I was missing my husband of two and half years, Henry, after he had been away for four days in Washington for a business conference. So I decided to give him a surprise visit on Thursday, the fifth day. I swapped duties with a colleague at the hospital and took a flight to Washington.

I had to lie to the front desk staff that it was my husband's birthday and I wanted to surprise him. She asked for anything to prove that I was his wife. I pulled out my phone and showed her several pictures. The look on her face told me she didn't buy my birthday story.

“I'm only giving you the key because I recognize your face from last year's conference.” She said and brought out an envelope from a drawer. “You were together last year.”

“Yes, yes,” I nodded, happy that she at least believed I'm his wife.

But she slid the envelope to me, “room 403, sixth floor. Have a nice stay, Mrs. Scott.”

I thanked her profusely and headed to the elevator, which carried me to the sixth floor. My mind thudding in my chest and a lustful smile curved the corners of my mouth in anticipation of a wild night with Henry as I walked down the long hotel corridor. I was so sure Henry was going to be pleasantly surprised and happy to see me. I stood in front of his room and slotted the card in. The card key clicked into the lock with a gentle click, and the door swung open.

But the surprise was actually on me because what I saw made my heartbeat stop for a moment. Henry was not the only one in the room. He was sprawled on the plush rug in the middle of the room naked and there was a naked woman on the floor with him. His hand was on her breast.

“Henry!” I wailed gently.

It was only then he noticed someone had come in. He gave me a startled look and removed his hand from the lady's breast.

“Kathy? What are you doing here?” He asked and sat upright on the rug.

“Henry?” I called out again, more forcefully this time.

“Kathy.” Henry called back and stood up to wear his discarded boxer shorts. The woman, whom I did not recognize, stood up too and quickly got dressed. She gave me a long, haughty look and walked to the door.

I turned my gaze back to my husband. I had no business with her, anyway.

“How long has this been going on? Is she better in bed than I am?” I asked Henry in a pain stricken voice. If anyone had told me Henry was seeing another woman, I would have argued.

“Tell me Henry.”

“What difference will telling you about all of that make, Kathy?” He said crisply, studying her eyes.

“How could you, Henry?” I stuttered. “I flew all the way down here to spend time with you…And this is what I see.”

“You shouldn't have come,” Henry retorted, running his hand through his hair without remorse. “I never wanted for you to find out like this. I was hoping to come out clean to you after the conference, Kathy.”

“No wonder you won't allow me to come here with you this year…I am your wife…Henry, I can pay you a visit anytime I wish.” I spat back at him angrily, tears gathering up in my eyes. “How could you betray me like this? Who is she?”

He said nothing, but the look he gave me left my stomach churning.

“I can't believe I have been a fool,” I mumbled through my tears. “I don't deserve this.” I whimpered through tears. “I don't deserve this type of treatment from you, Henry Scott.”

“Don't cry, Kathy,” he finally said in a soft voice and went to the wardrobe to retrieve his clothes and get dressed up.

“I will call room service. What would you like for dinner? You will stay the night and return home in the morning. We'll talk when I come back.”

“I don't need food, Henry,” I told him angrily. “You can continue the night with your whore, you cheating bastard.”

He was speechless. He looked at me with his mouth opened as I picked up my bag and my suitcase from the floor. I didn't want to be near him any longer and rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind me with the fury burning in me.

I didn't have any choice but to return to the front desk staff.

“Mrs. Scott, is everything okay?” She asked, obviously shocked to see me return with my bags so fast.

“Everything is fine,” I told her and ask if the hotel had an airport shuttle. She looked at me and gave me a knowing look. But I was so grateful that she didn't inquire why I was leaving so soon.

She said they had, and I booked one right away. My driver came in ten minutes later and took me to the airport.

Hot tears dripped down my cheeks as I sat down at the airport, waiting for the day to break so I could board the first flight back to Dallas. I had never been so distraught in my entire life like I was at that moment. What made it so painful was that Henry didn't even show any remorse.

He didn't even run after me or anything. That told me one thing: he didn't love me anymore. He only wanted his new woman. I knew at that moment that he didn't love me anymore.

I rummaged in my bag and brought out my phone to call my dad and told him what had just happened to me. But I thought about it, deciding not to. Knowing who my daddy was, a chronic womanizer, I might not find the solace I wanted from him. It was moments like this that I regretted not having friends.

I have never been a friend-girl, any man I am with has always been the only friends I kept. I rubbed my eyes and dropped the phone back into my bag. I had to wait in the airport lobby for the next eight hours for the first flight to Dallas the next morning.

I was buttoning up my scrub on Tuesday morning, preparing for work when Henry came to the house. My stomach churned as he walked into our bedroom, it was clear he had been with his mistress since Saturday when he got back from Washington. The conference ended on Friday.

“Hey,” he stood at the doorway with a hand in his pocket and in his hand was a thin folder.

“Hey,” I replied, giving him a once over. He was wearing a new suit, a deep mauve suit paired with a white shirt and black tie. It surprised me because I have always wanted him to include some pastel colors in his wardrobe. But he was always telling me that they were too soft, that he didn't like them.

“Where have you been?” I asked him angrily. “I know the conference ended on Friday.”

“I'm staying over at the company's guest house,” he replied offhandedly. “Really?” I retorted and he said nothing.

“When did you get that?” I pointed at his suit, breaking the little silence.

“They look good, right?” He gave a smile and fiddled with a button. “Nelly insisted I get them yesterday when we went shopping.”

“Wow,” I thought, feeling like he had just given me a jab by the side. The sight of him made my skin crawl.

“I think we should sit down. We need to talk, Kathy.” He said curtly. “I will wait for you in the kitchen.”

I followed him and we got into the kitchen at the same time. We sat down across from each other at the table.

“Kathy, I’m sorry you found out about Nelly and I the way you did.” He placed the folder on the table. “That wasn’t how I planned it. I was planning to tell everything on my return from Washington.” He said as if he was delivering a package instead of breaking apart a life we had spent building together. His demeanor was more like chatting with a business partner.

I said nothing. I only gave him a pointed look and crossed my arms over the table, trying very hard to hold back my tears. I didn't want him to see how badly his insensitivity was affecting me.

"I thought it’d be better to do this as fast as possible," he said. “These are the divorce papers. You just have to sign them and the process will start immediately.”

"Better for who, Henry?" I asked him with irritation. His jaw tightened slightly, but his composure remained intact. "For both of us," he said. “Our marriage can't work anymore. I know we signed a prenup. Don't worry, I will leave the house for you and also write out a generous check for you. I want to compensate you for your troubles.”

“Really, Henry?” I barked out a bitter and sharp laugh. “I ask you again, why are you doing this? Is sh…she better in bed than me?”

"Kelly and I used to be in a relationship like our families wanted,” he started. “Everyone had assumed we were going to get married. Her father was must father's most trusted associate; he was one of the executive directors and naturally she too started working in the company after she graduated college. My dad even gave her father considerable shares in the family business. But something happened along the line between our fathers.”

Henry took a deep breath before continuing. “Her father resigned abruptly and she transferred companies.” He shrugged, “as expected, our relationship took a burnt from all of that. Now that our fathers are late, she's back in town…in my life, and things just…" He shrugged.

“Your old flame?” I asked in anger. “She's back and you've already picked up from where you stopped.” I stood up, clapping my hands. “Oh my goodness, I just realized, Henry, I am just a stand-in- wife, right?”

“I'm sorry,” his eyes flickered with something…regret, guilt. It cleared off before I could decide on what it was. “I didn't plan for all of this and you are not a stand-in-wife. She’s back, and… we’ve rekindled. She's pregnant. I have to do right by her.”

“Pregnant!” A cold dreary slithered through me. “How…How Henry? You told me you didn't want a baby until after our third anniversary. But now you went ahead to impregnate your old lover the moment she walked back into your life.”

I stared at him, feeling the world tilt sideways. Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring the image of Henry, the man I loved, the man I had built a life with.

“No Henry,” I said, my voice creaking. “I don't want just a house and a generous check.” I gave a bitter laugh and sat down to look straight into his eyes. “Henry Scott, you are going to pay for this betrayal.” The stark reality of a child on the way felt like a physical blow. Everything was just making meaning for me at that moment. He was actually waiting for Nelly to come back. So that was why he didn't want us to have a baby before the third anniversary. He was still hoping she would come back to him.

“Trust me, you are going to pay for each day, each month, down to the last second of my life you have wasted, Henry Scott…”

“Don't be silly,” he stood up, hands in his pockets. “You can't do that. We signed a prenup. You shouldn't be greedy.”

A wave of hot and fierce anger threatened to consume me as I listened to his wicked words. I wanted to scream, to throw something, to demand how he could say these things with such clinical detachment.

I saw another Henry that I have never seen before. The man standing before me was nothing like the man I fell in love with and got married to.

I stood up and asked him to leave. I told him my lawyer will get back to him.

Henry stood, his calm facade cracking for the first time. "Kathy, let’s not make this uglier than it has to be. Otherwise, you will lose everything.”

I stepped closer to him, my voice cold and steady. "Oh, it’s already ugly, Henry. Just get the hell out of here!”

He walked out, banging the door after him. My heart aches with a dull, throbbing pain. I broke down in tears and crumbled to the floor in the middle of the kitchen.

After my shift ended at 3:00 pm I walked slowly to the staff car park. Henry's words had not stopped echoing in my mind since morning, “Nelly is pregnant.”

Those words were running around my head as I carried out my duties. The matron had to ask me twice today if I was okay. I only told her I was fine and tried to concentrate as much as I could. Heaving a sigh of relief when the end of the shift came. I quickly signed off, and picked my bag and left the ward.

A single tear escaped, tracing a path down my cheek. I didn't know how to make the cold sharp pain stop as my tears continued to flow. After I could control myself, I decided to drive to my father's. I needed to talk, to let the pain out, and the only person I coukd do that with was my father.

We didn't exactly have the normal father-daughter relationship, but he was the only family I had left apart from my step siblings and their mothers.

But before that I drove to the nearby shop to get him some groceries like I usually do whenever I was visiting him. The smell of cigarette smoke and stale beer hit me as usual when I opened the door.

“Hey dad,” I greeted and went to the kitchen to set the shopping bags I was holding on the kitchen counter.

He was already standing at the kitchen doorway by the time I turned around. His signature scowl on his face; my father wore his grumpiness like a badge of honor.

“How was work today?” he asked with his arms folded in front of him. “Fine,” I said tartly.

“What happened?” he asked, eyeing me suspiciously as he leaned back against the doorframe.

“Henry… he wants a divorce,” I whispered, my voice barely audible as I walked out into the living room. “His ex is back. She is pregnant already.” I babbled on.

He followed me and said, “you women always forget how to keep a man once you’ve got him. Bet you stopped doing the little things, huh? Let yourself go? That’s how his ex got back in, I’m sure. Men need to feel wanted all the time.”

His words hit me like a slap, each one stinging worse than the last. My stomach churned with a mix of anger and regret. “I shouldn't have come here.” I thought to myself.

“Dad, you know that's not true,” I retorted. “You know me very well. You can't accuse me of that. I have never changed towards my husband in any way after we got married.”

I plopped down on the couch, crossing my legs and he sat across from me.

“Then why don't you beg him? Let him know you love him.” He sat upright and looked all serious. “He's a man. You make him keep the ex as a mistress and you can continue to be his wife. That will make everybody happy.”

“What Dad?” I shouted. I couldn't believe what he was saying. “Why would I beg him?”

“Don't be arrogant,” he blew out a long puff from his cigarette. “All you women are, you don't want to accept that one woman is not enough for a real man.”

“That is bullshit,” I spat back at him. “It’s nonsense, why would I want to beg Henry?”

“Because you still love him.” He rubbed his hand along his pants legs. “That's why you are so miserable, Kathy. Go and beg Henry.”

“I'm miserable because he betrayed me, Dad.” I uncrossed my legs. “I don't love him anymore…I can't love him again with the way he had betrayed me. He didn't even love me in the first instance.”

“That's the lie you women tell yourselves.” He rubbed on the stubble covering his jaw. “The whole lot of you like to throw unnecessary tantrums.”

“Dad, you’re unbelievable,” I spat, rising from the couch. “I came here to find some comfort, but here you are giving me the opposite. Why Dad?”

“You want me to pamper you?” He laughed. “You of all people know that I don't sugar coat; I say it as it is.”

I walked to the door. His laughter followed me out: cruel and hollow. I slammed the door shut behind me with my anger and practically ran to my car, tears blurring my vision.

I blamed myself for coming over as I backed out of his driveway. “What do I expect from a man with six children from five women, anyway?” I asked myself as I drove away.

I missed my mother in moments like this. She would have known what to say, how to pull me out of this pit of despair. My father was hardly a beacon of wisdom on relationships.

When I pulled into my driveway and turned off the car engine, I just sat there, staring at the house Henry and I had lived in together for Twenty-eight months after our wedding and seven months prior.

My mind wandered back to the night I first set my eyes on him.

Henry was rushed to the hospital when he had an accident on his way home from work during my entry year as a registered nurse. I had just started working in Oasis General Medical Center.

He didn't sustain any serious injury, but Dr. Daniel insisted he must stay overnight and I was the one attached to him for his care. It was during the night that we got talking before he slept off.

In the morning, he insisted on having my phone number and promised to call me. I wasn't even thinking about him after he left. I never thought I would see him again since he already made it clear he was going to be using his family hospital after his discharge.

But he did call me two days after he was discharged and I was pleasantly surprised. He asked me out to dinner, and I turned him down, but he was persistent and I agreed after three weeks. The rest is history now, as they say.