Valery

She never thought she'd start noticing oddities. Her husband was staying late more and more often, and he was rarely out of his phone. At first, she convinced herself she was just overthinking things, but the anxiety didn't go away.

One day, he went out on business and left his phone at home. She stared at it for a long time, hesitating to pick it up. Curiosity got the better of her. Messages were already open on the screen.

The messages turned out to be from her childhood best friend. The one they grew up with, shared secrets with, and promised never to betray each other. The messages were short, but they spoke for themselves: they arranged secret meetings, discussed how to keep everyone from finding out, and wrote that they missed each other.

At that moment, the ground beneath her feet seemed to vanish. The pain was not only from her husband's infidelity, but also from the fact that the man she had trusted her entire life was part of this lie. She closed her phone and sat for a long time in complete silence, realizing that after what she had seen, her life would never be the same.