LEAVING MY EX FOR HIS UNCLE

Mateo

Mateo

Despite my efforts to deescalate this situation, Luz only made it harder. I knew she was hurting, but I just couldn’t let her go. Not like this.

“Let go!” She yelled, staring at me with disgust, but her struggles were futile.

I still wanted to work this out, so I tightened my grip around her waist.

I’d never seen her so unhinged before, and quite frankly, I felt terrified to lose her now.

Luz continued struggling, tossing and kicking her legs, trying to break free. However, all this managed to do was raise a dark sensation in me. I don’t know why, but being this close to her right now, I felt an unexplainable rush of desire.

“Get off me!” Her voice echoed loudly again, and before I could react she bit me, struggling even more fiercely.

I tried to ignore her, thinking that I could just get her to calm down. But then her voice started breaking, closing her eyes in despair,

“I hate you!”

Those words twisted a painful knot in my stomach, and I suddenly halted, fully realizing how tormented she was.

Seeing her filled with pain and despair like a fragile doll caused me to rethink my actions. I wanted her so desperately and thought we could make out and fix this like every other time, but this time was different.

Something at the back of my mind told me that if I got that thing I wanted now, it would be the end of us.

I stared at her face, eyes still closed, and felt dejected. After several seconds, my hands slowly loosened from her waist. I slowly let go of her, got off the bed, and left the room quickly.

***

A few days passed and I still could not return home. I knew she needed some time.

I thought that if she had enough of it, she would remember every good thing we shared and reconsider this divorce, but her endless calls and texts about the divorce proved otherwise.

During the weekend, I finally made up my mind to see her again.

After I arrived at the house, I found her in the living room, typing on her computer as if her life depended on it, and I drew closer.

Suddenly she caught my gaze and her previous frustrated expression darkened into something I hadn’t seen before – hate.

We stared at each other silently until she broke the silence, closing her laptop and standing up calmly.

“Since you’re here now, let’s talk about the divorce.”

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this, “I won’t divorce you, Luz. Now can we put this behind us already, the family dinner is tonight.”

She let out a soft chuckle, folding her arms across her chest, “I’m not going. I won’t be going anywhere with you anymore.”

Hearing this, I quickly became impatient, tired of her antics, “How long are you going to keep this up?”

Luz scoffed again, “That’s the thing about you Mateo, you don’t know when to stop. How do I say this any differently? We are done, so maybe you should call Juliana and ask her to go with you. All I need from you now is a divorce.”

At this point, my patience was running thin. I had come here, hoping we could talk this out like reasonable adults, not to hear more of this s**t.

“Divorce?” I chuckled at the mention of it.

“You haven’t worked a single day since we got married. How are you going to fend for yourself? Do you even remember what it’s like to actually do any work? And what about your father’s large medical bills? Can you afford those? Can you afford to be on your own?”

“You’re not a kid anymore Luz, it’s time for you to grow up and actually handle situations like an adult!”

“Tell me Mateo…” she interjected softly.

“When you were sneaking around and cheating on your wife, did you handle that like an adult?”

Her words left me speechless. I’d done everything to make her see that I still wanted her as my wife, but sometimes it was hard to resist the temptation. But that didn’t mean I cared for her any less.

“If being an adult means tolerating your infidelity, then I’m sorry I don’t want to be. I’m not the right person for that, maybe you should find someone else. I’ll send over the divorce papers in the morning, I expect you to sign them.” She said and turned to walk away.

I stood there, frozen in place, not sure what to do, but just then the words suddenly escaped my lips,

“Don’t force me to cut off your father’s medical expenses Luz.”

She suddenly stopped midstride and slowly turned towards me, her eyes a mix of anger, disappointment, and bitterness.

She looked at me as if she could see right through me. Like I was some selfish and condescending person.

“You wouldn’t dare.” She sneered angrily.

I took out my phone, hoping to prove a point and scare her off this divorce, “Then don’t make me. With one call I can have the doctors stop your father’s treatment.”

She stared at me with a bitter expression, almost as if she could not recognize the man she once loved. It broke my heart to see her look at me that way.

Those brown eyes that were filled with warmth and joy were now replaced by something darker, something sinister, but I had to keep her, even if that meant hitting her where I knew she wouldn’t have any other choice than to comply.

“We are going to the family dinner and we’ll forget about all of this. We’ll deal with it when we’re back.

Before I could respond, he added,

“Go change your clothes, and before you say anything, remember, I’m the one who has been sponsoring your father’s treatment and provided for you. Everything you have is because of me. Do well to remember that.”

Luz stood there, staring at me with pure disgust. I could tell by the look on her face that I wasn’t a shining example of decency right now.

She probably thought the worst of me - that I’d been hiding who I was all along. And honestly, I couldn’t blame her for it.

Right now I looked like nothing more than an arrogant, manipulative jerk. But what choice did I have? I had to be this person if I wanted to save my marriage.