Divorce After Affair Discovery

I struggled to hold myself together as I dialed 911. When I regained consciousness, it was already afternoon. The doctor informed me that I had suffered from acute gastric bleeding and that if I had arrived any later, it could have been fatal. Fortunately, the episode was both sudden and short-lived.

The doctor tended to the wound on my forehead and applied a bandage. He said I could be discharged that afternoon, but I’d need to return for a follow-up. As I got up to handle the discharge paperwork, I ran into Justin Matthews on the lower floor. He was pushing April Green in a wheelchair.

April put on a pitiful act, holding her stomach dramatically when she saw me. Justin frowned as soon as he spotted me.

“What are you doing at the hospital? What’s your game this time? Because of you, the doctor said April needs to stay in bed!”

His gaze then moved to the cut on my forehead, and for a brief moment, I caught a flicker of concern in his eyes. “What happened to your forehead?”

I met his eyes calmly. “April’s condition has nothing to do with me. I fell and hurt myself.”

Justin looked like he wanted to ask more, but April tugged at his sleeve. “Justin, I'm not feeling well. Let's go home.”

Swallowing his concern, Justin turned away, and I walked off without looking back.

Home was just as chaotic as I had left it. I called Helena Kelly to come and clean. I headed to the master bedroom. In the span of a single night, April had already claimed the space. My clothes and makeup were unceremoniously stuffed into the wardrobe. She had slept in my bed, beside my husband.

I fought back the wave of emotion, refusing to cry. I had shed too many tears for Justin Matthews already. I wasn’t willing to continue.

I left everything Justin had given me in the master bedroom, taking only what I had brought when we ran away together, and packed them into a small suitcase to put in the guest room. Just as I finished, Justin returned. He had helped April with her luggage and only then spared a glance in my direction.

I didn’t look at him, pretending to check my phone. He lit a cigarette, and the smoke made me cough. He quickly put it out and sat across from me, feigning casualness.

“April's due in seven months. The baby can’t be born without a legal status. I can't let my child be illegitimate. We should get the divorce papers finalized, and once the baby is born, we can remarry.”

I was stunned for a long moment before finally lifting my head to look at him. Justin gazed at me in silence, unusually guilty.

“Maeve, I swear, just this once, okay? April, she's done so much for me, being pregnant out of wedlock. If I don’t do anything, I wouldn’t be a man.”

He watched me intently, as if afraid I might blow up. To his surprise, I didn’t make a scene. Instead, I smiled slightly. “Alright.”

Justin exhaled, looking at me with relief and joy reminiscent of when I agreed to marry him. Back then, his youthful face couldn't hide his happiness. Times had changed, and now he was asking for a divorce.

I lowered my eyes. “Let's do it now; we should still have time.”

The bureaucracy was swift, and we had our divorce papers by the end of the day. It was already dark when Justin offered to drive me home. But after we passed a traffic light, he received a message from April. He dropped me off at a bus stop.

“Something came up with April. I need to get to her. You’ll be fine to get home, right?”

He left me alone by the roadside.

Suddenly, I remembered the year we were most in love. My parents had tried to force me to move abroad. At the airport, Justin had clung to my hand, refusing to let go. His palm had been so warm, his declarations of love so moving, that I had believed him. I had been willing to cut ties with my family just to be with him.

Justin and I were living proof of that saying: the one who loves first stops loving first; the one who falls in love later never gives up.

Looking at the bright red divorce certificate in my hand, I let out a small breath, tears streaming down my face. The summer where I defied the world for one person had ended. So had my ten years with Justin Matthews.

I opened my phone and booked a plane ticket.