Divorced the Man I Loved For Fourteen Years

It was said that when one discovered a cockroach, there was actually a whole nest of them.

I believed the same principle applied to cheating.

When I first received the photos from Andrea Bailey as a blatant provocation, I guessed that this was not the first time Steve had betrayed me.

So later, when I received similar photos from two other women, I was unfazed.

Steve was very generous with women.

He gave them expensive watches from brands like Vacheron Constantin, Longines, and Cartier.

These women flaunted their conquests to me, as if to tell me that they had successfully seduced Steve.

In fact, Steve was not suddenly so bad to me.

I noticed a subtle change about a year ago.

At that time, I was 28, and besides doing housework every day, I had to take care of two five-year-old children, which was utterly exhausting.

Despite being wealthy, Steve was unwilling to hire a maid.

He said that since I was at home all day with nothing to do and not short of money, it was only right for me to do some housework.

I was so exhausted that I developed lumbar muscle strain. Several times when Steve came home and tried to touch me, I refused on the grounds of back pain.

After a few rejections, Steve stopped making any advances.

Perhaps it was because of this that he began to neglect me.

I didn't know when he hooked up with Andrea and began frequenting the kind of places he once called dirty.

Then he seemed to have changed completely and always found me displeasing, picking fights with me.

For example, he said the soup I made was so sour it could break teeth and that even pigs wouldn't drink it.

But he had been drinking that soup for many years.

He also said I was incredibly stupid and couldn't even mop the floor properly, causing him to slip and fall heavily at home.

But he fell because he was drunk and unsteady on his feet.

Over the years, I had always been grateful to him for accompanying me through my dark and gloomy teenage years and for taking care of things when my parents died in a car accident.

I was thankful for the comfortable life he gave me and for his respect and care in the past.

So, every time he picked on me and argued with me, I would give in to him.

I thought that since he bore the burden of the company, he was already very stressed.

And since I wanted to be a virtuous wife, I should be more tolerant and understanding of him.

So, every time he finished scolding me, I would try to talk him down gently like a humble servant.

After he had locked me out for several days, he came back once.

That night, I asked him, "Have you thought it over? About the divorce."

I didn't know if he had been angered outside or if those ladies hadn't served him well, but Steve lost his temper and shouted, "Shut up, you fool!"

By now, I had become immune to such insults and wouldn't panic like the first time I heard them.

I remember when he first called me a dumbass, I cried all night long.

I was devastated.

But after hearing it often enough, I became numb.

He didn't stop there and continued to insult me, "You stupid, homeless swine, what makes you think you can challenge me?"

In fact, I wasn't very fat. I was 5.4 feet tall and weighed 108 pounds.

Although I was eight pounds heavier than in college, I wasn't fat.

But he could always find a reason to insult me.

I quietly looked at him, my gaze falling on his suit pants pocket.

A piece of black lace, thin and semi-transparent, stuck out, attached to a slender string.

I knew what it was.

It must have been stuffed inside by some scheming woman.

I didn't try to placate Steve, nor did I have the energy to argue with him.

I just smiled and said, "Stevie, we've been together for so many years and truly loved each other. There's no need for things to turn out like this."

Steve froze at my words.

He remembered that nickname.

I used to address him like that when we were deeply in love.