My wife Melinda, who had been a DINK for 20 years, suddenly had a seven-year-old child. After careful investigation, I found that she and the man she kept outside had gone for a pregnancy check-up again and even my mother-in-law, who was living at home for the elderly, secretly moved in to take care of her during her pregnancy.
The truth was revealed and I was extremely angry and quarreled with Melinda.
The elders and peers around me advised me.
“Why do you have to make things so serious? You have been married for 20 years after all. In fact, we can understand Melinda’s situation very well. As an only child, she still needs a successor. Otherwise, what will her parents do in the future? No children or grandchildren…”
I suppressed the pain in my heart and looked at Melinda, who didn’t say a word. She was already in her early 40s, but her face was well-maintained and still beautiful.
“You can take the child back. This is my greatest tolerance.”
Melinda picked up the car keys and walked out. I thought she agreed with what I said, but she took down the wedding photo at the entrance before leaving.
“It’s not easy for Kevin to wait for me with a child for seven years. I will never leave him alone!” She looked at me with no love in her eyes.
“If you can’t accept what they say, from today, 1357, I will live there... 246 will come back to accompany you…”
I clenched my palms tightly, no longer dreaming that she and I would be reconciled. “In this case, let’s divorce!”
Everyone in the room was shocked by my words and fell silent, even Melinda’s action of closing the door paused. She was a little unbelievable, pursed her lips and looked up at me with a complicated expression.
“Jefferson... don’t be silly.”
I wiped away my tears and my heart ached. “I’m not silly. Melinda, let’s divorce.”
——
Melinda’s face was very ugly and a slightly blaming look fell on me. “Jefferson, it’s been twenty years, why are you still so willful? Kevin is ten years younger than you, but he is considerate and sensible. He knows that his identity is embarrassing, but has never complained. He only wants to protect me and his child. He has done nothing wrong. He raised my children for me, but now you want me to snatch the child from him and throw him out... I can’t do it. I can’t be so cruel to him.”
She said this lightly, but it caused ripples in my heart.
I closed my eyes.
Twenty years ago, Melinda and I fell in love.
We were young and had the same ideas. We knew that we were not confident enough to take on the responsibilities of parents in our twenties.
She was afraid of pain, so I took the initiative to go to the hospital for sterilization. Since then, we had taken safety measures every time we were intimate.
This caused great dissatisfaction in both families at that time, but Melinda didn’t care.
Melinda’s father got angry and drove Melinda and me out.
Melinda set up her own business and started a business with me from scratch.
Ten years ago, that was the most severe period of time when both parents urged us to have children.
Melinda’s mother was so radical that she put a knife to my neck and forced me and Melinda to have a child. It was impossible for me to not waver in my heart, so I asked Melinda, “Do you really not want a child? Even if you see your mother like this, are you still determined to do so? In fact, we can have a child.”
Melinda stared at me, holding my hand, with affection in her eyes.
“Jefferson, I don’t want to suffer the pain of having a child and I don’t want the two of us to rush into the role of parents in this situation. Can you understand?”
I understood, but I still told her.
“If you want a child one day, just tell me directly and we will discuss it.”
Melinda agreed.
Seven years ago, Melinda’s father suddenly stopped being angry and her mother stopped urging.
The two elders even proposed to live in another city with good food, drink and fun and Melinda would go there from time to time to check on their living conditions.
I thought the two elders had let it go and then... I saw a photo of her and another man’s family of three on the social platform account registered by my mother-in-law.
I then realized that Melinda’s original intention of traveling back and forth between the two cities for seven years was to care about another family...
The happy moments recorded by Melinda’s mother were like a sharp sword piercing my heart, making me feel so painful that I couldn’t breathe.
I opened my mouth and found that my voice was already hoarse.
“What about me? Melinda, aren’t you cruel and ruthless for treating me like this?”
A trace of guilt flashed across Melinda’s face and even her voice softened.
“I’m sorry, Jefferson. I just don’t want you to suffer the pain of ligation recanalization surgery again. If you want, I can bring them all over to live with us…”
I smiled bitterly.
“You mean, my wife cheated on me, so I should not only forgive my wife, but also accept her child with someone else and now I have to live under the same roof with the third party and see each other every day?”
Melinda fell silent and stopped making excuses. When she left, she even kindly called all the relatives in the house away.
“Jefferson, I know you can’t accept it for a while. It’s okay, you... accept it slowly; but I still insist on my idea. I can'’ abandon Kevin and the child!”
I sat there all night and when it was dawn, I called the company’s lawyer.
“Do you know how to draft a divorce agreement? Help me draft one, I want a divorce.”
Melinda really stayed there for a week, as she said and didn’t come back.
When the paparazzi I paid a big price to send me a stack of photos and videos, my hands were shaking and I almost didn’t even have the courage to click on them.
Since this incident became public, Melinda’s mother no longer concealed it and she no longer played the drama of the two elders thinking it through with me.
She wanted to post 800 videos a day to record the warm daily life of Melinda and her family of three.
Melinda was taking care of the baby, she taught the baby to write, stroking her belly and the one going out for a walk...
They were so happy.
[Mom takes the baby out for a parent-child trip again!]
[My dear grandson is in the first grade this year and he is still begging his mother to teach him to write.]
[Daughter and son-in-law.]
The content of the photos taken was similar to that of the photos taken by the paparazzi. They were obviously warm photos of daily life, but they hurt my eyes.
After thinking for a long time, I commented below.
[If he is your son-in-law, then what is the person in the column of your daughter’s spouse?]
Almost immediately after it was posted, the comment was deleted.
Immediately afterward, Melinda’s mother sent a 60-second voice message.
“What are you commenting on my video? What do you make others think of my grandson? He is still a child and you want him to be labeled as an illegitimate child. How can you be so vicious? I tell you, I still have a score to settle with you! Not only did you not give birth to a child with my daughter, you also instigated my daughter to abandon her husband and child…”
Then, several more 60-second voice messages followed.
Although I had been heartbroken and cried my eyes out for the past few days, when I heard my mother-in-law speculate about me with the most proud words, my tears still fell uncontrollably.
I didn’t understand. How could people change so easily?
My mother-in-law treated me like her own son and so did Melinda, who had been married to me for 20 years.
When Melinda came back, she saw me sitting by the window, decadent and haggard. When she hugged me, I was still cold from outside.
She simply took off her coat and stuffed my cold hands into her sweater to keep them warm.
For a moment, I suddenly felt that we had returned to 20 years ago when we loved each other the most.
We were very miserable at that time. Melinda’s father cut off all of her livelihood just to make her realize the mistake of not having children.
Her father didn’t like me either.
We slept in the basement and ate instant noodles and steamed buns in this huge city. When we were the poorest, we couldn’t even afford a bag of rice. When it was the coldest, we huddled together in a bed, wearing all our clothes and wrapped in quilts and we were so cold that we trembled when we spoke.
I was also so decadent.
I always thought about giving up. If it continued to freeze like this, Melinda’s already poor health would get worse.
“Melinda, let’s give up the divorce. Go back and admit your mistakes. Maybe you can drink hot chicken soup when you go back now.”
Melinda hugged me, stuffed my hands into her clothes and clamped my feet, with tension and fear.
“No, I won’t divorce you. Jefferson, I won’t admit my mistakes. I’m not wrong. I’m sorry, the ligation hurts so much. I didn’t want you to suffer, but in the end, I still made you suffer.”
The tears of that year overlapped with the tears of this year and the bitter taste spread from the tip of the tongue.
“Melinda, let’s move, okay? You like children. Let’s have our own, okay? Why? Why didn’t you tell me when you wanted a child?”
The long silence was like a stick, waking me up.
I came to my senses and looked at Melinda in a daze.
Following her hesitant and complicated profile, I realized that she was not the only one who came back.
This was the first time Kevin and I met.
Just like in the video shot by Melinda’s mother, he was young and considerate and the whole person looked like a good husband and a loving father.
And I...
I looked at the mirror by the window in a daze. My eyes were red and swollen like walnuts and even the wrinkles at the corners of my eyes were crying.
It was really embarrassing.
There was an indescribable feeling in my heart.
Kevin’s eyes were fixed on the place where Melinda warmed my hands. The sadness in his eyes did not seem fake, but he still resisted and pushed the child next to him up to say hello to me.
Melinda felt sorry for him, took my hand without hesitation and walked over to hug his waist.
She didn’t say anything, but stood on tiptoe and kissed Kevin’s lips with a soothing touch.
The sourness in his eyes surged up again and the fingertips that were not completely warmed up were stained with coldness again.
Kevin touched his hair embarrassedly and seemed to raise a smug smile to me unintentionally.
“Leon, go quickly. This is Uncle Jefferson, say hello to him.”
I was stunned and asked him in disbelief.
“What’s his... name?”
“Leon, Leon. Melinda said that she hopes he will be as bright and desirable as the stars in the sky in the future.”
In just a moment, my head was buzzing.
Leon pursed his lips and said something to me, but I couldn’t hear it clearly.
