My husband had this one cherished possession: an old, beat-up mug he’d used for twenty years. Coffee, tea, water – it was always in his hand, rain or shine. For two decades of our marriage, that mug was a constant… until last week. I found it tossed in the trash. It was at my dad’s seventieth birthday dinner that I dropped the bombshell: I wanted a divorce, right in front of all our relatives. Everyone froze. My mom grabbed my arm, her voice laced with disbelief. “Evelyn, are you out of your mind? You want a divorce just because Daniel replaced a mug?” My husband, Daniel Brooks, was livid, his face a mix of anger and wounded innocence. “Evelyn Hayes, I haven’t cheated, I haven’t been abusive. I just threw away that old mug you hated so much!” “You used to complain about it every single day, telling me to get a new one!” I scoffed, a cold laugh escaping my lips. “Exactly. That’s *precisely* why I’m divorcing you.” “Evelyn, are you feeling alright today? Did you take the wrong pills?” Daniel snatched the divorce papers from my hand, his face turning beet red with fury. The entire banquet hall fell into a stunned silence. My parents, my younger brother Kevin and his wife Ashley, all his relatives – every pair of eyes was glued to me. My mom pointed a trembling finger at me, her lips quivering. “Evelyn, what on earth are you doing?” “Today is your dad’s seventieth birthday! Don’t you dare make a scene!” My father-in-law, Daniel’s dad, Mr. Brooks Sr., slammed his wine glass onto the table, his face ashen with rage. “Nonsense!” I took a deep breath, my voice cutting through the tension, cold and clear. “I’m not crazy. I’m perfectly sane.” “Daniel, we’re getting a divorce.” “Why?” He took a step closer, almost a roar. “Because I f\*cking threw away an old mug?!” His veins bulged in his neck, his face contorted in anger. The guests immediately erupted into whispers and gasps. “What?” “Divorcing over a mug?” “What’s gotten into Mrs. Brooks?” “That’s the most ridiculous reason I’ve ever heard.” “Seriously, that old mug was an eyesore. It’s a good thing he threw it out, isn’t it?” “Daniel’s doing so well now, he got a new mug, and *she* wants to leave him?” My mother-in-law clutched her chest, looking ready to faint, and started crying at me. “Evelyn, what have we, the Brooks family, ever done to wrong you?” “Daniel has treated you like a queen for twenty years! Is this how you repay him?” “For twenty years, you put up with that mug, didn’t you?” “Now he finally decided to throw it out himself, and you’re making a fuss? What do you actually want?” Seeing his mother cry, Daniel became even more enraged. He grabbed my wrist. “Evelyn, you better explain yourself!” “If you don’t give me a reasonable explanation today, this isn’t over!” He yanked me, making me stumble, a sharp pain shooting up my wrist. I raised my other hand and slapped him hard across the face. *Smack!* The sharp sound echoed through the silent hall. Everyone was stunned speechless. Daniel froze, clutching his cheek, his eyes wide with disbelief. “You hit me?” “Wake up.” I shook off his hand, rubbing my reddened wrist. “The divorce papers are right here. You have three days to sign them.” “Three days from now, I’ll see you at the lawyer’s office.” With that, I didn’t spare him another glance and turned to leave. The entire banquet hall remained in a state of shock. “Evelyn Hayes, you stop right there!” Daniel’s furious roar came from behind me. My sister-in-law, Ashley, who always looked down on me, rushed forward, blocking my path, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Sister-in-law, don’t be so impulsive!” “My brother has been so good to you, our whole family has seen it! You can’t break his heart like this!” “Yeah, Evelyn,” A friend from my card group, who I usually got along with, also tried to persuade me. “All couples have their arguments, you make up after a spat. Don’t let a small fight turn into something so ugly.” “Exactly! It’s your dad’s birthday today, you’re just ruining his big day!” Each “well-meaning” piece of advice only made me seem more heartless, more unreasonable. I stopped, but didn’t turn back. “My affairs are none of your business.” “Evelyn!” My mom’s shrill voice pierced the air. “If you walk out that door, don’t ever come back!” I let out a cold laugh and walked out the door without looking back.
Back home, I collapsed onto the couch, feeling utterly drained. I wasn’t crazy, and I wasn’t being unreasonable. That old mug Daniel had used for twenty years was his most cherished possession. It was an old-fashioned olive green enamel mug, chipped in several places, revealing the dark metal beneath the enamel, with one spot even showing rust. I’d tried countless times to get him to replace it – with a delicate porcelain cup, a sleek ceramic one, even just a simple glass. He’d stubbornly refused every single time. He used to say it was the only valuable thing he owned back when he was dirt poor, a testament to his struggle, a reminder of his humble beginnings and ambitions. Whenever he caressed that chipped old mug, his eyes held a tenderness and nostalgia I could never quite understand. I always thought it was a tribute to his difficult past. I had no choice but to tolerate it. But last week, he just threw it away. Without any warning, the mug he called his “humble beginnings” was tossed into the kitchen trash can. When I asked him about it, he just said, indifferently: “Didn’t you always complain about it being old and broken?” “Now that I’ve thrown it out, why are you still making such a fuss?” My heart sank at that moment. Something was definitely off. How could he just throw away something he’d guarded for twenty years, something he called his “humble beginnings,” just like that? This change was too sudden to be innocent. That night, while he was showering, I secretly searched his briefcase. His phone, which he used to let me browse freely, now had a complex password. My small seed of suspicion instantly multiplied a thousandfold. Over the next few days, I paid close attention to everything. I noticed he started smiling at his phone a lot, a kind of smile I’d only seen twenty years ago when he was trying to win me over. He also spent more time talking on the phone on the balcony, always sneaking around. At that moment, I was almost certain: he was hiding something. Then, three days ago, I followed him. I watched him walk into an upscale coffee shop. Through the glass window, I saw the woman sitting opposite him. I knew her. Chloe Miller. Daniel’s college classmate, the one that got away, the unrequited love of his youth. I’d heard she married a wealthy businessman right after graduation and moved abroad. Now, she was back. And what made my blood run cold was the brand-new enamel mug sitting next to Chloe’s hand. It was identical to the one in our trash can. Daniel was looking at her with eyes full of doting affection, just like he used to look at that old, chipped mug. It wasn’t his “humble beginnings” he was guarding all these years. He was clearly guarding his unattainable old flame. *Ding-dong—* The doorbell interrupted my thoughts. I peeked through the peephole: it was my mom, along with a furious Daniel. I didn’t open the door. “Evelyn, open the door!” “I know you’re in there!” “You better explain yourself!” Daniel pounded loudly on the door. “Evelyn, please open the door. Let’s sit down and talk this through, alright?” My mom’s voice was tearful. I leaned against the door, saying nothing. “Evelyn, don’t push your luck!” Daniel’s patience ran out. “What do you think you are?” “You’re nothing but my pet!” “Think you can fly now that your wings are strong?” Listening to his cruel insults, I felt nothing but disgust. I pulled out my phone and sent Daniel a text. “Want to talk?” “Fine.” “Send your mom away first.” Soon, the noise outside the door subsided. About ten minutes later, Daniel called, his voice barely concealing his rage. “She’s gone. Open the door.” I opened the door, and he stormed in like an enraged lion. “Evelyn, what the hell are you doing? Are you losing your mind?” He shoved me against the wall, placing his hands on either side of me, trapping me between his chest and the cold surface. “Have I been too good to you all these years, made you forget who you are?” I looked at his face, so close to mine – the face I had loved for twenty years, but which now looked utterly alien and menacing. I smiled, a bitter laugh that threatened to bring tears to my eyes. “Daniel, aren’t you tired?” He froze, not understanding what I meant. “Aren’t you tired, pretending to be loving with a woman you don’t care for, day in and day out?” I raised my hand and gently touched his cheek. His face instantly changed.
Daniel’s pupils constricted violently, his eyes flashing with panic, but it was quickly replaced by explosive anger. “What the hell are you talking about?!” He grabbed my hand and violently threw it away. “Evelyn, I think you really *are* crazy!” “Whether I’m crazy or not, you know best.” I looked at him coldly. “Daniel, stop acting. It’s disgusting.” He stared at me intently, his chest heaving. After a long moment, he suddenly laughed, a cruel, mocking edge in his voice. “Fine. So what if I still think about Chloe? What are you going to do about it?” He spread his hands, a defiant, ‘what can you do to me?’ look on his face. “Evelyn, we’ve been married for twenty years. Do you have any proof?” “Without proof, you can scream it to the high heavens, it won’t matter.” “As for money, you won’t get a single penny.” “And Leo? He’s certainly not going with a crazy woman like you.” This was the man I had shared my bed with for twenty years. I looked at him, my heart growing colder with each passing second. “Proof?” I let out a soft laugh. “You’ll have it soon enough.” My phone rang just then. It was an unknown number. I answered it in front of Daniel, putting it on speaker. A soft, somewhat delicate female voice came from the other end. “Is this Evelyn? Evelyn, dear?” Daniel’s face turned ashen the moment he heard the voice. I raised an eyebrow, looking at him. He avoided my gaze, unable to meet my eyes. “This is Evelyn. Who is this?” I asked, feigning calmness. “It’s Chloe Miller.” The woman on the phone giggled. “Daniel hasn’t mentioned me to you?” “Oh?” I drew out the word, asking with feigned interest. “How should he mention you to me?” “Are you his white moonlight, or the one that left an indelible mark on his soul?” Chloe seemed surprised by my directness, paused for a second, then laughed even harder. “Evelyn, you’re so funny.” “I’m not calling for any particular reason, just wanted to give you some advice.” “Daniel is a sentimental man, he’s been through a lot.” “If my family hadn’t had problems back then, we would have been married years ago. You wouldn’t have even been in the picture.” “Honestly, you were just… a substitute.” “Now that I’m back, it’s time for him to get back on the right track, back to me.” “Evelyn, you’re a smart woman. I’m sure you know what to do, right?” “Holding onto something that doesn’t belong to you can be quite difficult.” “Oh, and by the way,” She said, as if suddenly remembering, her voice dripping with triumph. “That old mug Daniel threw away? It was the first gift I ever gave him.” “He said that looking at that mug was like looking at me.” “Now that I’m back, of course, he had to throw out the old one and replace it with the new one I bought him.” “He said it’s ‘out with the old, in with the new’.” I could clearly see the vein throbbing in Daniel’s forehead. His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. “Chloe! What the hell are you talking about?!” Daniel finally couldn’t hold back and roared into the phone. “Daniel, don’t be mean to me.” Chloe’s voice turned wounded and resentful. “I’m just helping you say what you’re too afraid to say.” “Aren’t you tired of this old and boring wife?” “You told me she was dull and uninteresting, like plain tap water, and that I was the fiery liquor that made you feel alive.” “Daniel, will you choose the plain water or the fiery liquor?” With that, she hung up. I folded my arms, watching Daniel, composed and at ease. “Now, do I need to find evidence?” His face cycled through red, then white, a truly spectacular display. He suddenly lunged forward, snatching my phone and slamming it to the ground. The screen instantly shattered into a spiderweb of cracks. “Crazy!” “You’re both crazy!” He paced the room like a caged animal, agitated, before stopping in front of me, his eyes bloodshot. “Evelyn, that woman is insane!” “She just wants to destroy our family!” “You can’t believe her!” “Oh really?” I countered. “So ‘out with the old, in with the new’ and ‘plain tap water versus fiery liquor’ – she made all that up too?” Daniel’s body froze. “That was… that was just her trying to get a rise out of you…” Daniel’s gaze darted around, concocting a lie that wouldn’t convince even himself.
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