I Found a Dry Condom in My Wife’s Bag

When I was cleaning the room, I found a dried-out condom under the bed, and Claire casually said it must have fallen out the last time we had sex. She even turned around and blamed me for not cleaning properly. I asked for a divorce, and she looked shocked. “You used it yourself, so what are you freaking out about? You’re suspicious of everything all day long!” I have a thing about cleanliness, and I clean every corner of the house on a schedule. The last time Claire and I were intimate was two weeks ago, and I had cleaned the room three times since then. So when Claire picked up the wrinkled condom and slapped it in my face, accusing me of not cleaning properly, I just smiled helplessly. We had been married for seven years, and Claire had gone from a fresh college graduate to the Ms. Mason everyone respectfully called “President Mason.” And I had become the stay-at-home husband she ordered around, the gold-digging man other people looked down on. But what they did not know was that I was the one who paid for Claire’s startup money. Back when she was first starting her business, we were both swamped, and even though we worked for the same company, we barely saw each other. She said she wanted to come home every day and see me, with hot food waiting for her, so I gave up everything and stayed behind her. Now she had forgotten all that, and in her eyes I had become a leech who only knew how to ask her for money! I took the divorce papers to the study, and Claire looked at me in disbelief. “Evan, are you seriously never going to stop?” “You’re so desperate to get divorced, so that condom wasn’t from you and some other woman, was it?” I frowned and tightened my fingers. “Do you really think I’m that kind of person?” Claire was silent for a long time, then sat down on the leather sofa and rubbed her temples. “I finally got a little progress in my career, so can you stop trying to force me like your parents did, by using divorce?” By “force me,” she meant having a baby. But even after seven years of marriage, I had never forced her to do anything she didn’t want to do. Seven years, and if Claire had even a little room for me in her heart and paid attention to me even a little, she could not have missed it. I shook my head, and Claire suddenly stood up. “Then what is it really for? Just because of a made-up condom?” “I never brought anyone home. I told you, you just didn’t clean properly and left it there.” I gave a bitter smile, and even now she was still blaming me. Blaming me for not cleaning properly! “Sign the papers, and let’s just end these seven years on good terms.” “Evan!” Maybe she thought I was being too stubborn, because Claire suddenly snatched the divorce papers from my hand and threw them back in my face. “There’s a limit to how ridiculous you can be. Do you know how tired I am every day from going to work and running the business to support this family?” “Everything you eat and wear now comes from me. You sit around all day and I support you, and when I come home I still have to take care of your feelings and deal with a pile of garbage. I never blamed you, so what more do you want?” Claire probably did not even notice that when she said that, all I could see in her eyes was resentment. I knew she looked down on me. “Yes, without you these past years I would have been out on the street already. Getting divorced is also to lighten your burden.” I took a breath, using almost all my strength. “Claire, let’s stop here. A divorce is better for both of us.” That night, we fought badly, and Claire tore up the divorce papers. No matter what I said, she refused to sign. I did not want to make a scene, so I could only let her calm down first. Just as I was about to leave the study, Claire got a phone call. At the moment I closed the door, I clearly heard the man on the other end say, “Good. At least that leech is finally going to leave Ms. Mason after all these years.”A leech? I paused, and I did not argue back. I just gently closed the door. Probably everyone around Claire thought I was a bottomless pit clinging to her. If I had not injected money into this company in the early days, it could never have grown this fast. Claire knew that very well, but when the people outside misunderstood me and mocked me, she never said a single word for me. I helped her rise up fast, and now she, like all those outsiders, thought I was a leech who only had a good life because I latched onto her? Seven years, a full seven years, and Claire had probably already forgotten how she used to beg me to help her bring in business. When did Claire start changing? Maybe it was four years ago, when my parents retired and handed the company over to someone else to manage, or maybe it was a year ago, when the old couple moved from a pricey downtown place to a quiet alleyhouse. But she did not know that the person actually controlling the company behind the scenes was me, and the reason my parents wanted to move was simply because they were old and wanted to come home for good. I quickly packed a few clothes and rushed home. When my parents saw the suitcase in my hand, they frowned. “What happened?” “I’m getting divorced.” “Divorced? After seven years, how can you just get divorced so suddenly?” my mom said earnestly. “A marriage lasts through understanding, so you two should understand each other more.” I let out a long breath and shook my head. “She now just thinks I’m useless.” “What? Now she thinks our family can’t help her anymore, so she’s done using us and kicking us away?” My dad huffed. “Does she think our whole family has been living off her?” I nodded and did not tell the old couple that Claire had cheated. I would treat it as leaving each other a little dignity after these seven years. My dad was silent for a long time, then patted my shoulder and told me to go upstairs with him. He took a bank card out of the drawer in his room and handed it to me. “I know these years have been hard on you, taking care of the house and managing the company at the same time, and you also put a lot of money into Claire’s company. The money in here is my private savings. Your mother doesn’t know about it. Just take it as my investment in you. Run the company well and make something out of it.” I tried to push it back. “Dad, no need. Even though the company hasn’t made much money these years, it hasn’t lost money either.” Besides, they were old now too. I could not take their retirement money and use it to gamble. “I’m your father. I told you to take it, so take it. It’s only two hundred million. It’s not that much money. Do you think your mom and I can retire on this little bit of cash?” I stared at the bank card in my hand, stunned. Two hundred million in private savings? “Thank you, Dad!” “That money was originally meant for my grandson, but looking at things now...” My dad sighed, and when I looked at the white at his temples, a strange feeling suddenly rose in my chest. As a son, I had failed them. Back when I married Claire, they had not really approved of it. We did not match in family background, but I liked her, and for these seven years they had also treated Claire like their own daughter. “Dad, don’t worry. I’ll definitely make the company bigger and stronger!”