Ethan Is Seen With A Strange Girl

POV: Harper.

All my hard work…

All my effort in preparation for our anniversary meant nothing the moment he walked away and didn't look back. I sat up all night, waiting for him, sobbing sadly and wondering what I could have done to deserve such treatment.

Everything was perfect; our marriage is perfect. At least, that's what I thought until last night. Last night he acted so differently just because of a stupid necklace, and he left home with so much anger in his heart. This has never happened in our three years of marriage.

For three days, Ethan didn’t come home, claiming that he had too much work to do and he had to stay in his private suite at the company. I don’t know what I did wrong. I want to speak with him; I want to know where I went wrong. I believe we can talk it out; we can settle this issue if we just sit down and talk it out like two adults in love.

But it looked like Ethan was ghosting me. He hardly takes my calls, and even when he does pick up my calls, he is always too busy to hold a conversation with me. I can’t forget the look on his face when he saw the necklace. There was this mischievous glint in them, as if it held secrets.

“Perfect,” I’d thought to myself when I prepared their anniversary dinner: the candles, the salmon filet, the chilled white wine. Perfect until it wasn’t. Now, I feel like a deflated balloon, swirling aimlessly in a sea of confusion and hurt.

"Ghosting me, huh?" I muttered under my breath, my heart racing. I never thought that word would apply to me or ever be used in my marriage. But here I am, with my husband strictly in 'do not disturb' mode. I was going to call him again, but then my phone buzzed with my best friend Kate’s urgent message, paired with a photo of Ethan, my husband.

"Check this out, girl. Who's this bitch?

She looks like a fucking clingy whore. Do you want me to teach her a lesson for you?" the message read, sounding just as Kate would sound if she were standing right here with me. She can be so crazy sometimes, but I love her anyway.

The image showed Ethan nestled closely beside a woman who was hardly dressed for a business meeting. She was wearing his favorite color, just like I’d worn his favorite color on our anniversary night. Her outfit looks a bit like mine, just a bit slutty. Her boobs were on full display, almost falling out of her bras. Her ass looks so perfectly carved to fit her body.

She is so beautiful that I concluded that she obviously just had her boob and ass done for her. Her makeup was so colorful as if she was heading to the club and not to my husband’s office. With the way she is showing her thighs and boobs through her cleavage, I’m pretty sure that she is up to no good.

I felt a sharp pain in my heart; I felt my whole world tilting in the wrong direction. His arm draped over her shoulder, their faces illuminated with laughter. Merely looking at the photos made my stomach churn.

“Is Ethan cheating on me?

Is he having an affair?

How long has this been going on?” I thought in my heart.

“Of course, I must be mistaken; this has got to be a huge joke. He wouldn’t do that to me, will he?” I whispered to myself as I clutched my phone to my heart as if it could mend my broken heart. I need to see him; I have to find out what is going on. What did I ever do to him?

“I don’t deserve this!” I yelled in anger, screaming at the empty house. A surge of energy coursed through me as I envisioned confronting the apparent love rival who had entangled my husband in what I now see as a rival and a fucking whore.

Who the hell is she?

The woman embodiment of a mid-life crisis?

I’m going to see Ethan, and I am going to find out what is really going on. I got dressed in a mean shirt, and I went up to the company to see my man. As I took the escalator up slowly, each mechanized movement felt like a betrayal to my heart's hopeful rhythm. How could he let another girl ruin our anniversary?

That’s bullshit!

I'm not taking it; I won’t let him hurt me this way. I must speak with him and find out what is going on between him and that bitch. When I finally reached the floor of Ethan's office, I felt my heart beating faster. It felt like I should not have come here, like I was making a huge mistake. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.

And then…

Just like that, I saw it…

I saw Ethan’s embrace around the sulking stranger as he showed her around the company as if she were the owner of it. The sight of him with that girl, who appeared to be both lost and comforted, struck me with a force that I could have never prepared for. They were talking like buddies, laughing like fools.

Chatting and laughing with Ethan this way has always been the highlight of my day. It was an all-too-familiar mix of laughter and tears radiating from their corner, and at that moment, I lost my nerve; I just couldn’t confront him this way. It hurts to see them like this; it hurts even more to know that he has chosen her over me. He chose to stay in the company with her instead of coming home to me.

I’ve lost my courage from earlier today; I don’t feel like a powerful heroine anymore. I feel more like a hapless extra in a tragic play; I felt so sad because of his betrayal. I couldn’t watch anymore or even confront him. I turned away, ready to retreat to the comforting numb of my car’s leather seats.

"Harper!"

A voice, his voice, sounded softly behind me. I could feel his presence before I even turned to face him; he’d somehow managed to appear from within the grip of his lover. I thought he would put up a little act to show that he still cares about me. But his scowl had grown heavy lines, and his jaw had a familiarity that stole the breath from my lungs. He is still pissed; he is still showing me signs that he still hasn’t forgiven me yet.

“Why are you here?” He demanded, his brow furrowed as if I were an uninvited guest that showed up to crash the party.