6

Chapter 6

Valerie Will

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Jamal?

How could Patrick say I cheated on him with Jamal?

I couldn’t even believe he would accuse me of cheating on him. Let alone, cheating on him with Jamal. We had talked about it several times and I assured Patrick that nothing was happening between us.

We were just co-stars. Nothing else.

But Patrick didn’t trust me.

How can a marriage work without trust? The accusation was so baseless and I couldn’t help but wonder who fed him with all those lies.

Why did he even believe the person?

He claimed he had evidence, but he didn’t want to show it to me. I was so confused that I couldn’t even bring myself to trust his words.

What if he was just tired of the marriage and used Jamal as an excuse to end it? I never cheated on him, so there was no way he had any evidence to back up his accusations.

My whole world was falling apart right in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it. Patrick had made up his mind, and I wasn’t sure anything I would say would make him reconsider his decision.

As my eyes darted toward the divorce papers, a lone tear dropped down from my eye. Was this really the end of my marriage?

The thought of ending things felt so scary. I wasn’t ready to get a divorce. It never crossed my mind. My marriage was so perfect, and I thought we would be married forever.

Patrick promised me that he would never give up on me. But I guess it was all a lie. He jumped at the first chance he saw to leave me.

Was he even in love with me or was our whole marriage a lie? My heart ached and I sat down on the bed, my mind racing with different thoughts.

After a few minutes, I let out a sharp breath and picked up my phone. I needed to talk to my best friend about it because I was about to lose my mind.

“Celeste.” I let out a relieved sigh as she answered the phone. “What are you doing?” I asked with a hint of urgency in my voice.

“I’m just on my lunch break, you sound sad. Is everything okay?” She asked, her voice laced with concern. Celeste had this superpower of knowing when things were wrong with me even through the phone.

I responded with a scoff. “No, everything isn’t okay.” My voice was slightly cracked. “Patrick wants a divorce.” My heart shattered into a million pieces as I voiced it out loud.

“What?” She gasped in disbelief. “A divorce? Why?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “He said I cheated on him.”

“Valerie would never cheat on anyone! You didn’t cheat on him.” I couldn’t help but smile at Celeste’s response. She knew me too well, I wouldn’t intentionally hurt someone like that.

If only Patrick felt the same way about me.

Why didn’t he believe me?

“Where did he get such information from? Why would he even think that you cheated on him? Isn’t your marriage going great?” Celeste continued, her voice filled with a hint of curiosity.

“He won’t say anything. He’s sticking to the fact that I cheated on him with Jamal.”

“Jamal?”

I laughed, even though I was feeling an excruciating pain in my chest. “Yes, Jamal.”

“That’s crazy. Maybe someone is just feeding him with lies and trying to sabotage your marriage.” Celeste responded sympathetically.

“I hope so,” I muttered under my breath.

I would prefer this scenario instead of the one I was thinking about. It would be better if someone else was behind it.

At least, I would be able to fix my marriage.

But if Patrick came up with the accusations by himself and was lying about having evidence just to leave the marriage, I wasn’t sure we could fix it anymore.

“So what are you going to do?”

I rubbed my temple in frustration as I thought about everything. But I didn’t trust myself to make the right decision, so I had to ask Celeste for advice. “What do you think I should do?”

She let out a wistful sigh. “Marriage is for better or for worse, right?” She asked and I nodded. “You shouldn’t give up on him so easily. Talk to him and convince him that you didn’t cheat on him.”

“But he has already signed the papers. It’s just my signature left to finalize it.” I replied, running my fingers through my hair. “He said I should sign my part before he comes back home.”

“Don’t sign it yet. At least, let’s do some digging and find out who is behind everything. I’m sure it’s just a phase and it will be over very soon.”

Celeste’s words were soothing. I wanted to believe her. I hoped she was right. But I remembered the way Patrick looked at me with disappointment in his eyes.

It seemed like all the love he had for me had vanished.

Different thoughts raced through my mind, but I decided to be optimistic. I chose to believe that everything was one big misunderstanding.

Everyone had ups and downs in their marriage, right? This was just a test of our love. One day, we would look back and laugh about it.

“Just take a deep breath and relax, I’ll meet up with you tomorrow and we’ll talk about the next step.” Celeste continued when I remained silent.

I obliged and let out a deep breath. “Thank you for listening to me. You are the best friend anyone could ever ask for.” I expressed my gratitude, meaning every single word.

“I’m so lucky to have you too. Take care, love.”

With that, the call ended.

I tossed my phone on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

I tried to block the sound of my ringing phone. But whoever was on the other end of the line was persistent. I wasn’t ready to wake up, I wanted a distraction from reality.

After a few moments, my phone stopped ringing.

I continued sleeping peacefully until it started ringing again. Who could it be? With a loud groan, I opened my eyes and reached out to my phone.

Why was my mother calling me at that time of the night?

“Mom?” I asked in a groggy voice as I answered the phone.

“You got divorced?” She snapped.

I sat upright immediately.

I hadn’t even signed the papers yet. How did she know about the divorce?