I took a week off from my wife to go out with a coworker because I was sick of taking care of my disabled wife and annoyed that she had to deal with me every night for a year.
However, as soon as I opened the door on the day I got back…
My wife had an acc:ident over a year ago. She went from being a capable and energetic woman to being bedridden. I worked and took care of her from that day on, doing laundry, cooking, and bathing. We were merely two silent bodies as we slept together at night.
I’m a young, healthy man, and I was suffocating with the accumulation of my demands and desires. However, I was scared to discuss it for fear of criticism. until Isabel, a girl from the company, began to show interest in me, treat me with kindness, and whisper lovely things to me every night.
I fell for it without knowing it. Under the guise of a business trip, I left my wife home alone for a week, without even asking her how she was.
It was raining the day I got back. The house seemed unusually quiet when I opened the door and stepped inside. I was thinking only on “how to lie the best way.”
However, I froze as soon as I switched on the light in the living room.
In front of me sat my wife in a wheelchair, with my parents, my in-laws, and the nurse we had hired seated next to her.
A phone, a USB flash drive, and a pile of pictures captured by a covert camera were all on the table, detailing his activities throughout the previous seven days.
Nobody spoke. With a sigh, my mother and father-in-law departed in silence. And my wife said, in a clear yet raspy voice:
—You are free to leave. I don’t need a husband who is just flesh and no soul from now on.
I stepped back, my hands shaking, and stumbled, “Can you… can you stand up now?”
She smiled bitterly. For the past two months, I have been working on my standing technique. I simply didn’t anticipate that you would be the one in need of crutches.
