The Day My Husband Promised Another Woman Forever

I don’t smoke.

Kyson does.

I used to think about getting him to quit, but that morning, I found myself in the living room at dawn, glaring at the ridiculous spiced honey cake on the table, topped with two adorable little figures. I picked up a cigarette from the coffee table and lit it.

Smoking is awful. I barely took a puff before I was coughing my lungs out, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face.

The sound of my coughing woke Kyson. He came out looking pale, his eyes narrowing at the cigarette butt on the coffee table. "Kalani, are you smoking?"

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Hair a mess, face ghostly—a picture of a woman on the edge. Maybe that's what I was becoming.

Turning to Kyson, I asked, "Where were you last night?"

"One of my colleagues fell ill, and I took them to the hospital," he said, his voice flat.

"Did it take all night? Don’t they have family or friends?"

Kyson was silent. His classic move when he didn’t want to lie but didn’t want to tell the truth either.

I pulled out my phone and opened a video. "This colleague?"

He glanced at the screen, his body visibly tense. After a moment, he nodded. "Yes."

My mind went blank, a dull hum filling my head. Unsteady, I stumbled backward, hitting the wall.

Kyson reached out to steady me, but I pulled away. I looked at his long fingers—the same ones that once led me down the aisle, but last night, they held on tight to someone else.

Tears slipped silently down my cheeks, landing on his hand.

"Kyson," I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, "when did it start?"

He stayed silent. Once again, that silence.

I looked up, searching his face, but he avoided my gaze. We stood there, frozen in the harsh bathroom light.

It wasn't until I swayed again, nearly losing my balance, that Kyson moved to support me. "Nothing happened; you’re reading too much into it," he tried to assure me.

Kyson had never lied to me before, so his attempt was awkward and unconvincing.

I closed my eyes briefly. "Kyson, from day one, I told you I couldn't handle being deceived. You can hurt me, but don’t lie to me."

The tears wouldn’t stop falling as Kyson reached out to wipe them away, his fingers cold against my skin.

After a while, he nodded. "A year ago," he admitted, voice raspy. "A year ago, I felt something."

"I'm sorry, Kalani. I couldn’t control it."