Tick, Tock—Marriage out of Time

My wife, Ariel Sweeney, would always buy me a new watch every time she cheated on me.

We'd been married for four years, and I'd already collected 99 watches. That also meant I'd forgiven her 99 times too.

This time, she went on a business trip for three days, and returned with a Patek Philippe watch worth ten million dollars for me.

I then knew that it was time we got a divorce.

When my wife, Ariel Sweeney returned home that day, I was in the midst of throwing out the list of items that I had to be mindful about after a gastrectomy.

Ariel has just come back from a three-day "business trip" to celebrate her first love's birthday. When I saw that the gift she bought for him was a million-dollar home, I got so agitated that I fainted on the spot. And when I woke up, I was told that I had to undergo surgery.

Right after coming home from the hospital, I looked at the 99 watches in my collection and decided to pay no heed to my doctor's orders by ordering a whole fried chicken and some coke.

Ariel walked over to me and threw the chicken and coke into the trash can. She then chided me and said, "Your stomach is still recovering. You can't eat fried stuff or drink cold drinks yet. So, why are you still doing it?"

She then took out an expensive watch from her handbag and gave it to me.

"Here. I got this especially for you, Dustin Cooper. It took me quite some effort to hunt it down."

I spared a glance at the watch.

It was a Patek Philippe, and a rare design at that. It had to be valued at over ten million dollars.

Ariel hadn't been lying when she said that she put in effort to hunt down this watch. This was a limited edition version, and she must have exhausted all of her connections before finally locating it.

If I'd received this watch before we got married, I would have been over the moon by now and jumped into her arms to kiss her.

But now, I didn't even bother showing that I was delighted to receive it. Heck, I didn't even want to put it around my wrist to try it out.

Seeing that I wasn't saying a thing, she bent down and looked into my eyes.

"Are you mad? Is it because I hadn't accompanied you to visit your mother's grave the other day? Want me to go with you now?"

I lowered my gaze and answered calmly, "You don't have to anymore. Mom's death anniversary was three days ago. It's already over."

Before getting married, Ariel and I had come to an agreement.

I didn't mind forgoing any of the other celebrations and observations during the rest of the year. However, she had to promise to always come with me whenever I visit Mom's grave on her death anniversary each year.