The Other Woman

By Siddhi Joshi

I still remember that day clearly, after all how can I forget the day I lost everything. He came to me asking for forgiveness but more for seeking permission to be with someone else. No no sorry not just someone else, her… the other woman.

For the longest time I thought that this was the moment when he left me, when everything was over. It took me a while to realize that is had happened long back but this was the moment I realized what had come to be.

While he ignored my calls, he happily spent time with her. My concern and care was tagged as nagging while the same thing done by her was seen as care. When I longed for his attention and care, I was seen as desperate. He never looked at her being desperate but then again why would she be desperate for something she was getting. Something that was rightfully mine. Something she stole or wait did she actually steal it? Or did he provide it to her on a silver platter? She took what was mine or wait no he willingly gave it to her. It had already begun I just realized it much later.

Back to that day… he held my hand like never before… asking for forgiveness, but for what? For giving my place to someone else? For giving what was rightfully mine to her… the other woman? For failing me? What was he asking forgiveness for? Or what is it even forgiveness he wanted? Or did he want permission to go to her… the other woman?

His answer shook me. He was neither sorry for his choice nor for what he had done to me. He was sorry for me. He was sorry that I was a woman who had been ditched by her own husband for another woman. As if he felt it was my fault that he had to go to her… the other woman.

And that is when I realized, for me she was the other woman but for him I was the other woman

So I let him go. Not because it was my fault but because it was his. I did not deserve a second chance because the first one was never given to me. And as for him, he definitely did not deserve another chance. He lost someone he loved while I lost someone who loved someone else more… the other woman.

I was not going to be a choice, a backup plan, and his excuse for finding love outside our marriage. I was done forgiving him for things he dint deserve to be excused. I was not going to be a victim, another woman in a story I deserved to be a hero in.

By Siddhi Joshi