I Taught My Son to Call Him Uncle

After discovering my CEO husband can't let go of his divorced single-mother ex, I started teaching our son to call him uncle.

When our son had a fever and his ex called him away in the middle of the night, I touched our son's burning forehead and had him say goodbye, uncle.

When he promised to attend our son's parent-teacher conference but his ex called crying about how her son had no father to accompany him, my husband left without a second thought.

I didn't even look up. I handed our son my phone and had him send the teacher an excuse email on behalf of "uncle."

Every time, our son hesitated for so long.

Until later, when my husband finally realized what he owed us.

He took the initiative to suggest we take family photos together.

At the entrance of the photo studio, the ex called again, sobbing on the phone:

"Evan, can you come pick up Tanner from kindergarten right now? The other kids are making fun of him for not having a dad..."

Reluctance flashed across my husband's face.

He was about to crouch down and explain to our son.

This time, without any prompting from me, our son waved him away.

"It's okay, uncle. You go be with your other kid. Mom and I are enough for a family photo."

The moment our son said those words, both Evan Harrison and I froze.

During the 28 days since I discovered Evan's heart wasn't with our family anymore, every time he abandoned me and our son because of Vivian White, I would have our son call him "uncle."

To remind both myself and our son not to be hurt by someone who wasn't worth it.

But our son didn't see it that way.

He was only seven years old, at the age when he needed his father most.

Every time I asked him to say "uncle," he would hesitate for a long time before quietly calling out the word.

But today, he said it on his own.

He said it smoothly and naturally, as if he'd rehearsed the word countless times in his heart.

Seeing us both stunned, our son took my hand and said to Evan:

"Uncle, you go ahead."

Then he looked at me.

"Mom, let's go. We're going to be late for our appointment."

He pulled me along, step by step toward the photo studio.

The family photo session was something Evan had suggested to make up for missing our son's school event.

Our son had been looking forward to it for half a month.

I stiffly followed him, my heart feeling like it was being crushed by a stone, the suffocating pressure making me want to cry.

I discovered Evan's affair by accident.

He went to celebrate Vivian's child's birthday, and when he came back, he forgot about the tickets in his pocket.

Three tickets to Universal Studios.

For our son's sixth birthday, he wished for the whole family to go to Universal Studios together to see his favorite Minions.

Evan thought it was childish and rejected the idea without hesitation.

A few days later, though, he went with Vivian's child.

I found Vivian's Instagram post on Evan's phone.

[The most magical place should be visited with the best dad.]

The photo showed Evan and Vivian holding a childa picture of the three of them together.

Vivian was his first love, divorced with a child.

That night, we had our most explosive fight.

I insisted on divorce and taking our child with me.

Evan accused me of being unreasonable.

He asked how I could bear to let our child grow up without a father.

He swore to God that he only felt sympathy for Vivian.

Looking at our son's obviously frightened face, I bit my lip until it nearly bled.

I knew that if I forced our son to leave with me, he would never forget Evan.

But I also knew that if it happened once, it would happen a second time, a third time.

I didn't want my child to suffer because of his so-called sympathy.

So I chose another approachI tricked Evan into signing divorce papers.

Thirty days until the divorce became official.

During those 30 days, if Evan came to his senses, I would pretend nothing had happened for our son's sake.

If not, I would spend those 30 days doing everything I could to help our son become "desensitized."

Today was day 28.

Our son had called Evan "uncle" on his own.

I felt our son's slightly trembling body, but I wasn't happy. It felt like a thousand needles piercing my heart.

As we crossed the street, Evan finally snapped out of it.

He took a few steps after us, wanting to ask our son what was going on, when Vivian called again, still with that delicate sobbing voice:

"Evan, where are you? Tanner keeps crying and saying he wants his daddy. I can't calm him down."

Evan's steps halted. He stared at our backs, phone in hand, and replied:

"Okay, I know. I'll be right there."

After hanging up, he sent me a text saying "Let's talk tonight," then turned and left without hesitation.

The roar of a car engine started up, then faded into the distance.

Our son stopped walking and buried himself in my arms, his tears soaking my clothes.

"Mom."

"Can we not have Dad anymore?"

We didn't take the photos. I took our son straight home.

I started packing.

While I was booking plane tickets back to my hometown, Vivian sent me a video.

The setting was another well-known photo studio in the city.

Vivian and Evan were wearing matching outfits, holding a child around five years old, posing for the camera.

At the end of the video, Vivian taunted me as usual.

"It's just a family photo. Evan and I can take one anytime."

If this had been before, seeing Vivian's provocation, I definitely would have snapped back immediately.

But now, watching our son carefully organizing his toys, I only had one thought: how pointless.

I exited the chat and booked two tickets to Seattle for the day after tomorrow.

Just after I paid, Evan came home, carrying a strawberry cake.

Both our son and I stared in surprise.

In the past, he hated strawberry cake the most.

Because of this, even though our son inherited my crazy love for strawberries, he would only choose Evan's favorite matcha mousse for his birthday.

But today, why did he suddenly bring home a strawberry cake?

Our son and I looked at each other, both finding it unbelievable.

Evan slowly walked in and saw the open luggage. His expression changed slightly.

"Tanner was crying so hard, I stayed with him a bit longer. On my way back, I remembered you both love strawberry cake, so I bought one."

"Why are you packing? Are you going on a trip?"

I shook my head, then nodded.

"I guess so."

With only two days left until the divorce became official, I didn't want any unexpected complications.

Hearing my words, Evan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before continuing:

"The photo studio called me and said you didn't show up. I rescheduled. How about tomorrow?"

"I absolutely won't bail this time."

He crouched in front of our son and said it very seriously.

Our son paused while organizing his toys, looked at him, then at me.

As if he was torn, or as if he didn't dare believe anymore.

I noticed our son wavering, and my heart softened.

"Okay."

It was only going to be the last time anyway.

After I agreed, our son's eyes immediately lit up. He grabbed his toys and ran into his room.

After he left, I continued packing. Evan came over to me.

He struggled before speaking:

"By the way, about our son calling me uncle today..."

My heart skipped a beat.

I looked up at him.

Evan crouched down, placing the strawberry cake beside me. His voice was helpless but affectionate:

"Zoe, I know what you're thinking. You think I'm too nice to Vivian and that I've been neglecting you and our son."

"But I swear, I only feel sympathy for Vivian. She's a single momI just don't want her to suffer too much."

He took my hand and placed it solemnly over his heart.

"Give me a little more time. I promise I'll handle things with Vivian and her son properly. I won't let you and our son be wronged."

I stared at him blankly.

I could barely remember the last time he looked at me so seriously.

Maybe it was at our wedding.

In the pristine chapel, he held my hand and vowed to treat me well for the rest of his life.

Or maybe it was the day our son was born.

In the hospital delivery room, he carefully held our son in his arms and trembled as he kissed my forehead.

Then he said:

"Zoe, I will never let you or our son suffer any injustice."

Thinking about those past moments, I was silent for a long time.

Finally, I decided to tell him about the divorce.

"Evan, actually..."

"Oh, where did you put that limited-edition LEGO set I bought for our son last time? Is it in the study cabinet? Vivian says Tanner's really into LEGO lately. I'll take it over for him to play with for a few days."

After speaking, Evan went to the study, found the LEGO set, grabbed his car keys, and hurried out the door.

"Bang"the door closed.

Evan's figure disappeared.

I stared quietly at the door for a long time.

Then I finished the sentence I hadn't completed.

"Actually, our son and I don't need you anymore."

Only two days left until we left.

At midnight, after finally finishing all the packing, I lay exhausted in bed.

My phone lit up. It was a message from Evan.

[Tanner really loved the LEGO. I spent the whole evening helping him build it. Vivian specifically asked me to thank you.]

At midnight, my husband was thanking me on behalf of another woman.

I pulled at the corner of my mouth, too speechless to even laugh.

But I was too tired to be angry. The outcome was already decided anyway.

I opened the chat and casually replied:

[No need to thank me. I didn't give it to her.]

[Also, that LEGO was our son's favorite birthday present. He's been waiting for you to have time to build it with him.]

After sending that message, I turned off my phone and closed my eyes to sleep.

I didn't care about Evan on the other end, whose expression changed when he saw the message.

The next morning at eight, Evan came home unusually early.

He took off his coat as he entered and saw several neatly arranged suitcases in the living room. He froze in place.

"Do you need to pack this much for a trip?"

Without even putting down his coat, he walked to the bedroom with visible panic and asked me.

I was helping our son get dressed and didn't look back.

"We're going far."

Upon hearing this, he immediately looked at our son. Only after receiving a confirming nod did his expression relax.

Then he put his coat aside and took out three Universal Studios tickets.

"Haven't you been upset that I didn't take our son to Universal Studios?"

"I bought tickets for today. The three of us can go together."

He displayed the tickets in front of me and our son like he was showing off, his face full of indulgence.

For a moment, I wondered if I'd misheard something.

It had been almost a month since that incident, and he was only thinking of it now?

But then I thought of the string of unread messages on my phone when I woke up this morning, and I suddenly understood.

So it was compensation.

I didn't say anything and continued focusing on dressing our son.

But our son was incredibly excited, his eyes blinking as he stared at me.

"Mom, I want to go!"

My eyes curved into a smile. Before I could speak, I heard Evan stammer:

"But if you want to go, there's one condition. Vivian found out we're taking family photos today, and she's worried Tanner will be upset if he hears about it, so... the family photo thing... let's do it another time."

As he said this, his expression was full of guilt.

Our son froze. The smile in his eyes visibly receded bit by bit.

"I see..."

He slowly lowered his head and said nothing more. His eyes turned red.

But Evan didn't notice. He continued:

"It's just this one small request from Vivian. I thought about it, and it shouldn't be a big deal."

"We're just postponing the photos this time. There's always next time."

"Leo, what do you say?"

He didn't know that our son and I would be leaving tomorrow.

This was his last chance.

But neither our son nor I said anything. We just nodded silently.

"Fine."

"Okay."

Evan breathed a sigh of relief, his face visibly showing a smile, as if a weight had been lifted.

"Then I'll tell Vivian right now. Three o'clock this afternoon, meet at Universal Studios."

After speaking, he got up to leave.

When he reached the door, he turned around.

"Honey, Leo, you're both so wonderful."

Our son and I didn't say anything.

After he left, our son jumped down from the bed and took out a backpack he'd prepared from the closet.

"Mom, I don't want to see uncle anymore. Can we leave early?"