Chapter: Chapter 10: Laid Plans
:O :O :O :O :O :O
That’s a wrap on Chapter 10!! Thank you for coming along with me for… good lord, an entire half year to get this chapter out. Y’all are troopers. Love you!!
ML will now go on its customary inter-chapter break, but it’ll be a shorter one this time – as we’re coming up on the days when ML needs to be fully complete and ready for publishing, I can’t rest on my laurels this year. I’ll be back in one, probably two weeks with the beginning of chapter eleven!
—
TRANSCRIPT
Panels 1-3 (textless; Imogen stoops to check her phone. Her hands shake as she reads the message)
Panel 4 (Alex, concerned)
Alex: What is it?
Panel 5 (open; Imogen looking over her shoulder, shattered)
Imogen: He… he wants a divorce.
CHAPTER TEN END
Hold on, he’s the one who cheated on her, and now he’s demanding a divorce? Wait, I don’t know how divorce works in terms of claim: would it mean that he’d get more control out of the aftermath than she does?
Either way, he’d better pay up on child support. And that Imogen, more than ever, needs Alex’s and outside support.
I believe the story is set in Vancouver, Canada- in BC it doesn’t really matter who cheated on who, anyone can ask for a divorce at any time and it doesn’t really matter why. It doesnt change his obligations for financial support to her or the kids; but he’s the kind of ass who would refuse to pay ’cause she’s living with that rich B**** next door’
This feels less about the legal reasoning to me and more about how she is being rejected again.
Fewer and fewer places care about “fault” in divorce. It may effect prenups but I imagine they don’t have one.
In the real world leaving the family home actually would be more damning and he could have a solid argument for sole custody. But this isn’t the real world.
The above is a shitty thing and why it’s really important to talk to a women’s shelter or DV resource before taking steps to leave a toxic spouse. Sadly a lot of reasonable steps are frowned upon by judges. It sucks.
I did family law in Canada, lo these many years ago, she’d -possibly- have gotten custody even in the 1980’s. And in Vancouver in 2022? Almost certainly.
He’s in for a nasty time. The support payments will be painful, and if he stays in the Province, difficult to evade if she takes any steps at all.
That utter piece of gobshite is probably going to try claiming “abandonment” bc Imogen needed 100ft of space to wrap her head around the fact that HE cheated, HE broke their vows, HE has been failing to keep the family finances in order. Wow…. just wow….
Wow, he’s got some nerve! I’m so angry!
HAHAHA GOOD LUCK WITH THAT YOU NARCISSISTIC MANCHILD
This is him trying to get the “last word” in the argument. He doesn’t care about the long term details. (Clearly a recurring trend with this guy…) It’s the equivalent of saying you’ll sue or you quit, making a show of power and control in the moment because it feels like winning.
What are you hoping for here, Jon? Full or partial custody of the kids to hurt Imogen by keeping “his” children from her? I’m sure Lucas will be juuust fine with that. (I also wonder how Melissa will feel about this, having kids staying at his bachelor pad that he will now have to clean all on his own. I’m sure she’d be just DELIGHTED to replace Imogen as Mommywife.)
You’re also gonna owe child support no matter what, my dude, so all that money in the bank that SHOULD ALWAYS have been available to Imogen will now be guaranteed to her by the courts!
lmao this is going to blow up in his face so badly, I just feel terrible that it’s going to hurt Imogen and her children along the way…
What he’s hoping for is to no longer be married to her… Which is what’s going to happen…. So. Yeah. Not really sure what you’re laughing at.
I know a woman who is going through divorce with a similar guy and he’s managed to play the courts to convince them to a grossly unfair splitting of the assets that’s leaving her super screwed.
I know another woman who is only just finally digging herself out of the complete hole her ex left her in after the divorce.
If you can afford a good enough attorney yeah you can probably do better than that – but these women can’t. You think Imogen has $5k lying around? She couldn’t even pay the electricity bill.
The only reason we know this is a happy ending is because it’s a comic. In the real world – honestly Imogen could be left to seriously struggle.
If this were real life, if Imogen hadn’t luckily made a rich best friend two seconds before finding out her husband was cheating on her – Imogen would be crazy friggin screwed.
The world is not fair for people with toxic co-parents and it’s really important to know that.
What he wants is to be rid of Imogen, and divorce will do that. What he is *hoping* for is to stop being married but for his life to remain the same, most likely. His house, his kids (when convenient for him), his money, just no Imogen. Problem is… those aren’t and were never his alone. Similarly, as a single dad, his relationship with Melissa would change – and probably not in a way he’s going to like!!
I’m laughing condescendingly at his hubris and short-sightedness, all so he can hurt Imogen as much as he can in the moment. He’s going to end up miserable, and it won’t be anyone’s fault but his own. If he tries for full custody to avoid giving Imogen any of “his” money in child support, his children will resent him for the rest of their lives in one way another. However, full custody means he has to be a full time parent too, which gets in the way of any plans he might have with Melissa. He is also not guaranteed to keep the house, or any other assets, for that matter.
In the moment, yeah, he wants to, and has, hurt Imogen. And these sorts of things are rarely handled with true fairness and justice in real life. But, as you said, this is a story, and I can’t help but find dark comfort in this moment by picking apart how many ways this is only going to hurt HIM in the long run. Pre-emptive schadenfreude, if you will.
I can just imagine a scene when it starts dawning on him as someone – be it a judge or some other authority figure on Imogen’s side – explains all of the things he’s going to have to give up if he wants a divorce. I can imagine him panicking and trying to take it back and telling Imogen he wants to make it work. But, he’s a slimy coward that has crossed line after line after line, and nobody is ever going to believe him again.
Bonus points if he loses Melissa too, since I doubt he contacted her before texting Imogen. I would like to see some sort of consequences for her, tho not so severe as to be legal. Maybe having to meet and look at Imogen (and her kids!) and see who she hurt by WILLINGLY having an affair with a man she KNEW had been married for 11 years. It takes two to tango and mess around behind a spouse’s back, whether it’s your own marriage or your partner’s. (Tho if everyone is in the loop? Heck yeah, have fun!)
Yeah, given the venue and the circumstances, he’s set himself up for an unpleasant time, provided she gets a reasonably competent lawyer.
I’m surprised but also a bit afraid. What does this mean? What if he says she cheated on him? Even if there’s proof he cheated, I’m afraid her do something terrible
Cats out of the bag- might as well stop pretending to be a dad/husband and go off with the girlfriend *vomits*
He wanted to sweep it under the rug with an apology and flowers. Now that it’s clear she won’t “reconcile” on his terms and has the help of someone who will tell her not to take his s**t, he’ll try to strongarm here instead.
OH my EFFING GOrD. The WORST piece of trash. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate him more… please tell me he’s gonna burn.
This is honestly a good thing, but obviously, him doing this rather than show any interest whatsoever in fixing things, and it just seeming like him wanting the final word, yikes.
Oh thank god. Imogen, in like two years you will look back on this as the only decent thing that man ever did for you. Seriously thank freaking god you did not have to go through the roller coaster of trying to “fix” things with him.
Oh jeez I didn’t realize I’d posted twice. Uh, mods, go ahead and delete this thread if you want. 😅
You know, it actually wouldn’t surprise me if that was all just a ploy to force the conversation he wants. I.E. That he doesn’t necessarily want divorce, but if Imogen thinks he does, 1) She may rush to talk to him (which she currently is avoiding doing), and 2) it potentially puts him in a position of power. If she thinks he’ll walk she way give concessions to him, or at least forgive him for the sake of “saving” her family.
Basically I think the threat of divorce is just another manipulation tactic. Just like the way we’ve seen him talk around her concerns, lie to her face, the flowers, and basically most of the behavior we’ve seen from him.
Oh, honestly. Just let him have the divorce, it’s for the best. Let the dumb manchild have the last word, but he won’t get the last laugh.
Those are tears of joy 💛
My first assumption isn’t even that he actually wants a divorce. He wants a bargaining chip, one more punch thrown in this back and forth that’s going on. Self- entitled manchild probably thinks that if he threatens divorce she’ll come crawling back to him rather than risk the legal battle (and all of the familial and financial complications that come with it) that he’s threatening.