MY HUSBAND'S SECRET SIDE CHICK

THE WOMAN I ALREADY KNOW

"You already know her."

Mia's words hung in the room. I stared at her then I looked at Ethan. Neither of them moved.

"What do you mean I already know her?" My own voice sounded unfamiliar even to me. Mia opened her mouth, but Ethan stepped between us.

"That's enough." He said.

I laughed bitterly. "No. It isn't."

"Laura..."

"Don't Laura me."

Then he stopped, I had never spoken to him that way before. Maybe that was why he looked at me like he was seeing a different woman.

I pointed toward Mia.

"She just told me the woman I thought was sleeping with my husband is someone I already know. So it's either she explains herself or you do."

Ethan rubbed his face. "Look Laura, it's complicated."

"Everything with you is complicated."

Mia looked at him.

"She deserves to know the truth Ethan."

His eyes snapped toward her. "You don't get to decide when she hears it."

"And you do?"

The room went silent, I looked between them. There was something in the way they spoke to each other that unsettled me.

Not romantic, not secretive, something older, something painful.

"Mia," I said quietly. "How long have you known me?"

She hesitated. "Longer than you think."

My stomach tightened, I looked at Ethan.

"You told me she came back into your life recently."

"I said I didn't know how to explain everything."

"You made it sound like she was some distant relative you hadn't spoken to in years."

"She was."

"Was?"

He sighed. "Laura please sit down."

"Don't tell me to sit." I folded my arms.

"I've been sitting down while you've been lying to me for weeks. I'm standing now."

His expression changed and for the first time that morning, he looked genuinely hurt. "Do you really think I wanted any of this?"

I almost snapped back, then I saw his eyes. There was something there, something I hadn't seen in weeks. Fear.

But beneath the fear was something else.

Regret.

And somehow that made me angrier.

"Then tell me the truth."

He looked at Mia, then she nodded.

Ethan finally faced me. "The underwear wasn't Mia's."

"I know."

"And I didn't buy it."

My heart stopped, I stared at him. "You lied."

"Yes." The word came quietly.

"Why?"

He looked down. "Because I panicked."

"That isn't an answer."

"I knew how it would look."

"It looked like you were cheating on me because you were acting like a man who was cheating on me."

His jaw tightened. "I know."

"Ethan, you've been avoiding me."

"I know that too."

"You barely touch me anymore."

Then his eyes lifted to mine. "I know."

"And every time I ask what's wrong, you tell me you're tired."

"I was trying to protect you."

I scoffed. "Protect me? From what?"

He didn't answer.

I stepped closer. "From what, Ethan?"

His silence made my chest ache. Then Mia spoke.

"From me."

I turned toward her. "What?"

"Ethan was afraid that if you knew I existed, you'd leave him."

I stared at her. "But that doesn't make any sense."

"It will."

"No, it won't."

I looked at Ethan. "Why would the existence of your sister make me leave my husband?"

He closed his eyes.

And suddenly, I remembered something.

A name, Ethan had once mentioned that name years ago. Only once, but l couldn't remember when and why. But l remembered the expression on his face when he said it.

It was almost like grief.

"Mia," I whispered. She looked at me. "You're the sister he told me had died."

Her face changed, Ethan went completely still.

My heartbeat slammed against my ribs. I looked at him.

"You told me your sister died."

"I never said that."

"You did."

"No "

"Yes, Ethan." My voice cracked. "You told me you lost your sister."

He stared at me.

"I said I lost her."

I frowned. "What?"

"I never said she was dead."

The room seemed to tilt, I looked at Mia. She was crying now, not dramatically. Just silently.

And all of a sudden, the story I'd been carrying in my head for years began changing shape. I had always believed Ethan had lost his sister. I had never asked enough questions, because whenever the subject came up, he shut down. And I had respected that, I had loved him enough to respect his silence. Maybe that had been my mistake from the beginning.

"So the f**k did you hide her from me?"

Ethan looked at Mia.

"Because of what happened before you met me."

My heart tightened. "What happened?"

Neither of them answered. I stepped closer. "What happened?"

Mia wiped beneath her eyes.

"Laura, there's something you don't know about your husband."

I looked at Ethan, he looked exhausted.

"Don't," he whispered.

But Mia shook her head. "She needs to know the truth."

"Not like this."

"Then when?"

His expression hardened. "Not in front of her."

I felt my anger rise again. "What the f**k Ethan," I said almost raising my voice. "I'm standing right here."

They both looked at me.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not in the room." I was already pissed, Ethan moved toward me. I instinctively stepped back, he stopped.

For a second, neither of us spoke. Then he quietly said. "I love you."

My chest tightened, I hated that those three words still affected me. After everything, after the lies, after the distance, after the underwear I still wanted to believe him and that was the most painful part.

"You don't get to say that right now."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know what's real anymore, you think I'm going to fall for that huh?"

"We are real, US is real."

I looked away.

"Then why does being married to you all of a sudden feels like I'm the only person who doesn't know what's happening?"

He had no answer and that silence hurt.

Mia stepped forward. "The woman isn't my sister."

I looked at her.

"What woman?"

"The woman you think Ethan has been seeing."

My pulse quickened. "Then who is she?"

Mia looked at Ethan then he nodded slowly. She took a breath before she finally spilled. "Her name is Natalie."

The name hit me strangely, I knew it. But l just couldn't place it.

"Natalie who?"

Ethan's face went pale, then Mia looked at me.

"Natalie Carter."

Everything inside me stopped, I knew that name. Not from Ethan or some random conversation, but from my own life.

My mouth went dry. "No."

Mia nodded. "You know her?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

"You do."

Then I looked at Ethan, his eyes were full of something l couldn't understand, fear, pain and something dangerously close to heartbreak.

"Tell her," Mia whispered.

Ethan swallowed. "Laura..."

"I'm listening."

He looked at me for a long moment, then he said something that made the floor seem to disappear beneath my feet.

"Natalie was your best friend."

My breath caught, the room became silent. Then a memory flashed through my mind. A girl laughing beside me. A voice promising we'd never lose each other, a face I hadn't thought about in years.

Natalie, my best friend. The woman who had disappeared from my life long before I met Ethan.

I took another step backward.

"No, it can't be."

Ethan reached for me, I pulled away.

"Don't you dare touch me."

"Laura..."

"You knew?"

His silence was enough.

"You knew who she was."

"Yes."

"And you never bothered to tell me?"

"I was going to."

"Bullshit."

"I was."

"When?"

He looked broken. "I just didn't know how."

I laughed but tears burned behind my eyes.

"You keep saying that, you didn't know how. But you knew how to be a f*****g asshole, cus that's what you are."

He looked at me. "I thought if you knew she was back in my life, you'd hate me."

"That's bullshit, why in the world would l hate you just because my old best friend is back?"

He didn't give an answer. I stared at him for a moment, then something clicked.

The underwear.

His distance.

The secret meetings.

Mia.

Natalie.

My husband.

My former best friend.

All of them were suddenly standing inside the same nightmare. But there was one question I couldn't ignore?

"Ethan." He looked at me.

"Why was Natalie's underwear in your car?"

His face changed and this time, he didn't hesitate. He walked towards the dresser, opened the drawer and pulled out a small envelope. He held it towards me.

"This is why."

I stared at the envelope, my name was written across the front.

Not Laura.

Not Mrs. Ethan Carter.

Just one word.

LITTLE L.

My childhood name, the nickname Natalie and my family had ever used to address me. My fingers shook uncontrollably as I reached for the envelope.

"What's inside?"

Ethan looked at me. "The reason Natalie came back."

I opened the envelope. And the moment I saw what was inside, every assumption I'd made about my husband's secret side chick collapsed.

Because the first thing I pulled out wasn't a love letter, it was a photograph of Natalie and me. Taken years before I ever met Ethan. And standing between us was someone I recognized instantly. Someone who should never have been in that picture.

I looked at Ethan, my voice barely came out.

"Where did you get this?"

He didn't answer but Mia did.

"Because Laura..." She looked at Ethan then back at me.

"... Natalie didn't come back for him."

My fingers tightened around the photograph.

"Then why on earth did she come back?"

Ethan's eyes met mine and his answers destroyed the last piece of certainty I had left.

"She came back for you."