Harry had been waiting for this day for months. It was the morning of his big presentation, the one that could earn him a promotion and a six-figure paycheck. He was too excited to notice much else as he rushed through the house, his eyes glued to his phone, checking last-minute details.
His wife, Sara, sat at the breakfast table with their two little sons, Cody and Sonny.
“Morning, honey,” she greeted him warmly.
“Good morning, Daddy!” the boys chimed in.
But Harry barely acknowledged them. He grabbed a piece of toast and disappeared back into the bedroom.
Moments later, his frustrated voice boomed from inside. “Sara, where’s my white shirt?”
“I just put it in the wash with the other whites,” she answered casually.
“What?! I told you three days ago to wash it! I needed it for today!”
Sara sighed, trying to stay calm. “Harry, it’s just a shirt. You have plenty of other white ones. Nobody cares what you’re wearing. They’re going to be focused on your presentation.”
But Harry wasn’t in the mood for logic. He stormed into the dining room, glaring at her. “Why can’t you ever do anything right? Why do you always mess things up?”
Sara’s face flushed with anger. “Harry, stop yelling at me in the morning. I waited to do a full load of laundry. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Not the end of the world? Do you even understand how important today is for me? You sit at home all day doing NOTHING, and you can’t even remember one simple thing!”
Sara clenched her fists. “Doing nothing? Excuse me?! You think taking care of this house and raising our kids is nothing?”
Harry scoffed. “Oh, please. All you do is gossip with that friend of yours downstairs. Blah, blah, blah, all day! What exactly do you contribute, Sara?”
Sara’s hands trembled as she stood up. “That’s enough, Harry. The kids are watching. You’re scaring them.”
But Harry was too angry to stop. “And you know what? I give up. You’ll never be a good wife if you can’t even do a simple thing for me.”
With that, he grabbed a random suit, stormed out the door, and slammed it shut behind him.
The presentation went perfectly. His boss, Mr. Adams, even congratulated him. “That was one hell of a job, Harry. You nailed it.”
Harry was over the moon. He had secured his promotion. The first thing he thought about was calling Sara. She always apologized after their fights, sending cute messages with heart emojis. But today, there was nothing. No calls. No texts.
“Still mad at me, huh?” he muttered, smirking as he stopped at a florist to buy her favorite white roses.
When he arrived home, he tossed his keys onto the table. “Honey, I’m home!”
Silence.
Frowning, he searched every room. The house was empty. His heart pounded. “Sara? Cody? Sonny? Where is everyone?”
That’s when he noticed a note on the coffee table. He picked it up, his hands trembling as he read the words:
I want a divorce.
Harry sank onto the couch, his head spinning. “This… This has to be a joke.”
He dialed Sara’s number. No answer.
Desperate, he called her sister, Zara. “Hey, is Sara with you? I just got home, and she’s not—”
“Harry, she’s in the hospital.”
“The hospital?! What happened?!”
Zara hung up before he could ask more questions. Harry bolted out the door, hailing a taxi. The ride to the hospital felt like an eternity. As soon as he arrived, he spotted Zara.
“Where is she? What happened? Is she okay?” he demanded.
Zara crossed her arms. “Oh, now you care? You did this to her, Harry. She collapsed because of stress. Because of YOU.”
Harry swallowed hard and rushed to the doctor. “Is my wife okay? Can I see her?”
“She’s stable now,” the doctor reassured him. “She had a panic attack. But she needs to rest. You can see her for ten minutes.”
Harry entered the hospital room cautiously. Sara looked at him with cold, tired eyes.
“Hey, I… Look, I know I messed up, but—”
She cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m done, Harry. I want a divorce.”
“Sara, no. You don’t mean that. We can fix this. Please—”
“Fix this? Harry, I buried my own dreams to support yours. I was top of my class in college. I had job offers in New York. And what did I choose? I chose YOU. And you have the audacity to say I do nothing?”
“I was frustrated, okay? I didn’t mean it!”
“No, Harry. You meant every word. And I mean mine. I want out.”
Harry believed she just needed time to cool down. But days passed. Then weeks. Then months.
One day, he returned home from work and noticed something odd. The fresh scent of Sara’s perfume lingered in the air. He walked into their bedroom. Her clothes, shoes, and personal belongings—gone. Every trace of her had vanished.
“She really left me,” he whispered.
His phone rang. It was Sara.
“Harry, can we meet?” she said. “At the café where we first met.”
At the café, Sara looked different. Stronger. More confident.
“I’ve been in therapy,” she said. “I’m back in Boston now. I have a job as an interior designer. And… I want custody of the kids.”
Harry’s face turned pale. “Custody? Are you serious? After you abandoned them? You don’t deserve them!”
“I love them, Harry. And I’m taking this to court.”
The courtroom was tense. Harry had become a hands-on father, but he had also lost his job due to stress. Sara, now emotionally stable, had a solid career. In the end, the judge granted her custody.
“Daddy, are we not going to live as one happy family like before?” Cody asked tearfully as he packed his things.
Harry hugged them tight. “It’s okay, little fellas… It’s okay.”
Sara hesitated. Then, in a moment of raw emotion, she ran back and embraced them too. She met Harry’s eyes, searching for something unspoken between them.
Had they truly moved on? Or was there still something left to rebuild?
Lesson learned: Never take your loved ones for granted. Harry and Sara’s love was buried under misunderstanding and neglect. A relationship needs mutual respect and open communication, or it can crumble, no matter how much love is there.
