His Dead Wife Went Viral Today

After I died.

The memorial service arranged by my only friend was smashed to pieces.

Haters stood in front of my mourning hall with selfie sticks, livestreaming the wreckage.

They kept muttering how satisfying it was.

The chat rolled by in a synchronized wave of venom: Is the bitch finally dead? Good riddance.

Meanwhile, my ex-husband had chartered a luxury yacht off the coast of Cabo. He and his new lover raised their champagne glasses, celebrating for seven days and seven nights.

To the world, it seemed my early death was nothing short of poetic justice.

Until one day, my diary was made public.

Only then did everyone realize.

In my entire, miserable life, I had only experienced a fleeting moment of true happiness.

1.

On a hit prime-time special, the host suddenly pivoted to a question entirely off-script.

"Cole, your ex-wife recently passed away from an illness. How are you feeling about it?"

Cole, Hollywoods newly minted A-lister, let out a cold scoff. "I don't feel anything. I heard her memorial was trashed. Honestly? Good for them."

The host lowered her gaze, a faint smile playing on her lips. "You wouldn't mind talking a bit more about your ex-wife, would you? Her passing is generating a massive amount of traction."

If a network tried to capitalize on anyone else's recent death, they would be crucified.

But they were capitalizing on mine.

And the entire internet didn't care.

Cole shrugged, adjusting his designer lapel. "Ask whatever you want."

"I'm curious," the host said. "Everyone says Harper was a toxic, irredeemable woman. So... why did you marry her in the first place?"

The leading man fell silent.

He probably couldn't even remember the answer himself.

The host gave a light, dangerous laugh. "We actually happen to have Harper's diary right here. You wouldn't mind if we shared it with everyone, would you?"

Coles lips curled into a sneer of pure disdain. "Can someone with a high school diploma even string a sentence together for a diary? Read it. I don't care."

When the slightly worn, faded notebook was opened on the jumbotron behind them.

The entire studio froze.

The handwriting was meticulous, elegant. It looked nothing like the frantic scrawls of the lunatic the media had painted me to be.

The host smiled. "Then let me read it."

October 3, 2020

I'm getting married today!

Who's the groom?

My Cole, of course.

Who else would I ever want to marry?

And who else would he ever dare to marry?

If he dared, I'd chop him into tiny pieces.

We've walked side by side for six years. Today, I finally get to marry the boy I fell in love with at eighteen.

Diary, you have no idea how nervous Cole was when he slipped the ring on my finger. The tips of his ears were burning red, and his eyes welled up in seconds. They say a man's tears are a woman's ultimate weakness. It's true. My smile has been permanently glued to my face all day.

But, Diary, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. When Cole got drunk at the reception and collapsed into my arms, I was the one crying the hardest.

He pressed his face into my neck and mumbled, "Harper, I love you. I love you so much. Thank you for being my wife."

But the truth is, I'm the one who should be thanking Cole.

Because of him, for the very first time in my life, I belong somewhere.

At the wedding, Cole's mother hugged me. When she wrapped her arms around me, the back of my throat burned. It was the first time in my entire life an elder had ever hugged me. So this is what a mother smells like.

Growing up in the foster system, bouncing between group homes, I never knew what a hug was. For kids like us, it didn't matter how well-behaved we were; nobody was coming to hold us. When we cried, we just lay on the padded linoleum floor. In school, teachers always praised us foster kids for being so quiet. But the truth was, we were quiet because we learned early on that our tears would never be answered. And the "good" kids were the ones nobody loved enough to notice.

So, we learned to bury our emotions alive.

It wasn't until I met Cole that I learned I could just be myself.

And that someone could still love me.

Now, I finally have a home with Cole.

We are dead broke.

But things will get better.

I looked at him today and sighed, telling him this was the happiest moment of my life.

He pulled me into his chest, looking so fiercely protective. "What do you mean 'moment'? We're going to be happy every single day from now on."

Getting married is wonderful.

I have someone by my side. I have a family.

I am never going to be alone again.

Oh, right! Attaching a wedding photo. It's small, just a standard print. I'm wearing a thirty-dollar tulle dress I bought off Amazon, and Cole is wearing the only decent suit he owns. We look incredibly plain, but we have the brightest smiles.

Cole promised me.

Once he makes it big, he's going to take me to the beaches of Maui to shoot proper wedding photos.

The host finished reading and took a deep, audible breath.

No one had anticipated that the "vicious" Harper shared memories like this with Cole.

The ink on the page practically bled with youthful adoration and playful sweetness. Anyone with eyes could see the profound, unadulterated happiness I felt back then.

Sweetness that has already soured is the most lethal kind of heartbreak.

Cole stared blankly for three full seconds. These memories had been locked away in the darkest corners of his mind for years.

There was a time when marrying me felt like he had conquered the world.

Even he had forgotten that.

The internet chat was equally bewildered. This was oceans apart from the venomous, calculating Harper they had been fed.

"Wait, reading this... she sounds exactly like a sweet, normal girl in love."

"Fake, right? There's no way someone like Harper wrote that."

"Wow, I didn't know Harper was a foster kid. Guess that explains why she had no class."

The host turned her sharp gaze to Cole. "When you got married, it sounds like you two were blissfully happy."

Cole snapped out of his trance, suddenly letting out a self-deprecating laugh.

"She... she used to be a decent person. Its a shame you can know a person's face, but never their heart."

The host smiled, a razor edge beneath her warmth. "Perhaps. Let's move on to the second page, then."

"To be honest, I'm quite curious myself. What exactly happened to turn Harper into the unforgivable sinner everyone despises?"

2.

January 6, 2021

Diary! I've been so busy doing background extra work lately, I've neglected you. Sorry about that.

I'm back to ramble.

Tell me, how does a person make big money?

What if I take ten bucks a day and buy lottery tickets? The catering truck on set charges ten dollars for a hot meal. If I skip dinner, I save ten bucks. What if I hit the jackpot?

Diary, I don't want to rely on lottery fantasies. But I am just so desperate for money.

And I can't ask Cole. He's already buckling under the pressure. He's shooting night scenes every single day, and during the day, he's editing videos as a freelancer to scrape by.

He is so exhausted, yet he always puts on this relaxed face and tells me, "Your husband isn't tired at all."

It shatters my heart into a million pieces.

Never mind. I'll figure it out myself.

(Photo attached: Cole asleep, looking like a tired angel.)

Whenever I feel like there's no hope left, I just look at this picture.

The host stopped reading and looked up. "Cole, I have to ask. Did you know Harper was this desperate for money back then?"

Cole shook his head defensively. "I was her husband. If she needed money and didn't tell me, she must have been doing something shady to get it."

"Though, it makes sense why she did all those filthy things later on. For a paycheck, she'd stoop to anything."

The host sighed softly, and continued to read.

3.

January 10, 2021

Diary.

My best friend passed away.

We spent over a decade together in the foster system. And she just left me.

All because we couldn't come up with fifty grand for the experimental surgery.

I told her I would find a way. I told her just to hold on a little longer. Even if I had to deliver food twenty-four hours a day, I would save her.

But while I was on set doing extra work, she signed a DNR and pulled her own IVs.

She left me a voicemail.

She said, "Harper, we were thrown away since we were babies. Most of us don't have good health anyway. Making it to 25? I'm already thrilled."

"Don't cry for me, Harper. Maybe in heaven, I'll run into the parents who dumped me."

"I'm going to give them a piece of my mind."

"You and Cole, you have to be happy."

"Oh, and remember to get your checkups. People as poor as us can't afford to get sick."

I cried until I couldn't breathe. I was so close. Just a little more time, and maybe I could have earned it.

Diary. Tell me, why is the world so cruel?

Today on set, I heard the costume department saying the lead actress's handbag was worth fifty grand.

One purse. One purse could have bought my best friend's life.

Writing this, it suddenly made me think of someone else.

When I was little, I had another friend in the group home. She had the prettiest name. Madeline.

She had a round face and eyes that turned into perfect little crescents when she smiled. Out of all of us ghosts, she was the only one practically bursting with life.

She was so bright that when we were eight, a wealthy family adopted her.

When we said goodbye, I was so genuinely happy for her.

But she came back a year later.

She was skin and bones. She never smiled anymore.

And the worst part was, she couldn't speak.

She wrote it down for me. For a year, she had lived in absolute hell. Her adoptive father was terrified she would tell people what he did to her at night. He strangled her so brutally she suffered permanent vocal cord damage. She was completely mute.

I ran to the facility director, begging for help. He beat me half to death.

The director took a massive payoff from the wealthy family and buried the whole thing.

Madeline didn't last long after that. She took her own life.

And now, my other friend is dead from an illness.

It feels like there are hardly any of us foster kids left.

Diary, I want to pour all of this out to Cole so badly.

But when I look into his exhausted, smiling eyes...

Forget it. I'll wait until things get better. I won't add to his burdens.

Goodnight, Diary. I hope I wake up tomorrow to news about an audition.

The host's voice trembled slightly as she finished.

The chat lit up.

"Wait, she needed the money to save a friend's life?"

"Holy shit, what kind of group home is that?! Someone call the FBI."

"Feels like a PR cleanup to me. But you can tell Harper was intensely jealous. Why else would she fixate on a $50k handbag?"

The host let out a long breath, turning to Cole. "Cole, did you know your wife was short fifty grand? You were both twenty-five at the time. Did you really not have any savings?"

Cole's pupils contracted. His jaw worked for a moment before he spoke.

"In 2020, we had saved up a hundred grand together. I promised her I'd buy her a nice gold necklace..."

"But then, toward the end of the year, my mom got seriously ill."

"It drained every single penny we had..."

"After that, she never brought it up. So I never bought the necklace."

Cole lowered his eyes, his voice trailing off.

The comments flew across the screen.

"So Harper drained her entire life savings to save her mother-in-law, and had nothing left for her own friend?"

"What are you talking about? They were married. That's what family does."

"If they still had that money, her friend might have lived."

Actually, Cole didn't tell the whole truth.

Cole's mother had excellent Medicare and private insurance. Most of the medical bills were fully reimbursed a month later.

But when that money came back, I never saw a single dime.

When my friend was dying, I debated it for days before finally swallowing my pride and begging my mother-in-law for a loan from the reimbursement money.

Instead, I was viciously degraded.

"Marrying a worthless stray like you was the greatest charity my son could ever give."

"And you have the audacity to ask me for money?"

"You're just an orphan. You have nobody to back you up anyway."

I had stood frozen in her living room.

There was a ringing in my ears.

This was the same woman who, at our wedding, had tearfully claimed she saw me as her own daughter. Now, her face was twisted in absolute disgust.

I didn't have a grand wedding with Cole. Just a small dinner with friends. I didn't get an engagement diamond, nor a dowry.

In the end, I didn't even get basic human respect.

It was only later I learned the truth.

Once the ring is on the finger, the mask comes off.

Especially for a girl like me, who had no family to stand behind her.

The grievances omitted from my diary were a hundred times worse than what Cole ever knew.

4.

The host offered a bitter, almost mocking smile.

"So, the reason Harper had no money... was because she gave it all to save your mother?"

The phrasing was surgical.

The internet was already spiraling into a heated debate. People were starting to sense the cracks in the narrative. The chat moved too fast to read.

Coles face stiffened. He instinctively tugged at his collar.

"Thats true. And if she... if she hadn't done all those disgusting things later on, I absolutely would have paid her back."

His voice rose, trying to anchor himself in his own righteousness.

The host chuckled dryly.

"Is that right?"

"Then let's keep reading."

"Let's see exactly how Harper 'changed'."

5.

May 20, 2021

Diary!

Great news!

I passed the audition! I booked the fourth lead on HBO's massive new drama, 'Smoke & Mirrors'.

It's my first time ever being on a prestige set!

But when I ran home to share the joy with Cole...

I found him sitting on the edge of the bed, looking utterly defeated.

When he saw me, his eyes filled with guilt.

"Harper, you know how we said wed put a down payment on a house next month? I don't think we can."

"I bombed my audition. They don't even want me for a bit part."

"I think I'm stuck doing background work again."

His eyes were red. He looked entirely lost.

In that moment, I suddenly remembered four years ago.

When we first moved to Los Angeles.

He had stars in his eyes. He was so fiercely passionate about his future.

But now, the relentless rejection was grinding his soul into dust.

My heart ached so badly. I held him, rocking him, promising him that everything would be okay.

I swallowed the news of my own casting.

Maybe the condos we were looking at weren't that great anyway.

Maybe my role isn't as glamorous as I think it is.

Maybe something better is waiting.

Me? I have never doubted my Cole.

He is so incredibly talented.

Sooner or later, he is going to be the brightest star in the sky.

As the host read this.

The screen flooded with question marks.

Cole's expression completely froze.

Because everyone knew the truth.

The actress who played the fourth lead in Smoke & Mirrors became an overnight sensation.

Years ago, a blind item leaked that I was originally cast in the role.

But the entire internet mocked me, claiming I paid a PR firm to plant a fake rumor to make myself look relevant.

Nobody ever realized.

I was one breath away from becoming a star.