The relationship between the spouses has always been smooth, but one thing introduced a peculiar tone to it.
Stephanie, 32, has penned a letter to our editorial, sharing her story. She specifically requested its publication, aiming for her experience to serve as a cautionary tale. She urges others to be vigilant about any peculiar occurrences in their relationships.
Stephanie began her letter, saying, «I and my husband Mike have been happily married for over 5 years now. We’re a typical family, with no significant problems or scandals, that would make us stand out from the crowd. But since the very beginning of our married life, my husband Mike has been having a very weird demand for me. He insisted that I should never clean our fridge while he’s absent.»
Stephanie went on to express her curiosity regarding her husband’s insistence on her cleaning the fridge only in his presence. She recounted, «He has never mentioned that I shouldn’t, for example, clean the bathroom or wash our car, whatever, while he’s absent. The only thing he was so persistent about, was our fridge. When I asked him about his motives for this strange behavior, he mumbled something like he didn’t want me to throw away food that we can still eat, and he wanted to keep this process under his control just because of this.»
Stephanie grew increasingly skeptical of her husband’s explanations, sensing they were merely excuses rather than the truth. She remarked, «I’ve never had a habit of throwing away food, and I always check the expiration dates on the packages. If the food is expired, I won’t of course keep it any longer in the fridge, but I believe this is something that all normal people do, because who wants to consume expired products?»
Mike was unusually protective of specific stuff in the fridge, adamantly urging his wife never to touch them.
Stephanie remembered how Mike once brought home a metal box and placed it in the fridge, meticulously checking on it throughout the day, a behavior she found peculiar. When she inquired, Mike clarified that the box held rare olives, a gift from his friend James’ grandfather, which James had entrusted to Mike for safekeeping.
Stephanie explained, «I had no problem with Mike keeping this metal can safe at the bottom of our fridge. But he was really annoying, because he always asked me to be cautious with the can and to never open it, as, like he said, it’d be rude to touch other people’s stuff.»
Stephanie further noted that the can of olives had remained in their fridge for several years without anyone claiming it. Despite James never came to pick them, Mike had yet to mention any plans for returning the item.
One day, Stephanie made the bold decision to defy the rules and clean the fridge while Mike was away.
Stephanie continued her story, explaining, «Last month, I decided to clean out the fridge while I had some spare time. Mike was at work, urgently completing his monthly plan, and I decided that I’d make some small violation of our family agreement and clean the fridge while he’s away.»
The woman embarked on this routine task, completely unaware that it would mark the beginning of the downfall of her once happy marriage, shattering all her hopes and plans in its wake.
The woman said, «The whole thing took me about 2 hours, including unplugging the fridge, emptying all shelves and putting away all items (groceries, some vegetables and food containers with pre-cooked dishes). I then started washing and cleaning out the inside of the fridge, and then I let it settle before plugging it in again. During this time I started sorting out all the items that I took out of the fridge before cleaning, checking the expiration dates on the packages and throwing away those that were off. I took the box my husband brought and checked the dates on it, too. I noticed that the olives were expired, so, without a second thought, I decided to throw it away, too.»
Stephanie elaborated that, in addition to noting the expiration date, she observed that the container holding the olives was leaking, indicating a potential danger in consuming them. Consequently, she didn’t consider the repercussions beyond the immediate risk posed by storing the compromised food in their fridge.
Suddenly, Stephanie disclosed an unexpectedly surprising aspect about her beloved husband.
The woman wrote, «I saw some liquid pouring down on the floor from the can, it had some chemical smell. And then I saw what was stored in this liquid. These were 2 small cuts of an umbilical cord. I knew instantly what they were, because my sister preserved the remains of her baby’s umbilical cord to keep it a memory of the day when my niece was born. She used to show them to me once or twice, I didn’t find it gross, or whatever, and I just knew how these things looked like, so I recognized them immediately.»
When Mike returned home from work, Stephanie wasted no time initiating a conversation with him. She informed him that the «can of olives» had expired and was leaking, prompting her decision to dispose of it. Stephanie recounted, «When I said this, Mike went pale. I asked him why he was so worried about this can of olives, and he said that they were very expensive, and so on. But I interrupted him, asking him a straightforward question about those umbilical cord parts that I found in the can. He had nothing left to do but tell me the truth, and it was shocking.»
That day a mind-shaking revelation was prepared for Stephanie.
It transpired that Mike had a secret lover named Rosa, with whom he had fathered twins while married to Stephanie. He had concealed this information from his wife all along. The objects Stephanie found in the «can of olives» were actually parts of their twins’ umbilical cords, which Mike had been storing in their family fridge.
Rosa and Mike were unable to marry or openly be together due to strong opposition from Rosa’s family against Mike’s presence in her life. Throughout Mike’s marriage to Stephanie, he maintained a clandestine relationship with Rosa, seeing her in secret and providing care for their two children.
Stephanie revealed, «I was absolutely shaken to find out all this information from a man, with whom I have lived a big part of my life. I hadn’t even suspected that a can of olives would be the ’beginning of an end’ of my family life and a total disaster for my marriage. I’m filing for divorce and I can’t stop thinking of this huge betrayal from the person, whom I sincerely loved.»
And here’s another intriguing story from a woman who stumbled upon a tampon in her husband’s car, uncovering a truth she never expected and sending shivers down her spine.
Preview photo credit Rene Asmussen / Pexels
