I entered a forum on a site where the topic was cheating in marriage, and whether fraud should be forgiven or not. Mostly there was talk of fraud on the part of the men and most of the women felt hurt and were not inclined to forgive, except for Suzana, who opposed the opinions of the other women. Although there were no specific cases, I was somehow interested in the opinion of that woman. I immediately made a fake account, of course, under a female name and got in touch with her. She introduced herself as Suzana. I told her I supported her comments in the posts and then invited her to chat. Although I was quite persuasive in the conversation, I didn’t want us to talk about personal things right away. But slowly, after a few days, we started to trust each other, even though we were both anonymous. When I was about to give up Suzana opened up and told me about her case.

This time, instead of retelling my story in the second person, I decided to write it in the first person. Which I usually don’t do when it comes to stories where the main character is a female.

I can say for myself that I am one of those lucky women who managed to crown their first serious relationship with marriage. And with a happy marriage at that. I was 24 years old and at that time we had already been in a relationship for 3 years. In the last year, we were not very careful in sex, but nothing happened until that fall. Periods were delayed and there was no choice but to buy the test. I can say that I was neither surprised nor upset at all when the two dashes appeared. I went back to bed and imagined possible scenarios. I was sure of his positive reaction, but still, a part of me wanted to prepare for his possible negative reaction of the type - “Listen, I will pay for the abortion, you know I’m not ready to be a father...”. I took a picture of the tester and sent him a picture without any text. The cell phone immediately started alarming messages and then ringing tirelessly. I did not answer or answer the text messages. I got dressed and left the apartment without my cell phone. I walked around the city aimlessly and lost track of time. I would probably wander all night. The cold didn’t bother me, but that maternal instinct worked and let me know that I shouldn’t catch a cold. Not for myself but for the sake of the baby. I was returning to the apartment and saw him sitting on the stairs. As soon as he saw me, he jumped up off the stairs and started hugging and kissing me. Words were superfluous.

We soon got married and little Ivan was born. With the help of my parents and his parents, we bought an apartment. When my maternity leave ended, I started working part-time in a nearby copy shop. Two years later, I saw two dashes again, which was a sign that little Eva would come into the world.

When Eva turned one, we were in doubt about whether I should return to work or stay with the children for a while longer. My husband was inclined to decide that I should stay at home. My best friend Sabrina encouraged me to move out of the apartment in any way possible, but I was indecisive. Sabrina was not only my best friend, but also my only one. Ever since high school, she is the only one who managed to get me out of the apartment for some kind of coffee, drink or shopping. I did not agree to the night out. The last time I did that was when I was just a girl.

One morning, while I was feeding Eva, Sabrina called and said briefly, “Make some coffee, I’m coming right over!”

Soon she ran into the apartment waving an envelope, put it on the table, and told me to read it. I served the coffee and opened the envelope. Inside was an invitation to a 10-year graduation party. I felt comfortable remembering those people. The fact that they could meet after such a long time is great, but I don’t like the thought of some kind of celebration.

“Great, but I won’t go!” - I said loudly so that Sabrina could hear me.

She immediately ran into the kitchen and convincingly said: -”Oh hell yes you are, I even arranged for all 30 people to come here to you!”

I knew that Sabrina would not give up, I had to agree when she and my husband joined forces to persuade me. Even though I thought that he was not able to care for two small children for one night. Just the fact that the children were not with me would upset me.

Although my weight returned to normal after giving birth, I needed a new wardrobe. Of course, Sabrina was the shopping guide, but our opinions differed. However, she managed to persuade me to buy a really beautiful black dress. I didn’t intend to buy something like that, but she persuaded me to just try it on. When I looked in the mirror, all those doubts about vulgarity, the size of the cleavage, or the shortness of the bottom part of the dress disappeared. I didn’t even wear something that short at the graduation party, let alone after.

Those few days before the party I was quite confused. I was trying to remember all the faces from my class. Apart from a dozen of them that I have on Facebook, I don’t have any contact with the others. I haven’t even thought about the others since graduation. I was interested in what it would be like to meet Sanja, who I was always arguing with. I don’t expect us to hug, but we are no longer kids to act like that anymore. What will it be like to meet Philip, who I dated for two years? Or Matej, who I was madly in love with? How will I react when I see jerk Leonardo, who I lost my virginity to? Or Dino, who I had sex with on the graduation trip? How will I feel when I hear how they have succeeded in life, or earned degrees and found good jobs, while I work in a copy shop? Fortunately, I have Sabrina, who convinced me that with the two children I have and the husband I wished for, I have more than what I wished for back then, and that I have a better life than this one who is a famous TV journalist or one who takes pictures with ministers, and especially our friend who married a famous athlete. Alas, will they come?

The day of the celebration has come. Sabrina has been with us since the early afternoon. I guess she wanted to make sure I wouldn’t change my mind. When we finally got dressed and left the bathroom, my husband’s reaction to my appearance said it all. While I gave him instructions about the children for the hundredth time, he stared at me, but he didn’t even listen to what I was telling him.

We finally left and Sabrina drove with the remark that I would drive back if she got drunk. We soon reached the restaurant, and I already commented before, why they chose this particular restaurant when there are much better and cheaper ones in the city. Sabrina immediately let me know that this was the best choice because there was a nightclub under the restaurant. So we don’t have to move to another place after dinner, just go downstairs. I was NOT thrilled with the plan to go to a nightclub at all!

Upon arrival, I had some trepidation, but as soon as we entered we got drinks and started greeting everyone. The trepidation disappeared and it was really exciting to see all these people after ten years. Yes, we sure have changed. My bad mood was influenced by the fact that I was always convinced that as a housewife with two children, I would be in the shadow of other girls or women who have time to take care of themselves, but I was wrong! I scanned each of them and then my confidence rose even more as compliments poured in from both the female and male sides.

When we all got together we paid our respects to Zvonimir, who is no longer with us. Then we would stand up, one by one and briefly say a few words about our lives and our achievements. We concluded that we are one of the most successful classes in the gymnasium. Especially because several of them can be heard and seen in public every day. Half of them are successful in their careers, while half of us decided for a more peaceful life. Some things still surprised me. For example, Jasenka, who literally couldn’t care about anything before, now is a successful entrepreneur and runs a company with over forty employees. While Ernest, a guy who was always the best in everything, had high goals and ambitions, he worked as a security guard in a shopping centre. Some have become more serious and smarter, but also some have remained as silly as before. All in all, the dinner was spent in a pleasant atmosphere and if it had lasted the whole week, we would not have had time to talk to everyone as much as we would have liked. I often looked at my cell phone and texted my husband until he told me to stop worrying and focus on having fun.

As the evening progressed, the bottle of red wine became more and more empty and I felt it working on me so much that my tongue became loose. But unlike Sabrina, I was not drunk. Well, I expected that from her. In a good mood, midnight suddenly came and that meant we were all going down to the nightclub. Although at first, I thought that I would rush home right after dinner, it seemed to me that going to the nightclub for a drink was a good idea. Although some took the opportunity and disappeared, most of us went down to the bar.

A few drinks at the bar got me so pumped up that soon my feet hit the dance floor! Little by little Sabrina slipped away from me and spent more and more time at the bar with Daniel. Her story with Daniel is interesting. They were both in love with each other but were never together. They are both single, so I don’t see anything wrong with his arm being around her all the time. I took breaks from dancing with Gordan, Boris and Damir, who constantly made sure I wasn’t thirsty. Damir and Boris were that duo of charlatans from the back of the class who got through the entire schooling by buffoonery. They both came from a wealthy family and it was already predetermined for them what they would do in life, so they weren’t interested in school at all and they weren’t very social either. At one point, Sabrina and Daniel kissed while I continued drinking drinks with these three at the bar. A little later, Sabrina approached me and said that she would “get lost somewhere” with Daniel, so it wouldn’t be a problem if I went home with Gordan or the other two. Of course, I didn’t mind. I was happy for her, but in the meantime, I missed Gordan because he had already left. As the night wore on, there were fewer and fewer of us at the club. When I asked where everyone had gone, I got the answer that it was almost 4 am. Honestly, I thought it wasn’t even one yet.

“Come on, we’ll take you home.,” Damir said.

Damir and Boris always stayed together. A large, new black Variant was extremely striking in the already half-empty parking lot. I didn’t remember the make of the car. I distinguish cars only by size and colour. I wanted to sit in the back seat, but Boris kindly let me sit in the front seat. We talked so I didn’t notice where Damir was driving until the street lights disappeared and he turned onto an unpaved road.