It was our wedding night, the weather was cold and crisp. He wrapped his hands around my body and whispered words that kept me warm: ”Every day for the rest of our lives, I only want to look at your face and admire how beautiful you are.”
Little did I know that those tender vows spoken in the chill of that night would soon be drowned in the icy silence of betrayal, and I’d be ready to serve karma on the silver plate.
It all started one late night. The weather was the same as it was on our wedding night only that this time, he was not there to keep me warm.
I covered myself with a blanket to shield myself from the cold, imagining him to be by my side as I never suspected that he might be somewhere else keeping another woman warm. I kept myself entertained with a popular TV show while scrolling through my W******p chats simultaneously.
Suddenly, I got a text from Jasmine, my younger sister, who was the happy bridesmaid on my wedding day. “Hey, Alda, where is Tyler? Is everything okay there?”
I did not understand the context of the text. My eyes flashed in a little confusion about why my little sister, who lives with my mom so far away, suddenly texted me and asked where my husband was.
“Yo, what do you mean?? Everything’s fine over here,” I quickly replied, hoping that she would provide context to her question.
“Check Tyler’s status now,” she responded as soon as my reply to her turned blue.
Without any delay, as fast as my fingers could swipe to the status screen, I immediately pulled the screen to the right, and I could see loads of statuses on my screen, like different books on the shelf waiting to be opened.
Immediately, I flipped my eyes through the list, hoping to stumble on Tyler’s status one way or the other, but all to no avail. Somehow, his status couldn’t be found, like a book missing from the shelf.
“Yo, what’s happening? Ain’t no Tyler’s status there.” I quickly responded.
“Where is he at, Alda?” My little sister questioned me again, and I immediately lost my peace. I paced back and forth like a fish swept onto the sand by the storm of the sea.
“Speak, Jasmine. What do you see?” I asked again.
“Tell me where your husband is first,” Jasmine replied, brushing my question away. She would not let out the cat until I told her what she wanted to hear.
“He told me he has a business meeting until morning. Why are you asking?” I quickly answered, hoping that at this moment, Jasmine would at least tell me what she saw.
“I think you should call him right now. Because his ass uploaded some nasty status, and you saw none of it,” Jasmine texted.
Seeing what Jasmine texted prompted me to catapult myself into Tyler’s inbox. Then I realized that I could not see his last seen, but his display picture was still visible. “Could Tyler have suddenly turned off his last seen because of me?” I asked myself quickly.
***
In a rush, like a nervous woman who had just thought that her husband might be keeping a secret from her, I quickly tapped on the video call button and called Tyler immediately.
“Tring Tring.”
“Tring Tring Tring.”
“Tring Tring Tring Tring.”
His phone rang and rang, but he was not picking up. This is definitely not like Tyler; even if he was so busy, he would find a way to pick up my call. But now he is not picking up. Could my gut be right? Is he there with another woman?
“Tring Tring.”
“Tring Tring Tring.”
“Tring Tring Tring Tring.”
Calling him for the second time was also a futile effort. He did not pick up, no matter how long his phone rang, like the buzz of bees around their honeycomb. This catapulted me up from the bed, and even if the night was injecting cold and endurance, the heat of my emotions boiling inside of me right now did not make me feel the impact of the cold any longer.
Quickly, I scrolled away from W******p and opened my phone text message app. “Tyler, where are you?” I sent as I glued my eyes to my phone screen, watching as my phone notification beeped. "Sent.”
However, no matter how many minutes more I waited, if I saw a reply come in after that text, it was a lie. Instead, my phone rang suddenly, and I picked up immediately like a desperate housewife who anticipated the love of her husband.
“What do you mean, where am I? I told you I went for a business meeting,” he whispered, as if being careful not to be heard.
“Why are you whispering, Tyler? Who’s there with you?” I asked immediately, like a detective unraveling secrets in the shadows.
“I am not whispering. It’s you that needs to check why you are asking me all these,” Tyler said, his voice stronger yet still in a whisper, like he was angry at my charge at him, but he doesn't know how to express his anger on the phone.
"Is that your wife?" a low female voice said in a distant voice underneath Tyler's voice suddenly, which immediately made my head bang like a door slammed shut, echoing the sudden closure of a chapter in my once serene world.
“Who’s that, Tyler? I heard a feminine voice underneath your whisper,” I said and immediately my ears rose like those of an alert dog, ready to jump and attack.
"Who is who?" Tyler defended himself immediately, as if I were insane and did not know what I heard.
“I heard the voice of a woman there, Tyler! Where the f**k are you? I want FaceTime right now!"
"Why the f**k are you not saying anything? Tyler... Tyler!"
But, of course, if he heard all of that, it was a lie. He had already hung up the call long before I could tell, and immediately when I tried his number again,
“Hey, it’s Tyler here; drop your message. I will call you right back,” his voicemail said. And at this moment, I could not believe my ears, as all I wanted to do was to wake up from this terrible dream so badly.
“My own husband is cheating on me. What is going on?” I asked myself again and again before I finally launched back into Jasmine's W******p inbox like a desperate swimmer reaching for a lifeline in a sea of uncertainty.
“He hung up on me, Jasmine.” I texted.
“I warned you about this guy, but you insisted and got married to him. Now his cheating ass is not even sorry about cheating on you after all you have done for him. "Jasmine texted back immediately as she sent a trio of screenshots of Tyler’s status before he took it down, and my eyes could not believe what I saw.
“Who is this woman stealing my husband?” I exclaimed.
The next morning came like an unwanted visitor, as I heard a persistent knock on the door, its loudness echoing through the quiet house like a drumbeat of unwelcome news. It was terrible enough that I hardly got any sleep throughout the night. Now, incessant loud knocking on the door again, even at 6 A.M.?As I walked to the door with my defeated feet and sad face, like a wilted flower bending under the weight of an unexpected storm, “Hey!” said Diana the moment I opened the door. “Move out of the way, you donkey honk,” she added, almost crushing me to the floor with her weight and size, like a bulldozer clearing a path through fragile emotions.Diana was Tyler’s mother, who never liked me even before Tyler and I got married. She was that wicked witch who decided to haunt me even in my own house just a few weeks after our wedding.I understood the fact that Tyler’s family was going through a period of bankruptcy, and they needed every help they could get. And as his fiancée, I worked
It was funny how Diana claimed I was as useless as a flashlight with dead batteries. If I were to be useless, as she claimed, would she see a house to move into when they faced bankruptcy? Would her son even have a job? But, of course, anything she said did not matter to me, and I only waved it aside.“The rice is ready, and I will be serving now, Diana,” I said suddenly from the kitchen, like a conductor announcing the grand finale of a culinary symphony.“Great! At least I won’t die of hunger, as you made it seem. And I hope it is not poison you prepared again." Diana said.“Well, Emily and Olivia will definitely make sure of that,” Diana blurted.As if they waited for Diana to complete her statement, I saw Emily and Olivia making their way down the stairs like monsters descending from the darkness and exploding in their wicked laughter. Emily and Olivia were Tyler’s younger sisters. Even at sixteen years, their mouths were sharper than blades and their behavior was as rude as thei
Stepping out of the bath, Tyler entered the bedroom, finding me sitting on the bed with a smile on my face.It was unusual for Tyler to see me smile and not reciprocate with a wink or a passionate kiss on my lips, as he would remind me how tender my lips were. However, this morning was different.The moment he noticed my smile, his eyes darted towards his phone, perfectly resting in the same position he left it in. Immediately realizing I hadn't taken his phone, he approached me to carry out our usual routine.“I am so glad I married you, babe. Aside from the fact that you are a hardworking woman, you are so sexy, and your lips are always tender like the soft touch of a breeze on a warm summer evening," he said, kissing my forehead in the same manner.As he unwrapped the towel from his body, standing there naked, it reminded me of our wedding night—the way he was soft and intimate with me on the bed, making me long for him more and more each night after that.“Is this the same way he
“I am here to see Tyler,” I quickly said before this daring employee would bounce me off my own eatery and have security make sure I didn’t step foot in any longer.It was quite surprising that none of the employees had the face I knew. “Did Tyler sack all the former employees without my knowledge?” I wondered in the heat of the moment. Nevertheless, it did not change anything.“How dare you, dirty-looking woman, demand to see our boss? He does not have any time for someone like you.” The employee grabbed my wrist and headed towards the door in a visible raging emotion.However, if that was a success, it was a lie. Instantly, I pulled my hand away with every strength I could muster into my arm from her grip.“You are new here. That's why you act so reckless. I promise you, you will lose your job today. I don’t even know where Tyler got a rude someone like you from,” I yelled, immediately heading to the stairs leading to Tyler’s office angrily.“Hmph,” the employee scoffed upon hearing
As Emily made her leave, almost hitting me with her car, I gently picked myself up from the ground while everyone in the eatery was still filming and having that buoyant laughter on their faces.I knew it was a failed mission to abruptly go into the eatery again and cause a scene. Aside from the fact that the new employees did not know who I was, they were all looking at me like a crazy clown and were ready to get me arrested.Hence, at this moment, I sadly walked to my car and got inside with tears in my eyes. It was not enough that I was treated like a hated slave back at home; now, my own cheating husband had equally changed all staff, and I had no access to my own eatery anymore."I should call Nancy; she always knows what to say and what to do in hard times like this," I exclaimed with my teary voice. Immediately, without waiting a bit, I retrieved my phone from my handbag and placed a call through to Nancy."Hey, how are you?" Nancy voiced through the phone as soon as she picked
Calling her for the second time, I observed Tyler checking her phone to see who the caller was. Upon seeing my name, he smiled at Nancy, and his lips moved in a gesture that seemed to say, "Pick up her call and let’s hear what she has to say."To this effect, I saw how they both laughed out loud immediately, like they derived joy from my broken heart, and they wished it to continue until they could.Hence, suddenly, I saw how Nancy flickered her hair to the back and placed the phone in her ear.“I told you I was coming to meet you at home, Alda,” Nancy said immediately as she answered the call, and I couldn't be more shocked to hear that.If my thoughts were louder than my voice, she would have heard me cursing her out for this betrayal. “My very own husband? You husband snatcher.”However, my thoughts remained internal, as the other part of me wanted to stay calm and play along. As I have seen in several movies and read in different books, it was always better to catch them red-hande
I did not respond to Diana's question; instead, I headed towards the stairs. However, this didn't imply that Emily hadn't revealed the information in my presence."Oh, mother, she ran to the restaurant, asking for Tyler like he was some lost child. Seeing how she looked, Miss Emma treated her like dirt on the ground, and they did not let her into the eatery. She yelled and caused so much trouble. But she still could not find her way in." Emily mocked immediately; hence, Olivia joined in the same fashion."Moron!" Olivia called her in the midst of her derisive grin. "How would they even let her in? Doesn't she know she's a maid, and maids don't go seeking someone at the eatery? Pfft," Diana scoffed, resembling a scornful aristocrat dismissing a beggar at her palace gates.Nevertheless, whatever they said at this moment didn't bother me. It wasn't my first time witnessing such ill behavior from them, so I ignored it and began ascending the stairs."And I ask you again, where do you thi
If I was allowed to remain in my sobbing state for a whole ten minutes, that was a lie. In a fast moment, like a blink of an eye, Emily and Olivia were already standing in front of me, pulling my hair to raise my head.Once my head was up and they saw that it was full of tears, “the witch is crying, hahaha,” Emily mocked.“Are we supposed to feel sad for you?” Olivia mocked likewise, as they both stuck out their tongues like little kids teasing each other on the playground. Hence, they dropped the toothbrush on the floor and a bucket of water and soap near it.“Better start scrubbing because I want lunch ready in thirty minutes,” Olivia hissed as Emily and she walked away.Knowing fully well that if they said they wanted lunch in thirty minutes and it wasn't ready by thirty-one minutes, it was going to be a problem. I immediately sprang to my feet, wiped my tears with my wrist, and headed to the library.On my way to the library, I suddenly heard my phone ringing. Once I checked the s