Starting Anew

In everyone's eyes, my husband, Jake Payton, was the perfect man.

Three years have passed since the day of our wedding, but we have yet to have a child because he wanted an 'extended honeymoon'.

One day, I chanced across a message he sent to his friend.

[I'm not Mindy's first, and God knows whether she's had an abortion before! The thought of having a baby with her just makes me sick!]

Unable to hold back my tears, I turned around and shelved my medical report.

.........

My first love was my ex, and I came clean to my husband, Jake Payton, about it before we got married.

Back then, Jake said he did not mind. He hugged me and said meaningfully, "Your future is with me, Mindy. I'll always be by your side."

After glancing at the chat, I realized he was averse to my 'impurity'—a fact I made perfectly clear before we even dated. Although he could look past it then, he must have begun to loathe me at some point during our marriage.

I clenched my fists and shelved the doctor's report.

"Mindy, I have a headache. Did you make any soup for my hangover?"

I got up as soon as I heard his mumbling and fed him some soup. I placed my hand on his forehead, and he clung tightly to me as if desperate for the warmth of my palm.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Mindy."

I felt relieved when I saw that he did not forget about me even when he was drunk, but I ventured with a question.

"Are you disgusted with me? Why won't you have a baby with me?"

Jake sighed and laughed. "Mindy! You're a good woman, but I… I'm not interested in having a baby with you! I get sick to my stomach when I think about how many times you slept with your ex!"

Seeing the hurtful message that he sent to his friend was nothing compared to the sinking pain that I felt when I heard his words with my own ears.

I took a deep breath, helped him onto the bed, and went to the guest room.

As I lay in bed, I wondered whether I should just leave him. If he could harbor such prejudice against me then, I dreaded to think of how much worse he would treat me once I was old and ugly. I was not going to put up with that for the rest of my life.

It must have been hard for Jake to endure three years of marriage to me.

My character was always firm and direct. It would go against my principles to force someone to accept something they clearly could not.

The next morning, I had already prepared the divorce papers.

Jake received a phone call and left quickly, explaining, "A client requested to meet. Looks like I'll have a packed day today!"

My mind went blank momentarily, but I answered immediately, "You can go