Page 41 of Vitamin Sea

Lala pursed her lips and then took another drink of wine.

“Sit down.” The redhead gathered up the Thai containers and brought them to the dining room table before going back for the plates and utensils.

Chloe did as she was told, and Lala soon joined her. The aroma of steaming hot Thai noodles, rice, and chicken wafted through the air as Chloe stared at her friend.

Finally, she couldn’t take it any longer.

“Lala—what the hell?”

Lala bit her lip.

“I found her Instagram,” she said after a moment.

“Found her—who is her? Whose Instagram?”

“Sophia’s.” There was trepidation in her friend’s voice.

Chloe felt her heartbeat speed up.

“What did you find?”

Lala gave her a wary look.

“Are you sure you want to hear this?”

Chloe nodded. She knew Sophia was no longer in Liam’s life, but what could Lala possibly have to tell her? Was Liam lying? Were they actually still together? Had they gotten back together in the past couple of days?

“Brace yourself,” she paused. “Liam didn’t start a relationship with Sophia after he broke up with you. If the Instagram photos are anything to go by, he started seeing her a few weeks after she started working with him.”

Chloe felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.

“No,” she shook her head. “No. That can’t be right. Liam wouldn’t have done that to me.” There was small beat before she asked in a small voice: “Would he?”

There was no reassurance coming from Lala, and Chloe saw the truth of what her friend was saying written on her

face.

“I am so sorry.” Lala shook her head. “I thought it was

important that you know. Especially since he’s been trying to worm his way back into your life. I have her Instagram account if you want to see it.”

She thought for a moment. Lala didn’t know that she had already made up her mind about her ex-boyfriend.

Chloe had closed that door, but left it unlocked—leaving open the possibility of a friendly acquaintance.

But if what Lala was telling her was true, she would be taking a welding torch to the seams to stop the door from ever opening.

“Show me,” Chloe said wearily. She suddenly felt exhausted.

“Are you sure?” Lala looked hesitant. “I don’t want you to end up back on the couch in your pajamas, waterboarding yourself with wine and ice cream.”

“I want to see,” Chloe said firmly.

Lala pulled her phone out and pulled her chair closer to Chloe’s. She typed ‘blonde.banker.babe’ in the search bar of her Instagram and clicked on the sultry profile photo.

Chloe couldn’t understand it. During some of her lowest moments after Liam had dumped her, she had spent hours going through social media trying to find the workmate Liam had dumped her for.

But it had all been for naught. The fact that she didn’t appear to have her name in her Insta handle would have made it difficult.

Especially because Sophia wasn’t one of Liam’s 230 followers and Liam followed around 1,200 accounts.

Shamefully, Chloe had made it about halfway through the 1,200 accounts, squinting at each profile photo to see if it resembled the blonde bombshell Liam had left her for.

But blonde.banker.babe had somehow escaped her.

And good thing too. As Lala scrolled down through Sophia’s photos—and there were many; it looked like the woman spent most of her day posting on Instagram—she started to feel ill.

It had been February when Liam had announced he was leaving her.

He had told her emphatically that there hadn’t been anyone else, had denied doing anything offside when she accused him of cheating.

And yet, here, here was proof that revealed otherwise staring her in the face.

Of course, it wasn’t face shots. No. Sophia Sullivan was too savvy for that.

She knew, of course that Liam had a live-in girlfriend.

And apparently, she had seen no problem with having an affair.

Six months prior to Liam leaving her, Sophia’s Instagram feed showed photos of the two of them together.

A photo with Liam’s hand—she recognized his hand, she knew the freckles and the watch he was wearing.

A photo of Liam from behind while friends of hers in the comment section asked who the mystery man was.

As she scrolled through Sophia’s feed a wave of nausea overtook her.

There was a photo posted when Chloe had been away on a travel assignment that showed Liam asleep in bed. In Liam and Chloe’s bed.

That bastard had actually brought Sophia into their home. Into their bed.

She thought she was going to be sick.

“Are you okay?” Lala saw the look on Chloe’s face.

Chloe shook her head and looked away from Lala’s phone.

“I am so sorry to be the one to do this,” she said sympathetically. “Seriously, Chloe. I agonized over whether or not to show you. I can’t imagine how devastated I would be if I was in your shoes.”

Chloe kept shaking her head. She wanted to run, she wanted to scream, she wanted to break something.

“I figured you needed to see it because I know you’ve been thinking about taking him back. And if you do want to take him back, you should at least have all the information.”

Chloe took a deep breath and engaged in two rounds of

box breathing. It was a technique she had learned in her mindfulness class. Then she took a large drink of wine. Which was not a technique she had learned in mindfulness class

Lala grabbed the bottle off the counter and sat back down to console her friend.

“He’s an asshole, Chloe. A total asshole.

For him to put you through this and lie about it while the whole time he was cheating on you with that two-bit whore is unconscionable,” Lala paused.

“Unless, of course, you’ve decided to reconcile with him.

In which case he is still a total asshole, but I will support your choices. ”

Chloe let out a laugh despite herself.

“He is a total asshole,” Chloe agreed. “I just didn’t fully appreciate how much of an asshole he is until now.

And for the record, I decided yesterday that I’m not going to give him another chance.

And a good thing too. That was horrible to see.

” She motioned towards Lala’s phone. “Awful. And I don’t even want him anymore.

I would have been destroyed by that if I had decided to give things with him another go. ”

“I am so proud of you.” Lala sounded genuinely pleased. “You are stronger than you give yourself credit for and you are absolutely making the best decision. And besides,” she added, “Jack is way better looking and treats you way better. The man actually saved your life, for Christ’s sake!”

Chloe nodded and took another drink of wine.

Fuck Liam.

“You’re not mad at me?” Lala was serious.

“Of course not,” Chloe said. “I appreciate you showing me. I kind of wish I hadn’t asked to see the photos but I think I needed to. Really validates what I decided yesterday.”

“Good. Because I would never want to make you upset. Now,” Lala looked at the untouched food containers, “I’m going to dish us up. You need to eat. And I need to eat. Otherwise, I’ll end up leaving snarky wine comments on

blonde.banker.babe’s photos.”

They atein companionablesilenceas Chloetriedto

process what she had seen on Sophia’s Instagram feed. She had gotten over Liam and started something new with Jack. But being hit with the extent of Liam’s betrayal had ripped open the scab that had almost fully healed over.

The affair would take a while to process, but she knew she would get over it in time. And in a much, much shorter amount of time than it had taken for her to finally get over their breakup.

Later, the two women sat on the couch and had a deep talk about life until Chloe, exhausted, dragged herself to bed. Lala tucked her in and quietly slipped out the door.

She was a great girlfriend. The best.

◆◆◆

The next morning Chloe’s mind was a little hazy.

Seeing proof that Liam had lied and cheated on her was painful.

Like a knife being stabbed in her heart.

But there was also something beneficial about it.

It solidified the decision she had made, and it pushed away any lingering doubts she might have had.

That was at least one thing she could see clearly that morning. Better to be smacked in the face with the truth than coddled with a lie.

She had plans with Jack that evening and she was really looking forward to seeing him. Even if it had only been three days since their last date.

When it came to breaking the news to Liam, she hadn’t decided how she wanted to go about it.

There was the option to take the high road—having a conversation with him and letting him know her decision.

There was also the option to ghost him, which was what he probably deserved.

There was also the option to let him read about her decision for himself in the next issue of Strut , which would be out on newsstands in one week.

With the ferocity with which Liam was trying to get Chloe back, she was certain he would read her latest article .

And just like that, Chloe decided to go with option number three.

She couldn’t deny that part of it came from the bit of hurt she held, reignited, perhaps, by the images from blonde.banker.babe that were burned in her brain.

Liam had crushed her. Left her broken for months and, she now knew, had had no issues with lying to her face and cheating.

For Chloe, it was one too many transgressions and what Liam needed was a taste of his own medicine.

She knew he would get that after reading her latest travel feature.

What he would do afterwards she wasn’t so sure of.

But for that matter, she didn’t really care.

For her, it was about showing Liam that she had gotten her glow-up and moved on.

Liam breaking up with her had led her to become stronger than ever and ready to take on whatever life would bring.

She was in the beginning stages of what had the potential to be a great relationship, but even if it didn’t work out, she was whole.

More than that, she was happy.

Which was something that she had discovered over the past seven month came from within.

It grew with the people you surrounded yourself with—your friends, your family, your colleagues, and your acquaintances.

It didn’t come from having a partner, and it wasn’t something you could rely on another person to give.

It came from being grateful. From appreciating what you have in life and looking for those silver linings. Looking back now, it was so obvious.

It had taken her nearly a year of ruinous mental health to figure that out, and ironically, she now felt grateful that Liam had broken her heart.

It had been the catalyst for her transformation; for her own metamorphosis.

And she knew that come what may, from here on out, she had the tools to deal with it.