We're Still Married

***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons or situations is purely coincidental.

Author's Note:

- This is a rewrite of a previous story that I published on this website originally under the title "Sex With the Ex." I had it taken down because I had some ideas for some improvements to the original story.

- Divorce laws mention in the story may not reflect actual laws in any state in the USA, but is exaggerated for the purpose of this story.

...

BAD NEWS

Michael was more than just nervous; he was scared as hell. He had been pacing back and forth in the hallway outside of his ex-wife's apartment for nearly 20 minutes. He needed to speak to her about something important, something that would piss her off greatly. Things did not end well for them, mostly because of him, and now things may about to get a whole lot worse.

He desperately wanted to smoke a cigarette. It used to help him calm his nerves before he quit over a year ago. He thought about just leaving the hallway and going to buy a pack of cigarettes, but he knew if he did that, he would then make more excuses to not come back here. He wanted to be a man about it and face her with what he needed to talk to her about. But at the same time, he recognized that walking around a hallway for 20 minutes didn't make him look good.

His ex-wife, Kim, wasn't an angry person. She was always a calm person and, at times, very sweet. She does lose her temper at times, but no more than most people would. The only time he ever saw her truly mad was when he admitted to her that not only was he carrying on an affair with his secretary, but he had also gotten her pregnant with twins. She yelled things at him that he never thought he'd heard a woman say, but he knew he deserved it all for what he did. They filed for divorce not long after that.

Kim was upset with herself for believing that Michael would stay faithful to her when he had done this before. He had cheated on her years earlier when they were just dating; she let it go because at the time they weren't too serious about each other. Also, she knew about how he cheated on the woman he dated before her, so there were signs from the beginning. But she was in love and thought that he loved her enough to be only with her.

When it was time to discuss going through the divorce, Kim agreed to make it quick and amicable. Mostly because she was so pissed off at him that she wanted to be done with the marriage and move on with her life. Michael felt very lucky that she wanted to end it easily like this; most women would've taken him to the cleaners.

Kim didn't want any alimony from Michael. She made good money anyway, so she didn't need that extra financial help. They kept all of their own personal items and agreed to split their finances in half, including the sale of their house and even splitting the furniture and other shared items.

That was almost two years. He has barely heard from her ever since. Now he needed to talk to her about something of great urgency.

Finally, he said a few things to himself to help motivate him and rang her doorbell. As soon as he did that, he thought about running away but forced himself to stay.

Kim answered the door, so it was too late for Michael to run off.

"Michael, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I needed to talk to you about something," he said. "Can I come in?"

"Sure. I'll make us some coffee."

The fact that she wasn't pissed off at seeing him today seemed like a good sign to Michael. At the beginning of their divorce process, she was furious at him over every little detail. Now, she seemed alright and was friendly with him.

His ex-wife was standing in the doorway wearing a bandana on her head, blue overalls, and a pink t-shirt, both covered with paint splotches. She was 32 years old, a year younger than Michael, with long auburn hair. She also had a great body on her under those clothes, with breasts bigger than his current fiancée's.

He had seen her in this look many times before when she was making one of her paintings. She was an accountant as her primary occupation, but she also did some artwork on the side. He remembered how good she was; many of her pieces went to galleries, and some sold for good money.

Michael was lucky that Kim had just made a pot of coffee not long before he showed up, so it was easy for her to make. She remembered that he took light cream with only one sugar, and that's what she made him. Michael actually took three sugars now, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. If he was going to talk to her about what he needed to talk about, then he wanted her on his good side as much as possible.

They were in the kitchen, sitting at their old kitchen table, which Kim got to keep when they were splitting their assets.

"I miss this kitchen table," said Michael.

"Yeah, it works well with any kitchen; I couldn't part with it," said Kim. "Remember what we did when we first got it?"

Michael chuckled. "Yeah, I remember."

Kim was referring to how they had sex on that table before they had their first dinner on it. He was surprised that she would bring up something like that; he took it as another positive sign that things were well between them. If she was willing to bring up good memories like that instead of the bad ones, then she was definitely moving on from their failed marriage.

"How are Lucy and the kids?" Kim asked.

Michael was again surprised by Kim. He didn't think she would care enough to ask how Lucy was, since she was the secretary he had an affair with and got pregnant. Michael was now living with Lucy and raising their kids together. She used to refer to Lucy as 'that skank' during the divorce, but now she was using her actual name, which seemed like another good sign for Michael.

"They're doing good, thanks for asking," said Michael. "I'm not sure if you are aware, but we had another baby last year."

"Yes, I heard, congratulations," she said, happily.

"And we are planning on getting married very soon."

"Oh, that's wonderful; I'm very happy for you."

"Thank you."

This was going a lot better than Michael had expected. He felt stupid for believing that this would go badly.

"You seem good. Very relaxed," said Michael.

"You mean as compared to the nightmare I was when we were getting divorced?" she asked with a little chuckle afterwards.

"Nightmare is a bit strong. I cheated on you, and you were rightfully angry about it."

"Well, after it was all done and over with, I decided I didn't want to be one of those women who stays angry after their divorce and obsess over how much she hates her ex-husband."

Michael was relieved to hear her say this because this means she didn't spend all this time hating him. It might make things a lot better for him once he talks to her about the reason for his surprise visit.

"Wow, that's great. I'm glad you feel that way," said Michael.

"I'm glad too," she said. "There's no point in staying angry all the time. I needed to move on with my life and start being the positive person I used to be."

"That's wonderful; I'm happy to see you like this," said Michael, smiling.

"Thank you. So, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" she asked.

Feeling more relaxed about Kim's very positive demeanor, Michael felt confident that she wouldn't be too mad at him about the news he was going to tell her. He was sure once she heard him out, she would help him resolve this matter very quickly.

"Something has come about our divorce. Instead of calling you about it, I thought it was best to come here and talk to you about it personally."

"Is it about that tax issue we were having a couple of years ago?" she inquired. "I've been wondering if we got all that sorted out back then."

"No, that got resolved, and our joint taxes were all good," he assured her.

"That's good to hear. So, what's the problem?"

Michael drank some of his coffee and set it down on the table. He didn't want to waste any time so he decided to just blurt out without any hesitation what he wanted to tell her.

"We're still married," he said.

Kim was in the middle of drinking her coffee when he said that. She was startled by that statement and nearly did a spit take, as if she were in a sitcom.

"What was that?" she asked.

"We're still married," he repeated.

"What do you mean, we're still married?"

"Remember how we agreed on a more amicable divorce and how my cousin--"

"The one you called a brilliant lawyer," Kim interrupted.

"Yes, that's him," Michael continued. "Apparently, I was too quick to say how brilliant he was."

"What did he do?" she asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

"As I was saying, because we agreed on a very easy divorce, my cousin would be able to get our divorce pushed through a lot faster than the normal six-month process thanks to some people I knew at the courthouse, so we could have it done and over with."

"What did he do?" she said with an angrier tone this time.

Michael took notice of how angry she was starting to look and was starting to get nervous about it. There was nothing else to do but finish his story and hope they could resolve this peacefully.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but he screwed up our paperwork, and it never officially went through."

"But I got a letter from the courthouse saying we're divorced," said Kim.

"A letter that was sent too prematurely," said Michael. "Because he was pushing it through faster, those letters somehow got sent out way too soon, before the paperwork could be finalized, and somehow it fell through the cracks and never got filed. The mistake was only discovered very recently."

Kim just stared at him for the longest time without saying a word. This made Michael far more nervous than he was before.

"You said you were going to take care of everything," Kim finally said.

"Yes, I did."

"We agreed to have a very easy divorce. Split our assets and move on with our lives. No alimony or any issues that could drag it on any longer than it should be."

"Yes, I remember that."

"And you promised me that your cousin, being this amazing lawyer," she said, using her fingers to make air quotes when using the word amazing. "You said he could easily get it done quickly, and I didn't have to worry about a single thing."

"Yes, I know, and I'm sorry."

There was another long silence between them. Then, all of a sudden, Kim threw her coffee into his face. The coffee wasn't burning, but it was still very hot, and it stung him for a moment.

"You son of a bitch!" She yelled at him. "You bastard! You piece of shit!"

Kim went on with a few more insults. Michael let her get it out of her system so they could discuss what they needed to do next. But it took a while for Kim to settle down from yelling at him.

"I deserve all that, but we need to discuss what to do next."

Kim yelled at him for another few minutes, saying things Michael had never heard her say to him, even back when he confessed to cheating on her. Eventually, she calmed down and assessed the situation she was in. She realized it was not going to do any good to get mad at him. She had to calm down to resolve the situation she found herself in.

She took a deep breath and recited a mantra in her head to help her relax. Michael watched her meditating and was starting to be at ease.

"Sorry for that outburst. I think I got all of that out of my system now," said Kim.

"It's quite alright, I came here expecting you might get angry about this."

"We'll just file the papers again and do it all over again," she said. "I can deal with us staying married for another six months until it all goes through; it's not that much of a problem."

"There's more," said Michael.

"Dammit!" she yelled before calming herself down again. "So, what's the problem?"

"As I said, Lucy and I are getting married, and by that, I mean in about three months," said Michael. "Everything is already planned out, and we can't put it off any longer. Then this divorce situation came up, which could put a monkey wrench in our plans."

"So, what you're saying is that you want to get divorced faster. How do we do that in this state? And don't say your cousin can do something about it."

"There is one other way, and that's if we get an annulment."

Kim knew what that meant. An annulment would invalidate their marriage; basically, it would say that it never happened.

"In this state, an annulment could take just six weeks," said Michael. "We can get this done quickly and move on with our lives."

"I don't know about this," said Kim. She was feeling very apprehensive about the idea.

"We were already going for an easy divorce, so this should be no different," said Michael. "Honestly, it was probably something we should've done the first time around."

"But your dumbass cousin probably would've screwed up that paperwork as well."

"Yeah, that's probably true," Michael confessed.

Kim didn't like the idea of saying their marriage was non-existent. That was a big part of her life, and now he's asking her to sign a legal document to say it never happened. But if she really wanted to move on with her life, this was something she had to do, even if she had misgivings about it.

"All right, let's do it," Kim said solemnly.

Michael felt relieved and took a big, deep breath. Despite the coffee thrown at him and the names she called him during her minor outburst, it all went well for him.

"I'll get started on the paperwork and come back to see you tomorrow to sign it."

"Whatever," she replied.

They stood up and walked back to the door. Michael apologized for everything again, and she just accepted it like she was accepting everything else.

At the door, they said their goodbyes and even gave each other a hug. Kim wasn't sure if a hug was an appropriate thing to do with her soon-to-be ex-husband who came here asking for favors, but she figured it was a good way to let things go after her outburst earlier. She soon regretted that hug when Michael made his biggest mistake of the night, when during that hug he slipped his hand down her back and grabbed her ass.

Kim looked up at him with a disturbed look. "Did you just grab my ass?"

"Um, yes, I think I did," he said, looking very embarrassed.

She broke out of the hug and took a few steps back from Michael.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked.

"I'm very sorry. I honestly don't know what came over me."

"Let's just get this annulment done and over with so we can both move on with our lives," she said as she gave him an angry look.

"Yes, you're absolutely right."

They said their goodbyes, and Kim slammed the door behind him as he walked away.

NEXT DAY

During their lunch break, Kim was alone in her office eating a sandwich while on a personal video chat with a couple of her friends, Sarah and Laura. Kim was head of accounting at a tech company, and her friends did the same thing at the companies they worked at. At least twice a week, they would each have lunch together through a video chat. They already did their two regular lunch meetings that week, but Kim really needed to talk to them about her situation with Michael.

They were, of course, shocked to find out that Kim and Michael were still married and that he was looking for an annulment this time. When Kim told them how he made a pass at her just before he left her place, they went crazy.

"What the fuck is wrong with that guy?" said Laura.

"I guess he still has the hots for you," said Sarah.

"I can't blame him for having good taste," said Kim. "But it was still inappropriate."

"Going back to the annulment thing, are you really going through with it?" Laura asked.

"I don't see why not?"

"I don't like it," said Sarah. "It's like you're giving him an easy out. He should pay for how he treated you."

"He should've paid more when the two split up the first time, but you let him go too easily," said Laura.

"I know, I know," said Kim. "But I just wanted to get it over with."

"Does he know that you found out about his other affairs?" Laura asked.

Months after Kim and Michael split up, she found out he had another affair during their marriage when a former neighbor of hers confessed that she used to sleep with him. Apparently, she always felt guilty about it but didn't want to say anything to break up Kim's marriage, but after the divorce, she decided to come clean about it since they were already split up because of his infidelity.

After that, she did some digging and found out at least one other affair Michael had with a former client of his, who confessed when she confronted her. She found out about another married woman who did confess and begged Kim not to tell her husband. Kim had no interest in ruining that woman's marriage; she figured she'd ruin it all on her own when her husband found out. She just wanted verification that there was an affair, nothing else.

"You shouldn't have let him off so easily," said Sarah. "He already got off scot-free from his infidelity and is now living it up with that tramp he left you for and having kids with her when you... oh, sorry."

"It's alright," said Kim.

What Sarah was about to bring up was about how Kim couldn't have children of her own. It was one of the reasons that caused friction between her and Michael later in their marriage. They tried every medical thing the doctors recommended for her to get pregnant, but it just didn't work. Eventually, they decided they just shouldn't have any kids. Then Michael started having his affairs and eventually got Lucy pregnant. Learning that Michael was going to have kids with another woman really hurt her.

"But still, Kim, it's not fair that he and that slut get to have a good life together," said Laura. "No relationship that begins with cheating should end with that couple being happy."

"And don't act like this doesn't bother you; we all know it does," said Sarah. "Finally get something out of this while you still have the chance."

"Yes, you should get some money out of it this time," said Laura. "Or maybe some of the stuff he took from the divorce."

Kim thought hard about it. She knew her friends were right; she had thought about it but just wasn't sure what to do about it. She thought about everything that happened to her in the past and how she let Michael go so easily. She then started thinking about his visit last night when he had the audacity to ask her to sign something to say their marriage never existed; it would basically say his cheating never existed either.

She also thought about how he made a pass at her before he left. Although she acted upset with him when he did that, deep down she kind of liked it; she was even turned on by it a little.

"What are you thinking about?" Laura asked.

"I'm thinking about how he made a pass at me last night," she answered, with a wicked smile.

THAT NIGHT

Michael got the paperwork for the annulment ready and made arrangements to have it processed fast so he could have plenty of time to be ready for his wedding to Lucy. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of marrying her, especially by his own mistakes.

As he was getting the paperwork ready, he kept thinking about how he had grabbed his ex-wife's ass. Although he did like how her ass felt, he shook it off as a momentary lapse of judgment. There were some obvious residual feelings between them may have played a part in what he had done, but it shouldn't mean anything. He was with Lucy now, the mother of his children. She was the one he was in love with, the one he left his ex-wife for. Even if she hadn't gotten pregnant, he was eventually going to leave Kim for her; the pregnancy only moved things along a little faster.