The night before my wedding, I saw a post on the "r/offmychest" subreddit.
The title read: "I slept with my fiancée's maid of honor, but I still love my fiancée. I need to get this off my chest."
The post got straight to the point:
"I'm getting married tomorrow. And I'm heading to meet the maid of honor right now."
"To be honest, it's purely physical with the maid of honor. The one I truly love is my fiancée."
"This arrangement works for everyone. I have needs my fiancée can't meet, but the maid of honor... she's uninhibited."
"Besides, she's her best friend. She would never hurt her."
From their professions and the story of how they met, right down to the wedding venue—I knew instantly. The poster was my fiancé, Joel.
This former Ivy League star quarterback once declared he would give up the world for me. He’d proven his love with countless passionate nights and waited three long years before I finally said yes.
For the seven years we were together, he had loved me with a devotion that bordered on obsession, just as he'd promised.
So much so that he could never bring himself to unleash his rougher side on me.
On a whim, I pulled up the security camera feed for the wedding venue.
Under the floral arch where we were meant to exchange our vows, two naked bodies were writhing in the dark.
Petals rained down with their violent movements. The tattoo of my name on Joel's chest and the ugly scar on Maya's back—a scar she’d gotten for me—were pressed together in a sickening display of irony.
————————
1
Everything Joel ever did for me was dramatic and grand.
But the craziest thing he ever did was torching his own future for me.
He was a star quarterback in college with a multi-million-dollar NFL contract practically within his grasp.
But at a party, trying to impress me with a dangerous stunt, he tore a ligament.
His professional career ended just like that.
Everyone called him a fool, but he just smiled and said that for me, it was all worth it.
The spectacle drew the media’s full glare.
As a result, hardly anyone noticed me drinking myself into oblivion as my family imploded.
Joel knew I couldn't handle it alone. My father was in jail for a DUI—put there by my mother, who then swallowed a bottle of pills right in front of me.
To stop me from hurting myself, he let me take my anguish out on him, his own body becoming a canvas of scratches.
He also fended off the debt collectors who circled our home like vultures.
When I finally surfaced from the fog, I saw him, gaunt and hollow-eyed after a month of taking care of me.
But all Joel said was, "Maggie, I promised I'd be with you forever."
In that moment, I knew. He was the one.
So when Maya fiercely opposed my relationship with Joel, I told her no for the first time in my life.
Ever since Maya had saved my life in that car accident, I had never been able to refuse her anything.
That was the day my father was first arrested for drunk driving.
He was weaving all over the road before he finally slammed into a guardrail.
My father wrenched the wheel. The car tipped, and as it skidded on its side, my head hurtled toward the shattered window.
Maya, who was catching a ride home with me, threw herself over me, holding me tight.
I lay on the asphalt as jagged shards from the window sliced open her back.
She was in a coma for over a month.
When she woke up, she just joked that if I died, no one would be around to pay her allowance anymore.
She also quipped that this way, she could sue my family for a huge settlement.
I was young, but I wasn't stupid.
She’d use her allowance for snacks, only to press most of them into my hands, insisting I eat.
From then on, we were inseparable.
No matter how badly her grades slipped, I paid whatever it took to keep her in the same school as me.
The same went for college; I covered all her expenses, letting her live without a single worry.
I was her constant shadow.
People said I was brainwashed by Maya, that she was a parasite from the slums, leeching off me to survive.
But they didn't understand. Compared to my parents, who used me as a pawn in their twisted games, Maya was the only real family I had.
I leaned on her so heavily that when she raged against my relationship with Joel, I completely missed the flicker of jealousy and panic in her eyes.