Michael.

one

If there is one thing I learned growing up, you can avoid fate. Growing up was a difficult time for me. My father was an alcoholic and abused my mother and my little brother was mentally challenged. It wasn't easy, but my sister, Jenny, was always there for me and my brother. Even for simple things like helping me get dressed or teaching my brother how to count made the difference when our parents weren't there to help.
With a life like I had, I wasn't expected to result to much. I was destined to end up just like my mother, yet here I am today: walking across the stage of my university and receiving my graduation certificate. After four long years, I have completed one of my many goals. I couldn't be happier as I saw my brother, sister, mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins sitting in the crowd cheering me on, yet something was off. Something was missing from the moment that was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life: Kyle.
Where was he? He told me he would meet me at the university, yet he isn't here? Was he okay? Did he get in a car accident? Did something happen before he left his apartment? Naturally, hundreds of terrible possibilities ran through my mind as I tried to imagine why my boyfriend of two years didn't show to my graduation: something I had worked tirelessly at completing.
Before I went back home at the end of the day, I went to Kyle's apartment. I knocked to no response. I jiggled the door knob and it easily came open. I tiptoed inside the apartment when I noticed an unusual jacket lying on the couch with a pair of black heels tucked neatly against the wall. Now, this wouldn't be strange, except it was a woman's jacket and a woman's shoes when he should have been there for my graduation. I heard voices down the hall, and I took a deep breath. I tiptoed down the hall, and put my ear to the door. I heard Kyle murmuring something, followed by a woman's high-pitched giggle. Almost as if I didn't want to see it to believe it, I tentatively opened the door. I peeked inside and saw a petite woman dressed in black lingerie on my boyfriend. The man that I had invested so much time in repays me with this. I didn't know what to say. Should I be shocked? Mad? Upset? Should I have expected this? I must have looked like a fool as I stood in the doorway, staring at the two of them with tears welling up in my eyes. And to think I was going to surprise him tonight with the news I found out just days earlier.
"Shit, Jackie, it's not what it looks like," Kyle said as he started to push the woman off his torso and sit up.
"It's not what it looks like?" I repeated, "it looks to me like you're a fucking cheater! You miss my bloody graduation for this?! For another woman? Save the struggle and just fucking break up with me if you're going to sneak around to treat me like shit!" I exploded. It had been bubbling up the moment I stepped inside and saw the heels and coat, and now, nothing was stopping me.
"And to think we wanted a family! A future together! It's gone now, Kyle, it's all gone," I said. The news I planned to tell him burned at the tip of my tongue. I wanted to tell him when we got home that night to celebrate, and I knew how happy it would make him, but now, I was pissed off.
"I do want a future with you!" Kyle retorted.
"By skipping my graduation for her? You missed the single biggest moment of my life so far just to fuck some woman I'm sure you don't even know the name of! You know what? Take your fucking ring and piss off. Have a nice life, Kyle," I said, sliding the silver promise ring off my ring finger and throwing it across the room to him. I stormed out of the apartment and the second I closed my car door, I broke down in sobs. We had been together for nearly three years, and now it's gone. There was no way I would be treated like that, especially when I was pregnant with his child.