Nine Years Then Goodbye

Amelia’s POV

….....

My phone buzzed on the side table, I had just got off the phone with my husband. It was our ninth year anniversary but Shawn had to go for a business meeting at Las Vegas but he said he will make up for it , he always do.

A message lit up my screen. It was from our class group, I opened it absent mindedly, it was Shawn my husband and Eva my best friend together.

Eva was putting on red lingerie and Shawn's hands were wrapped around her waist , while my best friend smiled at the camera as if she had no reason to feel guilty. I stared at the picture, clinging to the desperate hope that everything I had seen was just a hallucination and that none of it was real. Several messages from my classmates followed.

“I guess they share everything.”

“She’s so generous “

“Wow, your husband and your best friend? This is getting interesting.”

“Maybe there’s more to this picture than we know.”

Followed by several Emojis, I stared at the messages, my fingers frozen over the screen.

At first, I wanted to believe they were only teasing me and it could be AI generated right, but then I looked at the picture again and something in me cracked.

Shawn had nothing to his name when met no family business waiting for him, no inheritance, no connections to fall back on.

After I graduated, I took out a loan with the little savings I had and used it to help us start a small distribution business. We began by supplying groceries and household products to small shops around the city. It wasn’t glamorous. We spent our days chasing customers, negotiating prices, loading goods, making deliveries, and counting every buck at the end of the day.

There were nights we barely slept.

There were months when I wondered if we had made a mistake but I stayed . I worked beside him until my hands ached. When he was discouraged, I reminded him why we started. When money was tight, I found ways to make things work. When he wanted to give up, I was the one telling him that we hadn’t come this far just to stop.

Year after year, we built the business together.

Slowly, the small distribution company grew. More customers came. Bigger contracts followed. Eventually, what we had started with a borrowed sum became a thriving company.

But I didn’t only stand beside Shawn, I stood beside his family too. When his younger sister was accepted into a university abroad, I helped pay her tuition and expenses. I never saw it as a burden. She was family, and I wanted the best for her.

When his mother fell ill, I spent countless hours sitting beside her hospital bed. I held her hand through long nights, helped with her medications, and stayed with her whenever Shawn couldn’t be there because of work. I gave that family everything I could. I never kept score because I believed we were building one life together , I mean , he wasn’t just my husband. He was the man I had struggled beside when he had nothing. He was the man I loved.

When I got pregnant for our daughter Claire, I entrusted the business to my husband and took care of my family and my home.

On the other hand is Eva, my best friend. The girl who had been with me since childhood. We had grown up together, attended the same school, shared secrets, celebrated birthdays, cried over heartbreaks, and stood by each other through every important moment. I knew her favorite things, her fears, her dreams, and even the little habits she had never told anyone else about. She was a sister I never had.

I had trusted her more than anyone, I had welcomed her to my home , I had introduced her to my husband, I shared the most private part of my marriage with her, every one of our wins and every loss, little did I know I was digging my grave, tears rolled down my cheek.

I was sweating profusely, even though the air conditioner was on full blast. Cold air brushed against my skin, yet I felt unbearably hot. My palms trembled as I stared at the photograph, desperately hoping there was another explanation.

How could they do this to me? tears streamed down my cheek as I refreshed the page severally, trying to convince myself that the most important people in my life won’t hurt like this.

My fingers trembled as I dialed Shawn’s number and he picked almost immediately.

“ Hey sweetie, You called again, are you missing me that much ?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, I tried to be calm. “ Yes I am, where are you ?”

“ Is that a question, still in Las Vegas for a business meeting, I told you the meeting was extended till tomorrow “.

I kept the phone against my ear and listened to Shawn lie as though it was normal. My chest tightened as every one of his words pierced through my heart. He spoke so naturally as though nine years between us meant nothing . I had a lot of questions in my mind that I needed answers to, I wanted to confront him, I wanted to scream and demand to know the truth.

“ Baby , are you there?”

“Yes”, I said faintly

“ I had to go darling, I’ll see you tomorrow, Take of yourself and my angel , bye”

“Bye”

I stared at the phone, Shawn was extraordinary, handsome and doting, he was always caring, loving and considerate. He always felt guilty we didn’t have the wedding he promised to me and to make up any grievances I suffered, how could such a husband cheat?

Still lost in my thoughts, trying to make sense of the possibility that Shawn had been cheating on me, when I closed my eyes and prayed it was all a terrible dream. A notification suddenly popped up on my screen. It was from my best friend. I tapped it, and my heart stopped.

She had uploaded several photos of herself with Shawn—smiling together, standing intimately close, his arm wrapped around her waist, and one with her head resting against his chest. My fingers trembled as I swiped through them, tears blurring my vision.

Then I saw the caption: “Sometimes, the wrong person has been standing between you and the life you were always meant to have.” Several comments followed, but what caught my attention was Shawn's comment “Oh baby” . My breath caught in my throat.

“ Holly Molly, even Shawn”

As though I have see it all, another notification suddenly popped up on my phone. Eva mentioned you in a post. My blood ran cold.