The laptop pinged, interrupting our movie. Oliver had just gone to the bathroom, leaving his laptop open on the coffee table.<\/p>\n
I glanced at the screen. The subject line caught my eye:
\n“Dear Mr. Oliver,
\nWe\u2019re excited to announce the New Year\u2019s party is coming up! Dress code: White Party. You may bring your plus-one (your wife).”<\/p>\n
I blinked. Oliver\u2019s company never allowed plus-ones. Yet, there it was. I asked him casually when he returned, “Your office is having a New Year’s party?”<\/p>\n
“Oh, yeah,” he said, quickly closing the laptop. “Just the usual stuff.”<\/p>\n
“Can I come?” I asked, smiling.<\/p>\n
“No, they don\u2019t allow guests,” he replied, avoiding my gaze. “Anyway, I\u2019ll be working that night.”<\/p>\n
His response felt off. New Year’s Eve came, and after he left, I followed him to the hotel. The lobby was glittering with white-dressed guests. At the reception, I introduced myself as his wife.<\/p>\n
“Nice try,” the manager laughed, then paused. “Oh\u2026 Oliver already checked in with his ‘real’ wife.”<\/p>\n
I turned to see Oliver across the room with a woman, their body language intimate. The world spun.<\/p>\n
The next day, I received a call from the hospital. Oliver had been in a car accident. He was stable but needed surgery\u2014his insurance had lapsed.<\/p>\n
When I arrived, the doctor explained the situation, and I saw Oliver lying in bed, weak. He pleaded, “I know you’re upset, but please, just listen.”<\/p>\n
But I was done. “You lied to me. You’ve been lying to me,” I snapped. “I\u2019m not signing anything. That\u2019s a problem for your \u2018real wife.\u2019”<\/p>\n
I walked out, feeling a weight lift. It was over.<\/p>\n
A few days later, Oliver called, begging, “I need you.” But his “real wife” never showed. I told him, “You made your choice,” and blocked his number.<\/p>\n
Soon, word spread of his affair. His career faltered, and the woman was gone. But I didn\u2019t feel sorry for him\u2014I felt free. I focused on myself, exploring hobbies I\u2019d long neglected. After years of being the dutiful wife, I was finally living for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The laptop pinged, interrupting our movie. Oliver had just gone to the bathroom, leaving his laptop open on the coffee table. I glanced at the screen. The subject line caught my eye: “Dear Mr. Oliver, We\u2019re excited to announce the New Year\u2019s party is coming up! Dress code: White Party. You may bring your plus-one …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2594,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions\/2594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}