Chapter 3: Jessie’s POV

It was finally time for bed and my suspicion was unnerving and it was making me restless. I needed answers. After a few unsuccessful attempts at my putting my thoughts to rest, I finally accept defeat ands decide to take another sleeping pill. I don’t want to believe that my husband is cheating on and harboring a mistress. I don’t want to believe that he could truly betray me like that, but I could feel it deep in soul. Something’s not right.

I spent the next two days in a turmoil of pent-up emotions. Has my husband betrayed me? Is he in love with someone else? Is he trying to kill me? Is it all in my head? It isn’t until I hear the doorbell ring again that Im snapped back into the present. I head for the door and am met with a lonely courier package on my front step once again. I feel the air in my lungs tightening as I hold my breath. What could be in the box this time?

I feel my body tense and my heart drop. My hands began shaking as I reluctantly open the box and find a partially used bottle of perfume. I take the bottle carefully out of the box and bring it to my nose. One small whiff and I was certain that this was the same perfume I had smelled on Alan’s shirt just three nights ago. I stumble back and knock over the box and watch a small piece of paper flies out and flutters to the floor. I pick it up and read it in shock.

‘Your husband really like the perfume I sprayed on, on the night of your fifth wedding anniversary.’

I gasp in horror as I cover my mouth and try to process what this meant. Here, I was knocked off my feet by the shock and magnitude of confession of this box, with actual evidence that all my suspicions were not based on delusion. This was proof that something wasn’t right. That my intuition wasn’t just paranoia or my insecurity. I feel a deep sense of humiliation as I carefully hold the bottle in my hand. Did Alan really go to see his mistress before coming home on the day of our wedding anniversary? Was he actually on a business trip at all? Or was he simply covering his tracks so that he could be with her? And why go through all the trouble to find my grandmother’s long-lost necklace for me if he wasn’t in love with me anymore? Why did he feel the need to stray away from our vows?

I drop myself down on the couch as the pain in my chest intensified and my fingers go numb. I could feel the tears streaming and my cheeks burning as the feeling of humiliation deepens. I have trusted, loved and believed Alan for years. How could he betray me like this? Had I done something wrong? Had I been such a bad wife for the past five years? Does he not see the value in me?

All these questions and not a single answer. The only thing I knew for certain was that this box has made me feel humiliated, betrayed, worthless and unimportant. There was no way to convince myself that my perfect husband of five years hasn’t been unfaithful.

Whoever had sent this had achieved their goal unknowingly.