‘But does he treat you right? Feeds you? Has given you a roof over your head and a car? Takes you for holidays? Respects you before his family?’ she rattled off.

‘Yes Ma but—’

‘What are you complaining about then?’ she said. ‘Some women have it much worse.’

And I didn’t do anything because I knew of these women who had it much worse. But now he is going to leave me. For someone younger, for someone he’s met at work.

While he’s always told me about his fuck-buddies, he’s kept them away from our home. So far, they have been inconsequential. He’s helped them advance their careers but that’s all there has been to it—a business relationship. Not anymore, though …

She was sitting there in my drawing room—bold as brass. She was eating grapes straight out of my fruit bowl. He was serving yoghurt for her with freshly cut mangoes. She knew where my bathroom was. She wanted to go to the toilet but she didn’t use any of the guest toilets—she went straight into my bedroom. She was familiar with it.

She didn’t even show me the courtesy of pretending she didn’t know. She just walked into my bedroom. I asked him—how long has it been going on? He said they’d circled each other for a while but she’d only just given in.

Then he told me he loved her.

‘After all these years?’ I asked him. ‘But you said you didn’t believe in love—’

‘Now I do,’ he said. ‘A man waits for the right woman—she’s everything I’ve ever wanted.’

‘I am everything you ever wanted,’ I said. ‘I GIVE you everything you ever wanted.’

‘I’ve given you the best years of my life,’ I reminded him. ‘I’ve been your wife. I’ve stood by you. I’ve even flirted with your bosses to help you and that one time … will she do all that for you?’

He just smiled and said, ‘You chose to do those things. I didn’t force you. Don’t worry, though,’ he’d added, ‘you won’t want for anything, I’ll ensure you are well looked after, that you have everything.’

‘But I won’t have you,’ I’d said and even to my own ears it had sounded false.

‘You’ve never had me,’ he said and laughed aloud.

I’d always known it but I refused to believe it. That laugh felt like he was plunging a knife into my heart—the heart I thought I didn’t have any longer.

‘Will she let you fuck other women?’ I screamed—my last defence.