I. Caught

“Since you’re moving in with me soon, I’ll let you decide which one you like on me the most.” Came a familiar nasally voice in front of me.

I hastily ducked my head beside the rack of lingerie I was browsing. I should have worn a disguise before coming here. It was my first time in a lingerie shop and the thought of stumbling into someone I know is mortifying in my book especially with my wedding coming in two weeks. 

I’ll be Mrs. Bradley Miller in two weeks. My cheeks grew hot thinking of the new things I wanted to try on our wedding night. 

I shouldn’t have let Arya bully me into coming here. Or perhaps I should have insisted that we came together. Now I’m stuck, debating if I should come out from hiding, hold my head high or retreat slowly and silently out of the shop.

“Surprise me, babe.” A sudden chill runs through me. The masculine voice sounded like Brad. No, it can’t be. 

Brad was on a business trip for two days now. He said he should be home a couple of days before our wedding.

“No, you choose this time.” The woman argued.

My brows furrowed in concentration as I dig through my memories. Eager to put a face on the feminine voice I put back the sexy underwear in its place and peeked over the rack.

My body froze.

It’s Stella Robinson, the financial department head and my husband’s boss on the company he’s working.

And hugging Stella from behind was Brad. 

My Brad

My fiancé

My groom

“Babe, you know I much prefer you naked and eager for me.” He took her hand, gracefully spinning her into his arms. The act didn’t escape me being a dance maneuver we’ve been practicing for weeks for our first dance as man and wife. 

His voice came husky, and though his gaze is lazy as it swift over her perfectly proportion body I could visibly see that his fighting hard to rein the raging impulse to possess her and sate the unadulterated lust vibrating through his veins.

‘This can’t be true. He loves me, right? He said so himself. So, why I’m seeing this right now?’ A voice in my head piped in.

Her only response was a sultry laugh that grated my nerves even more. 

Then, she tipped on her toes and sucked my fiancée’s face in front of everyone. 

Suddenly a feeling of déjà vu came over me.

My body shook on its own accord, trying to place the flicker of memories.

Chuckling, she looked up at him with a seductive smile that could turn every committed man into a shuddering mess.

“I know. But I love the thrill, the foreplay, and everything that you could give.” As she said this, her hand travels from her surgically planted bosom down to her navel until it rests on her crotch.

I physically and mentally gagged, swallowing the vile that’s slowly climbing up in my throat.

‘Wake up, Elle! Dammit! This is Brad you’re talking about. He can’t do this to you.’ A faint voice screamed at the back of my head.

I shoved the voice away. 

As I looked at them I can’t help but resign myself into heartbreak. Deep inside, something in me recoils and I know, even a part of myself rebels against it, the smarter part of me knew something was wrong that even begging for myself to wake up won’t spare me the ugly details.

“How about I model them for you then you decide.” This snaps me out and brought me back to reality. 

I saw her randomly pick a sheer almost see-through negligee on the rack beside them before walking straight inside the large fitting room.

And to think I swallowed my dignity just by walking inside this store, only to witness the greatest betrayal known to mankind.

“Do you ever love me, Brad?” I whispered, certain that he won’t hear me. But I guess the universe was playing a cruel joke on me because the moment I mumbled those words was the exact moment the song on the shop’s speaker momentarily stopped. 

Talked about timing.

When his head shoots up in my direction he staggered backward like he had been hit with something tangible. But in reality, he was hit with the realization that the game he’d been playing was finally over. 

Checkmate

I knew I won the game but why does it feel like I’m the one who lost everything? 

I trusted him. Though I didn’t expect a life full of rainbows and unicorns, I never anticipated that I would be betrayed by the one person I trusted with my life. 

It hurts.

As I stared at him, knowing his betrayal I can’t even shed a single tear for myself and the pain bubbling inside my chest.

Suddenly a laugh erupted deep in my throat. The kind of laugh devoid of mirth but of pain and hurt and contempt. 

He visibly pales. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he nervously swallowed the lump that suddenly clogs his throat. He probably thought that I would make a scene. I’m not, though I’m tempted to do it just so I could humiliate them. A small payment I know they deserve.

 He threw a fugitive glance in his mistress's direction, before looking back at me.

“Not here, Elle.” He whispered harshly, gripping my arms as if to shove me out of the shop.

But I did not move. 

I stay rooted in my place. 

“No! I want an answer.” I hissed, shoving him hard. He staggered backward before he found his footing.

He glared at me.

I glared back at him.

“You want an answer? Fine!” 

And then he opened his mouth just as Stella strut towards us.

“I did!” For a split second the lie hung heavily suspended in the air, enough for me to hear it loud and clear.

I smiled softly at them but this time it’s different, and we both knew it. Though my lips curved up on a smile my eyes didn’t.

“Really?” I asked in a small voice almost dead. I’m on those tipping moments of my life where I either fight or run. But then even if I choose to fight I would be fighting a losing battle.

He has given up on us even before I could do something. It’s too late now, I can already feel the stripping sound of my conference coming off and the creeping sensation of insecurity slithering through my veins.

It was sudden—a jolt maybe. But I knew it. So when the sound of emptiness swift over me, in an instant I heard the cracking of my heart and its agonizingly silent cry.

It’s over.

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