Six months after our divorce, my ex-husband called to tell me, “I have important news to share with you.” He had torn off the wallpaper since “he paid for it.”

I spent eight years of my life with my ex-husband. Two amazing kids, a lovely home we remodeled together, and lots of future ideas. However, beneath this flawless exterior lay a cruel reality: he was having an affair with his secretary.

At first, I didn’t believe it when I learned about the lies, the secret meetings, and the messages. Then I had to confront the truth. Nothing could undo that treachery, despite his best efforts to downplay it and defend himself. I requested a divorce. I was left alone with the children and shattered memories when he went.

He returned to the house one day to “take a few things” while I was there with the kids at my parents’ place. However, upon my return, I saw that he had torn off the living room’s wallpaper. the one that, following hours of discussion, we had decided upon and assembled. He even wrote, “I paid for it, I’m taking it,” in his note. As if it were that simple to purchase or peel back the past.

In addition to being angry, I felt oddly relieved. I realized that this individual was just a completed chapter after this insignificant deed.

Dan called me out of the blue a month after everything seemed to be behind us. He stated he had something important to tell me when I answered the phone.

— “Hey… I just wanted to let you know that you, the kids, and everything else are on my mind. You are missed.

Her voice had an uncharacteristic softness. Maybe a trace of regret. However, it was too late for me. The woman who was waiting for an apology was no longer me. Her existence had been rebuilt by me, wall by wall and piece by piece.

— “I wish you the happiest life possible, Dan, but I’ve moved on.”

And that was accurate.

I hung vibrant paintings, replaced the drapes, and repainted the living room. Now, my personality, not ours, was represented in every aspect. I even turned what had been the marital bedroom into a painting studio, a hobby I had long neglected.

To find some calm, I joined a reading group a month later. I told about the wallpaper event at a gathering with nice women. There was laughter. A woman named Cassie cried out, “A man tearing down wallpaper in retaliation? That is pitiful!

Time went by. Cassie happily presented her fiancé to me one day. Dan was the one. She had no knowledge. There was stillness when I told him he was my ex-husband. “Wait… that wallpaper thing… that was him?” she thought.

Dan went pale. Shocked, Cassie saw that she had fallen in love with a man who was not at all who he claimed to be.