I Carried His Child While He Planned Their Wedding

The next afternoon, Zavier sent me a photo capturing the autumn leaves drifting down outside his office window.

"The project is finally wrapped up."

"I heard from a colleague about a new gourmet snack spot that just opened on the west side. Sounds like your kind of scene. How about we check it out tonight?"

He really knew me.

After eight days of giving him the cold shoulder, my anger had mostly cooled. In the past, all it took was a small gesture from him to win me over.

But that was before. Now, what I felt was a wave of revulsion.

Spread out on the table before me were the findings of a private investigator.

Zavier’s hidden and open life were revealed to me for the first time.

Before I even met him, Zavier had a girlfriend of six years.

They were classmates and each other’s first love. They met at sixteen, started dating at eighteen, got engaged at twenty-three, and then Zavier moved to Boston to start his career solo.

The following year, when I was twenty-two, I met twenty-four-year-old Zavier and unwittingly intruded on their relationship.

It was Zavier who kept all of this from me, turning me into what I loathed, without my consent.

The truth fueled a deep-seated fury within me.

I wanted to confront Zavier, to ask if he was disgusted with himself.

I also wanted to reach out to that girl and ask why she hadn't held on tighter.

But when I checked her Instagram, each post, photo, and video, tagged with their precise dates, was overflowing with her sincere love.

The anger gradually morphed into an unspeakable pain and lingering guilt.

Her name was Aaliyah. She was beautiful and gentle.

They’d studied for their A-levels together, imagined the future side by side, celebrated anniversaries, and watched sunsets hand in hand...

I wasn’t the only one who trusted and poured my emotions into Zavier; she did too.

Clearly, I was a victim as well, yet somehow, I ended up being the antagonist in someone else's love story. How ludicrous.

As I'd been ignoring notifications for too long, my phone screen kept lighting up on the desk.

I picked up the call, and Zavier's voice hesitantly filtered through.

"Helen, why haven't you picked up or replied? You have no idea how worried I've been. I..."

I cut him off sharply. "Enough! Zavier, is deceiving me your idea of a joke? Is playing both sides thrilling?"

"Helen, what are you suggesting? Are you misunderstanding me?"

"Oh yes, I mistook you for being decent before."

"Cut the pretense, Zavier. I know about your wedding plans. Your friend spilled everything."