Carol got the letter after her husband Steven was away without an explanation for about a week. She could not believe it at first. Divorce? She hadn’t seen this coming at all. Steven had not even given a good reason in his letter, but in the following week, she was able to find this out for herself. And she was planning on using this against him to make Steven regret everything…
Carol was still dead nervous when she walked into the divorce court that morning. It had been all she could think about when she received Steven’s letter a week ago. Going through every word and trying to digest the emotions behind the message. But luckily she was prepared now and was not going to let him get away with this
She would rather respond to the letter than succumb to the sadness of the divorce. She knows she deserves better and she can gain so much more if she responded rather than let him have the upperhand. She knew that she could have had a better ending to a sour letter sent to her by her so called husband.
Carol’s reply
Steven probably thought that Carol had no idea why he wanted to divorce her and he liked it this way. He felt like it gave him the advantage in pushing this thing through. Little did he know there was more to Carol than meets the eye. But then Carol took the stand and directed her words right at a very surprised Steven…
Divorce has always been a topic no one wants to talk about, especially with regard to the people involved. You never want to be the person that tells someone that you want to go through a divorce, however, it will still depend on the reason behind the divorce, to begin with. It may be something to do with domestic abuse, second parties, or emotional damage.
A deep regret
His face went red as could be and he was not even able to stutter a good response. All he could feel was regret for his actions. And now he was going to have to pay for it… But why did Steven want a divorce from Carol? Why did he want to keep the reason a secret and what was Carol’s brilliant reply to Steven?
Leaving without explanation
Steven had left his wife, Carol, with many questions unanswered, when he went away one week ago. Carol got surprised when he announced that one evening he had to leave all of the sudden, also adding that he would not be back for a while. What does that mean, ‘a while’? It had been a week now and Carol had no idea where her husband was.
Calls unanswered
First Carol tried to stop him, but Steven seemed determined and was gone within minutes. For a short amount of time, she admitted to herself that it had to be for a good reason, but a few days passed and she got worried sick. Carol tried many times to reach his phone, but without any luck. None of his friends could give her any clue either…
Not a perfect relationship
It took Carol some more days to be able to reflect on their marriage. Admittedly, their relationship had recently been anything but perfect, but still, she had always felt like they could work through everything together if they would just try a little harder. It’d always gone well, hasn’t it?
When it comes to relationships, especially with regard to marriages, it does not mean that the length of time can secure the partnership. Anyway, it does not connote either that if you are married you would last forever if only one side of the relationship is working on it. It is a partnered effort.
Not enough communication
Carol and Steven were both on the introvert side of the spectrum and therefore not the types that fight a lot. The problem they’d been having was actually more the lack of fighting or the lack of communication in general. For some reason, over the last few months, the couple had started to talk less and less to each other.
Apparently, it is believed that if you can talk about it, and you can work things out, anything can be possible. However, the lack of communication will lead to disconnect, and no matter how much you try to avoid it nothing good will result in it. If you can talk about it, then the less likely will it resolve into an argument or worse separation.
Although even if we talk about the lack of Steven, it takes two to tango. Yet, the way he handled it wasn’t something we would assume is the right way to process this type of scenario. Whatever Carol did in the long run though may have been something most of us would have done to adapt to a situation like such.
A 2-week vacation
Carol had gone with a group of her best friends on a two-week vacation a couple of months ago. It was very difficult to find two weeks straight in which all the girls were available, so Carol had started planning this trip far ahead. At the last minute, though, one friend had to cancel. Still, Steven had been quite supportive of her going on this trip.
Do you know that vacation where you just want to unwind and release the stress that have been boiled up over time? That is exactly the vacation that Carol took. She needed the release and taking the said vacation was what she needed therefore there was no regret taking it. What happened next was the shocker.
Would he hate me?
They would always spend their vacant weeks together, especially when a trip to somewhere new was planned. Carol feared that by heading off with her friends like that, Steven would hate her for going. And when the two weeks of vacation had passed, she thought that so may have been right in this assessment…
It’s as if allowing her to leave in the first place was already something to worry about, his reaction when he came back was also worrisome. At the end of the day, she wondered whether or not taking the trip to begin with was going to be the decision she would have regretted afterwards. But what happened?
A different person
Carol returned and instantly she felt like the Steven she knew was gone and her boyfriend was not the same anymore. He was so much more distant now, Carol thought, and he would often just stay away at unknown places without her having any idea of where he went. And when she’d tried to talk with him about this, it was without success.
There was a shift in the dynamics of the relationship and there was no turning back. It’s as if the decision was made and everything else changed. Was two long weeks too long to be separated and for someone to change that quickly? It may have been the gap or distance apart, but there may be something more.
Receiving a letter
Months went by and the changed behavior continued, building up to the point where he was now away for a week already. He’d never been gone for this long and Carol was seriously having doubts about whether she would ever see her boyfriend returning. At least, until she got a letter in the mail the next day…
It’s as if all was part of a plan and that leaving was the turning point which made the impact no one has expected. Then you wonder whether or not Steven was waiting for such an instance to drop the bomb or was Carol already expecting such which led to his actions. But would it be the real reason behind it?
A local government letter
From the looks of the envelope, Carol had no idea that this letter was in any way related to Steven. It did not come from him directly, rather it was what appeared to be a message from the local government. When opening it, she expected that the paper was possibly related to outstanding bills or something in this regard.
One of the challenges of receiving letters is that you never know the content unless you read through it and understand the message behind it. Nevertheless, when Carol received it, the only thing she thought of before reading it was who it was from and why would someone send her a letter?
Summoned to court
When she sat down in the living room to open it and read the first couple of sentences, she felt her whole world collapse in upon itself. Carol was personally summoned to court to finalize her divorce from Steven! Her first reaction was that she might have misread it, but reading it a second and a third time made her realize that it was actually there.
The first thing that popped in her mind was to read ti word per word and understand what everything meant rather than jumping into conclusions the moment she received it. What shocked her is that the message of the letter was not something that would have become good news any time soon.
The letter was official
Carol could not believe it at first. She got another government letter from the drawer next to her and concluded that everything looked the same and as official as possible. There she sat for a while, eventually realizing that it was best to call Steven immediately. Of course, he again did not answer. Luckily the number of his lawyer was listed in the letter as well.
Carol dialed the number and got someone on the phone in an instant. Unfortunately, he was not able to give her much information about the reason for the divorce without the presence of Steven. What he did tell Carol was that this had been in the works for a couple months already and was in no way a spur-of-the-moment decision.
The court hearing
The man continued by explaining that Carol’s best chance of getting some more answers to her questions was to come to the court hearing in a week’s time. Here, she would be able to ask Steven everthing himself. She wanted to know now if it would be necessary for her to arrange a lawyer for this court date.
According to Steven’s lawyer, it was always wise to arrange someone with legal experience. Yet in this case, it was not fully necessary. He did tell Carol that his client, Steven, only wanted the divorce done and he was for the rest willing to meet most standard demands, even if they were in Carol’s favor.
Carol was hurt
The lawyer ended with this statement in the hope that it would calm down Carol a bit, who was clearly in shock by all of it. On the contrary, his words actually only hurt her more, because in her eyes this meant that the only thing Steven wanted was not to be with her anymore and he was willing to do anything to achieve this.
Carol could in no way grasp how she had done something wrong to get Steven a the point that he would do something like this. What she was sure about, however, was the thought that she was not going to wait another week till court day to find it all out. Carol was determined to come into that court meeting as prepared as possible…
Carol could in no way grasp how she had done something wrong to get Steven a the point that he would do something like this. What she was sure about, however, was the thought that she was not going to wait another week till court day to find it all out. Carol was determined to come into that court meeting as prepared as possible…
No time to waste, she thought, so she started calling all the numbers written on this piece of paper. When she finished, Carol realized that she definitely had been getting some mixed answers. Some of the people still said nothing, while others sort of admitted that they were lying. There was one person with a very surprising answer…
The answer stunned Carol
This person that before had stated to know nothing of the events that had been going on, told Carol that she was probably better off asking some of her own friends from answers. Carol’s friends were accused of knowing just as much as Steven’s friends did, and perhaps even more. Carol was stunned by this.
The conversation raised a lot of questions. Why would any of her friends know anything about her pending divorce while she herself only knew for a couple of hours yet? Did Steven tell someone about the divorce himself, and if so, who could that be? Regardless of any doubts she had, Carol was willing to call every single one of her friends for answers.
Making a call
She picked up the phone and started calling Angela. She is one of the friends to whom Steven is also very close to. They saw each other from time to time, even if Carol wasn’t there with them. She was also the friend who canceled the trip last minute… She never knew what the call was for and what she would hear after picking it up.
The phone kept ringing and it seemed like it kept ringing for hours. In the end, no one picked up either. She called again, and again but still got to a dead end. She decided to call one more time. This time she had more luck… Missing a call is already something that would make you overthink, not knowing who it was and what was the call all about then that’s even worse.
She sounds worried
Angela picked up the phone. She sounded concerned and wasn’t as enthusiastic as she normally was. Carol asked if there was something wrong. Angela told her she was worried because Carol called that often in such a short time. They both know that something wrong was happening but neither of them wanted to give them an advantage.
Carol panicked and explained that she was looking for Steven. She hadn’t seen or spoken to him in a while and she needs answers from him. Angela told her that she didn’t know where he was. She promised to keep an eye out. It was as if Angela was ready to back her up, but there were speculations that it wasn’t the case.
Nobody had a clue
After Carol hung up, she went through the list of friends to call. She seemed to be nearing the end of the list and everyone she spoke to had no idea where Steven might be. There may have been more people involved but no one was certain about it. Until she got Kelly on the phone, who told something unveiling…
Kelly told her she didn’t know where Steven was at this moment but ensured her Angela could tell her more. To make things even stranger, she revealed that Angela was helping Steven to hide from her. Carol’s mouth fell open and she didn’t know what to say for a moment. She’d just had Angela on the phone!
Furious
She decided to act immediately and to call Angela right back. How could she do this behind her back? Carol demanded an explanation. But of course, she didn’t answer anymore. Carol was boiling with anger and didn’t know what to do for a while. It was as if she was betrayed and she had no control over the situation.
Carol was bursting with questions. Why would Angela lie to her? Why is she helping Steven hide from her? How long has this been going on? In all anger, she decided to do something that in hindsight she probably shouldn’t have done, there may have been something she could have done differently…
Jumping into her car
She didn’t hesitate for a second and decided to drive to Angela’s house. While wiping a few tears, she grabbed her coat and keys and got into her car. The moment she drove into Angela’s street, she saw her driving away. She started following her and ended up at a motel. There was more to what she suspected than meets the eye.
Collecting evidence
Since the court trial starts in a few days she tried to follow the couple as much as possible so that she could bring hard evidence against Steven in court. In this way, she was able to substantiate what she saw and strengthen her position. She wanted to have the upper hand therefore taking that extra step was necessary.
Court day
The day of the trial has finally arrived. Carol couldn’t wait to finally put this hell behind her and she hoped for a positive outcome. She pulled out her best clothes from her closet and began to mentally prepare. She went through all the arguments again, and all of a sudden a car honked. It was about to go down, and Carol was at an advantage.
Getting nervous
Carol wasn’t nervous at all until she climbed the stairs of the colossal building. It was all very close now. It would also be the first time she’d come face to face with Steven in a long time. At the entrance, his lawyer was waiting and wished them well. It was as if they had something up their sleeves and they were prepared for what was going to happen.
New evidence
She told all the ins and outs of her relationship with Steven from her point of view. After she had said everything, she looked at her lawyer. He nodded approvingly. It was about time to release the news and she was thrilled to do so. That’s when he got up and said, « Just to add to this, we have additional evidence.
Collecting evidence
Carol said that she had been told by several friends that Angela knew more, but did not want to tell. She also saw the two walking hand in hand ‘accidentally’ from a distance. From that moment on, she started collecting evidence to show that she didn’t do anything wrong. They were being watched without them even knowing.
Apologizing
Steven came to his senses and decided to offer his sincere apologies to Carol. She started laughing and replied: « First you lied to me, then to the jury and now I have to believe you’re sorry? » Steven didn’t know what to answer. No apology would be enough to suffice the betrayal that he did.
Yelling her name
In all the adrenaline that was still inside her, she didn’t hesitate for a moment and shouted out Angela’s name. Angela seemed to freeze. Carol walked toward her and she asked why she didn’t tell her anything in the first place. How could she? They’ve been good friends for so long. Angela admitted she was too scared to tell her.
Yelling her name
In all the adrenaline that was still inside her, she didn’t hesitate for a moment and shouted out Angela’s name. Angela seemed to freeze. Carol walked toward her and she asked why she didn’t tell her anything in the first place. How could she? They’ve been good friends for so long. Angela admitted she was too scared to tell her.
She thought Carol would have a tantrum or that Steven would freak out. She said she and Steven were just growing closer and she couldn’t help it. Carol saw in her eyes that she was telling the truth. Carol went home and on her way back a feeling emerged. She hasn’t felt this way in ages. She was glad that all the fuss was finally over and was able to start a new life just for herself.
