Three.
1130 Words
Tiffany’s POV
I clutched the phone so tight my knuckles turned white. Austin’s voice was deeper than I remembered, steady like it had always been, it cut through the silence of the apartment.
“Tiff? Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, wiping my face with the back of my hand. “I’m… I’m at the apartment. Or what used to be the apartment.”
“Stay put. I’m coming to get you.”
“No,” I said quickly, my voice cracking. “Not yet. I just need some time. Please.”
He was quiet for a second. “Call me if you need anything. Anything at all. I mean it.”
I stared at the phone long after Austin hung up. Austin Reed. My best friend since college, the one person who had always seen me clearly. Back then we had stayed up late in the library, laughing over cheap coffee, making stupid bets about our futures.
One night, after David and I had our first big fight, Austin looked at me seriously and said, “If that guy ever breaks your heart, Tiff, I will destroy him. Deal?”
I had laughed and shaken on it, never thinking it would matter. But Austin had never liked David. He would warn me quietly, year after year, and I chose to love him anyway.
Hearing his voice now cracked something open inside me. He was the only one left who still felt like home.
The emptiness rushed back after the call. I couldn’t stay here another night surrounded by David’s things.
I threw the last of my clothes into the suitcase, grabbed my bag, and left before I could change my mind.
The motel on the edge of town was cheap and smelled like old cigarettes, but it was all I could afford with the little cash I had left.
I paid for three nights and dragged my suitcase into room 12. The mattress sagged when I sat on it. I pulled out my phone and ordered the cheapest noodles they had.
While I waited, I made the mistake of opening social media.
The photos were everywhere. Someone from David’s circle had posted a video clip from that night, me standing there in my burgundy dress, holding the divorce papers like a fool.
The caption read: When the side piece finds out she’s been replaced. The comments were worse.
She looks so desperate lol
Gold-digger finally got what she deserved
David upgraded big time. That new girl is stunning
Poor thing thought she could lock him down forever
I kept scrolling, tears dripping onto the screen. My noodles arrived cold. I ate them anyway, staring at the comments until my eyes burned.
The next morning, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed closure. Or my things or just to hear him say it to my face one more time. I took a cab to David’s office building, the one I used to visit with homemade lunch when he worked late.
Security stopped me at the entrance. “Ma’am, you’re not on the list.”
“I’m his wife,” I said, voice small. “Tiffany Harrington.”
The guard gave me a pitying look. “Not anymore, from what I hear. Sorry.”
I stood there arguing until David finally came down, Sophia trailing behind him in a designer coat. He looked annoyed, like I was an unwanted meeting on his calendar.
“David,” I started, stepping closer. “I just wanted my clothes from the cleaner and maybe my mother’s necklace. That’s all. I’m not here to cause trouble.”
He sighed. “Stop embarrassing yourself, Tiffany. Sophia and I are announcing our wedding date next week. Move on. The papers are signed. It’s done.”
Sophia smiled sweetly and linked her arm through his. “We have a cake tasting in twenty minutes, babe.”
I felt the words like slaps. “You used to call me babe,” I said before I could stop myself. “Remember when you had that terrible flu two years ago? I stayed up three nights straight, wiping your forehead, making soup from scratch because you said the canned stuff tasted wrong. I supported you when the company almost went under. I gave up promotions so I could be there for you. And now you can’t even give me five minutes?”
David’s jaw tightened. “That was then. You were comfortable, safe but I need more now. Sophia understands the life I want. You never did.”
He turned and walked away without looking back. Sophia gave me one last glance, her eyes full of triumph.
I wandered out of the building in a daze. My chest felt too tight. The street blurred. I stumbled into a small café nearby and ordered water just so I could sit down.
My breathing came in short gasps. A panic attack. Right there in public.
“Hey, miss? You okay?” An older woman at the next table leaned over. She had kind eyes and a gentle voice. She pushed a napkin toward me. “Here, breathe slow. Whatever it is, it won’t break you.”
Her simple kindness undid me. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed harder than I had in the motel.
“He threw me away,” I choked out between sobs. “Like I was nothing. After everything.”
The woman rubbed my back softly but didn’t say much. She just stayed there until I could breathe again. When I finally looked up, she gave me a small, sad smile. “Men like that never know what they lost until it’s too late.”
I thanked her and left before I embarrassed myself more.
Back at the motel, I curled up on the bed, staring at the cracked ceiling. My phone buzzed with notifications, more gossip, more photos of David and Sophia at some fancy dinner last night.
In one post, he was laughing with friends, raising a glass. Someone had asked about me in the comments. His reply was visible: She’ll be fine. She always was too simple for this life.
I closed the app and threw the phone aside.
A knock sounded at the door. I opened it to find a delivery guy holding a thick envelope.
“Tiffany Harrington?”
I nodded and signed for it. Inside was an official-looking document. My eyes scanned the lines, legal jargon about contracts, partnerships, and something called Callisto Holdings Group. Several of David’s major deals were tied to it quietly and secretly.
My hands started shaking. I stared at the papers for a long time, then whispered to the empty room, “He really has no idea of who I am.”
- Writer
