A husband told his wife to close her eyes as he "had a present for her" before covering her face with a tea towel and stabbing her in the neck.
Shaun May, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, has been convicted of attempted murder over the attack on Laura May last October.
He had asked her to lie down on the bed and told her to ignore her vibrating mobile phone, a jury was told.
She asked him "will I like this?" – and the 34-year-old replied "yes".
He started counting down from 10 in front of her – but before he reached 0, Mrs May felt something in her left shoulder, the trial at Maidstone Crown Court heard.
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It was a "clamping feeling", according to prosecutors, which Mrs May at first thought was a puppy clinging to her skin.
She said: "I couldn't get it off. I couldn't get it off. I thought at first it was a Halloween prop because I could feel blood trickling down.
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"I shouted: 'This isn't real.' He said to me: 'This is real.' He sounded so calm."
He had plunged a kitchen knife into the area where her shoulder and neck met – breaking the handle but narrowly missing vital arteries, jurors were told.
When she took off the towel, she realised she had been stabbed and May then claimed he was going to kill himself.
Mrs May said she persuaded him to drop the weapon, as he admitted he had been fired from his job and did not know how he would be able to pay their mortgage.
He then drove his wife of 16 months to Pembury Hospital in Kent where she claimed she had fallen on the knife, but staff called the police.
Prosecutor Robin Griffiths told the court it was &Read More – Source