My husband left me for my best friend after my miscarriagethree years later, I saw them at a petrol station and couldnt stop smiling.
After losing our baby, my husband walked out on me for my childhood friend. Three years passed before fate brought us face to face again at a service station, and I couldnt help but grin.
When my husband first grew distant, I turned to my closest friend for comfort. She told me I was overreacting. Turns out, I wasnt. But three years later, life showed me exactly how their betrayal had unfolded.
I used to think infidelity happened to other peoplesomething you read about in dramatic online stories or heard whispered over dinner. Not to us. Never to us.
For five years, Michael and I built a life together. It wasnt lavish, but it was oursfilm nights curled on the sofa, lazy Sunday mornings with coffee, inside jokes only we understood.
And through it all, there was Annamy school best friend, my sister in everything but blood. She was there for every milestone, even at my wedding, standing beside me as my maid of honour, squeezing my hands and crying happy tears.
When I got pregnant, I thought it was just the next chapter of our perfect life.
But then Michael changed.
At first, it was little thingsstaying late at work, his smile never quite reaching his eyes. Then it got worse. He barely looked at me. Our conversations shrank to single-word answers. At night, he turned his back to me as if I werent even there.
I didnt understand. Exhausted and heavily pregnant, I desperately tried to fix whatever had broken between us. So, I went to Anna.
«I dont know whats happening,» I sobbed into the phone, curled up in the dark while Michael slept soundly beside me. «It feels like hes already gone.»
«Emily, youre overthinking it,» she said gently. «He loves you. Its just stress.»
I wanted to believe her.
But the constant tensionthe sleepless nights, the loneliness despite having a husbandwas breaking me.
Then, one morning, I woke to a dull ache in my stomach. By evening, I was in the hospital, watching the doctors lips move but hearing nothing.
No heartbeat.
No baby.
They say grief comes in waves. Mine was an avalanche.
The miscarriage shattered me. But Michael? He was already gone. He sat beside me in the hospital, cold and silent, never holding my hand or offering a single word of comfort. Just waiting, like a man at a bus stop, not a father mourning his child.
A month later, he finally said the words I think hed rehearsed for weeks.
«Im not happy anymore, Emily.»
And that was it. No explanation, no emotion. Just an empty line.
The day Michael left, there were no shouts, no tears. Just icy silence.
«Im not happy anymore, Emily.»
I blinked, staring at him across the kitchen table. His words crushed my chest like a stone.
«What?» My voice shook.
He sighed, rubbing his temples as if I were the problem.
«I just dont feel anything anymore. Its been this way for a while.»
«A while?» I swallowed hard. «Since I lost the baby?»
His jaw tightened. «Its not about that.»
The lie was almost laughable.
I searched his face for any trace of remorse, guiltanything. But he just sat there, eyes downcast.
«Just like that? Five years, and you walk away?» My hands clenched under the table.
Another sigh, this time irritated. «I dont want to argue, Emily.»
I laughedthe kind of laugh that bubbles up when youre on the edge.
«Oh, you dont want to argue? Funny, because I didnt get a choice in any of this.»
He stood, grabbed his keys. «Ill stay with friends.»
Before I could respond, the door slammed.
Anna, my best friend, soon followed. She had been my rock. Then, without warning, she vanishedignoring calls, blocking me everywhere.
I didnt understand until I did.
My mum found out first. One evening, she called, her voice tight.
«Emily, love look at this.»
She sent me a link to Annas Instagram.
And there they were.
Michael and Anna. Hugging on a beach, laughing, looking like theyd been in love for years.
I scrolled further, hands shaking. Photo after photo, week after week. Fancy restaurants, ski trips, cosy nights by the fire. Posted freelywhile I was still his wife.
The betrayal burned like acid. But if they thought Id crumble, they were wrong.
I channelled my pain into strength. Michael had been careless, too wrapped up in his fantasy to cover his tracks. In court, his infidelity became my advantage. I walked away with the house, half his savings, and the satisfaction of knowing he had to start over.
He took my trust. I took what was mine.
Starting over wasnt easy. But life rewards perseverance.
A year later, I met Daniel.
He was everything Michael wasntkind, attentive, never dismissing my feelings as too much.
We built a real life, not one just for show. Soon after, our daughter was bornmy mirror image with his smile.
Then fate gave me the perfect ending.
One evening, I stopped at a petrol station. And there they were.
Michael and Anna.
But no designer clothes, no happy photos now. Just a rusty car, an argument loud enough for the whole shop to hear, a crying child, and a declined bank card.
«Cant even afford petrol?» Anna hissed.
«You knew money was tight,» Michael snapped.
Anna laughed bitterly. «Looks like Emily won in the end.»
I started the car and drove hometo my real happiness.
Sometimes, the best revenge is simply living well.
