Husband’s Lies

I accidentally saw a notification pop up on my husband’s phone saying that an automatic transfer had been completed when I was using it for navigation.

Immediately after that, his ex-girlfriend, Wanda Blake, sent him a message on WhatsApp:

[I’ve received this month’s 10,000 dollars for child support. Thank you, Koah. I don't know what I would have done without you.]

I froze.

“Child support?

“Koah, you told me that the money you send every month was for medical expenses for your mother’s treatment!”

Koah Quinn’s expression stiffened as he explained, “Honey, don’t misunderstand. I just felt that life has become really hard for her because she’s a woman raising a child on her own. Her ex-husband refuses to pay child support, so I wanted to help her out…”

I touched the old watch on my wrist. The one I had not replaced in years to save money, and felt extremely disappointed.

“Your monthly salary is only 6,000 dollars. Where did you get so much money to send her?”

He was silent for some time before finally admitting. “I used the money we had set aside for the new house’s downpayment.”

I was stunned.

He had taken the money my parents had scrimped and saved for decades for me as downpayment for a home and then transferred it to his ex-girlfriend as child support.

“Honey, it’s not what you think it is!”

Koah turned around anxiously to explain things to me, but his hand on the steering wheel slipped, and the car instantly swerved in an S-shape.

A series of sharp braking sounds and angry shouting immediately erupted from behind us.

Koah pulled the car over to the side of the road, then quickly held my shoulders and said, “Honey, don’t be mad. Things really aren’t the way you think!”

“Wanda divorced her husband two years ago. Her ex-husband was irresponsible. He didn’t want the child and refused to pay child support. I just couldn’t bear to see the two of them suffer, so I wanted to help.”

“I swear I don’t have any other intentions!”

I clenched the phone tightly in my hand and asked in a low voice, “When did this start and why didn’t you tell me?”

Koah glanced at me. His face was pale. After a long pause, he finally said, “You’ve always disliked Wanda, and you value that money more than your own life. If you’d known, you wouldn’t have agreed to let me help her, so I had no choice but to do this secretly.”

In an instant, I understood what he meant. He was implying that I was cold-hearted and greedy, and that was why he had to keep this from me. He was afraid I would stand in the way of him supporting his ex-girlfriend’s child.

I suppressed the anger in me and asked in a deep voice, “When did the two of you get back in touch and when did you start giving her child support?”

Koah looked at me guiltily. After a long while, he said, “Two years ago… since she divorced her ex-husband…”

“She had no other choice and was desperate when she came to me. Wouldn’t I be leaving them in despair if I didn’t help her?”

I did not respond, but continued asking, “Since the so-called medical expenses you sent to your mother every month were fake, does that mean you were not taking care of your mother every weekend either?”

“Tell me… if you weren’t visiting your mother on weekends, what were you actually doing?”

Koah’s face was ashen. He rubbed his nose and stammered, “I was working part time…”

After being married to him for so many years, I could immediately tell that he was not telling the truth.

I had no patience left to listen to his lies. I snatched his phone and opened his Notes app.

I knew he had the habit of writing a diary there. Out of respect for my spouse’s privacy, I had never checked.

Now, as I flipped through it, I finally realized how much he had done behind my back for his ex-girlfriend and her child.

Every single weekend, he spent time with his ex-girlfriend and her son, leaving our child and me out of his life.

I randomly opened a note from last weekend and saw that he had taken Wanda and her son, Timothy Blake, to Shanrel Dinoland, where the three of them spent two days enjoying themselves.

That same day, our son, Charlie, was heartbroken all afternoon because his father failed to show up, as promised, for his parent-teacher meeting.

Meanwhile, I was trying to save the cost of one lunch and accidentally cut my wrist with a kitchen knife while preparing a homemade meal for Charlie. I nearly injured my right hand so badly that I might never have been able to lift it again.