My Husband Invited 75 Guests To Stay In Our 2-bedroom Apartment For A Month. He Expected Me To Pay $12,000 For His Mother’s Birthday. So I Drained The Joint Account And Caught A Flight Out Of His Life.

He sent Hannah a message. “I got the notice. I’ll be there on the 14th,” it read.

Hannah read it but didn’t reply. The 14th arrived.

Hannah dressed normally: jeans, a white blouse, a light jacket. It wasn’t a special day.

At 11:00 a.m., the scheduled time, she arrived at the court. Liam was already at the entrance.

He looked terrible. He was gaunt, with dark circles under his eyes, unshaven, wearing a wrinkled shirt and old jeans.

Seeing Hannah, he approached her and tried to speak. “Hannah, listen. I think we’re rushing things. Why don’t we talk it all over again and try to fix it?” he asked.

She interrupted him coldly. “There’s no need, Liam. It’s all decided. Let’s just sign the papers and go our separate ways,” she said.

He fell silent, lowered his head, and nodded. They entered the building and went up to the office.

The same clerk with the glasses reviewed their documents and asked the standard questions. “Do you both agree to the divorce?” she asked.

Hannah said, “Yes.”

Liam, after a moment of silence, said quietly, “Yes.”

“Do you have any objections to each other?” she asked.

Hannah said, “No,” and so did Liam.

“Have you resolved your property disputes?” she asked.

Hannah said yes, everything was resolved, and Liam nodded. The clerk handed them some papers.

“Sign here and here,” she said.

They signed one after the other. The clerk stamped the documents, issued two copies of the divorce certificate, and handed one to each of them.

“The marriage is dissolved. Please take your certificates,” she said.

Hannah took her certificate and put it in her bag. Liam stared at his paper as if he couldn’t believe it.

They left the office, went downstairs, and out onto the street. They stopped at the entrance.

Liam turned to her. His eyes were red.

“Hannah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want it to end like this. I’ve realized I was wrong. It’s too late, but I know it now,” he said.

Hannah looked at him calmly, without anger, as if stating a fact. “I know, but you didn’t respect me, Liam. You made decisions that affected us both without consulting me. You put your mother and her wishes above me in our relationship.”

“I tried to explain it to you. I set boundaries. I warned you. You would nod, promise, but in the end you’d do the same thing again. 75 guests for a month—that was the last straw. I couldn’t take it anymore,” she added.

Liam lowered his head and nodded. “I know. Too late, but I know it now. I’m sorry,” he said.

He was silent for a moment, then asked quietly, “Do you really not want your share of the apartment? I can pay you for it.”

Hannah shook her head. “I don’t want it. Keep it. I don’t want anything from you, Liam. Not money, not the apartment, nothing. I just want to move on without this burden,” she said.

He nodded, bewildered. “All right. In that case, I wish you well, Hannah,” he said.

He held out his hand to say goodbye. She shook it briefly.

“You too,” she said.

And she turned and walked away without looking back. She arrived home.

Her mother was at work. Hannah changed her clothes, made herself a cup of tea, and sat on the balcony.

She took out the divorce certificate and looked at the stamps and signatures. It was a simple piece of paper, but it signified the end of a chapter in her life and the beginning of another.

She filed it in a document folder and put it in a desk drawer. That evening, her mother asked, “How did it go?”

Hannah replied, “Good. Divorced, quick and drama-free.”

Her mother hugged her. “Well done, my girl. Now you’re free,” she said.

The next day, Saturday, Hannah sat in front of her laptop, opened job websites, and started looking for work in Wellington. She found several interesting positions at advertising agencies and marketing firms.

She sent her CV to five of them. Late that afternoon, one of them called her for an interview.

On Tuesday she went to the first interview. The company was small but had a good reputation.

The director, a man in his fifties, reviewed her CV carefully and asked her questions about her experience and past projects. Hannah answered confidently, providing examples.

The interview lasted an hour. At the end the director said, “I like you. I can offer you a salary of $85,000 a year plus project bonuses. Could you start in a week?”