“It’s just not the right time,” she said when I asked about meeting her family. The way she smiled afterward… a little too rehearsed. But love makes you stupid or maybe just blind.
She never stayed over on weekdays.
“Work is crazy,” she said, glancing at her phone.
She always had an excuse. Always a reason to leave before morning.
And then there was the way she guarded her phone. Always on silent. Always face down. Once, I picked it up absentmindedly, and she snatched it away so fast her fingers scraped mine.
But it wasn’t until that night, the night everything unraveled, that I realized how deep the lie ran. She was running late, so I did something I never had before.
I looked her up.
Not just on social media, the usual pictures showed nothing suspicious but deeper. And then I found it: a wedding announcement. Her name. His name. A photo of them smiling. A date that made my stomach turn.She had been married the entire time.
And that wasn’t even the worst part.
My breath caught in my throat as I scrolled through the pictures. A perfect little family. Two kids. A husband who looked happy oblivious just like I had been.
I wanted to be sick.
The past year flashed before my eyes, every late “business trip,” every kiss, every time she told me I was the only one. Lies. All of it.
I paced my apartment, phone in hand, heart pounding.
What do I do?
Call her?
Scream?
Expose her?
Then she texted me, just three words:
“On my way.”
I stared at the screen. I had two choices: pretend I didn’t know and let her lie to my face again… or confront her. Watch her try to explain the impossible.
The lock on my door clicked.
I turned, phone still clutched in my hand and saw her standing there, smiling like nothing was wrong. Like she wasn’t living two lives. Like she hadn’t just shattered mine.
“Hey, you okay?” she asked, stepping forward.
And for the first time since I met her, I saw her for who she really was:
A stranger.
I looked at her, walked toward her, held her tightly like never before, kissed her passionately, like it was our first time and smiled.
Because I had decided to play her for the fool she thinks I am.
