Four Years Earlier
Victor wasn't much of a fan of dive bars. The dreary atmosphere and the depressing patrons typically kept him a good distance away. However, this particular afternoon, he felt right at home. Ordering another whiskey on the rocks from the middle aged, homely bartender, he checked his phone for the sixth time in as many minutes, chastising himself as he did so. Honestly, the whole situation he found himself in could have been much worse. Then again, it's not every day you find out the child you had with the woman you love wasn't even yours.
"Here ya go buddy." The bartender said, sliding his drink to him, the cheap, plastic cup it was in somehow appropriate. "So, how's life?"
"Shitty." Victor said hollowly, draining his medicine and ordering another. It didn't even burn anymore.
"Yeah? That sucks." His bartender said, fixing another drink and passing it to him. "Mind if I ask what happened."
"Met a girl. Fell for her. Married her. Had a kid. Girl cheats on me." Victor sighed, staring at his drink. "She must've been doing it for a while, too. Kid wasn't even mine."
"Shit, man. That's a fucked up situation. I'm sorry to hear that." She said sincerely, leaning on the counter. Victor noticed how dead it was in the bar. Only one other patron sat at the end of the bar, a man in a business suit, texting. Not your standard dive bar customer, but the nonexistent traffic wasn't much of a surprise. Most people don't decide to get wasted at 1:43 in the afternoon. "How'd you find out about it?"
"Knew she was fuckin' around on me for a coupla months. Sent in a blood test about a week ago. Just got it back this morning." He said, stirring his drink slowly.
"Wow. Something like that would fuck a man's head up." She sympathized. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't even know. Trying to figure it out. Tell her I know, I guess." He said, turning the perspiring cup in his large hands slowly.
"What of revenge?" came a reply from the man seated at the end of the bar.
"Say what?" Victor asked, rotating in his stool toward the man.
"Well, from the sound of it, you were wronged. Not only wronged, but lied to." The man said. His vibrating phone lay ignored in front of him. "You shouldn't take that."
"Probably not. Not much I can do to change the situation though." Victor said.
"Very true. Regardless of what you end up doing, what happened would have still occurred." The man agreed. He stood and moved over and sat next to Victor, waving the curious bartender away and leaning in close. "But, what if you could, at the very least, feel better about it?"