My wife and I were both liars. She lied to me 99 times. "I'll forget all about him, I swear." That man was her first love.

She never did forget about him.

I only lied to her one time. To get her to sign the divorce papers.

Time came to the final day of the cooling-off period.

Three hours before it was up, I packed up all my stuff and bought a flight ticket to another country.

Two hours before it was up, I cut up all my photos that had her in it, leaving only myself.

One hour before it was up, I placed the divorce papers on the table.

When she saw the papers, they drove her mad.

Cheating Wife

"Hi, are you the attorney? Yeah, I want to get a divorce."

Yes, I wanted to get a divorce, but I had to keep it a secret from my wife.

"Tell your wife to sign these. Once the month-long cooling-off period's over, the agreement goes into effect."

When I got home, my wife, Lauren Claude, was drunk. She was happy, see, since her true love got a divorce.

…

When she sobered up the next day, she said, "Let's get another wedding."

I knew she only wanted that to trick her true love into coming home. Still, I agreed to it with a smile, but within the wedding planning contract she signed was another agreement. The divorce papers.

"I thought the contract was supposed to be… less thick."

A frown creased her forehead. She flipped through the pages, but she never signed them.

The woman was a famous entrepreneur in Riverton. Cheap tricks would not work on her. The second last page was the divorce papers I snuck in.

I hung my head low, though I was not exactly nervous. "I think there's a ton of compensation clauses. You should go through them if you have time."

Yeah, I knew she would never have the time. It was the day her first love came home. Felix Grande was his name. Years ago, after he got engaged to another woman, Lauren married me in a fit of rage. Retaliation, so to speak.

Now that Felix had gotten divorced, she drank and drank until she could no longer remain sober. Once she sobered up, however, she wanted to get the wedding.

It was a trick to make Felix come home. My marriage was nothing but a toy in their relationship.

And I knew it. Lauren's impatience was oozing from her face. "I need to pick someone up. I don't have time for this."

A glint of delight sparkled in her eyes. She had nothing but impatience for me, yet she also had nothing but delight for Felix.

The woman signed the papers in a hurry and ran off. I did nothing but see her off.

She asked for the wedding three days ago. Five years we were married. There were no grand weddings, nor did we tell anyone. No one besides our friends and parents knew.

Even in articles, she was known as a single woman. Unmarried, at most. Even her scandals were all about the unrequited and hopeless love she had for Felix.

Our marriage was done in silence. I was beneath her. My name had no right to be put with hers. I knew that, of course.

I knew Lauren had someone she truly loved. Even her soul only had eyes for him. Yes, she did show me tender moments, but they were rarer than blue moons.

I tried to move her with love. I tried to make her get used to me, yet she never showed me a smile. Not in this household.

Until that day came. She never drank, yet she was drunk, and the smile refused to leave her face. So I snooped around. I wanted to know the happy occasion. Yep, Felix had gotten a divorce.

I took care of her late into the night, and then I unlocked her phone using Felix's birthday. It opened up for me. When I tapped into the gallery, I realized the photos had nearly taken up all the storage space. Photos of Felix. Only photos of Felix.

I was not there. Well, technically, I was. The gallery's cover was our wedding photo, but she Photoshopped my face into Felix's.

It was odd that she insisted on getting the wedding photo even when she refused to hold a wedding. That question had lingered in the back of my head forever. Now I got my answer.

It was time. The marriage had run its course.

The only thing left was the cooling-off period until the divorce came into effect.

T-minus, one month.

What a coincidence. The wedding she promised me would happen in one month.

…

T-minus, 22 days.

Lauren was leaving early and coming back late a lot more than usual. The promise of a wedding might as well have never existed.

Her Cunning Against Her Husband

Sometimes, when I scrolled through my socials, I'd notice the photos she took with her best friend. She'd be in the corner, walking with another man, and they were hand in hand. I knew that face. I saw it in her gallery.

During work one day, the company's partner called me. "Grab your designs. We're signing a contract with the client. Heard he's Ms. Claude's rumored lover."

I nodded, though my mind was elsewhere. Even though they were my business partners, they had no idea I knew Lauren. They had no idea Lauren and I were secretly married.

The client's place was right at the bottom of her company. I knew this was the new company Felix started after he came back. Claude Group invested in that company.

The finance world would not stop talking about the old flame between Lauren and Felix.

I walked into the CEO's office and saw Lauren. Of course she was there. She was handing over a beautifully packaged present to the man in the chair.

It was Felix.

The look on Lauren's face froze the moment she saw me. Everyone here knew something was off.

Felix was looking at me. There was mockery and disdain in his eyes. "And who is this?"

Lauren fell silent. She was choosing her words carefully. I, however, put on a smile and introduced myself to everyone. "I'm Samuel Dyson, the designer for this project. Ms. Claude and I are…"

Lauren and I spoke at the same time. "College friends."

I clenched my designs tighter, my knuckles turning white. My fingertips left marks on the paper. This was not my first time covering for Lauren. It was not her first time refusing to tell anyone who I really was.

The secret marriage hid our relationship, and it was the biggest sign that this relationship would only sink in the end.

The talks did not go as smoothly as anyone wanted it to. Lauren resumed her business elite status and represented Felix in the negotiations. She was relentless and refused to back down. "Another 10% discount."

She pushed the prices down to the absolute lowest we could accept. My partner mused over our options and reluctantly agreed to the deal. "You're as smart as they say you are, Ms. Claude. You know where our bottom line is."

Lauren turned her head away. Guilt was gnawing at her, and she could not look at me.

Yes, smart and cunning and cutthroat as they came. And she used all her cunning on her own husband.

Felix did not say anything, though he was giving me a challenging look. Then, he unraveled the box on the desk. "Have some cake, everyone."

Lauren, who'd been so calm and cunning during the negotiation, snatched the box. "Don't move, Felix. You're allergic to peanut butter. I need to check the ingredients."

The scene stabbed through my chest like a knife, and it shredded my heart apart. Everything around me turned into a blur.

Five years. Five years we were married, and this woman forgot our anniversary and my birthday. She forgot every single thing I asked her to do—as if they did not matter. Yet she remembered my allergy. My peanut butter allergy.

That delighted me. Perhaps the other details she ignored proved that she did not love me at all, but at least she cared about me, no matter how minute it was.

And that care was fake in the end. It was just a coincidence.

The project was moving fast, but not fast enough for Lauren. More than once she kept telling my partner, "This is Felix's first project since his return. I don't want it to be a failure."

I watched the clown show unfold, though I was indifferent.

After we got home that day, Lauren sat on the couch, musing over something for a long, long time.

No Wedding

In the end, she explained, "You know our marriage is a secret. We've not gotten any good opportunities to tell anyone. I promise you, we'll make it public someday. But now, we need to deal with this project."

I nodded, but I said nothing. I did not tell her that our priority was the upcoming wedding. Nor would I tell her that the cooling-off period would be over at the same time. After all, nothing was more important than Felix to her.

The woman made sure that Felix and I would not meet throughout the whole project. She thought she was slick, but my partner noticed. The soul of gossip burned in his eyes. "Hey, is Ms. Claude your fling or something?"

I smiled. "As if."

My partner's lips curled. "She stole a lot of glances at you. She thought she was slick, but I noticed the guilt in her gaze. The same kind guilty women have for their exes."

That stopped me in my tracks, and I dug deeply into my memory. I did notice her looks, though I could never ascertain her emotions. Not once.

T-minus, 10 days.

It was supposed to be the regular meeting for the project. Felix made sure to strike up a long conversation with me. I knew he probably guessed that Lauren and I were married, though I gave him polite and cordial answers.

Once the meeting was over, Lauren, for once, asked to give me a ride home. "You're more capable than I thought."

First praise she gave me in the last five years. I was halfway through packing up my files, and I stopped. I raised my eyes to her, wondering what she was saying.

A long moment of hesitation later, she asked, "Are you sure we can hold the wedding in time?"

I hung my head low. I knew what she wanted. To cancel the wedding. For Felix again, probably. "We can cancel it. We don't have long."

I looked at her. Of course I did not spill the truth. I did not want to make things ugly for both of us.

That surprised her. It was the answer she did not believe she could get. She blurted out, "You don't mind?"

Of course she would throw that question at me. The old me would've flown into a rage and demanded an answer from her. All the ugly scenes in our marriage happened because I lost control of my temper. Even though every single instance was thanks to her.

I shook my head. "I don't really care. It's just a ceremony."

A long silence later, Lauren said, "We can go to the next city to wind down."

I stared at the countdown on my phone. T-minus 10 days. I refused the offer.

The hands on the steering wheel went stiff. She almost ran through a red light. "What about the beach? Or the restaurant you've always wanted to go to?"

She kept bringing up ideas to wind down. I struck down every single one of them.

…

When we were about to get out of the car, the look of awkwardness and guilt on her face was gone. It was replaced by doubt and displeasure.

I saw that look, and I said, "Maybe we should check out our old home."

It was our first home after the marriage. Now I was getting nostalgic about it. That made her pause. She was guessing my thoughts.

Even after I'd gotten out, she remained in the car for a long, long time.

…

T-minus, one day.

We had a taciturn agreement. Lauren and I rarely showed up at the project site together. Sometimes, when Felix wasn't around, she would come down and join the meeting, but she would say nothing. The woman did steal some glances at me, though.