I\u2019m responsible for almost everything.Aiden didn\u2019t seem to hear me when I told him about my struggles. We talked about my new project and how overwhelmed with work I was. One day, I arrived home at 9 pm and the first thing I heard was: \u201cWhere have you been?\u201d \u201cI had a lot of work today, I told you I\u2019d come home late\u2026\u201d\u201cYou didn\u2019t tell me!\u201d \u201cYeah, I did. Couple of times. It\u2019s the project I\u2019m working on\u2026\u201d Aiden interrupted me. \u201cWhatever, Claire. I\u2019m hungry. Will you prepare dinner or not?\u201d he said while watching a soccer game.\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s much food left\u2026 We need to buy some.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll wait here, you can go to the store,\u201d he said without taking his eyes away from the TV. So I grabbed my wallet and left.On the way to the shop, I got lost in my own thoughts. Aiden used to be kind and gentle; now he\u2019s this demanding man who\u2019s often dissatisfied. I have to walk on eggshells when communicating with him.\u201cWhy did you take so long? I\u2019m starving!\u201d said Aiden when I arrived home. I ran to the kitchen to cook dinner. He ate silently and went back to the TV, leaving me with a dirty kitchen. Can\u2019t he even wash his own plate? I thought. I didn\u2019t want to say anything because I was too tired to start a discussion. So, I cleaned everything and went to bed.\n

The following morning, I could barely stand on my own feet. I had a stuffy nose, a sore throat, and my head was blowing.\u201cYou\u2019re late\u2026 where\u2019s breakfast?\u201d Those were the first words I heard from Aiden instead of a \u201cgood morning.\u201d I pushed myself into a hot shower and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Aiden was ready to leave and said, \u201cNever mind, you\u2019re too slow. I\u2019m gonna be late,\u201d and slammed the door behind him.I was feeling so bad that I had to call in sick. I made tea with honey and lemon and went back to bed. As I sat on the bed, I tried to think of when Aiden started to treat me so badly. He wasn\u2019t always like this\u2026But then I realized that I couldn\u2019t remember the last time Aiden helped me in any way or simply supported me with words. Even when he was wrong, he always managed to blame me. I cried myself to sleep. I woke up to voices coming from the hall. Is he back home? Why is he back? Maybe he forgot something? \u201cGet out, I think she\u2019s home\u2026\u201d I heard Aiden whispering. He continued, \u201cIt won\u2019t work today.\u201d\n

I got up, went to the door, and quietly opened it. I was stunned when I saw a beautiful brunette standing in the hall.\u201dDear,\u201d she said, \u201cwhen will we meet then?\u201d \u201cOn the weekend. I\u2019ll pick a fight with her and we can go on a trip for two days,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s great!\u201d she squealed and jumped into his arms. \u201cShhh, please, be quiet\u2026!\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes so I went back to bed. It felt like a bad dream. They didn\u2019t even hide! I should make that man learn a lesson.I felt something shifting inside me. What am I doing? Why am I allowing myself to be treated this way? A man who was supposed to love me and treat me well\u2026 I had a plan. As soon as Aiden left the house, I suddenly felt better. I called someone to change the lock of our door.\n

The apartment belonged to me. Then I gathered all his belongings, packed them in luggages and cardboard boxes, and walked around the house to see if there was something else that belonged to him.I took everything that belonged to the man and packed them \u2014 I didn\u2019t want anything that was his in my apartment. I didn\u2019t want any memory of him there or anything with his energy. I just wanted him to leave my life so I could move on.I spent almost the whole day packing his stuff until he arrived home from work and I heard the doorbell ring. \u201cWhat happened to the lock? Why don\u2019t my keys don\u2019t work?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou didn\u2019t even greet me!\u201d I remarked. \u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d Aiden said pointing at his stuff. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on, Claire?\u201d\u201cThis is where you leave, Aiden. I\u2019m done with you. Take your stuff and go with your mistress to hell! I\u2019m filing for divorce!\u201d Aiden looked at me as if he didn\u2019t recognize the woman I became. \u201cWho is she? Where is the quiet wife who at first glance did everything I wanted?\u201d he must have thought.\u201cAiden, I know everything.\n

You don\u2019t love me, you\u2019re only using me. Go away and don\u2019t return. I won\u2019t forgive you!\u201dThe man looked at me in disbelief. \u201cAlright. I\u2019m leaving, but you\u2019ll regret every word you\u2019re saying!\u201d He stopped a cab, took his stuff, and left. The next day, I filed for divorce, and a month later, it was official. Aiden could not believe what happened. He tried several times to talk to me, but I just refused to talk to him. Since the day Aiden left my apartment, I felt different. I\u2019m a new woman. Now I take care of myself, I love myself, and I don\u2019t allow anyone to look down on me or disrespect me. I started therapy and my shrink is helping me heal all the wounds that abusive relationship left me.\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow could he?\u201d I thought. And that was the last straw for me.I work at a bank as a project manager and our latest project has been the hardest of all. I often came home late and sometimes, I would work on the weekends. But work is just a slice of my busy life. I …\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":77021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moral-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77023,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77019\/revisions\/77023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}