I played the part of the angry ex, and cleaned
up all signs that I had been living here.
Then I found an old box in the back of a closet,
filled with Brenda’s things.
I looked through them and found out that when
I was chasing Jake, he and Brenda were already
involved.
The letters he had written me mentioned
Brenda’s cruel words about me.
Brenda had been nasty to me the whole time,
and he had been watching.
That was when he started to chase me, and my
affection meter shot up and he started to
“reverse“-pursue me.
Jake was upset that I had to deal with all that,
and I believed he was my salvation, our love
story.
The truth was horrifying. There was always
someone else there.
After the pain, I felt a mix of emotions.
By the time Brenda hung up, I was looking
through her social media.
Jake had been seeing Brenda all that time.
<
Every intimate update she posted was related
to him.
I scrolled to the bottom. I felt sick to my
stomach, and ran to the bathroom. I had
nothing left to throw up but bile.
I closed my eyes, exhausted, and collapsed
back onto the sofa. I was still sick.
Then Jake was pressing me down, breathing hard and warm.
He was touching me, looking desperate for me, but stopped at the tattoos.
I suddenly came to, and pushed him away, too
weak to even yell.
But, what was the point?
Jake looked at my forehead, frowning. “You’re burning up, are you sick?”
He lifted me into bed and tucked me in. He
looked everywhere for fever reducers, then put
on a jacket and went out again.
I couldn’t sleep, and in my half–awake state, he
kissed my forehead and brought me a glass of
water.
“The store was closed. I’ll call in sick for both
<
of us tomorrow, now just get some rest.”
I forced my eyes open and saw him turn away,
tossing something into the trash.
When I was fully awake, I smelled Brenda’s
perfume again, and felt sick again.
I threw his jacket in the washing machine. Then
I found a packet of fever reducers in the
pocket.
He had hidden the medicine and said he
couldn’t buy any.
I looked down at the sleeping pills in the trash.
Was it easier for him, now that he didn’t have to
go to all that trouble to drug me?
I went back to bed, unable to sleep, until just
before dawn.
Jake went out early and I slept in, just as he
wished. I woke up to find him cooking in the
kitchen.
He had cleaned everything up, and there was a
bag of medicine on the table, Jake’s silent
apology.
Jake was always punctual, but he was missing
work for me.
I just swallowed the bitterness that was coming up.
Jake called from the kitchen. “Babe, have
something to eat before your fever reducer, it’ll upset your stomach otherwise.”
Soon there was a big meal in front of me. I stood there, staring at it, and then spoke. “Jake, do you remember our promise?”
We were going to work hard together and fly
high.
When I fell for him, I had forgotten about my mission. I thought we could always be happy.
He hugged me, sighing softly.
“I’m so sorry, Sarah. I thought those tattoos
were temporary…they used a new technique. It
was all my fault.”
“Don’t worry, our wedding is still on. I will
always love you.
I didn’t say a word.
Five years, 99%, it was enough.
“You should rest up and then go back to work. I
can take care of us both.”
“When they fade, if you still want to fly, we can
make a decision then, okay?”
Jake was making plans for me to be a stay–at- home wife. He even said that he’d take time off so we could go on a trip.
He planned all of this out so quickly, and I said
nothing as I listened to his empty promises, the compensation.
There was no mention of kids, though.
When he noticed I hadn’t said anything, he tried to sweet talk me. It was always easy for him. I forced a smile, and agreed with everything. The clock ticked away and Jake got more and more restless, walking back and forth in the
empty house.
At 5:00, Brenda’s call came right on time. He beamed, she’d just been given a permanent job. I knew Jake was anxious to go celebrate, so I
put his coat on, and said calmly:
“I’m better, go on.” Every meaning of the word.
The system pinged.
“Transfer complete. New mission activated and
new target updated.”
My social media blew up, news that a
billionaire’s son was getting married.
I saw the headline, but didn’t click. I only looked
at my mission points.
