The answer was a simple no; but he refused to accept it.

I put the phone down again in dismay and torment.

I continued to scream and cry my heavy heart out. How could he dismiss me so coldly? How could he be so mean and thoughtless to think of his own selfish needs instead of treating me as a sacred wife who needed looking after such a big operation?

We had been married for three years without a sign of big marital issues and here he was asking for a second wife or permission to have sex with someone else! I felt myself brewing up with anger and resentment as well as dismay. My mind couldn’t take it any more despite trying to sleep and recover from my surgery; instead, I found myself kneeling gingerly over the toilet and vomiting for a large