excuse for them. Robert cuts me off contemptuously. "Ms. Cooper promised me that if I could provide the company with a new miracle drug, she'd put on a wedding gown and marry me. Now, place your wedding gift on the left, and help yourself to the divorce agreement on the right!" "By the way," Sophia calls after me. "Be sure to process your resignation, too. I'm replacing my husband, so it's only natural to replace the Deputy CEO as well." I stare long and hard at the miracle drug, turn around, and call a friend at the patent office. "Can the exact same drug be patented twice?"

In the three years since my wife, Ariel Meyers, and I are married, I've been beaten up 38 times by her deranged ex-husband, Isaac Thornton. The last time, he doused me from head to toe in vinegar, thinking it was sulfuric acid. I want to call the police, but Ariel stops me and says, "He's just having an episode. He thinks that he and I haven't divorced yet. "It's not like it's real sulfuric acid anyway, Matt. Just let it go. A shower will fix everything. "Oh, and by the way, Isaac's condition has worsened, and he needs a kidney transplant. Can you go to the hospital and get tested for a match? "My daughter also hasn't accepted you yet. How about I move back in with Isaac and her first, just for a while? Just bear with it a while longer, alright?" I look at her and feel my heart sink to my stomach. So, she still hasn't completely let go of Isaac yet. And I will forever be treated as an outsider as long as she thinks that. I buy a ticket back to my hometown without any hesitation. "Let's get a divorce. I won't stand in the way of you remarrying your ex again, Ariel."

The day I catch my fiancée, Autumn Freeman, in bed with another man, the guy on top of her deliberately slashes his own face. Autumn throws herself in front of him, refusing to budge. Even as I fall apart right there, she refuses to let me get a clear look at his face. She turns to me, her voice breaking as she pleads through her tears. "This is all my fault. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I only ask that you leave him alone, Clark Ballard." After that day, Autumn gives up her privacy. She hands me her phone every day and installs hidden cameras in her car herself. Even when patients text her, I grill her about it. She accepts everything without complaint, doing whatever it takes just to win me back. But when I go to pick up my suit three days before our wedding, the clerk gives me a puzzled look. "Mr. Ballard, you already picked up your suit this morning. I just came across a video of your wedding online." In the video she pulls up, Autumn's close friends, who were calling me Autumn's husband just yesterday, are handing rings to the newlyweds. Our mutual friends are standing right there, too, and Autumn looks absolutely radiant with happiness. Blushing, she gazes at the groom and softly calls out to him. "Kev." Hearing the groom's name, along with seeing a face that looks exactly like mine, leaves me rooted to the spot.

My wife, Sarah, was the executive chef at a renowned Michelin-starred restaurant in town. Her culinary creations were famous across the city, making a reservation nearly impossible to secure. Yet in our ten years of marriage, she had never cooked me a single meal at home. She always claimed that cooking was just her job, and when she came home, she didn’t want to set foot in the kitchen. Naturally, I wanted to visit her restaurant and taste her food. However, every time I brought it up, she insisted that all the tables were fully booked and told me not to make a scene. Everything changed when my mother’s seventieth birthday approached. Half a month in advance, I asked Sarah if she could reserve a table at her restaurant for a family celebration. To my surprise, she readily agreed. On the day of the dinner, I walked arm-in-arm with my mother, followed by around thirty of our relatives. Yet, when we arrived, the receptionist informed us there was no reservation under our name at all. Panicked, I called Sarah more than a dozen times, and she didn’t answer a single call. With no other choice, I swallowed my pride and rushed in, hoping to find her so she could let us in. The moment I pushed the doors open, I froze. Sarah stood there in a spotless white apron, meticulously placing a tiny chocolate car onto a five-tiered birthday cake, and standing right beside her was Mark, her high school sweetheart. As it turned out, today was his son's first birthday party. So it was never that she didn’t know how to care for her family; it was simply that I was never the family she cared about. I quietly backed out of the room, turned around, and reserved a table at another restaurant instead. If she didn’t want to cook for me, then from this day on, I would never ask for her cooking again.

At the company's tenth-anniversary celebration, my wife's male secretary was in charge of the raffle. When it was time for the grand prize, he somehow drew his own name. My wife asked him what he wanted, and he pointed at the watch on my wrist. I flatly refused. How could a personal belonging be used as a prize? But the male secretary turned to my wife and whined, "That watch is a limited edition. There's only one in the world." My wife signaled for me to give the watch to him. I argued my case, but my wife slapped me across the face instead. "It's just a watch. Don't ruin the mood of the anniversary celebration." I smiled, took off the watch, and handed it to her secretary. It was a wedding gift from her that I had treasured for years, but now, I had decided to throw away both the watch and her.

After finding out I'm pregnant again, I decide to check the trust fund I set up for my deceased daughter, Ivy Stewart. To my shock, I learn that someone has been withdrawing money from the account for the last five years. The first withdrawal happened the day Ivy passed away. Every year since, five million dollars has been withdrawn from the trust fund on Ivy's death anniversary, all transferred to the same account. Over dinner, I bring it up to my husband, William Stewart. He nonchalantly explains, "Ivy's death hit me hard, so I decided to do some charity work in her memory. I've been providing financial support to a little boy with leukemia all these years. He's a pitiful child, just like Ivy." Nevertheless, I still feel uncomfortable about the whole situation. "Why didn't you discuss things with me first?" Before William gets to say anything, my mother-in-law, Martha Cook, snaps at me, "Doing charity is a good thing! Why would William need to discuss it with you first? It's not like we can't spare the money. He's doing it in Ivy's memory, so don't be so petty!" I stop asking questions, but I secretly approach the fund manager, Shane Mitchell, and tell him I want to visit the boy. However, the fund manager looks at me, shocked. "Isn't the recipient your child? The money was transferred from the trust fund account with the explicit designation that it was for the child's education!"