In the year when I was about to get married to my girlfriend, I broke up with her.

The year I was supposed to marry my girlfriend, I dumped her. Years later, she became a big shot, and she used every trick in the book to force me to marry her. Everyone said we were destined to be together. But nobody knew that after we got hitched, she’d bring guys home every other day. I’d just act like I didn’t see it, like they were furniture. While she was off partying with those guys all night, I’d just lay there quietly, counting down the days I had left.

1.

The second year I was married to Sarah, she started seeing this intern at her company. His name was Kevin, and he wore these half-frame glasses, had a trendy haircut, and was really good-looking. He was exactly Sarah’s type. Besides me, he was the guy who'd stuck around her the longest. My buddies all said he looked like me back when I was first starting out. That’s why Sarah had a thing for him, they figured, maybe even a real connection.

I met Kevin for the first time on the day my health took a nosedive. I went to the hospital for my checkup, and the doc had this grim look on his face. He said my condition was worse, and my options were chemo or some crazy expensive new drug. Chemo, to me, was just signing up to die in a prison cell. And the drug? Well, that cost a fortune. I had some cash saved up, money I’d scraped together doing two jobs. But I couldn’t touch that. So, I had to go to Sarah, ask to borrow the money.

Before I even reached Sarah's office, I saw Kevin. He was a good-looking dude, rocking a bomber jacket and some seriously pricey sneakers. He was bursting with that young, healthy energy. I recognized him from Sarah’s phone background. She'd shown it to me on purpose, and said, “Cute pic, right? That's my new boyfriend.” I’d stared at it for the longest time, and then just said, “Yeah, he’s cute.” She got all pissed off at me, asking why I wasn’t jealous. I didn’t say anything. Inside, I was thinking, what’s a dying man got to be jealous of?

2.

My appearance caught everyone's attention at the office. Kevin looked me up and down, and started gossiping with the people next to him. “That’s Sarah’s husband? Dude looks like a skeleton.” “And they say I look like him? No way, I'm not a skeleton." He had a point, these days, I probably did look like a skeleton. Someone tugged on Kevin’s sleeve. “Easy, man. He's the official hubby.” “Sarah will lose her mind if she hears you.”

Kevin glared at me, getting louder. “Hey, Sam, where’s Sarah? Why didn’t she come get you?” “Weird, when I come to work, she picks me up and buys me breakfast. I thought she treated you better than that." He was being straight-up provocative. This was the first time I'd seen a "other man" be so blatant about it, but hey, Sarah obviously spoiled him rotten.

Since we got married, Sarah's had a string of lovers. She'd parade them around the house, all lovey-dovey. None of them ever lasted more than a week, except for Kevin. She'd been seeing him for a solid year. She bought him a house, kept him in...