And suddenly… I had something else too.
Control.
I didn’t confront him.
Not that day.
Not the next.
Instead, I smiled.
I cooked his favorite meals.
I laughed at his jokes.
I kissed him goodbye in the mornings.
The perfect wife.
Exactly what he wanted.
I also met the phone’s owner.
We arranged to exchange phones at the gym.
She was younger than me. Early twenties, maybe.
Pretty. Polished. Effortless.
Everything Frank seemed to value.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she said, laughing lightly. “I didn’t even notice the mix-up.”
“Neither did I,” I replied calmly, handing her the phone.
Our fingers brushed.
She had no idea who I was.
And I made sure to keep it that way.
By then, I had already copied everything.
Every message.
Every insult.
Every promise he made to leave me.
Frank’s birthday arrived two days later.
He wanted something grand.
Something impressive.
Of course he did.
I made sure I looked exactly the way he wanted.
Hair curled.
Makeup flawless.
A dress I hadn’t worn in years—the one he once said made me look “worth showing off.”
He noticed.
For the first time in a long while, he actually looked at me.
“Now this,” he said, smirking, “is more like it.”
I smiled sweetly.
“Oh, just wait.”
The restaurant was full.
Friends. Colleagues. People Frank wanted to impress.
People who thought they knew him.
People who thought they knew us.
Dinner went smoothly.
Laughter.
