I Chose Divorce After His Surgery

My husband was not fully conscious from anaesthesia after waking up from surgery, and he started spouting nonsense.

I laughed while recording his comical reaction, but while helping him into a chair, I paused when I heard him calling for his son.

"Be a good boy, all right? Daddy is busy."

My smile froze, and I was stunned.

We had been DINKs for 10 years. When did he get a son?

My hands trembled as I turned on his phone. It was the first time I was looking through his phone in our years of marriage.

When I browsed the phone’s data, I found a private album filled with intimate photos of him with another woman and a child.

It was a boy who looked very similar to him, and the timestamp on the photos indicated that the boy was three.

All three of them were smiling happily, but their smiles hurt me.

He had once told me with conviction that he hated kids and did not want to be tied down by family, which was why he convinced me to be a DINK.

However, I now knew that he was not really sincere about being a DINK; he just did not want to have kids with me.

Chuck Jameson's surgery was a success.

After his anaesthesia wore off, Chuck looked at me with reliance and gratitude. "It's been hard on you, honey." His voice was hoarse as he was still weak from the surgery.

I sliced up some apples to feed him, and I watched him nibble on them. "The doctor says you're recovering well. He just needs to observe you for a couple more days before you’re allowed to be discharged," I said calmly.

Chuck pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it. "This is all thanks to you. Once I've fully recovered, I'll take you to Glacier Island to see the northern lights. It's something you've always wanted to see, right?" He started planning a wonderful future for us as he always did.

Were it not for the phone, I would have teared up after listening to him express his 'deep feelings' for me. I pulled my hand away and tucked him into bed. When my fingers touched his warm skin, I felt nauseous, and I had to hold myself back from throwing the apples at his hypocritical face. "You should rest. There's a lot of work waiting for you at the office."

Chuck closed his eyes with a happy smile on his face. I felt pangs of pain in my heart as I watched him smile. I had been with him for 10 years, and now wondered what I was to him.

When I got home, I turned on the computer. That woman's name was Candice Wilson, the New Media director of Chuck's company. She was promoted unconventionally two years ago, and her social media persona portrayed her as a well-groomed single mother.

Her latest post was of a man's hand tucking in a little boy, who was fast asleep. The watch on that hand was the wedding anniversary present I had bought for Chuck the previous year. The accompanying message was: [ I feel safe whenever you're with me.] The timestamp on the post matched the night when Chuck told me he had to go on an emergency business trip.

I followed the traces online and found the boy's social media account, and I managed to log in to his account by guessing his birthday as his password. The account was called 'Edwin Jameson's Magical World'.

His name was Edwin Jameson. He took Chuck's surname.

I clicked on his photo album and scrolled through the photos. I saw Chuck carrying Edwin on his shoulders; Chuck and Edwin playing with Lego; and Chuck, Candice, and Edwin at the beach together like a happy family of three. Their heads leaned in close to each other while smiling brightly.

Every photo was like a knife that cut my heart over and over. It felt like my marriage of ten years was a well-planned sham. I was not the person he loved, but someone he used as a tool to put up a facade and make it easier for him to raise a perfect family elsewhere.

I turned off my computer and headed into the kitchen to get iced water from the fridge and gulped it down. The cold drink slipped down my throat, and the chill spread to my limbs.

Good. The game was about to begin.