My husband went to a class reunion, came home, and asked me for a divorce. He saw his first love. She was divorced and struggling. He said that giving her a life of luxury used to be his ultimate dream. Back then, he was broke and unworthy of her. Now, he has the money and the power, and he has to seize the opportunity. 1 I never thought a midlife crisis would hit my husband. To outsiders, David and I were the model couple. We got along perfectly and rarely argued. Aside from mandatory business dinners, David almost never ate out. If he could leave the office on time, he would always come home to have dinner with me and our daughter. On weekends, he would frequently take us on short road trips out of the city. For a successful CEO, compared to those partners who constantly hit up high-end clubs or claimed to be "on business trips" to avoid coming home, David was an objectively good man. He didn't sleep around, he didn't gamble, and he didn't have any extravagant hobbies. Wealthy wives at the country club often used him as the gold standard to lecture their own husbands. To me, David was a devoted husband and a wonderful father. Back when we were dating, we had our fair share of passion and romance. As we got older, that fiery passion slowly faded, settling into a calm, warm, and comfortable life. Even though we didn't say "I love you" every single day, I knew the feelings hadn't disappeared. Even now, every morning before leaving for work, David would gently kiss my forehead. After years of marriage, it was a habit he had formed. As a busy executive, he always managed to find the time to attend our daughter Mia’s parent-teacher conferences. He was a family man. He never brought negative energy from work into the house. No matter how stressed he was, he never lost his temper with me or Mia. This was the good man I had spent years patiently shaping and nurturing. I was very satisfied. We had walked hand-in-hand for so many years, and I truly believed we would grow old together. But yesterday, after returning from his class reunion, David acted entirely out of character. He went straight to bed without chatting with me like he usually did. This morning at breakfast, he sat there in complete silence. Just as I was taking a sip of my coffee, he suddenly spoke. "Claire, let's get a divorce." I almost choked to death. 2 I didn't understand. Wasn't everything perfectly fine? Just a few days ago, we were discussing where to go for our anniversary trip. David even suggested letting his parents take care of Mia for a few days so we could go on a private getaway. "Honey, we haven't enjoyed just being the two of us in so long," he had said while holding me. We had finally made it through the storms of life; the rest of our path was supposed to be smooth sailing. We had already crossed the threshold of forty. We were no longer young, impulsive kids. It was just one high school reunion. I couldn't wrap my head around it. What could make David make such an irrational decision? I put my mug down, stared at him, and froze for a solid minute. "What kind of joke are you playing?" David looked at me solemnly. "Claire, I'm not joking." I felt a wave of absurdity, but I tried to keep my emotions in check. "Okay. Tell me. What exactly is the reason?" Sitting across from me, David began to slowly explain. His voice was deep and steady, but when he mentioned a specific name, the uncontrollable upward twitch of his lips and the sudden, overwhelming tenderness in his tone proved he wasn't joking at all. By the time he finished, my emotions were violently churning. I wanted to remain calm and composed, to keep my dignity, but the moisture in my eyes had already betrayed me. When I opened my mouth, my voice cracked. "So, you ran into your first love, she’s divorced, she’s having a hard time, and you want to marry her?" "You don't understand, Claire. She's not like you," David rushed to explain. "She came from money. She was pampered like a princess her whole life. She never knew what hardship was. When she got married, her husband’s family was well-off, but then he got addicted to gambling, blew the family fortune, and racked up massive debts with loan sharks. She finally managed to divorce him, but then her father died in a car crash. She has absolutely no one to rely on anymore. All these years, she’s never worked a day in her life. She literally has no ability to survive on her own." "You don't know how much it broke my heart to see her wearing scuffed, peeling heels at the reunion yesterday." "She's Evelyn. The princess who used to be the center of the universe. Back in the day, a single pair of her shoes cost more than my living expenses for months." "She was a girl who had everything, yet she looked past my poverty. We dated from high school through college. Even though we didn't go to the same university, we were in the same city. She would come to my campus to sit in class with me, eat cheap street food with me, and keep me company while I worked part-time jobs..." I stared at the man pouring his heart out in front of me. "If you loved her so much, why did you break up?" 3 "I couldn't bear to drag her down," David smiled bitterly. "She didn't despise me for being poor, but I despised myself. I had just graduated. I was renting a damp basement apartment for three hundred bucks a month. My future was bleak. I couldn't give her the life she wanted, and I couldn't stand watching her suffer with me. I didn't deserve her. What else could I do but let her go?" I took a deep breath. "And now, you can afford to give her a life of luxury, and you want to lay the world at her feet. What about me? What about Mia?" I hated myself for being so weak. Tears spilled out of my eyes uncontrollably. Over the years, I rarely cried. Seeing my tears, David panicked. He clumsily reached over to wipe them away. "Claire, I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I'm the villain here. I hurt you and our daughter. I'll leave all the money to you guys. I don't want a single cent. You and Mia can keep living exactly as you have been—" "So, you are absolutely determined to go through with this divorce, aren't you?" I sneered. "Evelyn is too fragile. She doesn't even have a stable job. I'm terrified that if things keep going like this, she won't survive." "If she doesn't have a job, you can help her find one! Why do you have to marry her?" I demanded loudly. "I can't. I asked her. She won't accept my help for no reason." "But if she marries you, she can peacefully and comfortably accept your charity, is that it? Does she not know you're someone else's husband? Does she not know destroying someone's family is shameless? Evelyn... how can she have zero dignity?!" I had never been this fiercely emotional in my life. "Enough! You've always been so elegant, reasonable, and gentle. How can you talk about someone else like that? Evelyn didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who wants to marry her. She rejected me; I'm the one insisting on it! I just can't stand to watch her live in such misery, I—" "You just can't let her go, can you?" I cut him off. "I am not getting a divorce. This is the marriage I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into building. I am not going to just hand it over and let someone else reap the rewards!" "Just calm down and think about it. Call me when you've made up your mind," David said, grabbing his coat and heading for the door. "I'll stay at the office for the next few days." 4 David's "good husband" persona completely collapsed. He moved Evelyn and her daughter to our city, installing them in a high-end luxury condo under his name. He used his connections to get Evelyn's daughter into an elite private prep school, the exact same school our daughter, Mia, attended. He even gave Evelyn a position at his company—as his executive assistant. He took Evelyn everywhere: meetings, client visits, business dinners. At one dinner, someone made a harmless joke about Evelyn, and David flipped out on the spot. Everyone was whispering about it. David had caught a late-in-life fire. He was having a midlife crisis disguised as "true love." When I went to the spa for a facial, I ran into several of the wealthy country-club wives I knew well. They spoke to me with faux concern, acting outraged on my behalf, but they couldn't hide the schadenfreude dancing in their eyes. For years, David’s flawless "perfect husband" image had made them grit their teeth in jealousy. Who doesn't harbor a little envy? The world is full of people who secretly hate seeing others do well. And now, I was finally just like them. They were eager to share their "pity." They crowded around me, bombarding me with advice on how to deal with the "other woman," how to protect my assets, and how to drag my husband's heart back home. Leaving the spa, I realized I had actually absorbed some of their words, even entertaining which strategies might work. Once upon a time, I despised women who wasted all their mental energy playing games to keep a man. I used to advise those same wives to find their own passions, telling them that if they stayed busy, they wouldn't have time to obsess over their husbands. I used to say that a cheating man is permanently stained, and taking him back is just revolting. I never expected that one day, I would become the exact type of woman I loathed. It’s easy to spout platitudes when tragedy hasn't struck your own life. But when you're in the trenches, you realize that "letting go" is incredibly hard. This was the family I had painstakingly built, sacrificing everything for. This was the man I had patiently guided and shaped step by step. I truly couldn't just throw it all away. 5 After so many years of marriage, I knew David's personality like the back of my hand. He was someone who responded to softness, not aggression. I knew that if I lowered my pride, played the victim, and begged him—relying on our decades of history—I could probably stop the divorce. But I refused to. I physically couldn't bring myself to beg him after he had already betrayed me. Why should I? I wasn't the one who made a mistake. And so, we were locked in a stalemate. The harder I pushed back, and the more stubbornly I refused to divorce, the more righteous David felt. His guilt and his softness toward me evaporated entirely. While I was at work, he snuck back into our house and packed up all his clothes. They officially moved in together. He openly flaunted Evelyn everywhere. He left me with absolutely zero dignity. He was dead set on a divorce. My inner stubbornness flared up. I absolutely refused to sign the papers. I wanted to make sure they couldn't be together legitimately. I wanted Evelyn to wear the label of a mistress forever. 6 Mia's school had a parent-teacher conference coming up. My firm had a major client visiting that exact day, so I had to be there. Unable to attend the conference, I called David in advance, asking him to clear his schedule so he could go. His assistant answered the phone. The young man spoke respectfully: "Hello, Mrs. Jiang. Mr. Jiang instructed me to tell you that unless it's about the divorce, he has nothing to discuss with you." Hanging up, I drove straight to corporate headquarters. The receptionist at the front desk smiled and told me that without an appointment, I couldn't see the CEO. I told her to book an appointment right now. She smiled and said Mr. Jiang wasn't in the office, and I should try another day. I told her I was his wife and demanded to wait inside. She kept her fake smile and repeated that anyone seeing the CEO needed an appointment. Leaving the building, I drove to the nearby luxury condo. David and Evelyn's love nest. Standing at the door, I punched in the passcode. Incorrect password. Driving back home, leaning against the leather seat, I let out a bitter laugh. I never thought the day would come when I wouldn't be able to reach my own husband. In the past, he always answered my calls on the first ring. He told me that during meetings, he put his phone on Do Not Disturb for everyone—except me. On weekends, during our family outings, anyone who needed him for an emergency had to call my phone to reach him. And now? I remembered what one of the country club wives told me a few days ago. The running joke in their business circle was: If you can't reach the CEO, just call Secretary Evelyn. She'll find him. A dull, suffocating ache spread through my chest. I couldn't figure out how a perfectly good life had unraveled into this unrecognizable mess. When I got home that evening, Mia was already sitting at the dining table eating dinner. Lately, the chauffeur had been picking her up. I told her Daddy was on a business trip. The housekeeper brought me a bowl of rice. Just as I picked up my chopsticks, Mia looked up at me. Her eyes were welling with tears. "Mom, Dad isn't on a business trip, is he?" While I was scrambling for an excuse, she kept talking. "I saw Dad today. This morning, he dropped a girl off at school, and he picked her up this afternoon. He was with some lady, and he had his arm around her waist. Mom, does Dad not want us anymore? That girl is in sixth grade, just like me. She's a new transfer student in Class 3. I went to look at her through the window. She isn't even as cute as me. Is Dad going to be her dad now? Does he not love me anymore?" Looking at my heartbroken daughter, I couldn't bear to tell her the truth. "Dad is just temporarily helping a friend take care of her kid. He'll come home soon." 7 In the middle of the night, Mia spiked a high fever. I carried her to the car and told the driver to rush to the ER. In the backseat, delirious with fever, Mia kept calling for her dad. "Mom, Dad will come, right?" she asked, clutching my arm. "Before, whenever I got sick, Dad would stay by my bed the whole time. I took a really cold shower and got super sick. Dad will definitely come see me, right?" My arm stiffened as I hugged her. "Mia, did you make yourself sick on purpose?" Mia whispered, "Yeah. I used the shower to get soaking wet, and I didn't dry off. I knew it would work. I haven't seen Dad in so long. I just wanted to see him." I hugged her tight, tears streaming down my face. "You foolish girl, why would you do something so stupid?" "Mom, call Dad quickly. Tell him I'm sick." But Mia was left disappointed. I called him over and over again, but no one ever answered. By the time her IV drip finished, it was already the next morning. Looking at Mia sleeping in the hospital bed, I felt her forehead. It was still a little warm, so I called her homeroom teacher to excuse her for the day. When Mia woke up around 10 AM, I bought her some oatmeal and we left the hospital. As we were walking down a long corridor, Mia suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, staring blankly ahead. Following her gaze, I saw a "happy family of three" not far away. David and a woman were coaxing a little girl. The girl looked about eleven or twelve, roughly Mia's age. "Sweetheart, didn't you say your stomach hurt? Let's be good and go see the doctor, okay?" The woman's voice was incredibly gentle. This was the first time I had ever seen Evelyn. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. She looked very thin and fragile, but she definitely wasn't beautiful. Her complexion was sallow, and there was a heavy exhaustion around her eyes. It was obvious that these past few years had been very hard on her. I couldn't understand how I was losing to a woman like this. From looks to ability to talent, I was confident she couldn't beat me in a single category. It seems the power of a "first love" is truly terrifying. Even without her youthful beauty, Evelyn still had David wrapped around her finger. 8 "Mom, I lied. My stomach doesn't hurt. I just didn't want to go to P.E. class," the little girl glared at Evelyn, her voice sharp. "You don't even know how awful our P.E. teacher is. He makes us run an 800-meter dash every time!" "How can you lie like that?" Evelyn's voice pitched up. The little girl immediately hid behind David. David shielded her, smiling at Evelyn. "Hey, let it go. She's just a kid. If she doesn't want to run, she doesn't have to." Then he looked down at the girl. "Don't worry, Uncle David will go talk to your homeroom teacher. I'll tell him you have a weak constitution and can't do long-distance running." The little girl's eyes lit up. "Really?" Evelyn shoved him playfully. "You shouldn't spoil her like this." I looked down at Mia. Her face was entirely covered in tears. It wasn't until the three of them walked away that Mia buried her face in my chest and sobbed uncontrollably for a long time. When she finally finished, she looked up, wiped her tears, and asked me, "Mom, can you just divorce Dad? I don't want him anymore." Looking at my daughter's resolute eyes, I nodded. "Okay." She was right. What exactly had I been holding on for so long? Wasn't it just to save this family and preserve the warmth we used to have? But David had already cheated. The fracture was already there. Even if I exhausted every ounce of my energy to drag him back, could this family ever be the same? I had ruined his chance to rekindle his romance with his first love, forcing him to stay by my side. His body might be in this house, but his heart wouldn't be. He would be bitter, resentful, and constantly angry at me. What use was a family like that to me? What I wanted was a harmonious home where my daughter could grow up happy and healthy. That harmony was long gone. In a toxic household, could my daughter ever truly be happy? I had backed myself into a corner. Thankfully, my daughter was more clear-headed than I was. She understood better than I did that keeping someone around who no longer loves you is entirely pointless. So, we wouldn't keep him. Stepping out of that dead end, everything suddenly made sense. I realized that getting a divorce really wasn't a big deal. After the divorce, my daughter and I could still live a perfectly happy life. I had a career, I had money, I had my daughter. Even though I was in my forties, I took great care of myself and looked good. I could just be a happy, single, wealthy woman. I couldn't wait. I picked up my phone and called David. Once again, his assistant answered. I said loudly: "Tell David I agree to the divorce!" 9 The divorce proceedings went incredibly smoothly. David still had a shred of conscience left and knew he was entirely at fault. He didn't dare look me in the eye the entire time. Thanks to his guilt, and my calm, cooperative attitude, he was surprisingly generous with the asset division. All of our real estate properties and cash reserves went to me. In addition, he gave me a 10% equity stake in his company. He said the shares were for Mia, so I accepted them without hesitation. After the divorce, David was left with nothing but his company. But the company was his ultimate safety net. He had the capability, the clients, the resources, and the market share. As long as the company existed, he had an endless stream of wealth. That was exactly why he was willing to be so generous with me. A month later, we went to city hall to finalize the paperwork. Mia came with me this time. She didn't speak a single word to her father the entire time. Walking out of the building, David looked at Mia, offering a fawning smile. "Can Dad give you guys a ride home? Mia, even though Mom and Dad are divorced now, Dad still loves you just as much as before." Right at that moment, Evelyn walked over holding her daughter's hand. The girl had already changed her tune. She shouted at David, "Dad, let's go to the amusement park! You promised!" Mia grabbed my hand and started walking away. "Mom, let's go home." 10 After the divorce, David's mom—my former mother-in-law—came to see me once. She was furious on my behalf, thumping her chest and promising me that she would never let that homewrecker step foot in her house, and that she would only ever recognize me as her daughter-in-law. But it didn't take long before I heard that David and Evelyn had officially gotten their marriage license. Rumor had it his mother had come to town ready for a fight, planning to move in indefinitely and swearing she wouldn't leave until she drove Evelyn out. Very quickly, she was defeated and quietly sent back to her small hometown by her son. The old lady had apparently stressed Evelyn out so much she fainted three times. David's heart broke for her, and he lost his temper at his own mother. So it goes: whoever makes the money in the family calls the shots. Ultimately, the old lady relied on her son to support her. If he put his foot down, she had no choice but to compromise. But it was also clear that while Evelyn looked weak and fragile, she was far from simple. She had David wrapped tightly around her finger. After the divorce, I almost entirely cut contact with David. I only occasionally heard updates about him through mutual friends. I realized that when it came to his life, I didn't even care to listen anymore. The day before David's 41st birthday, he surprisingly called me. It was the first time we had spoken on the phone since the divorce. "Uh, Claire, tomorrow is my birthday. Evelyn said we're having a small party at the house. You and Mia should come hang out." "I don't have time. I'm very busy these days," I rejected him flatly. David paused, then said, "Okay, you're busy, but I'll send the driver to pick Mia up." "No," I rejected him again. "If she goes alone, I'm worried she'll be bullied." "What kind of talk is that? She's my daughter, my only child. Who would dare bully her in my house?" "Are you sure you only have one daughter? Don't you have another one living in your house right now?" He hesitated, and I decisively hung up the phone. That evening, I told Mia about it and asked if she wanted to go, promising to respect her decision. Mia instantly refused without a second of hesitation. The next night, well past midnight, I was just about to go to sleep when I got another call from David. He sounded drunk. His words were slurred and messy. "Claire... for years... this is the first time I haven't celebrated my birthday with you. I don't know why, but I just feel so empty inside. Today, a lot of people came to the house. Relatives, friends, business partners... it was loud, but I just felt so lonely. I felt sick. In the past, every birthday, it was just the three of us celebrating. There weren't a lot of people, but I was so happy... so satisfied." "I didn't get to eat the durian cake you always bake for me... I didn't get a present from Mia... I feel awful..." David had a terrible habit: when he drank, he talked way too much. He got incredibly repetitive. To stop him from rambling, I cut him off: "You've had too much to drink. Go to sleep." Right after I hung up, he called again. Watching the phone ring incessantly, I just turned it off. Lying in bed, my mind drifted back to the durian cake David mentioned. I actually hate durian. I despise the smell. Mia takes after me and refuses to eat it too. But David was the complete opposite; he loved it. Every year for his birthday, I would bake him a durian cake from scratch, and he would happily eat the entire thing himself. When baking it, just to avoid the overwhelming stench, I had to wear a medical mask. Since the divorce, I never had to buy durian for the house again. I never had to force myself to endure a smell I hated ever again. It was absolutely wonderful. 11 After the divorce, I realized I felt so much lighter. The main reason was that I just had far fewer things to manage. In the past, besides running my own firm, I had to handle endless chores involving kids, housework, relatives, and friends. After work, I had to help my daughter with her homework. On weekends, I took her to tutoring and extracurriculars, constantly worrying about her academics, life, and health. I was managing several properties and commercial storefronts. Just keeping track of the utilities, maintenance, and leases for multiple locations was a massive headache. Then there was the housework. Even though we hired a housekeeper to cook and clean, things like ironing specific clothes, organizing, and decluttering filled up my daily life. Furthermore, even though my in-laws didn't live with us, I had to arrange all the holiday visits, gifts, and check-ins. The two of them never bothered David with anything; they called me directly. In their eyes, their son was a big-shot CEO who was busy every day, and they couldn't risk interrupting his work. Then there were the extended relatives. Whether it was his side or mine, if anyone came to the city, they came straight to me, and I was the one tasked with hosting and organizing their stay. David had many clients he needed to maintain good relationships with, so I had to befriend the wives of those executives, taking them out shopping, to the spa, and sending them gifts to maintain our social standing. In the past, my planner was always covered in post-it notes reminding me whose birthday was coming up, who was opening a new store, whose relative was having surgery, and so on. But now, I didn't have to deal with any of that messy social politics anymore. I sold off the extra properties. I only kept the luxury condo we currently lived in, a large penthouse downtown, and a villa in the suburbs. This way, I didn't have too much real estate to manage. Honestly, I'm someone who hates micromanaging. If I can be lazy, I will be. Over the years, my ability to handle everything flawlessly and juggle endless trivial tasks was entirely forced upon me by circumstance. Now, besides work, I only had to take care of myself, my daughter, and my parents. All those other complicated social obligations were completely thrown out the window. I never had to write a reminder in my planner again. With this newfound free time, I found I had so much more energy to pour into my career. My consulting firm quickly expanded its operations. I co-founded this accounting and consulting firm with my college roommate. While the volume wasn't massive, our client base was stable, and our profits grew steadily every year. One day, my assistant told me there was a massive contract on the table with highly lucrative margins, and asked if I wanted to take it. I took one look at the client's name, and I immediately understood the hesitant look in my assistant's eyes. The client was David's company. "We're not taking this contract. Decline it," I said.
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