After the Crash, My Wife Chose Her Childhood Friend—So I Divorced Her

When I got into a delivery accident, my wife, Zoe, was with her childhood friend Ethan, taking his child to the doctor. I called her and begged her to come take care of me, but she refused without hesitation: “You’re an adult. Can’t you take care of yourself? Ethan’s kid is still little and needs a woman with him. Stop trying to play the victim. “How much can you even make delivering food? You’d be better off finding another job.” She never showed up during the week I was in the hospital. Only when I was completely done with her and handed her the divorce papers did she kneel and beg me, “I still love you. Give me one more chance.” I smiled, got into my luxury car, and left. I didn’t want her late-blooming love anymore. ...... After getting laid off in middle age, I took off my once-proud suit and started delivering food to help support the family. Today’s order was to a high-end gated community I had once promised Zoe I’d buy for her—Imperial Court. I was full of hope, but the security guard at the gate stopped me. Delivery drivers weren’t allowed into upscale communities, so I had no choice but to call the resident. What I got instead was a stream of insults: “Are you stupid? If he won’t let you in, why don’t you sneak in through the back? What kind of delivery guy is as dumb as you? If you don’t get it delivered to me, I’ll give you a bad review.” A child’s crying and a woman’s gentle comforting voice came from the other end of the line. When I looked around, trying to find the back entrance he’d mentioned, the security guard suddenly pulled the key out of my e-bike. We were at a standstill, so I had no choice but to give up on this order. “I’m sorry, the guard won’t let me in. I’ll leave the food at the gate. Come get it yourself.” But the guard still wouldn’t let me leave. “I’m not the delivery guy. You wait until he comes out and gets it.” With the deadline for my other orders getting closer and closer, I panicked and dropped to my knees in front of him. “Please, give me the key. My other orders are going to be late.” Only then did the guard give me the key. The moment I rode off on my e-bike, a wave of helplessness flooded my nerves. I had once been a company manager, respected by everyone, earning over a million a year. I never thought I’d end up humiliated like this. If only I hadn’t bought that house back then. While waiting at a traffic light, an out-of-control car suddenly came charging toward a child not far in front of me. At that moment, my only thought was to save the kid. I pulled the child away and threw him toward a passerby. The huge impact hurt so badly I nearly blacked out. I called Zoe, hoping she could come to the hospital. I was scared I might die right there. On Zoe’s end, I could hear a child crying, and she refused me without hesitation: “You’re an adult. Can’t you take care of yourself? Ethan’s kid is still little and needs a woman with him. Stop trying to play the victim. “How much can you even make delivering food? You’d be better off finding another job.” Before I could even finish, she hung up. I didn’t give up and called again, but all I got was a rejected call. The nurse on the ambulance couldn’t stand it and muttered, “What kind of wife acts like that?” Another nurse took out her own phone and tried calling Zoe for me. When Zoe answered, she was very polite at first, but the second she heard my name, she got impatient. “Tell Ryan he can stop using these childish tricks to lie to me. Even if he dies right now, I still won’t go over there.” Her curses echoed through the empty ambulance. I looked up at the light above me. It was so bright it stung my eyes, and I actually felt like crying. Because my organs had been injured, I had to find someone else to sign the surgery consent form for me. My younger sister, who was studying for her master’s degree in this city, dropped everything and rushed over. The surgery went well. I had two broken ribs, a fractured left collarbone, and internal injuries that meant I had to stay in bed and recover. But when I thought about the huge medical bills, I couldn’t help worrying. If the costs went beyond what insurance covered, I’d have to use the card I had once given Zoe to pay them.My sister looked at me with worry. “Where’s your wife? Why didn’t she come? Bro, there isn’t enough money in your insurance account. I covered part of it, but it still wasn’t enough.” Zoe was probably with Ethan right now. They were childhood friends. I met Zoe when Ethan rejected her confession. I thought my sincerity could shield her from wind and rain, that it could make her look at me once. I never thought I would always come up short compared to him. I called Zoe again, and once again, she hung up right away. In the end, I had no choice but to use our joint account to pay the medical bills. When we got married, I gave that card to Zoe. It held everything I owned. I wanted to use all my assets to tell her I would never change, so she could let her guard down. That card was also the source of her confidence. Right after the payment went through, Zoe, who had been ignoring me, called me back immediately. “Where are you? Why did you suddenly spend so much money? I already told you, if you need money from the card later, you have to tell me in advance!” Just as I was about to answer, I heard a child whining and crying on the other end of the line. “Zoe, the kid’s crying again.” It was Ethan’s voice. “Your kid is so clingy to his mom. He can’t even be apart from her for a second.” “It’s rare to see a new mom doing this well. Your wife hasn’t slept for a whole day and night. You really need to take good care of her.” The bystanders’ words kept stabbing into my heart. What hurt me even more was that Zoe didn’t even argue. I was gripping my phone so hard I almost crushed it, and I didn’t even notice when the needle slipped out. We had once had an unexpected child too. I begged and begged, hoping that since the time had come, we could have the baby. But Zoe fought me hard. She didn’t want children. She wanted to stay childfree. No matter how much I hated to lose that little life, I still ended up agreeing to her decision to give up the baby, as long as she stayed by my side. Now she was willing to do this much for someone else’s child. So she didn’t hate children. She just didn’t love a child that carried my genes. I numbly watched the doctor reinsert the needle for me. My head throbbed dully. My sister was about to have finals and couldn’t take too much time off. She mentioned Zoe again. “Bro, tell me where your wife is already. I’ll go find her and bring her here to take care of you. You can’t even move properly right now. What are you supposed to do?” “She...” My throat was so dry I couldn’t even get a single word out. Only after I found a caregiver did my sister finally leave in peace. A few days later, my phone suddenly filled with unread messages. It turned out my act of bravery had been posted online. Friends and even former clients all sent messages to check on me. But there wasn’t a single message from Zoe. She was busy taking care of Ethan’s child. Of course she had no time to care about me. I gave a bitter smile. My hand, however, unconsciously swiped to her profile picture and opened her Moments. She had posted a new update not long ago: [The most amazing man is the one who knows how to take care of a child!] Our mutual friends all agreed in the comments and praised me heavily. But Zoe only replied to the comments that didn’t mention me by name. My heart sank little by little. The next morning, I woke up and saw Zoe. She had come looking exhausted, dark circles visible under her eyes. She was wearing a man’s jacket, and I could smell milk on her from far away. Zoe had always been so polished that even taking out the trash required her to dress up carefully. When had she ever looked this down-and-out? When she saw I was awake, she immediately sent the caregiver away and held my hand tightly. “Ryan, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in such a serious car accident. If my friend hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known about this at all.”I looked away and pulled my hand back. “Didn’t I tell you? You were too busy taking care of Ethan’s kid to care about me at all.” Zoe frowned, but for once, she didn’t get angry. “As soon as I heard about you, I rushed over right away. You know Ethan’s just one man—how could he possibly take care of a child? I was only helping because I felt bad for him.” I let out a light laugh. “You don’t like kids. You didn’t hesitate to abort our child, but you treated someone else’s kid like treasure.” Zoe stood up, and the chair behind her tipped over with a loud crash. “Who told you to be so useless and still go saving people? Otherwise you wouldn’t be covered in injuries. I already came here after hearing you were hurt and gave up everything to take care of you. What more do you want? You’re a grown man—why are you so petty?” Petty, huh. I couldn’t help firing back at her again. “Any man would be angry seeing his wife taking care of another man’s kid day and night. And you even showed up in his clothes, like you were so reluctant to let them go. You really are the most amazing woman in the world.” Zoe’s face darkened little by little. I knew that was the warning sign before she blew up. Before, whenever she got angry, I would always swallow my pride and coax her. This was the first time I had ever pushed back against her. I waited for her to explode and tear things apart. But when she looked up, her eyes were full of tears. “I know I was wrong this time. Didn’t I already apologize? I just feel bad for a kid who lost his mom so young. We’re both stuck in the hospital, and so many people are watching. I promise you, before you’re discharged, I won’t leave your side even once. Just stop being angry.” Looking at her spoiled, pleading expression, my heart softened again. This was the wife I had chased for three years and finally married. As long as she was willing to promise me she’d live a good life with me, I could let the past go. She promised to stay, but her heart had already drifted away. Even though she was sitting by my bed, she kept checking her phone over and over. Sometimes she frowned, sometimes she sighed. Every so often, she glanced at me with a look that said she wanted to speak but held back. Three days passed like that, dull and flavorless. Then a phone call came in. When Zoe saw that I still had my eyes closed, she answered immediately and walked out. Her voice drifted in through the crack in the door. It was Ethan calling. The child had a fever, and he couldn’t handle it alone. The moment Zoe came back into the room, I closed my eyes. I knew I should have questioned her, but right then, I wanted to know her decision more than anything. Zoe almost didn’t hesitate. She picked up the bag on the chair and slipped out quietly. I reached out, but all I caught was air. “You really have to go? Didn’t you say you’d stay by my side without leaving even once?” I couldn’t hold it in anymore and finally spoke. Zoe froze, but she didn’t look back. “You’re an adult. You can call a caregiver to look after you. But the child is still so young. You could risk your life saving a stranger’s child—how could you bear to watch me stand by and do nothing?” She left without looking back. I watched the blood flow backward in the IV tube and let out a silent laugh. Was she really that anxious? So anxious she wouldn’t even spare me a glance? After Zoe left, the parents of the child I had saved found their way to the hospital. They paid my medical bills and gave me one hundred as a reward for my bravery. I accepted the medical expenses and the compensation for lost work, but I turned down the one hundred thousand. “I saved her on instinct. It wasn’t for the money.” My actions were reported again and again. After Zoe found out, she flew into a rage: “Ryan, are you an idiot? You don’t even have a job now, so why did you refuse that one hundred thousand? Did you talk to me about it? Do you want to keep delivering food for the rest of your life? You don’t care about losing face, but I do.” Because of this, she stopped taking my calls and stopped replying to my messages. It wasn’t until I was discharged three weeks later that she still hadn’t appeared once. When I was handling the discharge paperwork, the caregiver asked without thinking, “Isn’t your wife coming to pick you up?” I froze. She probably had already forgotten I even existed as her husband. The caregiver sighed. “The true nature of a person shows best when someone has been sick for a long time.” Since she still loved Ethan, I would let her go.I took my luggage and got into a taxi, but all I could think about was whether Zoe even remembered that today was the day I was being discharged. When I stood at the door to our home, I suddenly hesitated. My heart was pounding. I gathered my courage and finally opened the door. A stale, long-sealed smell rushed at me. How long had Zoe been gone without coming home? Looking at the home I had carefully decorated for her, I only felt ridiculous. Back then, to cut down her commute, I deliberately bought a place less than ten minutes from her office, while I had to drive an hour to get to mine. Since she didn’t cherish it, why should I keep killing myself for her? The card I had given her held enough money for me to live for a very long time, as long as I didn’t make reckless investments or do anything illegal. Just as I was about to call a cleaning service, the door suddenly opened. I instinctively ducked into the kitchen, the one place Zoe had never once stepped foot in. “Zoe, I really don’t know how to thank you. You’ve been taking care of the kid and ignoring Ryan completely. I saw you hadn’t changed your bag in a long time, so I bought this for you. I hope you like it.” It was a bag I couldn’t afford even if I delivered food for a whole year. Zoe tightened her hand but didn’t take it. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. We’re best friends. It’s only right that I help you when you’re in trouble. This gift is too expensive. Ryan will be upset if he sees it.” Ethan forcefully took her hand and put the bag into it. “You know I don’t just want to be your friend. I used to reject you because I didn’t know how good you were to me. But these days, having you by my side day and night made me see my own heart clearly again. I want to...” Zoe covered his mouth at once. “I’m married. We can’t do this.” Ethan’s eyes were so gentle it looked like they might drip water. He kissed Zoe’s hand. “You chose me, didn’t you? Zoe, face your heart. Just like I love you, you still love me!” Ethan leaned close to her ear and kissed her earlobe. I tightened my grip on the knife in my hand and gritted my teeth, forcing myself not to act rashly. Seeing Zoe wavering, Ethan kept confessing, “Ryan is just a delivery guy now. What can he give you? He can’t even buy you a bag like this. You should have known last month when you came to my place to take care of the kid that delivery drivers can’t even get through the front gate of my community. How does he deserve you? “He can only make a little over ten thousand a month delivering food, and he can’t even afford the parking fee for the property management office. Right now he doesn’t want you working, but little by little he’ll have to sell the house, and by then he might even need you to support him.” Zoe looked up in shock. Ethan gently stroked the sweaty hair at her forehead, coaxing her. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. How could I ever bear to let you down? Be with me.” So the one who ordered delivery in Imperial Court was Ethan. I was running myself ragged, while Zoe and Ethan were in a mansion insulting me together. My hand around the knife tightened until it hurt, but it still couldn’t compare to the pain in my heart. I looked away, not wanting to hear her answer. But the smacking sound of kisses from the living room still pierced straight into my ears. Zoe’s words sounded like a devil whispering in my ear. “Wait until I get the assets, then I’ll divorce him. This school district house is worth more than ten million, and there’s still over one million in the account.” Ethan, holding Zoe in his arms, lit up at once, but his mouth said, “What’s that little bit of money worth? I’ll give you something better. But you’ve been married to him for so many years and suffered so much. That money is what you deserve. I’ll help you get all of his assets.” Zoe asked in confusion, “If we divorce, I can only get half of it.” Ethan smiled. “If it’s an inheritance, then you can take all of it.”