The Day I Stopped Needing My Husband Chapter 02

Willa had once been my roommate.

When we first moved into the dorms our freshman year, she didn’t bring a hairdryer, so I lent her mine.

When she was short on cash, I covered her meals for an entire month.

She hugged me tight and said, “Kayla, you’re the kindest person I’ve ever met.”

Then I spent two years writing my thesis.

My advisor told me that this thesis would secure my admission to the university’s graduate program.

A week before my defense, my laptop crashed. The repair shop told me the hard drive had been manually

formatted.

And Willa turned in a paper with nearly identical structure and data. She just tweaked a few conclusions so it

wouldn’t look like a straight copy of mine.

I confronted her. She broke down crying in front of everyone in the dorm.

“Kayla, I know you’re a better student, but you can’t lie and say I stole your work just because you’re mad you

didn’t get the spot.”

All my raw data was stored on that laptop. My cloud backups had been wiped clean. Meanwhile, she had a

complete edit history to show the professors.

By the end, I was the one labeled the thief, the girl who fought dirty for the spot and slandered her roommate.

Willa secured the place in the graduate program, while the investigation caused me to miss the application

deadline entirely.

On move-out day, she leaned over the dorm balcony and said casually,. “You come from money. Having to

wait another year to get into grad school won’t ruin your life. But this opportunity could change mine..”

I’d carried those words with me for years.

Inside the conference room, Willa was presenting to Henry.

She wore a sharp tailored suit, speaking quickly and logically.

When she finished, Henry nodded, satisfied. “You pulled off those three cases beautifully.”

Willa shut her laptop, turned, and spotted me. Her surprise looked a little too staged.

A second later, she hurried over and grabbed my hand. “Kayla? Oh my gosh, it really is you!”

I pulled my hand away.

She acted like she hadn’t noticed, smiling toward Henry. “Mr. Grant, your wife was my college roommate.”

“We were so close. We just had a falling-out after graduation and lost touch.”

Henry looked surprised. “What a coincidence.”

“Right.” Willa sighed. “Kayla was always such a dedicated student, pushing herself to be perfect.”

When we competed for a place in the graduate program, she didn’t get in and held a grudge against me for

a long time. I’ve always hoped we could make things right.”

A few sentences. The stolen thesis became my rejection from the program. Her betrayal turned into my

childish tantrum.

She was still the same. She could twist the truth until black looked white.

I glanced at Henry.

He looked back at me, frowning, but he never asked what really happened.

On the drive home, he started praising Willa instead.

“She’s incredibly skilled. In just two months, she’s saved the company millions of dollars in potential losses.”

I dug my nails into my palm and let him finish.

It wasn’t until we stepped inside the house that I spoke. “Henry.”

He glanced down, taking off his watch. “Hmm?”

“Can you replace Willa?”

His movements paused. “Willa just pulled us out of three massive messes. If we let her go now, the whole

legal team will need to restructure.”

I stared at him, my chest tightening, slow and heavy.

This was the only thing I’d ever asked him to do for me, and he brushed it off.

I nodded. “Alright.”

Henry relaxed, reaching out to hug me. “That’s my girl.”

I stepped back, dodging his arms.

He thought I was just pouting and gave a helpless laugh.

He didn’t know I wasn’t going to ask again.