Before meeting Grace, my life was miserable. I might have had everything I dreamt of but I didn’t have happiness. I went back to my cold, quiet apartment every night after slaving in the office the whole day. Seeing my friends getting married made my loneliness more apparent. I had never had a serious relationship. After attending three weddings in a row, I made a promise to myself to find a lifelong partner.
I longed to have someone who could give me a family and like an answered prayer, Grace came into my life. We met at a networking event at the Kempinski Hotel. That was the kind of place I hoped to meet my future wife. Our connection was instant. She was beautiful, well-spoken and modest, which was exactly what I was looking for. Previously, I had dated girls who only used me for my mone,y so I decided to go for a different type of woman.
“Today must be my lucky day,” I said to her.
She looked confused but smiled and asked, “Do we know each other?”
“No, but I’d like to know you.”
She introduced herself and we chatted for a few minutes before she spotted her friend and excused herself. I could see them talking and looking at me, then she came back.
“Sorry, my friend just wanted to know if I was okay.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I was in good company.”
“Okay. Where were we?”
“You asked me if I was married.”
“Oh yes. Are you?”
“No, I’m divorced.”
“Who would be reckless enough to divorce you?”
She chuckled. “It’s a long story but I’ll tell you when we have time.”
We grabbed some seats and continued chatting for hours. I learnt so much about her that day that it felt like I had known her for years.
She was a lawyer and she had been married for six years before getting a divorce. She had two children – a boy and a girl. A woman with two children would send most childless men running for the hills but it only made me more intrigued by her.
After a long conversation, we called it a night and exchanged numbers so we could stay in touch.
I fell for Grace so easily. She was so easy to love. She didn’t ask for anything. I was the one who would insist on helping her out with the bills as I imagined it was tough to raise two kids and worry about paying bills.
Within three months, we were in a full-blown relationship. We were even talking about getting married. I wasn’t one to move that fast but everything seemed right with Grace. I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that she was the one.
“Would you like to move in with me?” I suggested.
“I would but I’m not sure if the kids are ready for that yet. They still have an attachment to their father and seeing another man around will hurt them.”
“Do they know you got divorced?”
“Yes, but I think they still hope that we will get back together.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll win them over.”
I made it my mission to get her kids’ approval. In the meantime, I rented an apartment close to mine for her so I could see her regularly.
On the weekends, I went into dad mode. I would pick up her children, take them all around town, buy them toys and junk food, then drop them off at their mother’s place. It felt good. I loved that family life. I envisioned us having more kids.
However, things started getting complicated when I met her best friend, Jackie. The woman had quite the personality, to put it lightly. She saw the bad in everything. Nothing seemed to satisfy her and unfortunately, Grace valued their friendship, so I had to tolerate her.
Whenever she was around, I would be in a bad mood. We didn’t seem to agree on anything. She even criticised the apartment I rented for Grace.
“Grace has two kids, and you rented her a two-bedroom apartment. Where will her guests sleep?” She asked in a snarky tone.
“For now, they can either sleep on the couch or at their place.”
“If you really cared about her, you would have rented a bigger place for her.”
Grace would always intervene but it seemed like she wasn’t too bothered by the way Jackie would talk to me. I wasn’t too worried, though. I knew how to handle people like her and sure enough, we became good friends in a few months.
In fact, she used to call me and check up on me more than Grace did. It was because of this friendship that the truth finally came to light.
During one of our hangouts, Jackie opened up to me and revealed what Grace was doing.
“You know, you’ve become a really good friend of mine, and I can’t let you get deceived any longer.” She said.
“Deceived? By whom?”
“Grace. She’s been lying to you. She’s still married and she goes to see her husband every month.”
Everything went silent and my vision went blurry for a minute as I processed what Jackie had told me.
“Are you sure? You know you can be wicked sometimes.” I asked hoping she was pulling a prank on me.
“I’m serious. She does this to many men. I just thought I should tell you since it seems like things are getting serious between the two of you and I don’t want to find out when it’s too late.”
After that revelation, I confronted Grace and she confessed. She insisted that she was planning on getting divorced and that she wanted us to be together.
However, I couldn’t trust her. I ended the relationship and haven’t looked back since that day. Jackie is still a good friend of mine and we talk regularly but I have one rule for her – don’t mention Grace.
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