1. The Betrayal

The bed dipped, and Adrea felt a sense of joy wash over her drowsy form. He was here. A part of her wanted to sit up and acknowledge his presence, but she was mostly asleep. She heard and felt him moving about as sleep took her under. She was aroused a little when he lifted the covers, and the cold air went in and brushed her bare skin. She shivered as he slowly got under the covers. Sleep crept onto her again, but he kept it at bay by shifting his body close to hers and laying his arms around her. Instinctively, Adrea rolled over and snuggled him.

She felt him breath on her neck before he began to butterfly kissed on it. She let out a breath but kept her eyes closed and held him close. That was when she first registered something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Something was different. He felt wrong. The texture of his skin, the contours of his body.

Even as she registered that the clothes were wrong, and so was his scent, the light was clicking on. But it was too late. She shied away from the bright light as a frown appeared on her face.

“What the hell is going on here?!” she heard her husband’s voice exclaim.

His voice was coming from the doorway.

Her eyes snapped open as she looked towards the foot of the bed in the direction of the open door. She would never forget the sight of him in that moment: the pain in her husband’s eyes and the absence of colour under his skin. His eyes were wide and devastated. His chest rose and fell quickly. He was standing with one hand on the wall as if it was supporting him.

If he was there, who was in bed with her? Even as she felt the colour drain from her face, she slowly lifted her head to see her best friend, and his brother, in bed with her. He was looking at his brother. He looked shocked, but there was something resembling sadistic pleasure in his eyes.

Why was he here? The question was quickly overshadowed by the thought of how she looked. In bed snuggling with her husband’s brother.

“Oh God,” she breathed in horror as she pushed him away.

This had to be a nightmare. Oh, please let this be a nightmare. But it was not. There was a warm body holding hers, and it was not her husband’s. This looked bad.

Considering That her husband had never liked her friendship with his brother, saying this looked very bad was an understatement. This was very bad.

“Oh God,” she breathed again as her breaths began to come out faster.

She watched as her husband turned around and slowly walked out of the room. His posture broke her. He was slightly hunched over as if there was a knife in his belly. His steps were slow and slightly unsteady, as if he were drunk.

“Rael,” she said, but he did not stop.

She pushed away from Felix without looking at him. She needed to go to her husband. She fought with the bedding and managed to stumble out of bed and then ran towards where Rafael had stood moments before.

“Rael!” she cried as she went out the door and saw him turn the corner and then sink onto the floor.

“It’s not what it looks like,” she said as she caught up with him and knelt on the floor beside him.

She made to take his hand in hers, but he recoiled from her, and there was disgust on his face. She felt her heart break on the spot. She retracted her hands and laid them limply on her lap.

“Rael,” she said, “It’s not what it looks like.”

He looked at her then, and there was anger in his eyes and face. Fear crept into the corners of her mind, but she would not bow to it. She had one goal: to explain. It was not what it seemed.

“Is it not?” he asked her, and she nodded her head vehemently.

“Then tell me.” he said in a deadly tone that she completely missed as she watched him get to his feet, “Why was another man, my brother, in our bed?!”

She stood up too and opened her mouth to reply, and then no words came out. Why was Felix in her bed? She had nothing. No answers. No explanation. It was dawning on her how bad things truly were. Oh God, what was this? Some cruel joke?

“It’s not how it looks,” she tried but even then, she felt hopeless.

“I’m sorry, Rafael,” Felix said, and she turned to look at him.

Even as she had some hope that he would explain that all this was a misunderstanding, she swayed as she noticed that he was shirtless. Why was he shirtless? He was not just shirtless. He was naked except for his briefs. Why was this happening to her?

“It’s not what we planned,” Felix said, his voice trying for apologetic, but his brother could hear the smugness in it, “But these things happen. We just fell in love.”

Adrea felt her stomach churn, and her legs threatened to give out from beneath her. What was he saying? Why was he lying?

“No,” she let out weakly to her husband as he got to his feet, “It’s not like that. Rael, we didn’t! I would never!”

“It just happened,” Felix said over her protests, “Rea and I… We didn’t mean to hurt you. We just couldn’t help ourselves.”

“What are you saying?!” Adrea screamed at him over her shoulder. “Why are you doing this?!”

Why was he saying this? Why couldn’t he just tell the truth?

“Rael,” she pleaded desperately as she got to her feet and grasped the sleeved of his shirt, “Don’t listen to him. He is lying. Rael, truly, I didn’t…”

Her breath began to come out in quick hiccups, and she could not get any coherent words out.

“Rea,” Felix said from behind her, “It’s better to tell him the truth. We are in love…”

“Please, Felix, stop lying!” she pleaded.

“We have to tell him the truth, Rea,” Felix said casually.

This was not the Felix she knew. What had she done to justify this level of malice from him? She was beginning to see that she could not reason with him. She turned to her husband. He was standing there, looking beyond her at Felix, his chest rising and falling. There was a storm brewing in his eyes.

“Please,” Adrea felt the tears well up in her eyes as she joined her hands and raised them up beseechingly, “Please believe me. Nothing happened. Nothing ever happened.”

“Adrea,” Felix said from behind her. She saw Rafael’s body tense and his hands ball into fists.

“We have to tell him the truth. Now is better than later. Rafe, we… I didn’t mean for you to find out like this...”

“Stop lying!” Adrea wanted to yell, but instead, she let out a scream as Rafael moved past her, shoving her out of his way.

In a blink, he was on Felix. She saw him draw back his arm with his hand fisted and swing. He connected. Felix stumbled back. She turned her back to the men and covered her face. Oh God, why was this happening? A wave of nausea hit her, and she felt whatever was in her stomach begin to come up. She heard another punch connect and Felix groan just as she ran for the nearest bathroom.

‘Oh God,’ she thought as she reached the toilet just in time. ‘Why is this happening to me?’