Exposed and Exiled: The Man Who Took Me for Granted

His voice grew more and more pleading with each passing second, completely losing the arrogance he had earlier.

If it hadn’t been for that phone call, I’m sure he would’ve continued to scold me, accusing me of making a fuss, and then find some way to change the subject.

"Did you ever feel the slightest bit guilty when you were screwing another woman behind my back?"

I stared at him coldly, watching him still looking at me like he was pleading for mercy. Without a second thought, I slapped him across the face.

"We’ve been married for three years. You know better than anyone the pressure your parents put on me. You spent the little money we had saved up, the money you worked so hard for, to go find yourself a mistress. You tossed around 8,000 bucks like it was nothing. No wonder she can’t get over you. Of course, when she finds a fool like you, she’s going to squeeze every last bit out of you."

The slap I gave him took every ounce of strength I had. After hitting Nathan, my palm was numb from the force of it.

But it didn’t make me feel better. If I had a knife right now, I swear I would’ve driven it straight into him without a second thought.

He hadn’t just betrayed me. He’d betrayed our marriage, our five years together.

“There’s nothing more to say. Let’s just get a divorce. We’ll split the assets, and then you can go back to your sweet little sister.”

With those words, I turned to leave, but to my surprise, Nathan grabbed my leg and knelt down in front of me.

He still had the mark of my slap on his face, tears and snot streaming down as he cried.

"Rachel, I know I’ve messed up, please give me another chance. I made a mistake, the kind of mistake all men make, and I swear, this is the first time, and it will never happen again. If I do it again, you can kill me, I won’t even fight it."

The mistake that all men make.

That line almost made me laugh.

I was genuinely curious, when did Nathan become such an expert in excuses? He was shameless enough to mess up and then try to cover it up with some lofty reasoning.

"Now you cry, now you beg. It’s too late."

I shoved him away, not satisfied, and kicked him hard in the chest.

Since I found out what he’d done, every time I looked at him, all I felt was pure physical disgust, like I could vomit up the leftover food I’d eaten this morning.

Nathan crumpled to the ground after my kick, unable to get back up. I didn’t waste another second on him. I grabbed a couple of clothes and headed straight for my parents' house.

The new marriage laws had been amended. Now, getting a divorce required online booking and a mandatory one-month cooling-off period.

I was completely confused by this new rule. Why wasn’t there a one-month cooling-off period when we got married?

My parents looked at me with confusion as I returned just two days after leaving.

“What happened? Didn’t you just come back a few days ago?”

I threw my bags on the couch, not caring if they were ready for what I was about to say. I spoke bluntly, “I’m getting a divorce. I can’t live with Nathan anymore. He spent 8,000 dollars to hire a prostitute.”

“What did you say?”

My parents stared at me, their eyes wide in disbelief.