My best friend and I married into the Miller family. I married Zachary, the athletic swimming coach elder brother, while she married Ethan, the licensed therapist younger brother. We lived in the same suburban neighborhood, right next door to each other. Under constant, suffocating pressure from their mother to start families, Abby and I got pregnant around the same time. But after I suffered a devastating miscarriage, I fell into severe postpartum depression. My days became a blur of darkness. Every single night, I would wake up screaming from nightmares, my nerves completely shot. One night, shivering in the corner of my dark bedroom, I frantically called my husband. After he hung up on me five times in a row, he finally picked up. His voice was filled with nothing but annoyance and anger. "Chloe, do you have any idea how busy I am? I have a class to teach, and Mia is waiting for her private lesson. Stop annoying me!" Just when I was on the brink of complete despair, Abby came over to check on me. Seeing my state, Abby carefully called her husband, Ethan, hoping his professional background as a therapist could help me. But Ethan only barked back impatiently, "Do you think I have free time to waste? My clinic is fully booked, and patients have to schedule weeks in advance. Besides, Mia is having a rough day and needs my counseling. Stop making a scene!" Eventually, unable to bear the agony, I jumped into the river. My husband, who was nearby, just stood on the bank, scoffing and telling people I was just faking it to get attention. Only Abby didn't hesitate. She dove into the freezing water and dragged me back to the shore. Because she stayed in the icy water for too long to save me, Abby lost her own baby. The moment we opened our eyes in the hospital, Abby and I looked at each other and made a firm decision. We were getting divorced.
I stared blankly at the ceiling, the sharp smell of bleach in the hospital room pulling me back to reality. I sat up, gently touching my flat belly. A dull, sharp pain rippled through my heart. My baby died during that miscarriage, and with it, my heart died too. Even after everything that had happened, Abby was still the only one sitting by my hospital bed. I picked up my phone and called Zachary. It rang and rang until it went to voicemail. I was used to it. But this time, I didn't quietly hang up and wait for him to call me back whenever he felt like it. I redialed. Again and again. Finally, he picked up. Before I could even breathe a word, his irritated voice blasted through the speaker. "What do you want now? I told you, I'm working! Don't call me during my hours!" In the background, I could hear high-pitched giggles, splashing water, and Mia’s playful voice teasing Zachary. A bitter sting hit my chest. I paused, taking a deep breath, and spoke clearly. "Zachary, let's get a divorce." The noisy background suddenly went dead silent. Then, he roared. "Are you out of your mind? Ever since you lost the baby, you’ve been acting so damn dramatic! First, you claim you have postpartum depression and need a therapist, then you throw yourself into a river just for attention. What the hell do you want from me?!" "I’ve told you a thousand times, Mia is just my student. I’m her coach. Why do you have to be so ridiculously paranoid? Stop playing these stupid games. Honestly, I regret marrying you!" With a harsh click, Zachary hung up. I sat frozen on the hospital bed, tears spilling over and soaking the coarse hospital sheets. I never thought the man I loved for eight years—the one I went from college sweetheart to wife with, the one I stood by when he had absolutely nothing—could say something so heartless. Was Mia really just a student? When I was drowning in postpartum depression, he spent every waking hour by her side. I remembered how the depression had clawed at my mind. I couldn't control my emotions, and I started hurting myself. I had taken a paring knife and traced it over my arms, over and over. Only when the bright red blood started dripping down did the numbness in my chest temporarily fade. When I finally snapped out of it, I was terrified of my own reflection. With trembling hands, I called Zachary. He hung up five times before finally answering. But all I got was: "Chloe, do you have any idea how busy I am? I have a class to teach, and Mia is waiting for her private lesson. Stop annoying me!" He hung up, leaving me in total darkness. My heart went completely cold. I wandered outside, trying to clear my head. And that was when I saw them at a local dessert shop, looking like a picture-perfect couple.
Mia had scooped up a piece of red velvet cake and fed it to Zachary. Zachary didn't lean back. He smiled warmly and ate it right from her fork. Under the soft yellow lights of the shop, they looked like the ones who were married. Zachary didn't come home that night, and his phone was off. When he finally walked through the door the next morning, he uncharacteristically handed me a gift—a designer necklace. It felt like the cheap guilt of a cheating man. I didn't call him out. Instead, I kept playing the role of the quiet, compliant wife. I walked up to him, gently touching his arm, my voice laced with desperate pleading. "Zachary, I really feel like I'm losing my mind. Can you please come with me to see a doctor? Just this once?" He frowned instantly, cold-shouldering me and shaking my hand off his arm. "You know how busy I am. I don't have time for your emotional episodes." "We lost the baby, and I didn't even complain, yet you're the one having a psychological breakdown? Maybe I've spoiled you too much. You can't even handle a minor setback." That was the last straw. The thread holding my sanity snapped. That afternoon, unable to carry the weight anymore, I threw myself into the local river. Zachary had been standing by the bank, watching from a distance. There was no panic in his eyes, no urge to save me. He even joked to a friend standing nearby, "Let me tell you, you can't spoil women too much. She’s just throwing a tantrum to get my attention." But he forgot that after my miscarriage, my body was extremely weak, and I was terrified of cold water. When Abby rushed to the scene, she screamed curses at Zachary, calling him a spineless coward, and leaped into the rushing river to drag me out. Because of the freezing water and physical exhaustion, she miscarried her baby the very next day. Back in the hospital room, Abby looked at me. She had obviously heard every word of my phone call with Zachary. Tears streamed down her pale face as she spoke. "Those bastards. They've gone too far. Not a single man in that Miller family is human." She wrapped her arms around me, gently patting my back. Suddenly, her phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand. She pulled away and answered it. Immediately, Ethan's furious voice boomed through the speaker. "What is wrong with you two? You're pregnant, Abby! How dare you jump into a river to save someone? If your friend wants to die so badly, let her! Why did you have to risk my baby’s life?" "I'm warning you, if anything happens to my child, you will pay for this!" Ethan clearly didn't even know Abby had already miscarried. He had never cared enough to ask. "Ethan!" Abby yelled, her voice shaking with rage. "You absolute piece of trash! Your brother's wife almost died, and all you can do is spit poison? Every word out of your mouth is about 'your baby.' What about me? Have you asked about me even once?!" Ethan, shocked by her sudden outburst, only got angrier. "I think I've pampered you too much! You're a grown woman, stop being so pathetic!" "Besides, who pays for your food, your clothes, and your car? Me! Carrying my child is your job. If you keep acting this crazy, you can pack your bags as soon as you give birth!" "If it weren't for the baby, I would have divorced you a long time ago. Who else would want a dramatic wreck like you?!" He slammed the phone down before she could reply. Abby threw her phone onto the mattress, screaming, "Ethan, you motherfucker! I am divorcing you!" After the anger subsided, she broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. I held her close, my own tears falling silently. I couldn't understand how years of love could turn into this overnight. Abby and I had moved across the country, leaving our families behind, just to build a life with these men. And what did we get? In our darkest hour, not a single soul cared if we lived or died. We only had each other. Zachary had become so sharp, so hostile. His attitude, his voice, his silence—they had eroded every bit of my confidence. Giving up on him felt like the only way to survive.
After we were discharged from the hospital, Abby and I rented a small apartment downtown. We couldn't bring ourselves to step foot back into those toxic suburban houses. We spent a week in our new place, enjoying the quiet. During that entire week, neither of them called. No texts, no check-ins. They didn't care. Maybe this was what they wanted all along. Freedom. One evening, we were lying in bed scrolling through TikTok. Suddenly, Abby gasped. "Oh my god, Chloe, look at this!" She shoved her screen in front of my face. It was Mia's TikTok account. She had posted a photo of the three of them on a tropical beach. Zachary was on her left, holding her designer beach bag. Ethan was on her right, holding an umbrella to shade her from the sun. Mia was in the middle, throwing her head back with a radiant smile. The caption read: *"True friendship transcends gender."* She tagged it: `#SwimmingCoach #Therapist #PureFriendship #Besties`. If there was a global championship for being absolute trash, these three would easily take the crown. The comment section was flooded with envious replies: *"Omg girl, you are eating so well! Living the dream!"* *"Manifesting a hot coach and a handsome therapist in my life ASAP."* *"This is literal fanfiction material."* I stared at the screen, silent. Even though I had already checked out of the marriage, seeing my husband play puppy dog to another woman while I was recovering from a miscarriage still felt like a physical blow to the chest. Abby was practically hyperventilating next to me. "Unbelievable. It hasn't even been a week, and they're already parading her around?" I shook my head, trying to sound indifferent. "It’s fine. It doesn't concern us anymore. But they probably haven't received the divorce papers yet." We had hired a lawyer to draft the papers a few days ago, but since they were busy vacationing, the delivery must have failed. Abby tapped her phone screen and said, "Let's go find them tomorrow. Mia's TikTok says they’re landing back in the city tomorrow morning." "Okay," I agreed. It was time to end this. Since Ethan's therapy clinic was closer to our apartment, we decided to drop by his office first. The receptionist let us through, and we walked down the hallway to Ethan’s private room. When we pushed the door open, we caught Mia sitting right on the edge of Ethan's desk, her fingers playfully tracing his jawline. The sexual tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. Abby, never one to hold back, marched straight up to them and slapped Mia across the face. "Have you no shame? Do you only get off on married men, or did your TikTok fans forget to mention you like playing with brothers?" Mia’s cheek flushed bright red, and she gasped, clutching her face. "You—" Ethan reacted instantly, stepping in front of Mia like a protective guard dog. "Are you insane?! Abby, you are seriously mentally unstable! Apologize to Mia right now!" Abby stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. "I will never apologize to this bitch!" Ethan's face contorted with rage, and he raised his hand to strike Abby. I lunged forward, grabbing his wrist and shoving him back. "Don't you dare touch her! You're going to hit your wife for some home-wrecking trash? Do you hear yourself?!" Before I could finish, Ethan’s phone began to ring. He swiped to answer, his voice dripping with venom. "Zach, your wife just dragged Abby to my clinic. They’re making a huge scene, screaming and throwing dirt at me and Mia." He clicked the speakerphone and shoved the screen toward my face. "Your husband wants to talk to you." The second I took the phone, Zachary’s furious voice screamed through the speaker. "Chloe, you are unbelievable! How dare you show up at my brother's workplace and cause a scene? If you don't care about your reputation, we care about ours!" "I have told you a thousand times, Mia is just a friend! If you want to keep being a paranoid psycho, that's your problem!" "Go back to the house right now. Stop testing my patience before I lose my temper. People are going to think I married a trailer-trash shrew!" Hearing Zachary defend her, Mia sniffled softly, playing the innocent victim. "Chloe, please don't be mad. We really are just friends. If my presence makes you uncomfortable, I'll just stay away from now on..." I couldn't stand her fake, dripping-sweet voice for another second. "Shut up, Mia. Stop flattering yourself," I snapped. "We didn't come here to catch you in the act. We came to get a divorce." The room fell dead silent.
After a beat of stunned silence, Zachary’s roar shattered the quiet. "What did you just say?!" "I said, I want a divorce," I repeated, enunciating every single word. "Fine! If you're so brave, come down to the community pool right now, and we'll go straight to the courthouse to sign the papers!" "I'll be there. Don't back out!" I snapped and ended the call. I looked up, meeting Ethan’s stunned gaze. "What are you staring at? You're signing yours today too." To make sure neither of them could run, we forced Ethan to come with us to Zachary’s pool. And of course, Mia insisted on tagging along, looking smug, as if she was about to walk down the aisle the moment our signatures dried. Since it was the off-season, the community pool was practically deserted. We spotted Zachary standing near the deep end. I pulled the prepared divorce papers from my bag and thrust them toward him. He looked at the bold letters at the top of the page, but he didn't reach out to take them. Instead, he let out a cold laugh. "What is this? Another one of your stupid little attention-seeking games?" As he tilted his head, I caught a glimpse of a faint red mark on his collarbone. I slowly looked at Mia. She noticed my gaze, arched an eyebrow, and offered me a victorious, mocking smirk. An intense wave of nausea hit me. The taste of bile rose in my throat. Forcing myself to stay upright, I said, "No. I am entirely serious." Seeing the cold determination in my eyes, his smug expression finally cracked, replaced by irritation. "Is this because of that phone call? Because I was busy coaching and snapped at you? Or is it because I didn't take you to the therapist, or because I didn't jump in to pull you out of the water?" My chest tightened. So, he knew. He knew exactly how much those actions would hurt me, yet he chose to do them anyway. "Yes. All of it. And so much more." The thousands of moments where he chose to ignore me had built a wall between us that could never be broken down. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It’s such a minor issue, Chloe. Do you really have to bring up divorce over every little thing? When are you going to grow up?" I let out a soft laugh. Of course. A narcissist never believes they did anything wrong. Before I could speak, Mia cut in, her voice dripping with fake concern. "Is it possible that you found someone else, Chloe? Is that why you're in such a rush to leave Zachary?" Abby snapped. "Shut your mouth, you disgusting liar!" She stepped forward to push Mia away from us. But before Abby’s hand could even make contact, Mia let out a theatrical gasp and threw herself backward, plunging straight into the deep end of the pool. "Mia!" Ethan yelled, immediately turning on Abby in a rage. As Abby stood there, arms crossed, her loose sweater clung to her frame. Ethan's eyes traveled down, and he froze. Her stomach was completely flat. His eyes turned red. "Where is my baby?!" he demanded, grabbing her shoulder. Abby looked at his furious, panicked face and said coldly, "Gone. Took you long enough to notice." Ethan shook her violently. "How did it happen?! Tell me how!" When Abby remained silent, his eyes darted to me. He remembered the day I jumped into the river. "It was you!" he screamed, lunging at me. "You did this, you crazy bitch!" With a violent shove, he pushed me backward. *Splash!*
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