My wife had been away on a business trip for half a year, working hard to negotiate a big project for the company. Excited to see her again, I happily made my way to the airport, eager to welcome her home. But when she appeared, something I had not expected shattered my joy. Her belly was bulging.
She was pregnant and that child in her belly was obviously not mine.
The news spread quickly among my colleagues. They pointed at me, whispering behind my back, mocking me for being a cuckold.
My dignity, my love, everything I had held dear for five years of marriage, was stomped into the ground like it was nothing.
At that moment, I knew our five-year marriage was over.
***
Earlier that day, I had learned that my beloved wife, Eve Pearson, was returning from her business trip. In my excitement, I went to the florist and ordered a large bouquet of beautiful red roses and rushed to the airport.
The project she had successfully negotiated for our company had been incredibly lucrative, so much so that many high-level executives were also there waiting for her arrival to greet her.
I stood in the terminal, holding the flowers until my legs went numb. Then, I finally saw her in a clean, elegant windbreaker that swayed with her every step.
My heart swelled with joy as I waved eagerly, shouting her name across the busy terminal.
However, the moment our eyes met, my smile froze in an instant.
I had not seen her in six months, yet her sharp, confident expression was just exactly the same. It was not until I looked down that I noticed her belly was noticeably bulging.
The executives beside me fell into an awkward silence, their gazes shifting from her to me.
"Dear, you..."
Before I could finish, Juan Harrison, our company’s president, emerged from behind Eve.
He casually wrapped his arm around her shoulders. His tone sounded affectionate and considerate. "Are you still feeling nauseous?" he asked softly.
"I bought you some fresh fruits."
Fresh fruits? For nausea? My mind reeled upon hearing their conversation.
I looked at Eve, my disbelief clear in my eyes.
"What’s going on?" I asked.
Juan glanced at me sympathetically with a helpless shrug. "Damian, you can see for yourself. Eve is more than five months pregnant and she’s been feeling unwell lately, so..."
Eve had been on a business trip for half a year, but it was clear she was already five months pregnant when she returned.
In other words, without any hesitation, Juan announced to everyone that my wife had cheated on me and was now carrying someone else’s child!
Immediately afterward, his pleasant, authoritative voice echoed in my ears as he spoke again, “Why are you all just standing around? Let’s congratulate our new vice president, Mrs. Eve Pearson! The profit from this project is equal to six months’ worth of the company's performance!”
Immediately, the rest of the executives rushed forward to congratulate her, pushing past me in their enthusiasm.
In the joyful chaos, I was jostled aside. The roses I had so carefully picked for her fell from my hands, only to be trampled into the ground, turning them into a muddy mess.
I stood there, stunned, as everyone surrounded Eve, offering their support and congratulations.
I had no idea who said it first, but someone suggested, "Let’s hold a celebration banquet for our new vice president tonight!"
The idea was met with excited agreement by our surroundings, but to my surprise, Eve declined.
"I’m sorry, everyone," she said with a calm smile, "I’m really a bit tired after such a long trip. Besides... the baby in my belly needs rest, too. I’m heading home first."
Hearing her words, a faint glimmer of hope sparked in my chest.
Perhaps she had not forgotten that today was our fifth wedding anniversary after all.
Unfortunately, my hope was crushed in the next moment.
She walked up to me, paused for a brief second and said, "Damian, you can go home without me. When I’m feeling better, we’ll have a proper talk about our situation."
Then, without another glance, she turned and got into Juan’s sleek Maybach, driving away without a word.
A dull pain settled deep in my chest as I stood stiffly there, watching them disappear into the distance.
My eyes dropped to the crushed rose petals on the ground, scattered and ruined, much like my dignity. The words ‘new vice president, Eve Pearson’ echoed in my mind.
It seemed like Eve had been promoted again.
From the first day she joined the company, she climbed the ladder so much faster than I ever did.
First as a team leader, then to a deputy director and then to a director.
And now she was a vice president.
And as her career soared, I could feel the distance between us growing wider and wider, until today, when she returned... five months pregnant.
I could not help but remember the day when Eve discovered she was pregnant for the first time a year ago.
Her reaction was far from joy. She had grabbed my collar tightly and her eyes were blazing with anger as she shouted, “Damian, did you purposely mess up the birth control?! Don’t think for a second that you can tie me down with a child!”
I knew she despised the idea of being a stay-at-home wife and mother. I had always followed her wishes, making sure to be careful about contraception, but when she got pregnant, I tried to explain it was not intentional.
I even told her that maybe it was fate. A special gift from God, perhaps.
At that time, my mother was gravely ill and her final wish was to see her grandchild before she passed away.
I begged Eve to keep the baby, pleading with her to consider my mother’s last wish. No matter how much I asked, Eve would not hear it. Without a second thought, she took an abortion pill and cruelly ended the pregnancy.
After my mother found out about the situation, she broke down in tears and angrily scolded me for being useless, for not even being able to protect her grandchild.
That very night, she passed away.
The weight of this loss hit me harder than anything I had ever experienced and I fell into a deep depression for a long time.
Perhaps, in her own way, Eve felt guilty about it, too.
Not long after, she approached me to explain herself for the first time. She told me that her work had been overwhelming, the pressure to climb the corporate ladder had consumed her and the timing of the pregnancy had been all wrong.
"Damian, just wait a year or two," she said. "We’ll have another child when the time is right."
In the five years we had been married, Eve had poured all her energy into her career and I had done my best to keep things steady at home, making sure she would not have to worry about household matters.
I handled everything. Every little detail in our home was arranged by me and I made sure it was to her liking.
She adored shiny, beautiful things, so I had a custom-made crystal chandelier flown in from Italy, one that sparkled just the way she liked.
My beloved wife did not care for takeout, so I taught myself how to cook, watching endless short videos until I could prepare meals for her that she could enjoy.
I made it a point to surprise her on every special occasion, such as our anniversaries, Valentine’s Day and her birthday, hoping it would make her happy.
Nevertheless, every effort I made was met with cold indifference. Her eyes were filled with disgust when she stared at everything I had prepared.
"Damian, I don’t care about celebrating these meaningless days. You don’t need to do any of this."
She had told me early on that she did not like sharing her personal life on social media. In all our years together, I had never once appeared in her Instagram stories or posts.
Yet tonight, something unexpected happened. I saw her post on Instagram, saying [It’s the 2000th day I’ve known you. Thank you for making me the luckiest woman on Earth.]
Accompanying the message was a picture of two glasses of red wine clinking together. But what caught my attention most was the Rolex Submariner visible on the other wrist in the photo.
I recognized that watch immediately. I had seen it before in her online shopping history.
I had believed it was a gift she was planning to give me for our fifth wedding anniversary.
But I was wrong, terribly wrong.
The realization hit me like a punch to the chest, squeezing my heart so tightly that I could barely breathe.
It was not that Eve did not like posting her personal life in her Instagram. It was just that she did not want to post anything related to me.
I sat in the living room, staring blankly at my phone, scrolling through Eve’s Instagram post for what felt like an eternity.
The screen seemed to blur as my eyes ached and my nose tingled with the onset of tears.
Perhaps, from the beginning, only Juan had ever truly met all of Eve’s preferences in a man. They were childhood sweethearts, after all. She had once poured her love for Juan into three thick notebooks, recording every emotion, every shared moment with him.
But things changed when her father’s company collapsed due to poor management. The bankruptcy hit hard, and in the aftermath, her father tragically took his own life by jumping from the company building.
So, the Harrison family opposed their relationship.
At the age of twenty, Eve made the tough decision to drop out of school. Desperate to earn money, she took on all kinds of jobs, such as modeling, washing dishes at restaurants and even working as a hostess at a bar.
These places were a mix of good and bad, filled with people of all kinds and with her striking looks, Eve quickly caught the wrong kind of attention.
It was one of those days, while I was at the design institute revising some architectural drawings, that I happened to see her. Stumbling, clearly unwell, she had been drugged and behind her, a group of unsavory men lurked, waiting for her to collapse so they could take advantage of her.
Without thinking twice, I rushed over to her, holding her up before she could fall.
"Are you okay?" I asked. "Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"
One of the men behind her spat a curse in my direction, jabbing a finger at me and warning me not to interfere. I ignored him and looked at Eve, who was watching me with cautious, fearful eyes. At that moment, she reminded me of a wounded hedgehog. Fragile, defenseless, yet surrounded by prickly thorns to keep everyone at a distance.
"Don’t worry," I said gently. "I’m not here to hurt you. Let me take you to the hospital first."
She hesitated but eventually allowed me to help her. After we arrived at the hospital, she leaned against my shoulder as she received IV fluids and then she broke down. She cried for a long time, tears flowing as she opened up about the heartbreak and struggles that had defined her life since her father’s death. She spoke of her shattered dreams, the career and future she had envisioned for herself and all the regrets that weighed her down.
The next day, after Eve had sobered up, she looked at me and asked a question I never expected. She asked if I was willing to marry her.
It was not until many years later that I learned the truth that on the very same day, Juan had gotten engaged to someone else.
What I had always believed to be a divine blessing, a marriage destined by God, was simply a reaction born of her anger and heartbreak.
That night, I could not sleep at all. I stayed up wide awake, with thoughts of Eve swirling endlessly through my mind.
By the time dawn broke, I had woken up and prepared myself to go to the company with reddened and swollen eyes.
I thought about her all night, yet none of the questions in my head were answered.
Despite this, I decided to head to the company that morning with one goal. I went to confront Eve face-to-face and ask her what I really meant to her.
As I approached her office, her male assistant, Henry Wallace, stopped me at the door.
He had a smirk on his face that made my blood boil. "Mr. Donovan," he said mockingly, "I apologize, but Mrs. Pearson and Mr. Harrison are in an important meeting. You can't go in."
There was a clear contempt in his expression that only made my fists tighten at my sides.
I fought to control my emotions, taking a deep breath before asking, "When will Mrs. Pearson be available today?"
Henry leaned lazily against the door, arms crossed and replied with a fake sense of pity, "Ah, that's a tough one. It seems Mrs. Pearson is busy all day. But, Mr. Donovan, if I were you, I’d start paying attention. Mrs. Pearson is the vice president now. Play your role as the cuckold properly and you might even see some benefits from it."
A wave of laughter erupted around me, fueled by his cruel words.
No man would stand calmly after hearing something like that. The anger that had been building up inside me finally snapped and before I could stop myself, I threw a punch at Henry.
"You fucking dare say what you just said again?"
Henry was quite a showman. After I threw a punch, he immediately knocked himself off balance. He hit the desk beside him with a loud crash.
Moments later, the door to the office swung open, but it was not Eve who appeared. It was the president, Juan Harrison.
His face was hard as he frowned at Henry. "What’s going on here? There’s no fighting allowed during work hours," he said sharply.
When Henry heard this question, he immediately put on a pitiful expression as though he was on the verge of tears. “Mr. Harrison,” he whimpered, “I was just asking Mr. Donovan to wait before going in. I had no idea he’d hit me like that. Look! One of my teeth got knocked out!”
At that moment, Eve finally stepped out of the office and her eyes met mine with a look of reproach.
Seeing her, my heart sank. She was always so put together and composed no matter the situation. But today, her shirt was worn inside out.
Henry had been right all along. The truth was staring me in the face. Eve and Juan had not just been meeting. They had been doing something far more intimate in the office!
"Didn't I make it clear that no one was to enter the meeting room during our discussion?"
Eve’s voice was firm as she directed her question towards Henry, who looked as though he had just seen his savior. This grown man, who had always strutted around with an air of superiority, was now reduced to tears in public.
“Ms. Pearson, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop Mr. Donovan. He’s in charge of the project team and I’m just a lowly assistant.”
Before Eve could reply, Juan cut in, his tone sharp with disdain. "For a mere team leader to exert so much authority—it's enough to make people take notice!"
Ignoring him, I turned my attention to Eve, interrupting their exchange.
"Like I said yesterday, we need to talk."
My voice was steady, but I could see the impatience on her face and it struck me how undignified I must have looked at that moment, standing there, begging for a conversation.
"After five years of marriage, even if it’s coming to an end, I still hope we can part on good terms."
Juan was clearly irritated upon hearing my words. He pointed his finger at my face, ready to launch into another tirade, but Eve stopped him with a gentle gesture.
"Don’t waste your energy, Juan," she said, her voice calm. "I’ll speak with him so we don’t have to deal with this again in the future."
After that, both of us went down to a nearby coffee shop to have a proper talk. As soon as we sat down, Eve wasted no time.
She looked directly at me and said, "The baby will be born in less than five months. I don’t want my child to be born as an illegitimate child."
She paused for a moment, letting the weight of her next words settle in.
"Let's get a divorce."
My hand that was stirring the coffee suddenly stopped. I had expected this, of course. After everything that had happened, I knew it was coming.
Yet, hearing her say it out loud, my heart still clenched and I could not help but feel the sting of it.
She must have noticed my hesitation because she reached into her bag and pulled out a card, sliding it across the table toward me. "There’s three hundred thousand dollars on this card. Take it. Consider it compensation from me."
I stared at the card, silent for a moment.
And then, a sudden laugh escaped my lips.
Three hundred thousand dollars… as compensation for five years of marriage?
Was that the value of our relationship in her eyes?
I shook my head slowly, pushing the card back across the table. "I don’t want it," I said firmly.
Eve raised her eyebrows, clearly surprised by my refusal. "Damian, you barely make eight hundred and fifty a month. You wouldn’t make three hundred thousand even in twenty years of working hard. Are you sure you don’t want it?"
When I gave her my definitive answer, a look of disdain flashed across her face.
She sneered, "Hmph, just as Juan said, you don’t want the money. You’re after something more!"
She leaned back in her chair, resting a hand on her pregnant belly. "So tell me, what is it that you really want?"
I did not respond right away. Instead, I looked at her, feeling the weight of everything we had been through pressing down on me. Finally, I asked, "After I divorce you, will Juan marry you?"
Her expression hardened and a flicker of anger crossed her face. "Of course he will!"
"Juan isn’t really in love with his wife and he’s promised me that he’ll get a divorce. Besides, I’m already pregnant with the Harrison family’s child. His whole family is eager for a grandchild."
She looked almost blissful as she spoke, her mind clearly filled with thoughts of the happy future she imagined for herself.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a deep breath. When I opened them again, my voice trembled as I spoke the words that felt like the final blow. "Alright, as you wish. Let’s get a divorce."
After we finished talking and returned to the company, I could already hear the hushed voices of my team members as they whispered among themselves. One of them spoke in a low tone, "Have you heard? Mrs. Pearson is pregnant with Mr. Harrison's child!"
The other one added with a snicker, "I really didn’t expect that Mr. Donovan, who looks so proper, would turn out to be such a freeloader. He’s just leeching off his wife for money. Hahahaha!"
I walked in at that moment and as soon as they saw me, their voices immediately fell silent.
Normally, I treated my team with fairness and respect, so hearing them speak about me behind my back like that was a blow I had not expected.
"Why did you guys stop? Go on, say what you were saying."
Their heads dropped and none of them dared to speak another word.
"If you can't complete this month's performance, don't expect to get any bonuses," I added.
Then, one of them muttered under his breath, just loud enough for me to hear. "You’ve already offended Mr. Harrison. Let’s see how long you’ll last as team leader."
I walked up to him, standing just inches away and met his eyes squarely. "If I want to, don’t forget that I can stay in this company longer than you."
The meaning of my words sank in immediately and his face paled. Fear flashed in his eyes and he quickly began to apologize. "Mr. Donovan, I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please don’t fire me..."
That night, the company hosted a celebration banquet and all the employees were invited.
I sat quietly among the crowd, watching as Eve stood on the stage, glowing under the spotlight. She looked radiant and I could not help but be filled with a mix of emotions.
In fact, the moment I made up my mind to divorce her, I also decided that I no longer had any intention of staying at this company.
After all, I had quit my job at the design company and joined this company solely to help her. Over the years, Eve and I worked closely together, securing numerous deals and orders that played a crucial role in her success.
Together, we helped her carve out a strong position within the company and I believed that, sooner or later, she would recognize the quiet dedication I had poured into our shared life and work.
Unfortunately, I never expected things to turn out the way they did.
It seemed that Eve had long forgotten about the day we first met, which was almost ten years ago.
Back then, I had been cornered in a dark alley and beaten up by a group of thugs just because I looked feminine.
Out of nowhere, Eve appeared like some kind of guardian angel. Holding a brick in her hand, she fearlessly drove them away.
"Why are you crying? If people bully you, just fight back!"
Eve had given me warmth when I needed it most and I held onto that memory all these years.
Tonight, though, I decided to treat this as the last time I would witness her glory.
At some point during the celebration, I stepped away to go to the restroom, only to overhear Juan bragging to someone, his voice full of mockery.
"You see, the beauty trap works wonders."
"I told Eve I still loved her and she was more than willing to sleep with me and give me a baby. You guys have no idea how cheap she is. She used to work as a barmaid. How could I ever marry someone filthy like that?"
Anger surged through me upon hearing his words and without thinking, I kicked the door open with a loud bang, grabbing Juan by the collar and slamming him against the wall. "You bastard! Eve loves you so much! How can you treat her like this?"
Juan was surprised, but he was quick to recover. He spat his response back at me with a sneer. "What's wrong with you, Damian? Your wife cheated on you and here you are, still defending her? Are you some kind of weakling?"
He had many friends with him and though I lashed out in anger, I was quickly overpowered. They threw me to the ground and beat me, their fists raining down relentlessly.
Just as the pain became unbearable, I heard a familiar voice ring out sharply, "Stop! What are you doing?"
It was Eve. Juan immediately signaled for his friends to back off.
For a brief moment, I felt a flicker of hope, thinking that perhaps she would see what kind of person Juan truly was. But instead of understanding, all I saw in her eyes was coldness and disgust.
"Damian Donovan, that's enough!" she said, her voice icy and unforgiving.
"I really didn’t expect you to stoop this low. This morning, I felt guilty for you, but now I see you’ve just been trying to drive a wedge between me and Juan."
As I watched her turn and walk away without hesitation, my heart sank. I hung my head, feeling utterly defeated.
Exactly this moment, Eve, I no longer want you in my life.
