After ten years of marriage, she left me for someone else. A year later she showed up on my doorstep, pregnant and shattered
I first met Aurélie almost twelve years ago. Back then I was still attending the engineering school in Lyon and living in a university residence. She had just arrived from a tiny village in Brittany, lost, alone, a stranger in that noisy world. We didnt become close right away. At first I barely noticed her; she kept to herself, quiet and absorbed in her books.
Time, however, worked its magic. After a few months we started talking, first shyly, then every evening without being able to stop. She poured out her doubts, I shared my hopes for the future. Soon the residence director assigned us a couples room, trusting that we were serious. That was the beginning of our life together.
I always knew what I wanted to be: a solid man, a pillar, able not only to raise walls but also to fill them with the warmth of a home. I told her plainly, You wont work. A woman should take care of the house and the children. If a man cant provide for his family, he isnt a man. She didnt argue. She cooked, cleaned, waited for me each night. We truly were a family.
Over the years I climbed the ladder. I joined a construction firm, rose to site manager, then started my own company. We bought a house in the suburbs, two carsone for me, one for her. We lived the dream we had imagined, except for one thing: children. Years slipped by and the house stayed silent. We consulted dozens of doctors, spent thousands of euros, underwent endless tests nothing helped. I hid my pain; she stayed quiet, her eyes empty. One day we gave up. If fate denied us that, it simply wasnt our time.
Then everything collapsed, suddenly, without any clue to understand it.
I arrived home early that day to avoid traffic. In the driveway there was no car, the gate stood wide open. It felt odd. I waited as the evening stretched on, interminable. Finally a text from an unknown number appeared:
Forgive me. I cant keep living a lie. Theres someone else. Hes going home, and Im leaving with him. I betrayed you, but maybe someday youll understand
The world fell away beneath me. I sat on the floor of the house I had built for two, now alone. Only my best friend and business partner, Théo, pulled me out of that abyss. He stopped me from drowning in alcohol or abandoning everything.
Time passed. I learned to breathe again. I saw pictures of Aurélie online, standing before mountains. She was living somewhere in the Alps. Erasing her from my thoughts was impossible; everything around me reminded me of her. I prayed for her return, and the universe seemed to hear.
Exactly a year later, day for day, there was a knock at the door. I opened it and almost collapsed. It was herthin, devastated, her clothes dirty and worn, her belly huge with the final months of pregnancy.
Aurélie fell to her knees, sobbing, begging for my forgiveness. Her lover had thrown her out. She had cheated on him in turn, and he had left her penniless, homeless, hopeless. The only thing she had left was me.
You can judge me, call me weak, say I should have slammed the door in her face. But you know what? I couldnt. Because, despite everything, I still loved her. Because even through the pain I wanted her by my side. Because I knew one truth: everyone deserves a chance to make a mistake. If I hadnt forgiven her, I would have lost myself.
Years have gone by. We now have a sonthe one I once thought Id never have. I love him as if his blood were my own, because it is, by choice and by love. And I still love Aurélie, even though the scar in my heart will never fully fade.
I have never blamed her, never brought up the past. True love, Ive learned, is choosing to stay, despite everything.
