ManyWriters

I hurried to the hotel on my beat-up electric scooter, eager to tell my wife that our coffee shop was finally about to land its first big order.
As I pushed open the door to the banquet hall, I froze in shock.
A ragdoll cat was rolling around on the cake I had stayed up all night to make.
My wife walked over, stepping on cake crumbs strewn across the floor. Without even glancing at me, she fastened a platinum collar around the cat's neck, then moved close to adjust that man's tie.
I looked down at my flour-covered work uniform, then at the cheap plastic pendant hanging from my daughter's neck.
So this was the "high-end market" she had been talking about. It was never about our coffee shop.
Ten years of marriage, shattered at a pet party.

The Aftertaste is Not Gone

"Little Prince and I couldn't finish it all, so you two can have the leftovers~"


"There'll be even more on my birthday."


I silently screenshot these sarcastic messages to save them.


A few days later, I finished organizing all the business accounts with her company, preparing to cut ties completely.


I took Meadow to stay at my mom's house for a while. The old lady was delighted, and Meadow was having a great time.


Today is Meadow's birthday, and I promised to spend it with her.


But then I received a panicked call from the store clerk.


"Boss, she brought people and cleared out all the pastries and coffee beans from the store!"


In the video, the carefully prepared birthday cake and special coffee blend were all gone, and even the coffee beans in the storage room had been emptied out.


Suppressing my anger, I called her. Before I could speak, she explained.


"It's Gunner's birthday today. We used all the pastries to decorate the venue."


Amidst the noise in the background, she said impatiently.


"I didn't make a fuss about the pastries you had removed last time. Don't make a scene this time. I promise it's the last time!"


The call was hung up. I was both amused and angered by her brazenness, and felt sad for my own past blindness.Recalling that all her passwords were Gunner's birthday, I had naively asked, "Why use that combination of numbers?"


She replied, "It's my most important day."


I thought it was our wedding anniversary, but it turned out to be her first love's birthday.


My phone chimed with a notification. She had transferred five hundred bucks: "This is the deposit. Don't be mad."


I scoffed. Trying to brush off twenty grand worth of desserts and coffee with just five hundred? That's a slap in the face.


I went straight to the cops, providing surveillance footage, call records, and the order contract.


"This is theft. Please help me recover the goods and punish her severely."


The police quickly tracked her and Gunner to a hotel.


I followed the officers to the top-floor suite.


"All the desserts and coffee are inside," the bellhop said, pointing at the door.


Pushing open the door, we caught them in an intimate embrace.


Seeing the cops behind me, her eyes widened in disbelief.


Hotel staff whispered among themselves.


"Look at that toy boy decked out in designer gear, while the actual husband's in chef whites."


I fingered the plain band on my ring finger, inwardly letting out a cold laugh.The police officer looked at me sympathetically as I timely displayed an exhausted expression.


At the station, she argued desperately.


"I'm his wife, all of this is our shared marital property!"


I calmly took out a document from my briefcase and handed it to her.


The cover of the document boldly read: Asset Transfer Agreement.


Early on, when I first noticed something amiss, I had transferred ownership of the coffee shop to my business partner. Now, all of it was someone else's private property.


In the end, not only did she and Gunner have to pay for damages and face detention, but they also inadvertently provided me with concrete proof of their affair.


Her face turned pale as she looked at me pleadingly.


"Asher, for Meadow's sake, can't you let me off just this once?"


Hearing her use our daughter as a shield again, anger surged within me. Our child shouldn't bear the burden of adults' mistakes.


I directly pulled out the divorce papers.


Chapter 5