At the company celebration dinner, the handsome new intern started charming my wife, Nina. He playfully asked to see the hearing aid in my ear. With a laugh, Nina reached over and pulled it off, handing it to him. The intern, Charlie, glanced at it with a flicker of distaste before casually dropping it on the floor. I lunged to pick it up, but he "accidentally" stepped on my hand. A sharp, searing pain shot through my fingers as the device was crushed under his shoe. When I put the mangled aid back on, a wave of fury washed over me. I turned to confront him, but Nina’s hand cut through the air, slapping me hard across the face. “Elliot, this is a party to celebrate Charlie’s new software. Don’t make a scene!” I looked at my wife’s furious face, then at Charlie, who was smiling at me with open provocation from behind her. A sense of release washed over me. I smiled, a real smile, and plucked the hearing aid from my ear. I dropped it into the nearby trash can and turned to leave. It was the most precious gift she had ever given me, from the day we made our relationship official. But now, her and the crushed hearing aid… I was done with both of them. 1 Under the stunned gazes of everyone in the room, I calmly smiled. “You all enjoy. I’m heading home.” Then, I walked out. My world plunged back into silence, an isolated bubble where sound couldn’t penetrate. I saw the anger on Nina’s face but didn’t care anymore. Once outside the private room, I sent a text to my best friend, Mark. [I’m quitting in a couple of days. I’m coming to join you.] He replied almost instantly, his excitement palpable even through the text. [YES! With you here, we can develop that software together. This is going to be huge!] I was grateful he didn’t ask any questions. In college, Mark and I were both computer science majors, obsessed with coding and software development. We’d teamed up for countless competitions, winning award after award. After graduation, he moved to another city to start his own company. I stayed behind, married Nina, and went to work for her family’s tech firm. Mark’s career took off. Mine stagnated. He often told me my talent was being wasted and urged me to join him, but I always refused, wanting to stay by Nina’s side. But now, she had changed too much, all for a new intern. There was no reason for me to stay anymore. Back home, I took out a spare hearing aid and put it on. My phone buzzed. It was a video from Charlie. I opened it. The lighting was dim, a karaoke bar. Nina was holding the microphone, her eyes looking at the camera with a melting tenderness. “Charlie is an exceptional talent,” she announced. “This song is for him!” Then, the familiar intro to “Prank” began to play. Her voice was beautiful, clear, and full of emotion. My heart seized. Nina was famously tone-deaf. “Prank” was the one song she had practiced for months, the only one she could sing perfectly. She did it for me. Because a childhood illness had stolen most of my hearing, she would lean in close, her voice a sweet, soft whisper right next to my ear, so I could hear every word clearly. Her smile back then was warm and dazzling. “Elliot,” she’d said, “I learned this song for you. And I’ll only ever sing it for you.” That was the moment a string deep inside me snapped, and I was filled with an overwhelming love for her. Now, she was singing it in a crowded room, for another man. Nina had broken her promise. I closed the video, a bitter taste in my mouth. The apartment felt cold, desolate. I opened my closet and began to pack. 2 Nina didn’t get home until almost one in the morning. She saw me sitting calmly on the sofa watching TV, and her face darkened with anger. “I texted you. Why didn’t you come down to meet me?” Whenever Nina worked late, I would always go downstairs to wait for her, to make sure I was the first thing she saw when she entered our complex. This time, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I picked up my phone. The chat log with Nina was a sea of my own green text bubbles, with only a few terse replies from her. The latest one was hers. Four cold, simple words: [On my way home.] I looked up at her, my voice flat. “I forgot to check my phone.” She strode towards me, unleashing a torrent of accusations. “Elliot, what is your problem? Charlie is younger than you, can’t you cut him some slack? He stepped on your hearing aid by accident, and you throw a fit in front of everyone! Did you even for a second consider how that made me feel?” I listened silently to her tirade, my expression unchanging. My eyes, however, drifted to the smooth, white skin of her neck. There, nestled just below her jawline, was an angry, red mark. Noticing my gaze, Nina flinched, instinctively pulling up her collar to hide it. But her tone remained harsh. “The slap was a lesson. Don’t you ever do that again! Charlie is young. You need to be the mature one.” I nodded, not arguing. “I understand. I’m a little tired, I’m going to bed.” I stood up and walked into the bedroom. Behind me, Nina’s face was ugly with rage. I heard her let out a cold, dismissive huff. I lay in bed, my eyes closed, but my mind was a raging storm. “He stepped on your hearing aid by accident.” She accused me of being petty. But that hearing aid was the one she gave me when we first got together. I treasured it, protected it like a holy relic. It was old, but it worked perfectly. I remembered that day so clearly. She had smiled, placing it gently in my ear. In that instant, the muffled world snapped into focus. I heard her voice, crisp and clear. “Elliot, I love you!” It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. But after Charlie crushed it, she dismissed it with a single, careless sentence. It was as if she’d completely forgotten what it meant to me. From the living room, I could hear her laughing, her voice light and flirtatious as she sent voice messages to someone. My phone buzzed again. Another message from Charlie. It was a screenshot of his chat with Nina. They were in the middle of a lively conversation. Nina’s last message was a love-filled “Goodnight.” [Elliot, you and Nina should get some rest too! I won’t bother you anymore ;)] Charlie’s words were pure provocation. I closed my eyes, refusing to look. After her shower, Nina went into the spare bedroom. Ever since Charlie had joined the company and she’d grown close to him, she hadn’t wanted to sleep in the same bed as me. The love I had for her was slowly, painfully, dying. 3 The next morning, I wrote my resignation letter. Then I went to the best law firm in the city and had them draw up divorce papers. Only then did I go to the office to finish my work. Nina was at Charlie’s desk, their heads close together, intimately discussing something. It was strange. Seeing them like that, I felt almost nothing. Charlie’s sharp eyes spotted me. “Elliot, you’re late today,” he called out. “You look awful. Didn’t sleep well?” His eyes danced with triumph as he leaned even closer to Nina. “He thinks just because he’s been here a while, he can ignore the rules,” Nina said, frowning at me without even waiting for my response. “If he keeps this up, he won’t last long in this company.” I offered a faint smile, looking at them both. “I’ll be more careful in the future. Thank you for the reminder, Ms. Vance.” Hearing me call her that, Nina’s expression turned thunderous. I rarely used her last name. My tone was polite, but distant. Ignoring them, I sat at my desk and dove into my work. I was almost finished with my part of the project. Even though I was leaving, my sense of responsibility demanded I see it through. At lunch, Nina pulled her car up to the front of the building. Charlie happily slid into the passenger seat. He saw me walking past and called out, “Elliot! Nina and I are going to that new Italian place. Come with us!” The invitation was empty. He made no move to give up his seat. I shook my head and smiled. “I’m not a big fan of Italian. You two go ahead.” I walked away without looking back. I could faintly hear Nina’s voice drift over. “He’s been in such a mood lately. Don’t mind him. It’ll just be us.” A small smile touched my lips as I pushed them from my mind. While eating, I scrolled through my social media feed and saw Charlie’s latest post. [Boss found out I smoke and got me a designer lighter! Best boss ever, I’d work for her for life!] I raised an eyebrow at the picture. On the table was an exquisitely crafted lighter. The background was unmistakably the Italian restaurant. And in the corner of the photo, you could see Nina’s slender fingers. When Nina and I first got together, I still smoked when I was stressed. She would always pluck the cigarette from my fingers, put it to her own lips, take a huge drag, and dissolve into a coughing fit, tears streaming from her eyes. I’d quickly stub it out and pat her back. Her eyes would be watery, but she’d pout, half-joking, half-angry. “Elliot, I hate the smell of smoke! If I ever see you smoking again, I’ll just do this and make myself sick! Then you’ll feel bad!” She’d shake a tiny fist at me, her girlish charm utterly adorable. I’d laughed, and from that day on, I quit smoking. After Charlie showed up, Nina’s attitude towards me grew cold and distant. I sometimes found myself unconsciously reaching for a cigarette. She would see it and snap at me, her face contorted in disgust, demanding I put it out immediately because she hated the smell. But now, she was buying a lighter for a smoker. I shook my head and turned off my phone, a dull ache spreading through my chest. 4 When I got home after work, I found a custom-tailored suit Nina had ordered for me had been delivered. She loved to dress up, and she loved to dress me up. After we got married, she bought all my clothes. She would watch me try on new outfits, her eyes sparkling, telling me I had a great figure, a natural-born model. Then she would flutter into my arms like a butterfly and plant a kiss on my cheek. She always said I looked best in a suit and had a standing order with a high-end tailor to send me their new seasonal collection. The memory brought a flicker of warmth to my heart. I tried on the new suit, but to my surprise, it didn’t fit. Nina knew my measurements by heart, and the tailor had been making my clothes for years. They shouldn’t have made a mistake. I took off the suit, put it back in the garment bag, and drove to the tailor’s shop. I never expected to find Nina and Charlie there. “Charlie, you look amazing in that suit!” I heard Nina exclaim. “I opened an account for you here. You can come by whenever you want, it’s all on me!” I glanced over. Charlie was standing tall and proud in the season’s new suit. And Nina, her face flushed, was nestled against his side. They were looking at each other, smiling, the air thick with intimacy. “Mr. Fusco, what are you doing here…?” a sales associate recognized me and gasped. The sound was just loud enough for Nina and Charlie to hear. They sprang apart and whipped their heads around to look at me. Anger instantly flooded Nina’s face. She strode towards me, her voice loud and accusatory. “Elliot, what are you doing here? Are you following me? How could you be so shameless!” I looked at her calmly, then at Charlie standing behind her. Charlie’s height, his waist, his shoulder width… I let out a soft, humorless laugh. They had mixed up our measurements. That’s why the suit didn’t fit me. “I wasn’t following you. The suit you ordered arrived, but it’s not my size. I came to return it.” I held up the garment bag, dangling it in front of her. “I’ll just leave it here. I have other things to do, so I won’t disturb you.” I turned to go. A storm of complex emotions crossed Nina’s face, her beautiful eyes glaring at me. “Elliot, don’t take this too far! There’s nothing going on between me and Charlie! Stop thinking such disgusting thoughts!” I shrugged, a careless smile on my face. “I wasn’t thinking anything. You don’t need to be angry.” With that, I turned and walked away. I felt like I was making progress. Seeing Nina and Charlie together like that didn’t hurt as much anymore.
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