After 10 Years of Marriage, My Husband Seems to Be in Love Again
My husband, Daniel, seems to be in love.
He’s always grinning foolishly at his phone, showering more often, changing outfits multiple times before going out, and he even changed our profile pictures to matching couple’s avatars without asking.
Whenever I used to see these kinds of social media posts, I always thought they were just relatable jokes.
That is, until the eve of our fifth wedding anniversary. My usually serious and stiff husband sent me a message:
“Company dinner tonight, darling. Will my Queen grace us with her presence?”
Daniel sounded so sweet.
He even used a cute emoji I’d never seen him use before.
My heart instantly clenched, a cold chill spreading through me.
I’d seen that animated character on the emoji before. It was the profile picture of the new intern at his company.
It wasn’t just “seems like.”
In the tenth year of our love, my husband was in love-with someone else.
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“Where did you get such a cute emoji?”
The “typing…” bubble stayed on for a long time before Daniel replied:
“Saved it from a group chat.’
Before I could ask more questions, Daniel’s profile picture flickered, changing to a Q-version of the same animated character. It was a matching couple’s avatar.
“Honey, isn’t my new profile picture cute?”
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“It’s the style you asked me to change to before! You should use this one.”
He sent me a photo, a really cute animated character.
It looked familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen it.
Instinctively, I opened the company’s main SnapChat group chat to check.
Sure enough, there was an identical profile picture.
Chloe Hayes.
I remembered her. The new intern at the company, a sweet-smiling young girl.
My heart dropped.
It felt like my heart skipped a beat, and a cold dread spread from my limbs, chilling me to the bone.
Tears welled up instantly, overflowing and blurring my vision as I looked at the yellowing wedding photo on the wall.
I decided to confirm it myself.
With trembling hands, I replied:
“Yes, I’ll be there for the dinner tonight.””
That evening, when Daniel drove up to pick me, Chloe, just an intern, was sitting in the passenger seat. The back seats were occupied by some of the closer management staff.
Chloe, quite thoughtfully, got out to offer me the passenger seat.
Daniel leaned over and explained, “Chloe gets carsick, and ride-shares often have weird smells. So I just had her ride with me.”
“My Queen, please get in.”
I managed a strained smile, greeted everyone, and got into the passenger seat.
Low murmurs of chatter came from the back. Chloe remained quiet, watching Daniel as he drove
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through the rearview mirror.
I decided to test him.
While we were waiting at a red light, I deliberately reached out and took Daniel’s hand, which was resting on the gear stick.
From the back, flirty cheers immediately erupted:
“Whoa, the boss and his wife are so sweet together!”
But Daniel pulled his hand back as if he’d been shocked. He gave me a forced, awkward smile, trying
to cover it up as he explained,
“Honey, I’m driving. Safety first.”
I subtly turned my face away, responding flatly,
“I was just wondering why you suddenly stopped wearing your wedding ring.”
Daniel gave a couple of dry laughs:
“I’ve gained a little happy weight recently; you must be cooking too well, my love.””
“This ring is just a bit tight.”
“It’s our fifth anniversary soon anyway. We can go pick out a new set of matching rings.””
I said nothing, just nodded.
I played along, pretending we were a loving, happy couple.
Through the rearview mirror, I saw Chloe’s red-rimmed eyes in the back.
Her fingers were clenched so hard they were bloodless; she must have been in a lot of pain, holding
it in.
I glanced sideways and saw Daniel secretly watching her, his gaze filled with warmth, guilt, and deep reassurance. They stared deeply into each other’s eyes through the mirror.
It wasn’t until the honking of the cars behind us reminded him that the light had changed that Daniel
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snapped out of it and started driving again.
I witnessed it all, my heart feeling crushed under a heavy rock, a suffocating pain.
Unable to bear it, I rolled down the window for some air. After a long moment of thought, I finally opened my lawyer friend’s contact on my phone and typed out a message:
“Taking cases?”
“I’m divorcing Daniel Miller.”
