She Played Dead for Love, I Became the Heir

My wife mentioned she’d need to work late tonight.

I thought I’d surprise her by dropping off her favorite macarons at the office.

But as I approached the door, I overheard her laughing with her male assistant:

“Babe, I really wanna go to Hawaii with you.”

“Worried your husband’ll find out? Simple. Just tell him you’ve got cancer and need overseas treatment. We’ll have our fun and come back whenever we feel like it.”

I played it cool and left without a word.

At daybreak, my wife came home. The second she saw me, tears started rolling down her cheeks:

“Honey, the company did health screenings today. They found me get breast cancer. Stage four.”

“I don’t want to be a burden. Let’s get a divorce.”

I stared at Claire, frozen in place for what felt like an eternity.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.

My wife was actually cheating on me with her male assistant.

From our wedding day onwards, Claire had always seemed perfect—beautiful and upstanding.

Maybe she had her reasons?

What if her assistant was blackmailing her? What if she had no choice but to go along with it?

I must be overcomplicating things.

I took a deep breath and pulled her close.

“Honey, we’re married. We made vows—for better or worse, in sickness and in health. We promised to stick together no matter what.”

“I don’t care what illness you have. I’m not leaving you, no matter what happens!”

Claire suddenly pushed me away.

“Jason, can you just face reality here?”

“I have cancer! Stage four!”

“I don’t have much time left.”

“Just think of this as granting my last wish before I die.”

“Please?”

Tears streamed down her face. Seeing her cry like that tore me apart.

Under these circumstances, I couldn’t bring myself to argue. Instead, I pulled her back into my arms, my voice tight with emotion. “Honey, what do you need me to do?”

“Whatever you need, I’ll do it without hesitation.”

Claire stopped sobbing. She looked up, her hands cupping my face, eyes red and puffy. “I wasn’t actually working late tonight,” she said softly.

“Then why’d you come home so late?”

“My assistant was consoling me. He mentioned there’s a new laser therapy overseas that can eliminate 99.99% of cancer cells.”

“I wasn’t sure if it was legitimate, so I met with him in person to get more details.”

Hearing the word “assistant” made my suspicions deepen.

My wife’s new male assistant was young and good-looking.

She was always comparing me to him, teasing me about being an old man.

I never called her out on it or questioned her.

Instead, I played along. “And what did you find out?”

“He said it’s real, but expensive. I want to use the money from our joint account for treatment. Even if there’s the smallest chance, I don’t want to give up.”

“Honey, you’ll support me, won’t you?”