When Love Wore Thin

Unraveling

Chapter 5

(Richard's POV)

I did not go home that night.

I drove aimlessly through London, the city lights blurring past, my mind racing. Evelyn's words kept repeating in my head, sharp and cutting, impossible to ignore. Divorce... She wanted a divorce.

It was absurd and ridiculous. We had been married for eight years. We had a daughter together. She could not just decide to throw that away because I had been busy with work. That was what marriage was, was it not? Compromise and Sacrifice. She knew what she was signing up for when she married a surgeon.

But even as I tried to justify it, something uncomfortable twisted in my chest. The look on her face when she handed me those papers. The way her voice shook, not with anger, but with finality. She was not bluffing. She was serious.

I ended up at the hospital, because I always did. It was the one place that made sense, where everything had rules and order. I scrubbed in for an emergency surgery, a valve replacement that took four hours. I lost myself in the precision of it, the rhythm of the operating room. Here, I was in control. Here, I knew exactly what to do.

But when it was over, when I stripped off my gloves and walked out into the empty hallway, the silence hit me again. And I thought of Evelyn, sitting in our house, waiting for me to come home. Except she was not waiting anymore.

I checked my phone. No messages from her. I hesitated, then typed out a text.

"You're unbelievable, Evelyn. Come home."

I hit send and waited. She did not respond.

I went to the on-call room and lay down, but I could not sleep. I kept thinking about the suitcase by the stairs, the divorce papers on the table, the way she had looked at me like I was a stranger. No, worse than a stranger. Like I was someone she used to know and no longer wanted to.

The next morning, I went home expecting to find her there. Maybe she had calmed down, maybe she had realized how impractical this all was. But when I walked through the door, the house was too quiet.

"Evelyn?" I called out.

No answer.

I went upstairs. The bedroom was half empty. Her clothes were gone, her toiletries missing from the bathroom. I stood there, staring at the empty closet, and for the first time, I felt something close to panic.

She had really left.

I pulled out my phone and called her. It rang and rang, then went to voicemail. I tried again. Same result. I sent her a message.

"Where are you? Where is Victoria?"

No response.

I called Sarah. She answered on the third ring, her voice was neutral.

"Mr. Richard."

"Where is Evelyn?"

There was a pause. "She did not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"She moved out, sir. She and Miss Victoria. They are staying somewhere else now."

I felt my jaw tighten. "Where?"

"I do not think it is my place to say."

"Sarah, she is my wife. Tell me where she is."

"She asked me not to, sir. I am sorry."

She hung up, and I stood there, furious and helpless. How dare she? How dare Evelyn just take our daughter and leave without even telling me where they were going?

I tried calling her again. Voicemail. I sent another message, then another. Nothing.

I went to the hospital, but I could not focus. I snapped at the nurses, lost my patience with a resident who asked a simple question. Emmanuel noticed.

"Richard, what is going on with you today?"

"Nothing," I said curtly.

He raised an eyebrow. "You have been checking your phone every five minutes. That is not nothing."

I did not answer. I did not know how to explain that my wife had left me and I had no idea where she was.

That afternoon, Mirabel found me in my office. She knocked lightly on the door before stepping inside.

"Richard, do you have a moment?"

I looked up from my computer, distracted. "What is it?"

She hesitated, then closed the door behind her. "I heard about what happened. With Evelyn."

My whole body went rigid. "What did you hear?"

"That she left. That she is filing for divorce."

I did not ask how she knew. Hospital gossip traveled faster than anything else. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples.

"It is a misunderstanding. She will come back."

Mirabel sat down across from me with a serious expression. "Richard, can I be honest with you?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"I do not think she is coming back."

I looked at her sharply. "You do not know that."

"I saw the way she looked at you yesterday when you brought Victoria to the event. She looked... broken. Like she had already given up."

"She is being dramatic," I said, but the words sounded hollow even to me.

Mirabel shook her head slowly. "I do not think so. I think she is done. And honestly, Richard, I do not blame her."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you have been treating her like she is invisible for years. I have seen it. Everyone has seen it. And now she is finally standing up for herself, and you are acting like she is the one being unreasonable."

I stood, anger flaring. "You do not know anything about my marriage."

"You are right. I do not. But I know what I have seen. And I know that if you do not do something soon, you are going to lose her for good."

She left before I could respond, and I stood there, her words echoing in my head. Treating her like she is invisible. Was that what I had been doing?

I thought about the last few months. The dinners I missed. The conversations I cut short. The way I barely looked at her when I came home. I told myself it was because I was busy, because I had important work to do. But the truth was, I had stopped trying. I had stopped seeing her as anything more than part of the background of my life.

And now she is gone.

I sat down at my desk and opened my phone. I scrolled through our messages, months of one-sided conversations. She asking when I would be home. Me saying I would be late. She asking if I wanted dinner. Me saying not to wait up. Over and over, the same pattern.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the last time I had really looked at her. The last time I had asked how she was, what she needed, if she was happy. I could not.

My phone buzzed. For a second, I thought it might be Evelyn, but it was just a notification from the hospital. I set it down and stared at the wall.

What had I done?