She finally spoke. “We can fix this.”
“Fix what?” I asked. “Our marriage was over since Baldi entered the picture, and you chose him over me.”
“It was a mistake,” she said.
“No, it wasn’t. It was a choice. You chose, and this is the consequence. What did you think would happen when I found out?”
Silence again. I told her, “Go to your sister’s and tell her the truth, or I will show her the video.”
She went to the bedroom and started packing. I followed her and watched. For two days, I had been trying to convince myself that my wife was long gone, that the person I shared my house with was not my wife. But seeing her put her clothes neatly into the suitcase, with those graceful movements and those little things I loved about her, hit me hard.
I went to the spare room and started ugly crying. I heard when she closed the main door. She picked up the clothes that were on the sofa. She made the bed where I caught them, and I dropped to the floor.
Much later, I called my dad. He told me Baldi wanted to press charges, but Mr. P told him he hadn’t signed in, so he was trespassing, and the condo could sue him. Baldi dropped it and left. My nosy brother had pressed his ear to the door, and my dad dragged him away by the ear to his car.
I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept well in the previous days, so I almost passed out in the spare room. The next morning, my phone had a lot of messages from Jane apologizing and asking for a second chance. I just blocked her.
My sister-in-law called me. Apparently, Jane hadn’t told her what happened, only that we were fighting. I guess it is good my father-in-law is not alive to see Jane’s behavior. She was the youngest and his favorite.
My mother-in-law has senile dementia. All of this happened a week ago. Next week, Jane is going to be served.
Update 1
It has been 12 days since D-Day. What have I been doing since then?
D-Day plus one, Friday. I had a nice chat with Mr. P. He confessed that he had faked his shoulder pain. He just wanted to warn me about Baldi.
He also told me that a very nosy neighbor saw when I kicked Baldi naked out of my apartment. Surely, in a week, the whole condo will know my situation. My brother came to help me change the lock on the door. When he left, I felt so alone and cried a lot.
I called my job to ask for the day off. That night, I spoke to my lawyer. He said he was preparing the divorce papers. He couldn’t start until he had the evidence, so my divorce would be by mutual consent.
That is smoother than an at-fault divorce, which is longer and pretty nasty. He also told me not to share the video. Jane will be served in two weeks. My sister-in-law called me, but I told her to ask Jane why we were divorcing.
D-Day plus two, Saturday. My sister-in-law came over, and I showed her the video. I drove her home and saw Jane’s car there. When I got home, I felt crushed and cried some more.
D-Day plus three, Sunday. I visited my parents. My mom cried with me because she really loved Jane. My dad had a chat with me about my money, properties, and everything else.
When I returned home, Mr. P told me Jane and Baldi had shown up. I guess they are going to make their relationship public now that the cat is out of the bag. But strangely, they came at different times. Jane came in the morning.
She parked her car, saw mine wasn’t there, and tried to enter my house, but her key didn’t work anymore. Then she asked Mr. P if he knew where I went. He said he didn’t know and told her, “Mr. OP gave me this for you.”
It was my attorney’s card. She kept it and left. Baldi came in the afternoon and first asked to see Jane. Mr. P told him Mrs. Jane, with emphasis on Mrs., didn’t live there anymore.
Then Baldi asked to see me. Mr. P told him I was away and he had no idea when I would return. Then Baldi left. I guess they were not in contact yet.
I wanted to ask about Jane. Was she sad? Did she look healthy? Did she ask about my well-being? But then I remembered D-Day and just thanked Mr. P and said good night.
When I got home, I cried a lot again.
D-Day plus four, Monday. I didn’t want to, but something I learned from other people’s stories was to hit the gym hard. So I looked for a new gym near my job and had a good session. I felt pretty good.
Then I returned to work. At home, I didn’t cry this time. I started taking down all of Jane’s pictures.
D-Day plus five, Tuesday. I had a meeting with my lawyer to review my assets. Fortunately, my dad had made Jane sign a prenup, so she can’t touch anything I had before we got married, mainly my house. All remaining stuff gets divided 50/50, and I can get compensation for her adultery.
As compensation, I am going to take out alimony. I could fight for all the stuff, but everything reminds me of her, and I want to start new.
When I left home, I heard whispers. I turned my head and saw two neighbors, who immediately pretended they hadn’t seen me. They walked in front of me and greeted me. I knew this would happen.
After that, I went to the gym and work. This repeated all week, so I will omit D-Day plus six, Wednesday. Nothing interesting happened. I only have Facebook and social media, and I ignored all DMs asking me to contact Jane.