[FULL] Found out husband has a mistress, marriage was arranged

Kate Podcast
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I found out that my perfect husband has a Camilla.
Then my parents admitted that I was in an arranged marriage,
and I was the only one who didn't realize it.
I noticed on social media that there are always likes from a teenage boy on posts
that he puts up about me.
I thought it was a bit weird that he was friends with a teenager,
so I looked through the photos I could see on his profile.
There are a few with my husband from about 8 to 10 years ago, and another woman.
When I asked my husband, he said he was his ex-girlfriend's son.
He explained that they were very serious,
but that she had ended up getting married to someone else.
This seemed odd, so I asked my mother-in-law about her the next time I saw her.
My mother-in-law rolled her eyes and said,
Don't mention Val.
I am so glad you came along because that girl was bad for him.
She was unemployed, a single mother, and just very trashy.
We never would have accepted her.
I'm very successful career-wise and well-established.
My family is very prominent and well-regarded in the community.
The more I thought about it,
the more it felt like my background had more to do with things than anything.
I asked my husband about Val again,
and asked if he would have married her if not for his family.
He said that one of the biggest reasons she chose someone else
was because his family refused to accept her.
When I asked what was different about me, he responded,
She was Camilla and you're Diana.
I asked if that meant he would marry her if anything happened to me.
He shook his head, laughed and said I was being ridiculous,
and that he didn't think like that.
I told him I wanted him to remove and block his ex and her son
from his social media immediately, and to stop communicating with them.
He told me he has a cordial relationship with both of them,
and doesn't feel it's fair of me to ask him to cut them out.
I'm losing sleep over the fact that I feel like a placeholder
who is there to please his family and that he'll go back to her once his parents are gone.
I'm starting to doubt every interaction I ever had with him.
When I bring it up to him, he gets upset and tells me to stop dwelling on his past.
I wish I'd never known this because I feel like my happiness has been drained.
So, I sat down with my husband and told him that this whole Val thing was bothering me,
that I'd never heard her name before for someone he held in such high regard.
He explained that she had cheated on him and had married the guy she cheated with.
They stopped speaking for a while, but they started being cordial again
as she was having problems in her marriage and through her divorce.
He swears on his life that there's only friendship there,
that he can't ever forgive her, and that he has no interest in her romantically anymore.
I was over at my parents' house telling my mother about Val.
She kept telling me not to worry, that everyone has a past, and that he chose me.
A dad overheard mom and me and came into the kitchen.
Are you serious right now? Is he talking to Val again? I'm going to unalive him.
I asked my father how he knew about Val.
I looked at my mother, and she looked at him with a horrified look.
He said he overheard us, and it's not right for him to talk to other women.
They tried to talk around it, but I demanded an answer, and they finally relented.
My mother admitted that they had arranged my marriage.
We'd been seeing each other for a month, and I met his parents shortly after.
His mother called mine and explained about Val, how they were afraid he would go back to her,
and how they wanted to do everything they could to ensure their son married the right girl.
I asked my mother why she agreed,
and she admitted that they were afraid I was gay and that I wouldn't ever have children.
She said that's why my husband was immediately invited to every holiday.
That's why he was introduced to multiple relatives in a very short time.
That's why they referred to him as family before he proposed.
They were trying to set the tone in my mind.
My head was spinning.
I told them I had to go and couldn't talk to them anymore.
I drove home and felt like I couldn't breathe.
I walked into our house and told my husband everything.
He laughed.
He told me that he figured it out a while ago and thought I had too.
He told me that his parents paid for me to go on vacation with them.
They made a point of getting everyone in the family to share how much they liked me.
They gave him extra gift certificates to take me out to dinner and other events.
His mother cleaned his apartment and did all of his laundry while he was at work,
so his nights and weekends were free for me.
When he said he was going to save the money for a ring,
they gave it to him, and they kept telling him what a good match I was for him.
While we were engaged, he asked his parents if it had been the plan to keep him away from Val,
and his mother admitted that it had been.
He told me that he fell in love with me while we were together,
that what he feels for me is real and that he loves our life together.
He said it doesn't matter how it started because what we have is strong and real.
I don't know how I feel.
I can't even talk to anyone because I'm the only person who didn't know this happened.
I feel like such an idiot.
I'm furious with his parents for doing this,
furious with mine for going along with it,
and hurt that he didn't tell me the truth once he figured it out.
I do not know if I want a divorce.
My husband has been trying very hard to be supportive of me.
I've told him I don't feel like talking.
He keeps asking me if he can get me anything and asking me little questions to get me to talk,
but I can't even get my feelings straight right now.
I feel betrayed by every person who is supposed to care about me,
and I have no idea what the hell to do now.
