Chapter 1 - THE NOTE UNDER MY SON'S PILLOW
"I just wanted to find out who was writing to my husband at two in the morning. I never imagined that the reply would come through the door of my son's school.\
That morning, Daniel's phone lit up with a message from someone named ""Mike, the Electrician"".\
""Has your wife gone to sleep, love?""\
I held my hands still as I typed:\
""She's asleep. Did you miss me?""\
A little over ten seconds later, a photo appeared.\
A smiling woman in front of the camera.\
Her hair falling on one shoulder.\
A light blue blouse.\
A gold chain around her neck.\
I almost dropped my phone.\
Melissa Grant.\
The school receptionist of Oliver's school.\
The woman who greeted him every time I left the house.\
The woman who had taken care of him when he hurt his knee in the yard.\
Three days before, she had smiled at me and said:\
""Oliver is a lovely boy. You must have an amazing family.""\
The next morning, I had a meeting with her about his school history.\
I was looking at that picture until my eyes welled up.\
Then another message came.\
""I wish you were here. I hate pretending we don't know each other when she shows up at school.""\
Her.\
Me.\
I was the wife of someone they laughed at.\
I opened the conversation history.\
Months of messages.\
Inside jokes.\
Meetings arranged.\
Photos I had never seen.\
Then I found a message from the morning that made my blood run cold.\
""Daniel, your dad told me something. I'm scared, so I won't tell him.""\
I pulled the hair from his forehead with affection.\
""Nothing, my love. You can tell me anything.""\
He looked up at me, scared.\
""Mom, your dad will get mad if I tell him.""\
I pulled the hair from his forehead again.\
Then he looked up at the door, his eyes wide with fear.\
""Mom, your dad will get mad if I tell him.""\
I pulled the hair from his forehead again, this time with a calm voice.\
""No, my love. You can tell me anything.""\
He hesitated.\
And then he whispered:\
""Your dad told her that we wouldn't need to pretend anymore.""\
The air disappeared from my lungs.\
— What did he mean by that?\
Oliver shook his head.\
— I don't know. But Aunt Melissa asked me if I wanted to see the new room she made for me.\
A new room.\
For my son.\
At another woman's house.\
I looked at Oliver, trying to understand what he had just told me.\
Then he put his hand under the pillow and pulled out a folded piece of paper.\
— She told me to give it to Dad tomorrow. But I forgot.\
I crumpled up the paper.\
May you like
And when I read what Melissa had written, I understood that the betrayal was just part of what my husband had been planning behind my back.\
This story is too long to fit in the caption. If you want to know what was written on that paper, leave a ""YES"" below and I'll put the continuation in the comments."
