Wife v. Husband

After I become successful in life, I sue my wife, Hazel Cooper, also known as the woman who had supported me through thick and thin.

She gets down on her knees and pleads with me tearfully not to divorce her, only for me to shove her away.

My neighbors call me an ungrateful bastard. They keep spitting at me and throwing feces at my doorstep. Even the Internet users gang up on me and bully me on the Internet.

But when the court trial is over, everyone kneels before me, looking extremely remorseful.

A week ago, the news broke that I'd filed a lawsuit against my wife of more than 20 years, Hazel Cooper, the woman who had shared my bed and my life for over half my adulthood.

From that moment on, I became the neighborhood's favorite villain. Everyone called me the heartless man who had climbed his way to success and abandoned his wife and child without remorse.

In their eyes, Hazel was flawless.

She'd married me when I was poor and struggling. She never complained, even when life was hard. She cared for my sickly mother until her final days. She raised our son almost entirely on her own and turned him into a top student, the kind every family boasted about.

She was even named the town's model wife.

"I never thought he'd actually show up to court. I've never seen anyone sue their own wife before."

"Hazel really had terrible judgment when she was young. She built everything with him from nothing, and this is how he repays her. You really do see all kinds of people in this world."

"I lived next door to him for years. He fooled everyone. Who would've guessed he was such an ungrateful piece of trash?"

I bent forward slightly as I looked toward the gallery.

The courtroom was packed with neighbors, relatives, old friends, even a man I'd grown up with, someone who once treated me like a brother.

Every one of them pointed at me, cursed me, and spat words sharp enough to draw blood. They looked at me as if they wanted me dead.

The judge struck the gavel hard, and the noise died instantly.

"Order! The plaintiff, Bryan Zimmer, and the defendant, Hazel Cooper, prepare to proceed."

My fingers trembled. A dull ache spread through my chest. I took a deep breath and walked to the plaintiff's table.

The room stirred as people realized the defendant hadn't arrived yet.

"Hazel isn't even here yet. He did this on purpose. He picked today because it's the same day as their son's registration at an elite college. There's no way she could arrive on time."

Over the past week, insults and threats had become routine.

I'd received anonymous messages telling me to die. Razor blades were mailed to my door. People spat in my face. Buckets of filth were dumped on me in the street. I was even laid off.

They called it karma and said I