Chapter 1
Staring at the photo of a man's smooth back and the red mole on his neck, I felt nothing.
He did it again.
It wasn't the first time in five years of marriage.
Ternence Isaiah loved to test me like this, under the guise of a so-called "trial."
The first time, he "accidentally" left a condom receipt on the bedside table.
I confronted him angrily, but he just smirked with disdain.
"Why are you so uptight? My buddies and I bought it just to mess with you," he said.
The second time was on our wedding anniversary. A woman showed up at our door, arms full of ninety-nine roses, wanting to propose to him right in front of me.
We got into a scuffle and tumbled down the stairs together. I ended up with three broken ribs.
He finally strolled in, taking his sweet time, and claimed the woman was just an actress, and that the whole thing was supposed to be a surprise for me.
Over the past five years, his games just kept escalating.
From flirty texts to downright explicit photos, he was always testing how much I could take.
And I went from raging at first to feeling absolutely nothing now.
Since he loved putting me through these tests, I might as well play along and give him what he wanted.
*****
When I saw his latest stunt, I didn't feel a shred of anger or betrayal; all I felt was just a deep, soul-crushing exhaustion.
After five years of marriage, I couldn't even count how many times this had happened.
His so-called "trials" were nothing but him driving me crazy with his twisted games, then perching himself on his moral high horse to lecture me about how I should behave.
In the end, I was left to heal my battered heart alone, while he smugly bragged about how he'd mastered the art of controlling his wife.
I just ignored it, calmly switched off my phone and headed home.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
The living room was dim, and Ternence was lounging on the couch, slowly savoring a juicy strawberry between his fingers.
He looked up as I walked in.
In his eyes, there was a hint of anticipation and a touch of smugness he couldn't quite hide.
I knew exactly what was going on in his mind.
He was waiting for me to spot all those deliberate traces he left behind, then go hysterical and confront him again and again.
He was just itching to play the innocent, act all wronged, and accuse me of not being generous or trusting enough.
He thrived on that sense of control, keeping me trapped in his twisted games in the name of "love."
But this time, I was exhausted, and I'd finally woken up.
I didn't go snooping through his phone like I used to, and I didn't bother asking where he'd been or who he'd seen.
I didn't even spare him a glance. I just walked straight to the entryway and set my briefcase down.
Then, I pulled out the divorce agreement I'd been working on for a month.
The paper was thin, but it felt as heavy as the stone that had been weighing on my heart for five years.
I walked over to the couch and placed the divorce agreement quietly on the coffee table in front of him.
"Take a look," I said.
My voice was steady, so calm it was almost numb, as if I were commenting on the weather.
"If you have no objections, sign it," I continued.
Ternence stopped cold, his hand frozen mid-motion with the strawberry.
The easygoing look on his face disappeared in a flash, the anticipation in his eyes draining away, replaced by total disbelief.
He glanced down at the divorce agreement on the coffee table, then jerked his head up to look at me.
"What... what did you just say?" His voice was shaky.
He sounded like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
He shot up from the couch, the silk shawl he'd been wrapped in slipping to the floor.
He demanded, "Evelyn Reed, have you lost your mind?
"Do you know what day it is?
"It's our five-year wedding anniversary!"
His voice kept climbing, with a touch of hysteria in his tone.
I stared at him, my gaze icy and laced with sarcasm; anger was long gone.
I replied, "I know.
"It's not just our wedding anniversary.
"It's also the fifty-third time you've meticulously orchestrated one of your so-called trials for me."
Ternence's face suddenly turned deathly pale.
He opened his mouth to speak, but it was like his throat was blocked; he couldn't get a single sound out.
His eyes started to avoid mine, unable to meet my gaze.
After a moment, he grabbed his phone in a panic, his fingers trembling as he unlocked it.
He explained, "Evelyn, please, just hear me out. It's really not what you think.
"That photo on my feed? I edited it. I just wanted to tease you, that's all.
"And those messages from that random woman? I sent them myself, using a dummy account. I swear, I never cheated on you, not ever.
"I just... I just wanted to see how much you cared about me.
"I wanted to know if you'd still get worried about me, if you'd still care like you used to."