My husband went on a business trip, and I wanted to capture the beautiful moment when we unexpectedly crossed paths in the same train car.
I posted the video, and it went viral.
But the comments flooded in with one common opinion: "Your husband is acting strangely."
But how could I not notice the way Marcus tried to avoid my gaze when he saw me?
Two days ago, Marcus Shaw told me he had to go to Marlowe City for a five-day business trip.
Our five-year-old daughter ran over, clinging to Marcus with a pout: "Dad, why do you have to leave again?"
This month, Marcus had already been on four business trips.
Marcus, ever the loving father, picked up our daughter and spun her around: "Be good, sweetheart. Daddy’s just really busy right now. You stay home and keep Mommy company. When I come back, I'll bring you some treats."
“Yay!”
Kids are easy to please, and she immediately ran off to play with her toys.
I was distracted, scrolling through my phone, not looking directly at Marcus: "What time’s your train? Don’t leave too early; last time, you woke her up, and she cried for ages."
“The train’s at a little past ten. I’ll be quiet this time.”
I opened the ticket app. There was only one train from our city to Marlowe City around ten o’clock in three days.
One adult ticket, one child’s ticket—instantly booked.
“We’re going to surprise Daddy, so you can’t tell him, okay?”
Our daughter’s face lit up with excitement. She saw it as a grand adventure.
When Marcus left the house, I quickly grabbed our daughter and rushed to the station. We barely made it onto the train at the last minute.
Marcus was hunched over, typing rapidly on his phone, with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
I walked over and gently tapped him on the shoulder.
When he looked up and saw me, his smile vanished in an instant, replaced by shock and confusion.
"You... what are you doing here?"
I grinned: "I’m here to surprise you, of course."
Just then, our daughter ran up, calling out for her dad, acting all cutesy.
I pretended not to see the phone Marcus had quickly shoved under his leg.
A girl sitting nearby asked: "Are you two married?"
"Yeah, that’s my husband. He’s on a business trip today, and since our daughter wanted to go, I thought I’d surprise him."
The girl looked at me, hesitant, as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just said: "Well, let me switch seats with you. Traveling with a child isn’t easy."
Marcus immediately jumped in: "Oh, no, you don’t have to go through all that. It’s fine."
But our daughter whined: "I want to sit with Mommy and Daddy!"
Marcus sighed in resignation, holding her in his arms without another word.
I showed the girl our tickets, pointing out that our seats were in the next car.
The entire journey, Marcus fidgeted nervously. Even though our daughter was entertaining him with her constant antics, he acted as if someone had just made him lose eight hundred thousand dollars.
Our daughter, not one to sit still, kept bouncing around. A while later, she yelled: "Daddy, I want to watch cartoons!"
Marcus, shielding his phone, said: "No, this phone’s for work."
But our daughter quickly pulled the phone out from under Marcus’s leg: "But you have two phones!"
Marcus looked at me, his face full of panic.
I hugged our daughter and said: "Daddy needs both phones for work, sweetie. Please be quiet so we don’t disturb others."
Only then did Marcus relax a little.
I’ve always been the type of wife who sticks to her role and tolerates Marcus’s quirks without question. So, it felt natural to step in and stop our daughter from bothering him.
After all, Marcus had been wanting to use his phone for a while now.