My Husband’s Best Friend Toasted To Me As “The Temporary One” At Our 3rd Anniversary Dinner. I Just Found The “Future Plans” Folder For His Ex In His Locked Desk. How Do I Get My Revenge?
David’s Mother
David’s mother calls me 2 days later and asks if we can meet for coffee. I almost say no, but part of me needs to know if she was aware of any of David’s planning. We agree to meet at a neutral cafe halfway between her house and where I’m staying with Saki.
I get there first and order tea I don’t really want just to have something to hold. She arrives 10 minutes late, looking tired and older than I remember, and the moment she sits down she starts crying. She apologizes over and over, saying she should have said something sooner and that she feels terrible about what happened at the dinner.
I ask her what exactly she knew, and she takes a shaky breath before answering. She admits she knew David was still in love with Natalie, but she thought he would eventually get over it and learn to fully love me instead. She says she talked to him about it multiple times over the past 3 years, but he kept insisting he had everything under control and that his feelings for Natalie were just nostalgia.
She believed him because she wanted to believe him. Because the alternative meant her son was capable of using someone for years while waiting for someone else to come back. Her apology sounds genuine, but it doesn’t change anything because she still chose to stay quiet and let me live in a fake marriage.
I ask her if she knew about the apartments with the connecting balconies and the secret savings account. She says no and looks genuinely horrified. When I tell her about the wedding venue payments, she keeps saying she raised him better than this and that she doesn’t understand how he could be so cruel.
I watch her questioning everything she thought she knew about her son, and I almost feel sorry for her—except I’m too busy dealing with my own shattered illusions. She asks if there’s anything she can do to help, and I tell her the truth, which is that I just need space from everyone connected to David right now.
She nods and reaches across the table to squeeze my hand before leaving, and I sit there finishing my tea, wondering if any of David’s family actually cared about me or if I was just a role they needed filled temporarily.
The New Apartment
2 weeks after the anniversary dinner, I meet Josephine Knight outside the first apartment she wants to show me. Saki recommended her and said she specializes in helping people find places they can actually afford on normal salaries. The building is older than what I’m used to, and the neighborhood isn’t as nice as where David and I lived, but Josephine is cheerful and practical as she shows me through units.
Most of them are smaller with outdated kitchens and bathrooms that have seen better days. She keeps asking what matters most to me, and I keep saying I don’t know because I’ve never had to think about it before. David picked our rental house based on proximity to his office and whether it impressed his co-workers.
After seeing five places that all blur together, I’m exhausted and ready to give up, but Josephine says she has one more I should see. The building is even older with brick walls and creaky floors, but the moment I walk into the one-bedroom unit, I feel something shift. The hardwood floors are worn but beautiful, and the windows are huge, letting in so much natural light.
The whole space feels peaceful. The kitchen is tiny and the bathroom has old tile, but something about the apartment feels right. Josephine shows me the building has good security and laundry in the basement, and the rent is exactly at the top of what I can afford on my salary alone.
I stand in the empty living room looking out the windows at the street below and realize this could actually be mine. Not ours. Not David’s. Just mine. I tell Josephine I want it, and we go back to her office to sign the lease. My hand shakes while I write my name and initial every page, but when it’s done, I feel scared and relieved at the same time.
Moving into my own place happens faster than I expected. Saki helps me buy furniture from discount stores and secondhand shops because I left almost everything at David’s house and starting over costs more than I planned. We spend a Saturday building a bed frame and assembling a small dining table and hanging cheap curtains I picked out myself.
Saki keeps asking what I like, and I keep having to stop and think about it because I genuinely don’t remember my own preferences anymore. Do I like blue or green better? Do I want modern or traditional style? Do I prefer overhead lighting or lamps? Every tiny decision feels massive because it’s the first time in years I’m choosing based only on what I want.
By the end of the day, my new apartment looks like a home for just me, and I sit on my new couch feeling strange about the whole thing.
3 days after I move in, David shows up at Saki’s loft looking for me. I’m not there, but Dominic answers the door, and apparently David demands to know where I’m living now. Dominic tells him I’m not interested in talking, and David tries to push past him into the apartment. Dominic is bigger than David, and he very calmly puts his hand on David’s chest and suggests that trying to force his way in would be a serious mistake.
David backs off but starts shouting that I’m being unreasonable and that we need to talk like adults. Dominic tells him the time for talking ended when he spent 3 years lying and planning to abandon his wife. David keeps yelling from the hallway about how I’m overreacting until a neighbor threatens to call the police. Saki texts me about the whole thing while it’s happening, and I sit in my new apartment feeling grateful I didn’t give David my address.
