For ten years, I was the picture of a devoted husband, building a life with Chloe in our comfortable Bellevue home. My life felt stable, successful, exactly what her image-conscious parents approved of for their daughter. Then came the news: Leo, Chloe' s tumultuous musician ex, had died. A drug overdose, labeled suicide. Days later, my wife, my Chloe, drove her car straight off the Deception Pass Bridge. Grief-stricken, clearing out her laptop, I stumbled upon a password-protected blog. "Leo1998." Inside, ten years of her raw thoughts: "I married Ethan today... They just gave me a life sentence with his shadow." Another entry: "I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming... I felt so disgusted afterward I scrubbed my skin raw." My heart, already broken, shattered into a million pieces. The woman I adored had spent a decade despising my every touch, every act of love, pretending I was another man. My entire existence was a lie. The words burned through me: disgust, resentment, pity. My world collapsed beneath the weight of her betrayal. How could my decade of unwavering dedication, my honest love, have been nothing more than a painful charade for her? The sheer, pointless waste of it all. Then, darkness. But instead of an ending, I jolted awake to the smell of stale coffee, in my old college dorm. My phone buzzed: a text from Chloe. The date: September 15, 2014. Ten years in the past. The day of our first official date. This time, I knew the cost of playing her fool. This time, I would write my own story.
For ten years, I was the picture of a devoted husband, building a life with Chloe in our comfortable Bellevue home.
My life felt stable, successful, exactly what her image-conscious parents approved of for their daughter.
Then came the news: Leo, Chloe' s tumultuous musician ex, had died.
A drug overdose, labeled suicide.
Days later, my wife, my Chloe, drove her car straight off the Deception Pass Bridge.
Grief-stricken, clearing out her laptop, I stumbled upon a password-protected blog.
"Leo1998."
Inside, ten years of her raw thoughts: "I married Ethan today... They just gave me a life sentence with his shadow."
Another entry: "I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming... I felt so disgusted afterward I scrubbed my skin raw."
My heart, already broken, shattered into a million pieces.
The woman I adored had spent a decade despising my every touch, every act of love, pretending I was another man.
My entire existence was a lie.
The words burned through me: disgust, resentment, pity.
My world collapsed beneath the weight of her betrayal.
How could my decade of unwavering dedication, my honest love, have been nothing more than a painful charade for her?
The sheer, pointless waste of it all.
Then, darkness.
But instead of an ending, I jolted awake to the smell of stale coffee, in my old college dorm.
My phone buzzed: a text from Chloe.
The date: September 15, 2014.
Ten years in the past.
The day of our first official date.
This time, I knew the cost of playing her fool.
This time, I would write my own story.
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