I Was Happy

He stayed silent, watching me carefully, but I didn’t want to dive into the details of forged documents, hidden clauses, or the betrayal written in fine print. It was too much, too raw.

So I just shook my head and continued, “Then ten years later, I decided to surprise my husband. I went home unannounced, thinking I’d find him working, maybe sleeping... Doing something.....”

I gave a bitter chuckle and looked up.

“But instead, I found him with another woman. Living another life. In our house. A different version of himself. And all I could think about was how I didn’t know. Not once did I question him. Not once did I even imagine it.”

I took a deep gulp of my wine, letting the burn in my throat distract me from the one in my chest.

“It was the greatest shock of my life. Honestly, I still can’t believe I got out of there without having a heart attack.”

He finally spoke again, his voice calm but curious. “So… you really had no idea he was seeing another woman? Nothing?”

“No.” I drained the rest of my glass. “I didn’t know a damn thing.”

“Why were you away from home? Where were you?”

I looked away, ashamed. “.... Ryan liked to take me on vacations. Getaways to ‘relax,’ to ‘unwind.’ He’d send me off somewhere nice every few months. Three to six months away wasn’t strange for us. It was just… how our marriage worked.”

“Was it really?” he asked, leaning forward, his eyes searching mine. “Because if you were my wife… why would I want you as far away from me as possible for months on end?”

His words hit me harder than I expected, cutting through my rose-coloured marriage. I blinked, stunned into silence.

It was insane, but I still wanted to defend Ryan. To defend our marriage. To defend the love I thought we had shared.

“It’s not that he wanted me far away or unsafe,” I said, taking another deep gulp of my wine, feeling the warmth settle bitterly in my chest. “It’s just that… most of the time he was working. He was busy, always on purpose, always flying from one country to another, one ocean to the next. And he saw how draining it was for me, how exhausted I’d get trying to keep up with that life. He just wanted me to enjoy my life, to relax. Not stress. And I understood that.”

The words tumbled out too fast, too defensively, as if I needed to convince myself.

“But did you really?” the man asked softly.

“Yes,” I said quickly. “Yes, I did. I was satisfied. I was happy. Satisfied. I was....” My voice rose sharply, almost a shout. “Happy!”

He nodded slowly. “I believe you.”

“I don’t care if you believe me,” I snapped. “But I really did believe that. I really thought it was love...”

Then I looked down, my voice barely a whisper. “But thinking about it now... it was because he was living a double life. All that time, he wasn’t just working or taking care of business. He must have been with her.”

I shook my head and bit my lip.

“And there’s this part of me that wants to hate her. God, I want to hate her.”

He nodded again. “You should.”

“But should I really?” I asked, my voice cracking with confusion.

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “You were married to Ryan. She knew you were married to Ryan. She was with Ryan before you... so she knew what she was getting herself into. She watched him marry you. And still, she stayed. I’d say she deliberately wanted to hurt you. She wanted to be part of that pain. She deserves your anger.”

He paused, and his voice softened.

“It’s normal to feel that way… as long as you don’t put Ryan on a pedestal. Because they’re both ugly people. Both of them.”

I let his words settle as I poured myself another glass of wine. Then I turned to him, narrowing my eyes.

“Do you know her? Do you know Ryan? You speak like you know them very well.”

He only shrugged, gave a faint smile, and took a sip of his whiskey, silent and unreadable.

I didn’t press.

“So anyway,” I said, more to the air than to him, “that’s me now. I have nothing. That’s what I just found out. I own nothing in my name. Nothing... Not money, not wealth, not a family... not love....”

I stared at the wine in my glass.

“Just the clothes I’m probably wearing. Even the bank… the account is under Ryan’s name. I never thought to question it. Never even thought to ask. Because to me, the two of us were one.”

I paused, the words catching in my throat.

“The two of us were…”

He placed his hand gently over mine, patting it with a comforting ease. The gesture was simple, but the effect on my body was anything but. Something ignited beneath my skin, a zip of electricity that ran from his fingertips into my very core. I felt suddenly aware of everything: the texture of his skin, the way his hand lingered, the faint pressure that felt more intimate than it should have.

And then… I looked at him again.

Really looked.

This man... God, this man. Had I not been married, I would’ve already thrown myself at him. He was… devastating. Tall, confident, immaculately dressed. That suit hugged him in all the right places, tailored to perfection, and his cologne, it was sinful. Sharp but smooth, like something expensive and dangerous. And his gaze… the way he looked at me. Focused. Intense. A gaze that saw me. Not just the broken mess sitting across from him, but me.

And that shirt under his blazer? It fit him too well. I couldn’t help imagining what was underneath, and the way his hair was styled, carefully tousled, like he woke up looking perfect.

God help me, but I wanted him to touch more than just my hand.

“Are you alright?”

His voice snapped me out of my daze. I blinked, realising I must’ve been full-on staring, mouth slightly open, probably looking like I was ready to devour him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, blinking again and pulling my hand back. “I’m sorry. What’s your name again?”

He let out a laugh, a deep, real, throaty laugh that settled into my spine like a song I hadn’t heard in years. It made me smile, probably stupidly wide, probably like a fool.

“You don’t know my name?”

“No,” I said quickly. “We just met. You gave me your card, but it only had an ‘M’ on it.”

“I told you my name before I gave you the card. You don’t remember that?”