I Played the King’s Game Then I Divorced Him Chapter 06

I Played the King’s Game Then I Divorced Him Chapter 06

I stared at the screen, thinking of that 750-square-foot apartment.

The jasmine candles, the matching mugs, the frozen ravioli.

It turned out that even that half-bag of garlic and onion ravioli was prepared solely to please her.

He never remembered what I liked to eat; he just happened to find out she liked it too and bought it

on a whim.

How ironic.

Outside, the rain had stopped. The sunset bled through the gaps in the clouds, staining the city

blood-red.

I drove home-not to the apartment near the office, but to our marital home. The housekeeper had already cleaned it; the new sheets on the master bed were still spread, untouched.

I sat on the sofa until dark, took off my wedding ring, and placed it in the deepest part of the coffee

table drawer.

Our marriage certificate lay there. In the photo, both people were smiling, their eyes full of light.

The phone vibrated again. It was Maya: “Want to grab a drink?”

“No.”

“Then get some sleep. You have to give your statement at the station tomorrow.”

I put the phone down and turned on the TV.

A late-night channel was playing an old movie-husband cheats, wife takes revenge, and they both end up destroyed. The writer probably thought it was more dramatic that way.

But real life doesn’t end in mutual destruction.

Real life is realizing that the person you once loved never truly existed,

and then you keep living, carrying that void until it scabs over, hardens, and becomes a part of your

body.

I turned off the TV and lay in the darkness for a long time.

At 3:00 AM, I sent a message to my lawyer:

“Move forward with the divorce at maximum speed. I’ll compromise on asset division-as long as he leaves with nothing.”

The reply was instant:

“Are you sure? With the evidence we have, you could get a lot more.”

“I’m sure.”

It wasn’t mercy; it was exhaustion.

I didn’t want any further connection to that name. I didn’t want to wake up one day in the future and remember him because of a bank transfer or a piece of real estate.