My wife left me and the kids, and her decision not only brought devastation and anger but also left me facing a million questions from my girls and my entire family—questions I didn’t have the answers to.

What I believed to be a beautiful marriage of ten years ended as though it had never existed.

During the last couple of months of my union with Melissa, she became distant and spent more time on her phone and on the social media than around the girls.

It felt like something switched in her. She was no longer her old self.

And then, out of the blue, she told me she wanted out of the marriage.

“Melissa, it’s not just about you and I, we have two daughters together,” I tried to convince her to change her minds.

In the days to come, my pleas turned into begging, but she wouldn’t listen.

“What is wrong, Melissa, we can work together on whatever makes you feel this way,” I said, but she seemed determined to leave.

We weren’t extremely wealthy, but we did have nannies for the girls growing up and could afford to go on family vacations twice a year, but it seemed like my wife wanted more.

“I’ve found myself,” she said. “I want something different.” She then packed her bags and left.

Heartbroken, I found myself struggling between work, the house, and taking care of my girls. On top of everything, my entire family wanted to know why my marriage burst like a bubble, and I didn’t know the answer.

The girls kept asking when mommy was coming home, and those questions shattered my world.

The worst of all was that I was diagnosed with cancer, but my wife left before I even had the chance to share my diagnosis with her.

A few weeks later, I finally learned the true reason behind Melissa’s decision. She was with another man, her financial consultant.

As I scrolled through his Instagram, I saw photos of them at expensive 5-star restaurants, and their travels to Paris.

My wife left me and the kids so that she could have fun while her daughters left empty spaces on their crayon drawings hoping she would come back.

It was excruciating, especially for Sophie and Emily who longed for their mom.

But over time, we managed to cope with the reality of Melissa’s absence. My days consisted of struggling to balance my commitments and the long and tiring chemo sessions. My biggest concern was that my girls could lose their father.

The following year was a real hell. Chemo was excruciating, leaving me vomiting and barely standing on my legs. I lost my hair and a significant amount of weight. But I refused to give up.

After all those struggles, twelve rounds of chemo and a number of radiotherapies, I was finally cancer-free.

And then, two years after my wife abandoned us, I met her at a gas station and the meeting almost felt like poetic justice. Seeing her after that much time felt surreal. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Melissa, is that you?” I asked as soon as I got out of my car.

She looked older and fragile, as though her entire world collapsed.

Melissa tried to avoid me at first, but she then asked to talk to me at the nearest park.

The woman who felt confident and wanted more from her life than being around her husband and her children was now crushed. She regretted her decision of ever leaving and begged to reconnect with her daughters.

“No, Melissa,” I said firmly. “They spent a long time feeling miserable because their mother had left them. But now they finally moved on an are thriving.”

Her new man, Marco, turned out to be a fraud who left her penniless.

At one point, I even felt sorry for my wife who left me and the kids and her poor choices, but I didn’t let her tears change my decision of not taking her back.

Both me and my kids deserved better.