“I’d fall into these low moods sometimes, and whenever that happened, my mind went straight to my first love—the woman I could never quite forget. So I reached out. Turned out, she’d gotten divorced and was pregnant, with nowhere to go. I figured I could help her out. I swear, cheating never even crossed my mind. I just thought, I’ve done well for myself, maybe I can do something good for an old classmate in a tough spot. That’s it. I offered her one of my apartments to stay in, but she was stubborn—didn’t want to take anything for free. So I found her a job instead. Since she was pregnant, I kept her close and made her my secretary.”
“When your mom found out, she created a scene that would put a hurricane to shame. She demanded I fire the secretary and kick her out of the apartment. I thought your mother was being unreasonable and cold-hearted, so in a fit of anger, I threw out the word ‘divorce.’”
At this point, the old man paused, looking as if he’d swallowed something sharp. His face twisted with regret and pain.
“I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to scare her—you know, get her to back down. Never thought she’d really shut me out. After that, she stopped arguing altogether. I figured she’d given in, and honestly, I felt a little smug, like I’d finally figured out how to keep her in check.”
“After that, I ran the house like a king. I saw her silence as weakness, never realizing that every time I pushed her, I was burning through the last of the love she had for me.”
“Then came her birthday. I was on a business trip with my secretary. The deal overseas went off without a hitch, and I thought I was on top of the world. To celebrate, I took my secretary up the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t think much of it. But that was the last straw for your mom. She was done pretending. When I got home, her lawyer handed me divorce papers.”


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