Chapter 2

On the drive home, Joy kept talking about Mia.

"I didn't expect her to still have that photo. "

"After all these years, she still remembered. "

The lights of Manhattan passed by outside the window. I sat quietly in the passenger seat, waiting for him to say the words I needed to hear.

"I'm sorry tonight made you uncomfortable. "

"I should have considered your feelings. "

But he never did.

Instead, he kept talking about Mia. Their childhood, their memories, the years of his life I had never been part of.

"She's always been like that, "

Joy said, looking out the window with a faint smile.

"She remembers things everyone else forgets. "

I looked at his profile and thought about the first time he took me to his college campus. He had pointed at an old building and told me,

"This place changed my life. "

I spent that entire afternoon listening to his dreams, his plans, and the kind of architect he wanted to become.

But after we married, things slowly changed.

His career became busier, and my life began to revolve around our home. I remembered his meetings, his schedule, his habits, and the small things he needed.

But fewer and fewer people asked me what I wanted.

When we arrived home, Joy placed his coat on the sofa.

"Joy, can we talk about tonight? "

"Of course. "

I didn't blame Mia. I didn't ask him to forget his past. I only wanted to know where I stood in his present.

"Mia is important to you. I understand that. "

"I respect the years you've known each other. "

"I never wanted you to erase your past. "

Joy looked at me.

"But a person's past can be treasured. A marriage still needs to be protected. "

He frowned slightly.

"Protected? "

"Your past matters. But so does the life we're building now. "

A quiet moment passed.

"Vivian, do you really think tonight was a problem? "

"She said childhood friends are family forever. "

Joy looked confused.

"And what's wrong with that? "

"I'm your wife. "

"I'm supposed to be your family too. "

The room fell silent.

Then Joy looked away.

"Are you being too sensitive? "

The question hurt more than I expected.

Because I realized we weren't arguing about Mia.

I was asking whether I mattered.

He was asking why I felt threatened.

"Mia has been part of my life for more than twenty years, "

he said.

"She was there when I was struggling. I can't pretend that history doesn't exist just because you feel uncomfortable. "

"I never asked you to erase your past. "

"I asked you to protect our present. "

Joy was quiet for a moment before asking,

"Why do you always feel like you're competing with her? "

I froze.

I had never wanted to compete with Mia. I didn't want to replace the person who knew him before me.

But in that moment, Joy was the one who placed us on opposite sides.

And I finally understood.

The problem was never that Mia knew his past better than I did.

The problem was that Joy had become so used to someone understanding where he came from that he forgot marriage was about creating a future together.

A few days later, on Saturday morning, I woke up early as usual.

For years, I had prepared his coffee exactly the way he liked it. I knew how sweet was too sweet, and I knew when his work stress meant he needed silence.

I did those things because I loved him.

But that morning, standing in the kitchen with a coffee cup in my hand, I stopped.

For the first time, I wondered when I had stopped asking myself what I wanted.

Whether I still had dreams of my own.

Whether I was happy.

Then the door unlocked.

I thought it was Joy.

But it was Mia.

She stood there holding two cups of coffee.

"Morning. "

I stared at her.

"How did you get in? "

She looked down, then pulled out a key.

"Joy gave me a spare key. "

She said it casually, without realizing the weight of those words.

To her, it was only an old habit.

A piece of history.

But to me, it was something else.

I looked at the key in her hand.

And for the first time, I realized that even inside the home I thought belonged only to Joy and me, there were still parts of his life I had never known.