15

(Betty’s POV)

I stared at the name.

For several seconds I could not believe what I was seeing. Jewel, Jayson’s first love. The woman he has just admitted he still loved only minutes ago.

The woman whose name had haunted the beginning of my marriage.

She sent me a friend request.

A slow, almost disbelieving smile spread across my lips even as my stomach twisted.

I stared at her profile picture—elegant, polished, the same woman I had seen in the old photographs Jayson used to keep.

My thumb hovered over the screen. I did not know why she had sent it. I did not know what she wanted.

But one thing was certain: Jewel Smith has walked into my life and this time, she has come looking for me.

I stared at the friend request for several more seconds, a strange mixture of curiosity and apprehension settling heavily in my chest.

Even seeing her name there felt surreal. For months she existed in my marriage as a ghost I could never escape—a woman I never properly met but somehow knew far too much about.

She was the woman Jayson loved before me, the woman whose name had been mentioned in careful whispers whenever people spoke about our marriage, and the woman he had just admitted, without hesitation, that he still loved.

And now that same woman had sent me a friend request on F******k as though we were two ordinary women who shared no complicated history at all.

I took a screenshot of the request before I could talk myself out of it and immediately opened my group chat with my closest friends.

Betty: Guys.

I attached the screenshot.

For barely five seconds nobody replied. Then the messages began pouring in.

Clara: WAIT.

Amelia: Is that who I think it is?

Nora: GIRL WHAT???

I could not help but laugh softly at their reactions, even though my hands were slightly unsteady.

Betty: Jewel sent me a friend request.

The typing indicators appeared almost simultaneously.

Clara: Your husband’s Jewel???

Betty: Unfortunately, guys, the bishh has entered my life.

Amelia: Why would she send you a request? 😭

Nora: Accept it, sweetheart, accept it.

I frowned at the screen.

Betty: Why?

Nora: Because I need to know what that woman wants.

Clara: Don’t accept anything yet. Let us investigate first.

Amelia: Exactly. Don’t go clicking accept because you’re curious. Curiosity has ruined more lives than bad decisions, and I really think this lady wants something, so do not give her any of your attention!

I smiled at the message, but my amusement quickly faded when Clara sent another one.

Clara: Betty, are you okay though? How's the baby?

I stared at the question. That was the real issue, was it not? Was I okay? My baby is fine but me? Nah!

I looked toward the bouquet of roses sitting on my bedside table, their deep red petals still perfect in the soft lamplight.

“I don’t know,” I whispered to myself.

My fingers moved across the keyboard.

Betty: He still loves her.

The conversation went silent for a moment. Then Nora replied.

Nora: Oh, Betty…one sided love can be so cruel!

Clara: Did he tell you that?

Betty: Yes.

Amelia: Then why is he buying you flowers and behaving like a husband now?

I swallowed. That was precisely the question I could not answer.

Betty: I don’t know.

Nora: Maybe he cares about you more than he admits.

I stared at those words and shook my head, I do not want to build my hopes around a maybe. Not again.

Betty: I don’t want to misunderstand his kindness.

Clara responded almost immediately.

Clara: Then don’t. Watch his actions. Don’t force meaning into things he hasn’t said, move on girl, divorce him after you give birth, in fact let him take care of the child, you are still young, a lot of good men out there want someone like you. Baby, you're the price not him!!!

Her words made sense, but somehow they did not make the ache in my chest disappear.

I locked my phone and fell backward onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Perhaps my friends were right. Perhaps I was reading too much into everything.

Jayson had never told me that he loved me.

He has never promised that things would change between us. He only apologized. He only cared for me. He only bought me flowers. And none of those things erased the fact that his heart still belonged to Jewel.

I reached for my phone again, deciding to distract myself. This time I opened T****k. I scrolled through a few videos without really paying attention until I came across one that immediately made my stomach twist.

It was a video discussing Jayson and Jewel.

I frowned. How did people even know about them? I clicked into the comments.

What the fuck? what did I do for all these insults?

“Imagine destroying someone’s relationship and still pretending to be innocent.”

I stopped scrolling. Another comment appeared.

“She knew he loved another woman and still married him. Some women have absolutely no shame.”

My fingers froze. I continued reading.

“Jewel and Jayson were together first. Betty was clearly after his money.”

Another person replied beneath it.

“Exactly. She stole another woman’s man and now wants sympathy because he doesn’t love her.”

My chest tightened. I scrolled faster, hoping the next comments would be different.

They were not.

“She knew what she was getting herself into.”

“Imagine being someone’s contract wife and thinking you’re the love of his life.”

“Jayson never wanted her. Everyone knows that.”

“Poor Jewel. Imagine watching another woman live in the house you were supposed to be living in.”

I swallowed hard. I knew none of these people. They did not know me. They did not know how my marriage had happened. They did not know what I endured. They did not know that I have never deliberately tried to take Jayson away from Jewel.

Yet they had already decided exactly who I was.

A villain.

A homewrecker.

A woman who had supposedly stolen another woman’s happiness.

I kept scrolling despite the growing discomfort in my chest. Then I saw a comment that made me stop completely.

“Betty should leave that man alone. If he loved Jewel first, she should have enough dignity to let them be together.”

My eyes burned. I locked my phone. For a few seconds sat there in silence. Then I laughed bitterly.

Enough dignity?