Devil Ex-husband, Please Stay Away From Me!

Even when Ryan stayed out late for work, I’d wait up for him. No matter how late, I’d make him millet porridge and have hangover remedies ready, knowing he’d have a splitting headache when he woke up. But tonight, there was none of that.

Ryan’s face darkened with frustration as he pushed Reina aside and staggered into the room. I watched him tear through drawers and cabinets, searching for something. My passport, ID Card, and clothes were all in there. When he finally found them, he seemed to relax a bit, then muttered through clenched teeth, “She really has some nerve staying out all night.”

I stood beside him, aching to tell him that I didn’t choose to be gone. I was dead. I could never return home.

I had no idea when Ryan would learn about my death. The explosion might have destroyed all evidence of me. I reached out, trying to touch his face, but my hand passed through him and gently rested on his cheek.

Reina, with a sickly sweet tone, said, “Ryan, don’t let her make you sick.”

She guided him toward the bed, deliberately brushing past a photo frame of us. She nudged the frame, and it fell, shattering the glass.

My heart ached as I looked at the photo. Ryan wasn’t fond of taking pictures, but this one was from when I had begged him to. It showed us early in our relationship, with him smiling and holding me close. Over time, though, his feelings had turned to impatience and irritation.

“Oh! I’m so sorry… It’s all my fault,” Reina said, pretending to be concerned as she knelt to pick up the shards.

Ryan grabbed her hand to stop her. “Be careful, you might cut yourself.”

His eyes landed on the torn photo, and he casually picked it up.

A cold wave of dread washed over me as I tried desperately to stop him, only to pass through him again and again.

“No, Ryan, you can’t…” I pleaded in vain.

I was dead. My words couldn’t reach him, and I couldn’t prevent him from what he was doing. All I could do was watch as he pulled out a lighter and set our only photo ablaze. The flames danced, slowly consuming the image. I watched in despair as the fire burned away our smiles, turning the picture into ashes. Ryan let the charred remains fall into the water-filled ashtray.

He sank onto the bed, muttering, “Just looking at it bothers me.”

At that moment, my heart crumbled into ashes, just like the photo.

Reina watched with smug satisfaction as everything unfolded. Her gaze fell on the vanity mirror, where Ryan’s gift to me was a ring. When we first got together, Ryan didn’t have much money, so he could only afford a ring without any diamonds. I loved that ring and kept it carefully in its jewelry box.

I cherished it deeply, and Reina knew this. Now, she picked it up and remarked, “Mr. Gentry, this ring is really beautiful!”

I clenched my fists and turned to Ryan. He stared at the ring for a moment before smirking and saying, “If you like it, take it.”

I was stunned. He was giving away the symbol of our seven years together so casually.

At that moment, I felt my hope die completely.

I watched coldly as Reina climbed into bed beside Ryan. He didn’t stop her. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Reina’s lips curled into a smug smile.

Ryan said, “If she were even half as considerate as you…”

But what does it even mean to be considerate? Wasn’t everything I did enough?

I couldn’t figure out where I went wrong. All I could do was stand there, watching them.

I watched them in my neatly arranged home, lying on the bed I had prepared. I watched them dirty my favorite sheets.

Strangely, I felt no pain at that moment. Perhaps Ryan’s betrayal was something I had long expected.

I had been alone since childhood, my parents gone and few friends to speak of. Ryan was my only connection to the world. When we first got together, he held my hand and promised he’d always be there, never letting me feel alone. He was so gentle then, and his vows felt so sincere. But just seven years later, those promises and the man who made them were gone.

Ryan fell into a deep sleep, while Reina, with a triumphant smirk, left a kiss on his cheek and took several intimate photos of them together. She sent them to me without hesitation.

[Mr. Gentry is drunk.]

At that moment, everything felt absurdly comical. I couldn’t understand why she was so eager to provoke me as if driving me away would mean she could have Ryan all to herself.

But Ryan wouldn’t love just one person, not even her.

Just as I was lost in these thoughts, a deep, low voice cut through the darkness: “What are you doing?”

In the dim light, Ryan’s eyes, dark and intense, were fixed on Reina. He hadn’t been asleep after all!