Chapter 3

I thought after the divorce we'd keep to ourselves and never cross paths again, but honestly, Lucas and Emily's shamelessness blew my mind. They were way worse than I ever expected.

A coworker sent me a link, and when I clicked it, it turned out to be Emily's streaming channel. She was live right then.

On the stream, Lucas and Emily were dressed in matching couple outfits. He looked refined and handsome, and she looked gentle and fresh. Honestly, they really did look like a perfect pair.

But their words were nowhere near as decent as they looked.

Lucas was holding court in front of the camera. "Yeah, I'm divorced. When I was younger, I thought compatibility was love, so I jumped into marriage without really thinking it through.

"But after that, life got so monotonous. My ex-wife and I were stuck in the same old routine. Every day was bills, groceries, family obligations, and work drama.

"I wanted to talk about the literature I loved: Camus, Shakespeare, and Tagore, but she'd nod along, never really understanding, and we could never have a real conversation.

"Our life was bland and lifeless, like a faded stone lost in the sand. Everything changed when I met Emily. Suddenly, life felt vibrant again."

He gazed at Emily with that soft, adoring look, and she responded with a bashful, perfectly timed smile.

The live chat was blowing up. Everyone was shipping them hard and calling them total couple goals.

Lucas continued, "With Emily, we can talk about poetry, classic books, and the meaning of life. We're totally in sync. Our tastes and interests click. With her, life finally feels real, not me going through the motions.

"After divorcing my ex-wife, I finally felt a weight lift off my shoulders. No more boring chores, no more dealing with a petty and boring wife, and no more constant stress from trying to get pregnant."

Seeing that, I froze for a second.

Lucas and I had spent years trying to have a baby, but nothing ever worked. When we finally got checked at the hospital, it turned out his sperm didn't make the cut. There was almost zero chance of a natural pregnancy.

At our parents' urging, we decided to try IVF.

But it was his fertility problem, not mine. I was the one suffering through the side effects of the hormone shots, the pain, the anxiety, and the risk of permanent harm to my body.

Meanwhile, Lucas sat there, acting like he was the one who had it rough, pretending he was the victim. Honestly, what right did he have to talk like he was the one suffering?

All these years, I managed the house, took care of both our parents, and handled every responsibility inside and out, yet in his eyes, it was all "narrow-minded and petty."

Anger surged through me, and I fired off a message in the live chat: [How does a guy who cheats on his wife get to play the victim? Quoting poetry doesn't change the fact that you're a pair of cheating trash.]

My comment was like a bomb in the middle of all the "couple goals" and "perfect match" spam.

The chat froze for a second, then exploded even faster.

Grinning at the screen, I typed again: [Lucas, did you get the misdiagnosis report I sent you?]

*****

That comment was like dropping a bomb. The chat blew up, and the backlash kept growing.

[Guess I'm not the only one who thinks there's something off about this couple. Go ahead and flaunt your romance, but why trash your ex-wife?]

[Seriously, he's a professor? What a joke. So his poetic romance is supposed to be 'real life,' but our daily grind doesn't count? That holier-than-thou attitude is embarrassing.]

[So regular folks like us get called 'vulgar' and 'petty'? Please. Have these two ever actually paid a bill or cooked a meal? They're playing make-believe.]

[Hold on a sec. Cheating during marriage? What does that even mean? Who's the cheater here?]

[Seriously, can't you see it? This guy's using his ex-wife to make himself look good, and now she's calling him out.]

[Wait, what misdiagnosis? I'm here for the drama, a bystander enjoying the show.]

As the questions and doubts kept piling up, you could see Lucas and Emily getting visibly flustered.

Lucas cleared his throat and picked a random, harmless question to answer, trying to play it cool. "About the follow-up visits, let me clear things up. A month ago, I found out I have late-stage cancer."

Lucas's expression darkened. "The doctor told me I only have three months left, so Laura left me.

"I'm really grateful to Emily for taking me in, even though I'm basically on my way out. Emily's so genuine, and her sense of romance is like medicine for my soul.

"With her around, I truly believe the rest of my days will be happier than I ever imagined."

[OMG, they're really in this together. I'm totally shipping them. This is so moving I could cry.]

[Wait, so his ex ditched him because he got cancer? That's pretty cold.]

[That's his version of the story. Looks like he's twisting things to dodge the real issue: cheating during the marriage.]

The chat was flying by, a total mess. Smirking to myself, I was about to type another comment when a system notification flashed across the screen: [You have been kicked out of the live stream.]

Lucas was still speaking confidently in the live stream, and the two of them had regained their poise and grace.

Emily's voice was soft as she held Lucas's hand, her eyes brimming with affection. "They say when things get tough, even the closest couples drift apart.

"But I believe love can get us through anything. Even if we only had a single day left, I'd still choose to love you."

This was disgusting.

Fuming, I set up my short video account, calling myself "Lucas's Ex-Wife" and using a photo of Lucas and me as my profile pic. Driven by pure rage, I kicked off my very first live stream.

*****

Even though it was my first time streaming, the platform recommended my stream to tons of fans who followed Lucas and Emily, riding on all the hype around them.

Once enough people had tuned in, I started sharing my side of the story about me and Lucas.

I said, "I'm here to clear things up about all the false accusations and lies my ex-husband, Lucas, and his girlfriend Emily spread about me during their live stream.

"Lucas, my dear ex-husband, you thought you had late-stage cancer and only three months left, and you wanted to spend your last days going after your soulmate.

I agreed to let you go. I wanted you to be happy. So how did it end up with you telling everyone I dumped you when you got sick?

"You told me yourself that in the third year of our marriage, you had an affair with Emily, your student. So why are you acting like it never happened now that everyone's watching?

"All these years, you got to play the classy Professor Bennett, while I was the one dealing with all the messy, everyday stuff that kept our family going.

"Your elegance, your artsy persona, your so-called sophistication? All of that was built on my hard work and sacrifice.

"You only ever saw me as petty and mundane, some ordinary woman, but you never noticed the weight of responsibility I carried. Your classy act was propped up by my mess.

"While you and Emily were off chatting about poetry and life's big questions, I was at home scrubbing your underwear and socks.

"Your shirts don't magically get clean, and your bookshelves aren't spotless by themselves. Because I don't get your artsy stuff, does that mean everything I did for you means nothing?"

I stared straight into the camera. "You were the one who wanted the divorce. All I did was say yes and let you chase after the person you truly loved.

"I thought we could end things on good terms. I never even called you out for cheating, and I never said a single bad word about you to anyone.

"Lucas, do you really think a housewife with no fancy education is easy to push around?"

The number of viewers in my live stream shot up, and the chat was a total mess.

[Oh my god, I stumbled on the actual ex-wife herself.]

[So Lucas was cheating during his marriage? I can't stop laughing. Where are all those fairy-tale romance fans now?]

[Told you, never judge a guy by his job. Some guys look like professors, but they're creeps in disguise.]

[Seriously, who's actually into these fake, self-righteous dudes anyway?]

My phone buzzed, and I picked it up. It was Lucas calling.

With tens of thousands of viewers watching, I put him on speaker.

Lucas's furious voice blasted through the entire live stream.