A man mocks his unemployed wife for doing nothing at home and returns one evening only to find her missing. As he searches for her, he stumbles upon a note and learns his wife was taken away in an ambulance and wants to divorce him. It was a bright cold morning in October—the day Harry had been waiting for to present the new gaming app he’d been working on day and night for the last six months.
Nothing would stop Harry from grabbing his much-awaited promotion and that six-figure paycheck if everything went well. So he was so excited. The clock struck eight as Harry stormed into the dining room, his eyes still fixed on his phone, not his wife Sara or his two little sons, Cody and Sonny…
“Morning, honey,” Sara said. “Good morning, Daddy,” the boys chorused. But Harry didn’t respond.
He quickly grabbed a toast, lost in his thoughts about the upcoming presentation, and hurried back to his room to get ready. “Sara, where’s my white shirt?” Harry’s voice suddenly boomed from the bedroom while everyone was still enjoying their breakfast. “I just put it for a wash with all the whites.”
“What do you mean by you just put it for a wash?
I asked you to wash it three days ago. You know that’s my lucky shirt. And I needed it for today’s meeting,” Harry snapped as he stormed to the dining room.
“Why can’t you ever do anything right? Why do you always have to mess things up? Today’s a big day for me.
What am I gonna wear now?”
Sara’s face turned red, and she started making excuses. “Stop yelling at me in the morning, Harry. I didn’t have enough white clothes to wash.
I just gathered all of them until I had a full load. And it’s not the only white shirt you have. It’s not a big deal or something.
So stop barking, alright?”
“Oh really? I’m barking? You wanna do this now?”
“Do what, Harry?
You’re making a scene for a stupid little thing. And nobody would be interested in what color shirt you’re wearing when all eyes would be fixed on your goddamn presentation.”
“A goddamn presentation? Come again…Did you just say that?
Do you have any idea how I’ve been busting my butt off day and night for that project?”
“Watch your words. The kids….”
“And you know what? You sit at home all day doing nothing,” Harry blurted out.
“Is it too hard to remember one simple thing? And that friend of yours in the apartment below…All you do is gossip with her as if you’re gonna solve the whole world’s problem. All you do is Blah Blah Blah and NOTHING at home.”
“Harry, stop this.
The kids are watching. You’re scaring them.”
“Oh really? And nobody watches you when you’re on the goddamn phone gossiping all the time with your friends.
Whose husband did what…Whose wife has a fling with who…and basically sitting at home doing nothing around here? Nobody watches that, huh, Sara?”
“And you know what? I give up…I can’t handle this crap anymore.
You can never be a good wife if you can’t do even a simple thing for me.”
Harry dressed up in a random suit and stormed out of the house, grabbing his briefcase. As Harry presented his project, his phone kept vibrating in his pocket. With each ring, his heart leaped, thinking Sara had called him to apologize like she always did whenever they fought.
“That was one helluva presentation, Harry. Good job, man,” Harry’s boss, Mr. Adams, congratulated him.
And Harry was over the moon when he finally got his hands on his dream promotion. He checked his phone on his drive home and was surprised at not seeing Sara’s calls or texts. She usually called or sent those heart and smiley emojis with a sorry voice message every time they fought.
But this time, there was none. “Strange! Still angry with me, huh, babe?” Harry muttered before approaching a roadside florist and getting a bouquet of Sara’s favorite white roses.
He beamed with joy as he took the elevator to his high-rise apartment on the seventh floor overlooking the sea. “Honey, I’m home!” Harry called out, tossing the keys on the table. But there was no answer, except for his own voice bouncing off the walls.
Harry put the flowers in the vase and searched every room in the house, but there was no sign of his family. “Sara, honey….” he called out again. “Guys?
Daddy’s home…Cody? Sonny?”
“Where’s everyone?”
Agitated, Harry took his phone to call Sara when a note on the coffee table held in place by a red pen drew his attention. He shakily picked it up and stammered at the words: “I want a divorce.”
Harry sank onto the couch, the note feeling heavy in his hand as he read it over and over again.
“Is this some kind of a joke?”
Harry closed his eyes, hoping it was not real. He grabbed his phone and called Sara. “Pick up…Sara…please…pick up,” he frantically whispered.
But there was no answer. “Where did she go? Where are the kids?” he whispered as he scrolled down the contacts to call Zara, Sara’s sister.
“Hey…is Sara with you? I just came home, and she’s not….” he spoke, anxiously pinching his fingers. “Sara’s in the hospital right now, Harry.”
“The hospital??
Wha-What happened to her?”
The line went blank as Harry bolted out of his apartment and onto the streets, shouting for a taxi approaching in his direction. “Keep the change,” he hurried out of the cab and burst into the hospital, his eyes darting around, looking for Zara. “Where is she?
Oh my God, Zara. What happened to Sara? Is she alright?”
“Really, Harry?
You’re asking if she’s alright? She’s here coz of you…You did this to my sister. You told her she was not ‘wife’ enough for you?”
“Look, we’ll talk about this later, alright?” Harry then rushed to meet the doctor.
“Doctor, is my wife alright? Can I see her?”
“It’s a mild attack. Nothing to worry about…She’s out of danger.
But she needs to take care of her health now. Yeah, please, go ahead and only ten minutes coz she needs to rest.”
Harry shakily walked into the ward, trying to force a smile as he approached Sara. “Hey, I know that I…What I did was…Look, I’m sorry, and let’s just….”
But Sara cut Harry off.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t have to. Coz you know what?
I don’t want to hear it anymore.”
“Honey, please, let me explain.”
“I don’t wanna hear anything. Not anymore. I’m done.
Divorce is the only thing I want.”
“Wha-What? Why…Sara, look, you got to be kidding…You’re taking it too far, alright?”
“Why? You’re asking me why?” Sara scowled.
“Coz I buried my life alive, Harry. I had ambitions, plans…and dreams. I was at the top of my class in college.
Several interior design companies, so many of them, were impressed with my portfolio and offered to join them in New York.”
“Honey, see, you’re just complicating everything. Let’s just go home and sort everything….”
“Shut up. Just shut up,” Sara raised her voice.
“Or just leave if you’re not ready to listen.”
“I chose you over every opportunity, and it ruined my life. You have a successful career. You have respect in society and recognition as a game designer.
But me? You’ve been only treating me like a tailpiece. Like a dog living in a cozy cage, doing the same stale chores day and night.
And yet, you have the audacity to tell me that all I do is nothing?”
“Please, honey, I’m sorry, alright?” Harry tried to calm Sara down. “Look, everything I do is for you guys. I want us to be happy.
I know I’ve made mistakes…Hell lot of mistakes. But please, I deserve a chance to make things right. We can work this together, okay?”
“No, I can’t do this anymore.
I can’t be fake to myself. To you. And to the kids.
I’m 32, but I feel like a crone. I just hate you, Harry. You’re so disgusting.”
“What about the kids, Sara?”
“I’m in a tough spot to provide for them…So they’re staying with you.”
Harry spoke no more and stormed out of the hospital to pick up his kids from Zara’s house.
“Daddy, when will mommy come home? Aunt Zara said Mommy’s sick. What happened to Mommy?” The boys asked Harry.
“Your mommy will be back very soon, sweeties.”
“I hope so,” he whispered to himself. As Harry entered the kitchen, a familiar smell of spices assaulted his senses. He’d always find Sara making dinner around that time.
But that day, the kitchen was bare, with a sink overflowing with dirty dishes. “Okay, so who wants pizza for dinner?” he distracted the kids. Harry ordered the pizza since he knew the boys loved it and hoped it would cheer them up.
The kids chuckled as they gobbled their favorite ice cream and pizza. Harry squeezed a smile, but deep down, he was not entirely convinced that Sara meant everything she said. He believed she might be going through a nervous breakdown and hoped things would settle down once she calmed down.
“…And don’t let the bed bugs bite!” Harry chuckled as he kissed his children goodnight after dinner. “But the divorce part is still hitting hard, man. I mean…She’s never said such a thing before,” Harry told his friend Alex on a phone call later that night.
“Women are so unpredictable, pal. She could’ve just cracked up. So chill.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same.
What happened next changed everything…
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