When A Couple Had Drifted apart, It Could Never Be Whole Again

The day I fell ill, I discovered undeniable evidences on my husband’s phone of his affair with his young assistant. At that moment, my husband was outside, enduring the freezing wind and breaking the ice to catch fish for me.

When he arrived, he cooked it into fish soup and brought it to me upstairs. After this, my husband ended up getting sick for three days. In his delirious state, he kept muttering my name while blabbering some nonsensical things.

Though I believed he loved me, his love was not just for me.

When he was served with the divorce paper, my husband was still out to buy my favorite cake. Meanwhile, I was hundreds of meters away across the ocean, sitting inside a plane. 

I heard he even turned the city upside down in his desperate attempt to look for me. 

I saw him again on the trending post. With red-rimmed eyes, he admitted that he was cheating on me but he did not ask for my forgiveness. Instead, he wanted to see me. I ignored his plead and chose for the future. 

——

“Miss, the earliest available flight is in ten days,” the ticket agent's voice came through the phone.

“Please, book me the first flight that day,” I replied.

When I hung up the call, I finally let the tears fall down. 

Then the door opened and Dennis London walked in with a red rose in his hand. He pushed a warm burrito into my hand and said, "Jackie, your favorite burrito seller finally open today. I had to wait for three hours to get it."

He noticed my expression wasn’t quite right. So, he leaned forward, then his forehead brushed against mine as he murmured, “Why do your eyes look red? Are you running a fever?”

I pushed him away gently and wiped away my tears. I said, "Oh, nothing. I just watched a TV series and it moved me so much. They said men like you are nice ones."

He lifted his chin with a hint of pride. “Of course, I am,” he declared.

Though, I had booked my flight in ten days and planned to leave and divorce him on that day.  

I trained my eyes on the man in front of me, remembering the time when he said he loved me with his eyes reddened. 

As a result of my parents' divorce when I was a child, I had never thought I would fall in love, nor wish for one. 

Dennis was different from other men. He chased after me for four years straight and loved me so deeply it seemed etched into his bones. A simple whim I mentioned at bedtime would become a reality by morning.

Even when I playfully threatened never to speak to him again, he would cry until his eyes were swollen, as he clung to me and begged me not to leave.

I used to think he was nothing like my father, but the things that I found in his phone had shattered that illusion. For some reason, one day, I used Dennis's phone and found a second account. 

He never cared if I checked his phone. However, for some reason, one day, I stumbled upon a hidden folder.

After a few tries, I managed to crack his password and enter the files. Inside it, I found many videos of him and his assistant doing the deeds and logs of his visits to various places with his friends.

Every message he sent to his friends ended with a warning that they must never let me find out. None of them ever told me, but fate wanted me to know.

I laughed bitterly and my hand trembled nonstop. The more I scrolled, the colder I felt, until I looked up and saw Dennis smiling at me with a boxed meal in his hand,

He had gone out late at night to buy that train station-style meal I had jokingly said I missed.

At the time, he held my hand, asking if I was cold and gently draped a coat over my shoulders.

It seems I’m right, huh? Even someone as thoughtful as him could still share his love with another.

As the memories faded, tears streamed down my face. Dennis was scared and he hugged me, "Jackie, what is wrong with you? Don't cry. Please, don't cry."

"Dennis, you know how much I hate cheating,” I whispered.

His face turned ghostly pale, his words coming out in a stutter. “Jac … Jackie ... why are you saying this all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing, just something that I saw from the TV series,” I replied.

He let out a sigh of relief, but then I spoke again, “Before we got married, I made a vow. If my partner ever cheated, I would disappear.”