Never Meet Again in the Next Life

For the ninth time, the tabloids caught my wife nestled in the arms of another man. Furious over the intimate photos plastered all over the internet, she directed her rage at me, landing a stinging slap across my cheek. "I told you Jace and I were discussing a script in that hotel room," she spat, her eyes blazing. "I explicitly told you to keep watch outside and look out for paparazzi. How can you be so utterly useless?" She pointed a manicured finger at my chest. "You better fix this mess immediately. Jace is the top idol our agency just debuted. He cannot afford a single scandal." I slowly raised a hand to my burning, swollen cheek. My voice came out startlingly calm. "Let us get a divorce." "Once we are divorced, you two won't have to sneak around anymore. And he won't be branded with the ugly reputation of seducing a married woman." Natalie let out a sharp, mocking laugh. A look of pure contempt twisted her beautiful features. "Arthur, have I been too lenient with you?" "You think you have grown some backbone, daring to demand a divorce from me?" "You eat my food. You spend my money. If it weren't for me, you would still be a pathetic security guard rotting at a front gate!" "Have you gotten so comfortable in your life of luxury that you forgot who you really are?" She crossed her arms, glaring down at me. "Fine. You want a divorce? I will grant it. But you leave with absolutely nothing. You will not get a single cent of my fortune!" 1 Inside our sprawling home, Natalie threw the printed divorce papers right at my face. She had just printed them out. Her expression was dripping with disdain. "You are the one who asked for this. I am not forcing you!" "Did you really think a cheap stunt like this would threaten me, Arthur?" "Have I treated you so well lately that you actually believed you had the upper hand?" "If you have any guts at all, sign it. Do not dawdle and make me look down on you even more." She looked so incredibly certain of herself, her face radiating arrogant mockery. I looked back at her. She felt like a total stranger. The Natalie standing before me was a completely different person from the woman I had fallen in love with all those years ago. The only constant in this world is the fickleness of the human heart. At this very moment, the true weight of that phrase finally crushed me. I picked up a pen and signed the papers. I kept one copy and handed the other back to her. Natalie froze. A fleeting flicker of panic crossed her eyes. She clearly had not anticipated that I would actually put my name on the dotted line. I kept my voice perfectly steady. "The papers are signed. There is a mandatory thirty day waiting period. Once the month is over, we will go to the courthouse and make it official." "I am moving out today. I will pack my things and be out of your hair." "If you want to bring Jace here, that is your business now. Just be careful not to get caught by the cameras again." "Endure it for one more month and you will be completely free. Even if you want to marry him after that, nobody will have a right to judge you." Natalie took a few ragged breaths. My calm demeanor seemed to infuriate her even more. She let out a cold, sarcastic sneer. "I do not believe for a second you actually want to leave me!" "Everything you possess right now is because of me." "The moment you walk out that door, you are nothing." "It is easy to go from rags to riches, but impossible to go back to the gutter. I highly doubt you can so easily throw away this life of wealth and privilege." "If you want to leave, I won't stop you." "I will give you one month. I expect you to come crawling back, begging on your knees for my forgiveness!" Without waiting for my reply, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the house. I stared at the divorce papers on the table. My eyes stung. My nose felt incredibly raw. I wanted to cry. But I had no tears left to shed. Natalie used to be my guiding light during my darkest days. Her presence alone gave me the courage to face life again. Back then, we were inseparable. I honestly believed God was finally smiling down on me. Yet, a few years into our marriage, her patience with me began to erode. Countless times, I caught her in the arms of other men, drinking and laughing the night away. I used to confront her, fighting with her out of pure heartbreak and anger. Every single time, she would roll her eyes in sheer annoyance. "Arthur, do you not understand how networking functions?" "I am a top tier producer in the entertainment industry. If I actually wanted to mess around, I could have any man I desire. Why would I have bothered marrying you?" "I told you from the start. We are married, but you do not get to restrict my freedom or interfere with my career." "Can you please grow up? Stop being so suffocating and petty." Time and time again, she trampled all over my boundaries. In her eyes, I was so hopelessly dependent on her that I would never leave. That was why she felt so emboldened to flaunt her intimate affairs in public. Did she really not understand that love is never a one sided sacrifice? She definitely understood. She simply did not care. I was exhausted. I refused to drag out a toxic relationship that left me bruised and bleeding. Even if leaving her meant losing everything I had, I could not stomach another day as her pathetic shadow. Natalie, I am setting you free. And I am finally freeing myself. 2 I was an orphan. I never knew my biological parents or if they were even alive. My foster parents were poor but incredibly kind to me. When I graduated middle school, they perished in a tragic accident. Their greedy relatives immediately swooped in and seized the meager estate, tossing me out onto the streets. I drifted. I worked in sweatshops and delivered takeout in the pouring rain, doing whatever it took to keep myself fed. But fate seemed to hold a personal grudge against me. A severe illness struck me down. I spent half a month confined to a hospital bed. Not only did it drain every penny of my savings, but it also buried me under a mountain of medical debt. Discharged and utterly devoid of hope, I stumbled upon a hiring notice for security guards at Crescent Hill Estates. Blessed with a decent build and a clean face, I landed the job easily. And then, I met Natalie. She was three years older than me, a wealthy resident of the estate who drove a flashy sports car. My younger colleagues and I used to sit around the guardhouse, daydreaming. "Man, if a gorgeous rich woman like her took a liking to me, I would gladly shave twenty years off my lifespan!" "I heard a story about a handsome guard who got picked up by a millionaire. She gave him a massive allowance, a luxury car, and a mansion. Dude hit the jackpot just by having a nice face." "Yeah, but I also heard that woman was pushing fifty. When her crazy son found out, he hired thugs to break the guy's legs and ruin his face." "Playing with the rich is a gamble. You might just lose your life." Young men always harbor unrealistic fantasies about an easy life. I never expected my idle daydream to morph into reality. Late one night, walking back to my cramped rental after a grueling shift, I found Natalie completely intoxicated. She was hunched beside her sports car, violently throwing up. When she tried to stand, her legs buckled. A group of shady men was circling her like vultures. She slurred curses at them, but they grabbed her arms, whispering aggressively. Seeing this, I did not hesitate. I sprinted forward. With a few precise punches and kicks, I sent the thugs crashing to the pavement. I initially thought they were trying to take advantage of a drunk woman in the dark. It turned out they were sleazy paparazzi trying to extort celebrity secrets from her in her vulnerable state. Once the paparazzi scattered, Natalie slumped against the car door, dead to the world. I had no idea how much she had consumed. No matter how much I shook her or called her name, she remained unresponsive. I could not leave her alone on a dangerous street corner. I fished her keys out of her designer purse, unlocked the doors, and gently settled her into the backseat. I slid into the driver's seat and navigated the roaring sports car back to Crescent Hill Estates. The other guards' jaws practically hit the floor when they saw me rolling through the gates with the incapacitated heiress. I carried her inside. The sheer opulence of her mansion left me breathless. But I only admired it from afar. I harbored no ulterior motives. Having lived over two decades feeling cursed by the heavens, I never craved immense wealth. I only wanted a warm meal and a roof over my head. I tucked the sleeping Natalie into her plush bed and quietly slipped out into the night. The moment I returned to my tiny apartment, the loan sharks cornered me at my door. Several burly men glared at me, cracking their knuckles. Their leader, a blonde punk with a scarred brow, spoke with icy precision. "Arthur, your payment is three months overdue." "I know times are tough, but business is business. You owe fifty thousand dollars. With the pathetic wage you make as a guard, when exactly are you going to clear this debt?" "Take my advice. Drop this ridiculous pride of yours. In this world, people laugh at the poor, not the escorts. A lack of cash can break the strongest of men." "Brenda made an offer. Keep her company for a month, and she wipes your debt clean." "Opportunities like this do not come twice." "Cash in on your youth. Spend a few years pleasing rich women, and you will never have to worry about rent again." Brenda was a notoriously wealthy, bad tempered woman in her fifties. She had a reputation for keeping young companions, and an even darker reputation for how terribly they ended up. Because I couldn't afford my hospital bills, I had taken out a high interest loan. Just as they pointed out, my meager salary would never cover the ballooning interest. Was I really going to sink this low? Was I going to sell my dignity, my own body, just to satisfy the sickening desires of a wealthy predator? I did not sleep a wink that night. When dawn broke, I dragged my exhausted body to work, fully intending to hand in my resignation. But when I arrived at the guardhouse, Natalie was already there, waiting for me. She looked at me with a peculiar expression. She asked if I wanted to be her personal bodyguard and driver. When she found out about the crippling medical debt weighing me down, she generously wrote a check and cleared it instantly. From that day forward, I became the ultimate legend in the guards' group chat. Over time, Natalie and I grew closer. Our relationship naturally blossomed, leading us to the altar. People whispered that I was the luckiest bastard alive. Their eyes burned with envy and spite. I never cared. I saw Natalie as the singular light of my existence, treating her with an almost religious reverence. My love for her was saturated with deep gratitude and total humility. Without her, I would have been swallowed whole by the abyss. I truly believed the heavens had finally shown me mercy. Only after a few years of marriage did I realize the happiness I clung to was just a cruel, elaborate joke. 3 I packed my clothes and dragged my suitcase out the front door. I planned to stay at a hotel for the time being. But when I handed my card to the receptionist, she gave me an awkward, pitying look. "Sir, it appears your card has been frozen." I froze, but the realization hit me instantly. Natalie had cut me off. The premium card was a supplementary one she had issued to me. I had used it for all my daily expenses over the years. I checked my digital wallet on my phone. My personal balance hovered around a pathetic fifty dollars. If I paid for this room, I would be broke by tomorrow morning. Under the receptionist's uncomfortable gaze, I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and walked back out into the street. I eventually found a cheap youth hostel. For a few dollars a night, I secured a bunk in a crowded dormitory. Since Natalie had frozen my accounts, I figured my position at her company was also history. Right on cue, my phone rang. The HR director’s voice was devoid of any professional courtesy. "Arthur, come to the office. Pack your garbage and get out." Before I could even formulate a reply, the line went dead. Even though I fully expected to be fired, hearing the sheer contempt in his voice made a heavy sigh escape my lips. For years, I stood loyally by Natalie's side, managing countless crises for her entertainment agency. I never took a single paycheck from the company. It belonged to my wife, so I gave my blood, sweat, and tears willingly, without keeping score. But the moment I was so casually discarded, I realized how incredibly foolish my devotion had been. I remembered the early days, sitting with ruthless entertainment investors. They demanded Natalie drink two full bottles of hard liquor before they would even glance at her proposal. I stepped up, risking alcohol poisoning, and downed every last drop to protect her. It was exactly because of sacrifices like that that her company gained a solid foothold in the industry and expanded into an empire. I held the title of Vice President. Though the employees treated me with surface level respect, they snickered behind my back, claiming I slept my way to the top. I used to ignore their toxic whispers. But now, I no longer had a place in that building. I had no desire to linger and be the subject of their cruel gossip. When I stepped into the lobby, the employees stared at me with bizarre expressions, whispering openly. "Natalie posted those sweet photos hugging Jace yesterday, and Arthur is actually just taking it!" "He is just a gold digger. Word is he used to be a dirty security guard. He got lucky marrying the boss." "Calling it a marriage is generous. He is basically a stray dog Natalie took in." "The boss has been linked to half a dozen young idols over the years. This loser is probably used to the humiliation by now." "Look at all those green hats he is wearing. I cannot believe he hasn't snapped!"