Throughout our seven-year marriage, my CEO wife, Ruby Irving, goes on yet another business trip on Memorial Day once again, so she can't travel back to my hometown with me. But soon, I saw the photos uploaded by her assistant, Wilbur Stork, on his social media feed that featured her sweeping the grave in his hometown instead.

The caption writes, "Mom and Dad must be very satisfied with their daughter-in-law because the gloomy weather has cleared up in an instant."

I chortle in amusement for a brief moment before liking the post calmly. Then, I comment, "I respect your relationship and wish you nothing but happiness."

But my colleagues all go nuts over the latest bombshell. They are quick to form their chat groups and speculate as to how I'm going to cause my next ruckus in the company this time.

Ruby soon calls me while sounding very stern.

"I know Wilbur does things very brashly due to his young age, but you shouldn't have caused him trouble in the comment section! What will everyone else in the company think of him? How is Wilbur supposed to continue working in this company?

"Moreover, Wilbur doesn't have anyone left in his family. What's wrong with me keeping him company just this once? People with happy families like you don't have empathy for others at all!

"I want you to delete your comment and remove your like right now. Once the holidays are over, I'll free up some time in my schedule to go back to your hometown with you."

As I listen to Ruby making yet another empty promise to me in such a casual way, I let out a soft chuckle.

"It's fine."

Once the holidays are over, we'll be able to obtain our divorce certificates.

After Ruby Irving hung up the call furiously, her phone chimed again as a notification came in. It was an Instagram update from her beloved assistant, Wilbur Stork.

It was a long post, practically an essay. Wilbur had written it as an apology to me for causing a misunderstanding in his last post. And like the previous post, he had specifically tagged me.

It was a blatant provocation. Unfortunately, Ruby didn't see it that way. Or maybe she could, but she still wanted to side with him anyway.

"No need to apologize, Mr. Stork. Everyone can tell you were just joking."

"Does this post mean Ms. Irving's petty husband came looking for trouble again? He made such a big deal out of something this small. That sounds exactly like something he'd do."

The comment section was full of people comforting Wilbur while taking sarcastic digs at me for being petty and small-minded.

I had personally trained many of these coworkers from the ground up. But now, they were all speaking up for Wilbur.

I guess that was only natural. After all, Ruby had given her implicit permission.

Ruby had hired Wilbur as a special exception. Over the years, she promoted him straight to the position of the head of the secretarial department. Anyone could tell she was fond of him.

The ones who stayed were the type who knew how to act according to the boss' wishes. Those who had spoken up for me back then had long since been fired.

A few minutes later, Ruby replied in the comment section, "We all know in our hearts who is right and who is in the wrong. Only people with filthy minds would make random accusations."

She didn't say it outright, but everyone knew who exactly she was referring to with"filthy minds". The comment section quickly filled with likes and echoes of agreement.

I couldn't be bothered to keep reading.

After parking the car, I took the divorce agreement with me and walked straight into the lobby of the courthouse.

Ruby had signed the divorce papers before she left on a business trip last month. When I handed them to her at that time, I had hesitated a little. In fact, I secretly hoped she would notice and ask me to stay.

However, she didn't even look at them. She simply flipped straight to the last page and scribbled her signature onto it.

"Are you not going to check what it is?" I couldn't help reminding her, even though I had already prepared myself mentally.

Ruby answered perfunctorily, "There's no need to look. I trust your ability to handle things."

But the truth was, she had never trusted me before. Every time there were important company documents, Ruby kept them carefully away from my sight. Meanwhile, she would reveal them freely to Wilbur.

I had expressed my dissatisfaction to her regarding this matter before, but she brushed me off.

In a self-righteous tone, she had said, "I have nothing against you. It's just that these details are sensitive and complicated. I'm not letting you see them for your own good."

"What about Wilbur then?" I had asked.

Chuckling lightly, Ruby had replied, "Wilbur doesn't really understand these things. Besides, he's my assistant. Even if he does know, it doesn't matter."

For a moment, I almost thought she had really changed.

But when I watched her leave the house and saw Wilbur, who had clearly been waiting outside for a long time, smiling as he took the suitcase from her hand, I finally understood something.

It wasn't that she had suddenly started trusting me. It was just that, compared to that agreement, there was someone more important waiting for her.

I had submitted the divorce application a month ago. So, the waiting period was up.

After checking the documents, the female courthouse staff asked me, "Where's your wife? Why didn't she come?"

I showed her the Instagram post Wilbur had published not long ago and replied, "She's with her new family."

The staff member's expression stiffened slightly. When she looked at me again, there was a trace of sympathy in her eyes.

"We have protocols, sir. We need to mediate between both parties first and confirm that the relationship has truly broken down before issuing a divorce certificate. Could you contact her and ask her to come in for mediation?"

Not wanting to make things difficult for her, I gave Ruby a call.

But the phone barely rang once before the call was declined. I tried again, and the same thing happened.

A few minutes later, Ruby finally sent a message. "Francis, if you don't delete your comment and apologize to Wilbur, I won't answer your calls. Stop calling me. I won't pick up."

I knew exactly what this meant. Ruby was going to give me the cold shoulder again.

It had happened many times before. Whenever Wilbur accused me of something, Ruby never bothered to verify it first. She would just demand that I apologize right away.

And if I refused, she would deliberately give me the silent treatment.

The worst time was when, during one of those standoffs, I suddenly had a severe heart attack from overworking late at night. I was rushed into the emergency room. When the doctor called her to sign the treatment consent form, she told them that they could just let me die if I didn't apologize.

I told the staff member everything truthfully and asked, "At this point, there's probably no need for mediation anymore, right?"

She sighed helplessly and nodded. Then, she took the divorce agreement from me and went to process the paperwork.

I sat on a bench in the courthouse for half an hour.

Unexpectedly, Ruby called me.

"I heard you didn't go to work. Where are you?" she asked frostily.

I didn't answer. From her tone, it was clear she didn't really care where I was.

When I stayed silent, she spoke again in an icy voice. "According to company policy, being absent without notice means a two-day pay deduction. Do you accept it?"

Before I could say anything, Wilbur's gentle voice came from beside her. "That's not necessary, Ruby. Francis might have something urgent to deal with."

Ruby snorted coldly and said, "What could be so urgent? Playing on his phone during work hours or scrolling through Instagram? He never offered a single apology. And now, he skips work after being reprimanded a little!"

I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that.

Ruby and I had founded the company together. In the beginning, I worked on projects until the early hours of the morning every day to secure hundreds of key contracts—big and small—for our company.

Well, I never expected her to go out of her way to thank me for my contribution. But never had I imagined that she would dock my pay and bonuses just because I was a minute or two late to work.

She said she had to observe and implement the company policy strictly.

Ironically, Wilbur could scroll on his phone in front of her all day and post on Instagram during work hours. Sometimes, he would suddenly not show up to work for a day or two. Ruby never deducted a single cent from his pay. She even took it upon herself to make excuses for him.

Once, he had gone off to fool around somewhere and failed to show up for a deal that was worth tens of millions of dollars. Not only did Ruby not punish him, but she even comforted him afterward and pushed the blame onto me.

Astonishingly, she had complained that there was something wrong with my proposal.

"Francis, do you accept your punishment for skipping work?" Ruby asked coldly again.

I nodded and said, "Sure. I was wrong."

Wrong for not seeing her for who she really was sooner. Wrong for putting up with all this for so long just because I couldn't bear to let go of a seven-year marriage.

Ruby didn't let me finish speaking. After I admitted my mistake, her mood clearly improved.

She said, "It's great that you know you were in the wrong. I'll let it go this time, but you'll have to make up for it. I sent you the details of a project. Look through it carefully and get the proposal done before the end of the holiday."

As soon as she finished speaking, my phone chimed with a new notification.

I glanced at the screen for a second and opened the message. As expected, it was another business deal Wilbur had messed up.

Over the years, Ruby had often forced me to clean up Wilbur's mess. For the sake of the company, I worked tirelessly to salvage the ruined negotiations. I had to endure the other party's judgmental and contemptuous looks while getting the deals finalized.

But eventually, I realized something.

If I handled things well, Wilbur would take credit for securing the deal, and he would get the bonus. But if things went badly, it meant I was incompetent, and I had to compensate by paying a penalty. Funnily enough, the bonus still went to him.

I let out a faint laugh and said calmly, "I can't do it."

"What did you say?" Ruby asked, bewildered.

She hadn't expected me to refuse. She was stunned for half a second before opening her mouth, ready to lose her temper and lash out at me.

But I didn't give her the chance. I hung up immediately.

Just then, the courthouse staff walked over and handed me a stamped document.

"Your paperwork has been submitted," she said. "Please come back in three days to collect the divorce certificate."

I nodded and silently counted the days.

This long holiday would end in three days, so Ruby would likely be back by then. I wondered how she would feel when she saw the divorce certificate.

…

On the first day of waiting to collect the certificate, I went to the company to resign. While HR was processing my resignation, I looked toward the photo wall of our company's team-building events.

Among them was a photo where Ruby was smiling affectionately as she fed me a skewer of grilled meat. Someone must have captured it candidly. Even after six years, I could still remember that sweet moment.

Back then, Ruby had just decided to start the company. As her husband, I had emptied my savings and even given up my high-paying job to support her without hesitation.

She had been overjoyed. That weekend, she organized an outdoor outing and introduced me to everyone in the company.

We had just gotten married back then, and she took every opportunity to show her affection toward me. She fed me and kissed my cheek in front of everyone, drawing teasing laughter from the crowd. People joked that they were about to get cavities from how sweet we were.

When that photo was taken, Ruby loved it very much. So much so that she framed it and placed it right in the most prominent spot at the center of the photo wall.

But now, times had changed.

The center spot had been replaced by a photo of her and Wilbur toasting each other at the annual party. The photo with me had been moved to an unassuming corner. I had to search for a while just to find it.

After thinking for a moment, I reached up and took the photo down.

The HR executive, Paige Jones, happened to see this. She wanted to stop me, but when she saw which photo I had taken, she swallowed her words. She figured that since Ruby didn't even care about me anymore, she wouldn't really care that the photo was gone.

"Your resignation has been approved. Just complete the handover and you can leave," Paige said monotonously while tossing me a form.

I froze for a moment and subconsciously asked, "That fast? Has Ruby signed it already?"

I wasn't really thinking when I asked that question. It was just that Ruby usually didn't check her phone much, so it typically took about two hours for a resignation to be processed.