The Professor's Betrayal,She Walked Away Forever

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Under a post about real girlhood confessions, one comment had racked up hundreds of thousands of likes.

My girlhood confession is that I've never met anyone I couldn't get. Pretty boring, honestly. Even my professor was no exception.

When I was in grad school, my professor was the youngest in the whole university, and ridiculously handsome. His wife, though? Plain as they come. She couldn't even hold down a job without him pulling strings for her. She was nowhere near his league.

I thought he'd be the exception, but after he met me, he turned into this big lovesick boy who'd never dated before. He'd blush just from holding my hand.

My favorite thing to do back then was sneak my hand into his under the dinner table whenever I came over to their house, and kiss him in their bedroom.

Then the comment took a turnI did have to play a few cards, though. He was good to me, but he could never quite bring himself to file for divorce.

I wasn't about to be some nameless side piece, so I deliberately sent messages to provoke his wife until she snapped and ruined his awards ceremony.

He was furious. She ended up getting maneuvered into leaving the marriage with nothing. He married me not long after, and now I don't have a care in the world.

The post shot to the top of the trending page within hours. Internet sleuths dug up even more of the truth. That same night, I received a friend request from Winston Dudley.

He said he was sorry. He said he'd been too impulsive back then.

I didn't accept it.

The rain had already stopped. There was no point offering an umbrella now.

When I first saw that comment, so smug and self-satisfied about wrecking someone else's relationship, my first instinct was to close out of the post entirely.

But my finger hovered there, frozen.

The commenter's profile picture was a shot of two people from behind, and I recognized the man immediately. It was Winston.

I stayed on that comment for a long time.

The replies had already piled up. Some people tore her apart. Others cheered her on.

You're actually bragging about being the other woman? How are you not ashamed of yourself?

The nerve to post this publicly. Who gave you that kind of audacity? Want a trophy for it?

I know about this case. The professor's ex-wife got it really bad. DM me if you want the real story.

Why are you all so pressed? Love doesn't follow a first-come-first-served rule. The one who isn't loved is the real third wheel.

I drew in a slow breath.

The man in this story was Winston Dudley, my ex-husband. I was the plain professor's wife she was so proud to have replaced.

During the divorce, I was diagnosed with severe depression. The quiet, respectable job I'd had vanished along with everything else.

After Winston and I split, I had no job, no family, and a new title courtesy of everyone around me: failure.

I came close to ending it more than once. It wasn't until the last couple of years that life finally began to steady itself again.

Only now did it hit me. Three years. It had been three years since the divorce, and three years since I'd truly let him go.

All the pain, all the humiliation, had faded with the scars on my wrists, carried off by the wind.

When I first met Winston, he wasn't some genius professor. He was just a homeless little boy.

I was five the afternoon I spotted him huddled in a corner of our neighborhood, crying.

Outgoing and curious as I was back then, I walked right up and asked what happened. That was how I learned his parents had died in a car accident. He had nowhere left to go.

I brought Winston home that afternoon, shared every snack and toy I loved with him, and only then did a small, reluctant smile finally surface on his face.

After that, I kept finding excuses to invite him over. Sometimes I'd tell him my mom had baked cookies. Other times I'd say my dad bought me a new toy.

We grew up together, and because of me, my parents raised him like their own son.

He once told meI haven't had a mom or dad since I was little. To me, your parents are my parents.

Time passed quickly, and Winston grew from that little boy crying in the corner into a young man who could hold his own.

But somewhere along the way, I could no longer keep up with him.

Winston was brilliant. A once-in-a-generation kind of mind, really. He topped every exam he ever took and earned a full scholarship admission to Graymont University before anyone else had even finished studying.

I didn't have that kind of gift. Even giving everything I had, I could only get into a less prestigious university.

The whispers about how we didn't match grew louder by the day. Girls who liked him were too many to count. But he never gave any of them a second glance.

After the SATs, I didn't get into Graymont. I ended up at a school hundreds of miles away from his.

I locked myself in my room and cried for three days. That was when he came to me and made it official.

Claire, all those people like me because I'm impressive. But you're different. You're the one who pulled me out of the mud.

I know exactly who's been good to me. Without you, I wouldn't be here. No matter where life takes me, I will never abandon you.

Back then, he never broke his word.

Winston kept rising, kept shining brighter, but he never left me behind.

In college, we lived in different cities, but even at his busiest, he made sure to see me at least once a month.

The year Winston finished his doctorate, I was dealing with unfair treatment at work and debating whether to quit. Without hesitation, he became my safety net and arranged a position for me at the university.

That was the kind of person he was. Once he committed to something, he never wavered. Once he committed to someone, same thing.

It was true when he was with me. It was true when he threw himself into his research. And it was just as true when his heart changed.

The year Winston finished his doctorate, we got married.

The wedding was simple, but it made me feel steady. Grounded.

Our life was a quiet loop between home, work, and each other, and I thought it was the happiest I'd ever been.

By then, he had already achieved everything the world measures success by. He no longer chased fame or status. His mind lived entirely in his research, consumed by it.

One evening after work, I went to his office like I always did. Before I even reached the door, a bright, ringing laugh spilled out from inside.

I pushed the door open. A young, beautiful girl turned to look at me. Winston's eyes were still on her, a warmth in them I recognized instantly.

How long had it been since I'd seen that expression on his face? Years, maybe.

I didn't know when it started, but even though the miles between us had finally closed, the distance between our hearts seemed to grow wider with every passing day.

I couldn't follow the research topics he studied. I couldn't understand the experiments he ran. I couldn't even keep up with the news he paid attention to.

More times than I could count, Winston came home in a good mood, ready to tell me about his day, only to let out a quiet sigh and say nothing at all.

It wasn't until that afternoon, blinded by the look on his face, that I finally understood. It wasn't that the world had gotten too complicated. It was that I wasn't enough to understand him.

That night, I tested the watersWho was that girl in your office this afternoon? She was pretty.

A new student I took on this year. Gabriella Morton. Very sharp. Reminds me of myself back in school.

His tone was perfectly even, nothing out of the ordinary. But the unease in my chest wouldn't settle.

Something between us had shifted. I could feel it.

Gradually, Gabriella Morton's presence in Winston's life grew.

He started coming home late because of her thesis when I had dinner waiting. He canceled our plans to help her with experiments. He took her along on work trips, just the two of them. He even brought her into our weekends, the time we'd promised would be ours alone.

He brought up Gabriella more and more often, praising her talent one day, updating me on her research the next.

The night I sat waiting for him again with a full dinner gone cold, I finally broke and confronted him. He barely glanced at me. Claire, don't overthink it.

I kept telling myself she was just his student. That he had principles. That he would never do that to me.

Then came our anniversary. I left work early to decorate the apartment. When I pushed open the bedroom door, Winston had his arms around Gabriella, her blouse half undone, their lips locked together.

He saw me. There was no panic in his eyes. He looked like a man who had already rehearsed this moment.

He draped his jacket over Gabriella's shoulders, pulled her into his chest, and spoke without a trace of guiltClaire, since you've seen it, I'm not going to hide it anymore.

I love her. But as long as you stay in line, I won't divorce you.

Gabriella leaned into him, eyes rimmed red, voice tremblingI truly love him. I don't need anything. Being near him is enough.

Please don't make a scene. I don't want to ruin his career because of me.

Of course I couldn't accept that.

I couldn't accept Winston's betrayal, couldn't accept that his heart had moved on, couldn't accept that the person closest to him was now another woman.

My whole life revolved around him. I had poured every year of my youth into loving him, chasing him, and now that I stood at the edge of the cliff, I couldn't grab the hand he held out.

I filed a formal complaint with the university. Reality taught me a lesson fast.

No matter how many times I submitted it, the result was the same. Silence. Not a single response.

The university buried it. To keep things quiet, they suspended me instead.

I refused to give up. I swapped out Winston's award ceremony presentation slides for screenshots of his chat logs with Gabriella, hoping the exposure would force the issue.

But everyone already knew about them. Nobody dared leak those messages further. I was the only one who became office gossip.

For the first few days, I locked myself in the apartment and refused to leave.

Every corner was filled with our memories, and Winston barely came home anymore. He spent all his time with Gabriella.

I couldn't face reality. I sat with our old photos and cried through the night, night after night. The sympathy from people around me had long since curdled into mockery.

That Claire used to think she married so well. Now nobody wants her.

This is why women can't depend on a man. She's a walking cautionary tale.

I always said those two wouldn't last. Average looks, average degree. Did she really think she was good enough for Professor Dudley?

Honestly? If I were him, I'd pick Gabriella too. Gorgeous and brilliant. Who'd choose Claire?

I was exhausted. I didn't want to fight anymore, didn't want to cause scenes. I just wanted an answer.

Winston's voice was flatI need someone who understands me. We're the same kind of person. She's the only one who belongs at my side.

You've had your meltdown. You've cried, you've screamed. It's time to face facts. Everything you have came from me. The money, the position. Without me, you're nothing but a complete failure.

What can you change? You think the university is going to fire me and her, or you, the admin clerk whose only qualification was being married to me?

Leave things as they are. I won't divorce you. You'll have the title and the respect that come with it. Don't expect anything more. Don't bother me. That's better for both of us.

So that was how he'd always seen me.

But he'd told me once that I was a beam of light in his life, that I was the one who pulled him out of the dark.

Over twenty years together. Did all of that really mean less than whatever brief thing they had?

Maybe he was just used to our quiet life, I told myself. Maybe one day he'd remember what I'd given him. I kept lying to myself like that.

Until I received a message from Gabriella Morton.

That morning, a text from her appeared on my phone out of nowhere.

Professor Dudley is planning a wedding for me. I know you two are still technically married, but soon enough, everyone will know that I'm the one he truly considers his wife.

You're welcome to come watch, if you'd like. I don't mind~

I thought back to when Winston and I got married. Our wedding had been simple. We only invited our closest family and friends. His colleagues and students didn't even learn I existed until much later.

He said he didn't like making a fuss. Marriage was something only the people closest to you needed to know about.

By the end, he'd stopped bringing me to any event that required his attendance.

I asked him why once. He just said flatlyI don't like people prying into my personal life.

But now he was willing to face every questioning look, willing to throw a wedding for Gabriella even before our divorce was finalized.

The last thread holding me together finally snapped.

I ran to the university without thinking, found Winston, and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

He stared at me in disbeliefHave you lost your mind?!

I screamed at himYes, I have! You want to marry her? Then let me see just how shameless the two of you really are!

Winston held back his furyWhat are you talking about? There's a time and place for this!

Only then did the haze lift. Winston was clutching his cheek. The people around us were staring. Below the stage, a camera was pointed straight at us.

It hit me all at once. Today was his awards ceremony. Gabriella had sent that text on purpose, to push me over the edge, to make me unravel so completely that Winston would abandon me for good.

Everything that had just happened was captured on the livestream. The cheating scandal went viral, then was quietly buried by the university almost as fast.

Before, the rumors about us had stayed contained, whispered in small circles. This time, it was a full-blown PR crisis.

Comments flooded the university's official accounts, demanding answers, calling Winston out.

But the university was never going to discipline a talent like Winston over a personal matter.

Outrage on the internet burns hot and fades faster. Before long, nobody cared anymore.

After the storm died down, what I received was a divorce agreement.

This time, he held nothing back.

He hired a divorce attorney and made sure the terms taught me a lesson. I left the marriage with nothing.

The university let me go too, citing the divorce.

I locked myself in my room and cried through the nights. Then came the diagnosis: severe depression.

My parents brought me home the moment they found out. They took one look at me and couldn't stop the tears, saying over and over that they never should have let us be together.

My family wasn't well off. After the divorce, I had no savings at all. I couldn't afford any of the treatment.

My parents went to Winston. He wouldn't even see them.

Looking at the gray creeping into their hair, I knew I couldn't keep putting them through this.

I told myself I had to survive, that I had to hold this family together. It took a full year before my health finally started to come back.

For years, I'd trained myself not to think about any of it. Not until today, when I stumbled across that post.

Almost without meaning to, I opened my old photo album. Most of the pictures had been deleted during our fights, all except one.

It was the first photo Winston and I ever took together. He'd just received his full scholarship admission that day, while I was still grinding away for the SATs.

Dad suggested we take a picture together, and so we did.

Winston had been so full of confidence back then, brimming with ambition. But around me, he was careful, almost cautious.

We didn't dare stand too close, yet our hearts couldn't have been closer.

Back then, his world revolved around me, and I only had eyes for him.

I still remembered what happened after the photo was taken. Winston had secretly hooked his finger around mine, and his face turned red in an instant.

He leaned in and whisperedI'll wait for you.

But in the end, I never had what it took to get into Graymont. And he never chose me.

I closed my phone, unwilling to keep dredging up memories that brought no comfort. The screen had barely gone dark when a friend request popped up.

It's Winston. What happened before was my fault.

I only just found out about a lot of things. I was too impulsive back then. Can we meet?