Spring Breeze No More

1 Valerie had just stepped into the bathroom when her iPad screen lit up on the nightstand. An iMessage preview popped up. Devin: What cheesy line did he send you today? Forward it over quickly, I need a good laugh. I reached out and unlocked the screen. The pinned conversation at the top was not mine. It was Devin. At the top of the chat box sat a screenshot of a text I had sent Valerie earlier that afternoon. Me: A student in class today told me my smile felt really warm. My first reaction was actually wanting to tell you right away. Directly below it was Valerie’s caption to Devin. Valerie: Look at this. Typical desperate puppy behavior. Every single day, reporting every useless little thing to me. Devin: Lmao, crying over tiny nonsense. A grown man with zero ambition! Valerie: Seriously. He has no real talent anyway, I only married him for peace of mind. My heart stopped for a fraction of a second. The love I thought we shared was nothing more than material for her to mock alongside another man. Valerie, my love will never flow toward you again. … I sat on the edge of the bed, my thumb trembling as I kept scrolling through the screen. There was a selfie I had sent Valerie. I was wearing a grey apron with flour smudged across my cheek, taken while I was baking her a birthday cake from scratch. I remembered telling her that day: Wife, this cake is as sweet as you. Valerie had forwarded that exact photo to Devin. Valerie: God save me, this is a total aesthetic disaster. Devin: How do you even manage to put your mouth on him? Valerie: It is all the same once the lights are off anyway. At worst, I just go gag in the bathroom afterward. My fingers went completely numb. The sound of running water in the bathroom ceased. I immediately locked the iPad and placed it back in its exact spot on the nightstand. The door swung open. Valerie walked out, drying her hair with a towel, wearing a lace nightgown. She sauntered over, wrapping her arms around me from behind, resting her cheek against my back. "Babe, I am ovulating today." Her hands slid around my waist, unbuttoning my shirt. Instinctively, I pulled away. Valerie paused, her brow knotting. "What is wrong?" I leaned over, picked up her robe from the bed, and handed it to her before stepping around her to sit at the desk. "I am exhausted. We had a long school event today." Valerie stared at me for two long seconds before dropping the subject. She climbed into bed, flicking off the bedside lamp on her side. Turning her back to me, she began typing on her phone. I climbed onto my side of the bed, listening to her breathing grow heavy and slow. When the clock struck one in the morning, I quietly slipped out of bed. I slid the iPad from under her pillow and crept out to the living room. Sitting on the sofa, I opened that chat window, scrolling all the way back to the beginning. The timeline started a year and a half ago. Back then, we were not married yet. She had just transferred to her current corporate firm, suffocating under heavy pressure and constant overtime. I cooked meals for her every day, waiting downstairs to drive her home and keeping her company through late night projects. She had taken a screenshot of a text I sent back then, which read: Do not push yourself too hard, I brewed some warm soup for you. She had forwarded it straight to Devin. Valerie: A twenty-four-seven house husband type. Pity he is as bland as a wooden board with zero romance. He cannot say anything beyond basic domestic fluff. Devin: Sounds like great husband material though, zero drama. Valerie: Yeah, safe. But my heart craves excitement. I am genuinely getting suffocated by him. So she had married me for stability. Not love. I kept scrolling. The first time I tried on my wedding tuxedo, I sent her a photo asking if I looked alright. She had replied to me: So handsome, my husband is the most handsome man in the world. Then she immediately forwarded the photo to Devin. Valerie: The studio photographer went insane with Photoshop. Devin: Even with heavy edits, your husband looks pretty average. How did you settle on him? Valerie: I was in a low spot back then, he stuck around, so I just settled. Staring at the word "settled," my stomach twisted into a painful knot. I opened the media attachments in the chat. Inside were private, intimate photos I had sent her. Photos that were never meant for anyone else's eyes. I had shared them with my wife out of complete, unconditional trust. She had forwarded every single one to Devin. Devin: Damn, he actually has an eight-pack. You must be enjoying yourself. Valerie: Please, compared to you, he falls way short. I took screenshots of every single conversation, emailing them to my personal inbox one by one. My hands shook uncontrollably, but my fingers never stopped tapping the screen. By four in the morning, I returned to the bedroom and placed the iPad back where it belonged. Valerie rolled over in her sleep, mumbling softly, "Babe, why are you still awake?" I offered no answer, standing in the dark, looking down at her with cold indifference. She did not wake up. I laid back down, staring at the ceiling until dawn broke. 2 The next morning, Valerie sat at the dining table eating breakfast as usual. I had fried eggs and toasted bread, setting the plate down in front of her. She lifted her head to look at me. "What is up with you today? You seem to be in a terrible mood." My hand holding the milk carton paused for a fraction of a second. In the past, every single morning, I would smile and say: Good morning, I hope my wife has a wonderful day. She would rarely offer much back, usually just a quiet nod, yet that alone used to make my whole day bright. I pushed the glass of milk toward her. "Nothing." Valerie took a bite of her toast. "First thing in the morning, what wire crossed in your brain? What are you throwing an attitude for?" I sat across from her, taking a slow sip of milk. "I am not throwing an attitude. I am feeling just fine." She set her glass down with a sharp thud. "Jonah, you have been acting off since last night. Out with it, how exactly did I offend you?" I lifted my eyes to meet hers. "You are the one acting strange, actually noticing my mood for once." Valerie frowned tightly. "Stop being sarcastic. If something is on your mind, say it." I placed my phone flat on the table, displaying the very first screenshot I had taken the night before. The text I sent her: A student in class today said my smile was really warm. My first reaction was actually wanting to tell you right away. Directly beneath it was her message to Devin: Every single day, reporting every useless little thing to me. Valerie's expression froze instantly, before darkening into sheer anger. "You dared snoop through my private phone?" I replied quietly, "Should you not explain this first?" "I am asking you, what gives you the right to illegally pry into my private chats?" I let out a soft, cold laugh. "I looked at your iPad. It had no password, so I viewed it in plain sight." Valerie threw her toast back onto the plate. "Jonah, do you have any concept of privacy, boundaries, or personal space?" I did not even bother wasting an expression on her. "I should be asking you that question. My private messages and my intimate photos were forwarded to another man for review. What do you call that behavior?" Valerie stood up, her chair scraping harshly against the floor. "Do not twist the topic! It is your own fault for being nosy. If you had not snooped, you would never have known, and we would not be having this conversation!" She reached out, attempting to snatch my phone off the table. I took a step back, slipping the phone into my bag. "Do not touch it." Valerie's hand hovered in midair. "Jonah, you look genuinely disgusting right now." I looked her dead in the eyes. "As disgusting as I look, it does not hold a candle to what you did." She pulled at her sleeves, her voice rising. "I was just venting casually to a friend! Do you need to blow this out of proportion? Just because you have no friends does not mean I am forbidden from having them!" "Venting with my private photos?" Valerie went silent for a brief second. Then, she spoke with icy detachment. "If you insist on bringing this up to start a fight, the only person left humiliated will be you." I said nothing more. Because in that moment, I realized she was not unaware of the pain she caused. She simply believed I did not even possess the right to be angry. A cold war lasted for three full days. I stopped sharing any part of my daily life with her. On the third evening, Valerie returned from work holding a designer shopping bag. I was sitting on the sofa preparing lesson plans. She tossed the bag directly onto the cushion beside me. "I bought this for you." I opened it up. Inside was a scarf from a clearance rack, the price tag still attached. Nineteen dollars. Once, I had liked a cashmere scarf that cost eighty dollars, but she had dismissed it instantly, saying, "Why does an elementary school teacher need something so expensive? Kids will just ruin it with sticky hands." Yet, in her chat logs with Devin, I had seen her purchase a five-hundred-dollar designer cologne for him. Devin had asked: Won't your husband get mad if he finds out? Valerie had replied: He is a clueless idiot, he knows nothing about luxury. I placed the scarf back into the paper bag. "Return it." Valerie paused her movement of unbuckling her watch. "Jonah, do not push this too far. I bought you a gift, so drop the attitude. Adults need to know when to stop." I closed my notebook. "And what exactly counts as stopping?" She sat across from me, her face laced with deep impatience. "You are usually way too clingy. What is wrong with me venting a little to a friend?" I stared at her. "How about I take photos of you before you put on makeup, videos of you crying over missed promotions, or clips of you kneeling by the toilet throwing up drunk, and send them to my female colleagues to enjoy? How would you feel about that?" Valerie's face darkened completely. "You would not dare." I said, "So you understand that it is wrong." She picked up a glass of water, taking a quick sip. "Jonah, whether you can get over this or not, it already happened. Saying all this now is completely useless. Are we going to live our lives or not?" My tone remained entirely serene. "No, we are not." Valerie let out a cold scoff, turning around and walking into the bedroom. Before she slammed the door shut, a sharp sentence echoed from inside. "You are completely unhinged and impossible to talk to." 3 The next afternoon, just as I finished grading student assignments, my phone vibrated in my pocket. A friend request notification popped up. Verification note: Hey man, it's Devin. I wanted to talk to you. I hesitated for a few seconds before hitting accept. He sent his first message almost instantly. Devin: Hey man, don't misunderstand Valerie and me. We are just casual chat buddies. I did not reply. He kept typing. Devin: I don't really know why she forwarded your texts to me, maybe she just views me as one of the guys. Devin: Women, you know how they are. Most of them just like to talk big. Devin: Valerie told me she really likes how innocent you are, even if you are a bit boring and lack romance. Devin: Honestly, I kind of envy you. Your overall background is pretty average, yet you managed to marry such an accomplished woman. I stood by the back door of the classroom. The children were quietly solving math problems while the air conditioner hummed softly. I typed my response. Me: Did you add me just to say this? Devin replied within seconds. Devin: Not at all, I just wanted to clear things up. Please don't fight with her because of me. Her current work project is at a critical stage, her mood cannot be disrupted. Me: In what capacity are you trying to manage my wife's emotions? Me: Also, if an average guy like me could marry an accomplished woman, why couldn't you? Is it because you fall even shorter than I do? The chat went completely silent for half a minute. The typing indicator flickered continuously, but no new messages came through. I slipped the phone back into my pocket, resuming my walk around the classroom to check on my students. At six in the evening, I arrived home. As the front door opened, Valerie was sitting on the living room sofa, staring down at her phone. Her very first words upon seeing me were, "Did you curse out Devin?" I set my bag down on the entryway console. "He reached out to me first." Valerie stood up sharply. "He was just trying to be helpful and explain things so our relationship wouldn't suffer! You took your anger out on him instead? How can you be so ungrateful?" I changed my shoes, closing the cabinet door softly. "He came to provoke me." Valerie walked up to me. "Jonah, can you stop viewing every single man as an enemy? Devin is not the person you think he is." I lifted my head to look at her. "How do you know what kind of person he is? Have you slept with him to know him so well?" She choked on her words for a moment, her face flushing with immediate rage. "Go look in a mirror and see how bitter you look right now. You are being utterly malicious." A faint smile touched the corner of my lips. "Good. After all, I have no friends, I lack worldly experience, I am an aesthetic disaster, and I am simple-minded. Most importantly, I am just the guy you settled for during a low point in your life." Valerie's expression shifted drastically. "How much of those chats did you actually read?" "Enough to make me sick for the rest of my life." She took a step forward. "Did you take screenshots of everything? Delete them right now." I stepped back, my spine hitting the front door panel. "What are you afraid of?" Valerie lowered her voice. "I do not want this turning into a massive spectacle." "You were not afraid of a spectacle when you forwarded my life to him?" "I told you, that was just casual banter between friends!" Even now, her excuse remained entirely unchanged. I no longer possessed any desire to argue with her. Opening my bag, I pulled out the printed divorce agreement I had prepared during lunch and handed it to her. "Sign it." Valerie glanced down at the paper. "Divorce papers?" "Yes." She let out a dry laugh. "Jonah, are you serious?" "I am in no mood to play games." Valerie took the papers, flipped through two pages, and tossed them carelessly onto the shoe console. The pages scattered, one fluttering onto the floor. "Divorcing over a few screenshots? Are you five years old? Can you grow up for once?" I bent down, picking up the fallen page. "It is not about a few screenshots. It is about you turning me into a public laughingstock." "You ARE overly sensitive! More dramatic than a teenager! Every single day whining about nothing, sending useless nonsense! You can send it, but I am forbidden from feeling annoyed by it?" Her words echoed through the room, leaving a dead silence in their wake. I clutched the paper, lifting my eyes to meet hers. "Valerie, say that one more time." She glared at me. "Every day sending 'I miss you', updating me on student drama, what you ate for lunch, flowers blooming on the sidewalk, reporting every single useless detail of your day to me. Jonah, I am busy. I am not a student in your classroom, I do not need you reporting your mundane existence to me all day long." I said quietly, "You could have chosen not to reply." "I DID stop replying! Yet you kept sending them anyway!" "So you took screenshots and sent them to others for entertainment?" "I am under immense stress! Am I forbidden from venting?" I neatly reorganized the divorce papers, placing them back into my bag. "You can vent. You did a fantastic job of it." I turned toward the bedroom. Valerie followed close behind. "What are you doing?" I opened the closet, pulling out my suitcase. Valerie stood at the doorframe, blocking half the exit. "Jonah, can you stop making a scene? I am genuinely exhausted." "Move aside." "Where are you going?" "To a friend's house." She let out a dismissive scoff. "You actually have a friend willing to take you in?" I rolled my suitcase forward, its wheel bumping against her leg. "At least he will not forward my private words to others for entertainment." Valerie remained silent for several seconds. Then, she spoke with cold finality. "If you walk out of this door today, we are truly over. I have apologized, I have done everything I should, and my conscience is entirely clear." She stopped blocking the door. I dragged my suitcase through the hallway, reaching the front entrance. Opening the door, her voice drifted from behind me one last time. "Jonah, the adult world involves plenty of messy realities. You have simply been spoiled by me for too long, completely unaware of how harsh the world really is. Sooner or later, you will regret this!" I turned my head slightly. "My only regret was marrying you." 4 I moved into the guest room at my best friend Marcus's apartment. On the morning of the third day, a call came through from an unknown local number. I answered it. A man's low voice sounded over the line. "Is this Jonah?" "Speaking." "My name is Brandon. My girlfriend is a close friend of Valerie's, named Brooke. We have never met, but there is something I need to tell you." I paused my hand on the mouse, midway through organizing my screenshots. "What is it?" He took a deep breath. "I am not calling to mediate or defend anyone." "Yesterday, I stumbled upon a group chat on Brooke's phone titled 'Valerie's Post-Marriage Observation Diary'." I sat up straight instantly. My computer monitor was still displaying the screenshot of Devin's chat. Brandon continued, "The group consists of Valerie and a few of her close female friends. A huge portion of the texts, photos, and voice notes you sent Valerie were shared inside that chat." I remained silent. The sound of pages turning came from his end. "I took a few screenshots of the group. I do not know if you are mentally prepared for this." I gripped my phone tightly. "Please send them to me." "There are private photos involved." "Send them." Brandon paused for a moment. "Jonah, if you ask me, you should file a police report." After the call ended, a friend request popped up on my messaging app. I accepted it. He immediately sent over a dozen screenshots. The very first image was the group chat homepage. Seven members in total. Valerie had posted a bedtime selfie I sent her once. I had taken it right after a shower, facing the foggy bathroom mirror. My original text to her had read: Wife, I washed up and smell nice, can you come home early today? Valerie's commentary in the group read: He acts as if he has never seen a woman in his life, like a starved wolf that can never be satisfied. He is draining me completely dry. Brooke's reply: Your husband is pretty clingy, huh? You can't tell from the outside, he actually has a great physique. Another member: Valerie sure is lucky. Valerie: Stop it, he is completely average. You can pick up guys like him by the dozen anywhere. The second screenshot showed a voice message I had sent. I remembered that day distinctly. Valerie had not come home for three consecutive nights. I sent her a voice note, my voice raspy with emotion, saying: "Wife, please come home. I miss you so much. I am not asking you to spend every second with me, I just want to know if you still remember that you have a home." Valerie had forwarded the audio file directly into the group. A group member replied: His crying voice sounds more delicate than a woman's. Total helpless house husband. Someone dropped a mocking meme. Valerie replied: Not a helpless husband, an absolute idiot. It drives me crazy. I work hard all day, and I still have to go home and nurse an adult baby. The third image was a message of apology I had sent her. I had gotten upset because she forgot our wedding anniversary, only for her to turn it around until I ended up apologizing to her instead. My text read: I am sorry, wife, I was being too dramatic. I know how busy your work is, I will be more sensible from now on. Valerie had posted it into the group. Valerie: Standard procedure for training a dog. Ignore him for two days and he softens right up. A group member replied: Brilliant, taking notes. Staring at the phrase "taking notes," my fingers froze, unable to tap the next image. Marcus walked out of the kitchen holding a glass of water. "Jonah, what happened?" I handed him the phone. He glanced at just two of the screenshots before slamming his glass down onto the floor. The glass shattered, water spilling everywhere. He cursed loudly, pulling out his own phone. "I am going with you to the police station right now." A cold numbness crept over my entire body, cold sweat breaking across my forehead. My hands shook so violently I could barely hold the phone steady. I could not bring myself to view the remaining images. I had Marcus save every single record onto a flash drive. In my phone gallery, Valerie's face, Devin's profile picture, and the mocking comments from that group of women sat lined up together across the screen. I had assumed my only spectator was Devin. I was wrong. My entire marriage had been treated as a live reality show. Every private detail exposed completely, left open for random strangers to critique and ridicule. Once I regained my composure, I sent a voice note to Brandon. "Thank you, man." Brandon replied: "No problem, man. I broke up with Brooke today too. Being with a trashy person like that completely disgusted me." I said, "We both need to keep our eyes open from now on." Marcus cleaned up the broken glass from the floor, grabbing my coat from the rack. "Let's go. To the police station." As I stood up, my phone rang once more. It was Valerie. I stared at her name flashing across the screen for ten seconds before answering. Valerie's voice sounded laced with impatience. "Jonah, do you really think the world revolves around you? How much longer are you going to drag out this cold war?" I spoke quietly. "Valerie." "What?" "Those group chats with your friends, have you deleted them clean?" The line went completely dead silent. In the background, I heard someone call out to her, "Valerie, the meeting is starting." Valerie lowered her voice to a whisper. "Who told you about that?" I said, "So it really wasn't just Devin." "Jonah, where are you right now?" I offered no answer. Valerie panicked, her tone dropping into an urgent pitch over the receiver. "Do not do anything reckless! Let's meet up and talk!" "There is no need. I have already retained an attorney and filed a police report." I hung up the phone.