Chapter 2

Andy, the child in the car, rolled the window down and asked softly, "Daddy, who is that lady?"

Simon instinctively blocked the window while muttering to him, "This is between us adults. Children shouldn't be nosy."

But I'd already seen enough.

Simon hadn't been too busy to get married. He'd simply given someone else the place of his wife. He was already the father to someone else's child.

He instructed his driver to take Andy home first while he continued to stand outside the restaurant.

Natalie walked up to me, her eyes terribly red. She tried several times to take my hand, but I kept pulling away.

Her voice trembled as she said, "Tara, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to keep this from you."

A dull ache spread through my chest as I stared at her. "It's been seven years, Natalie. You went wedding gown shopping with me before. You helped me pick my wedding invitations. You listened to me wonder when Simon would finally marry me."

My voice grew hoarser with every word. "How could you hide the truth from me this whole time, never once saying a word?"

Tears spilled down Natalie's cheeks. She opened her mouth, but she couldn't form a coherent explanation.

Frowning, Simon stepped in front of her. "Stop it, Tara! That's enough!"

I glanced at him and snorted. "How dare you say that to me? I waited for you for eight years, Simon! You've lied to me for seven of them, but you're telling me to stop?"

His frown deepened. "Andy is too young to be alone. We can't get into a huge scene with you right now."

"I'm making a scene?" My voice shook with disbelief. "You called her babe on the phone just now! That boy called you Daddy! But you say I'm the one who's making a scene?"

Natalie tearfully shook her head. "No, Tara. It's my fault. Please don't get mad at him."

My head swiveled toward her. "Why can't I get mad at him? Should I be thanking you guys instead?"

Her face went deathly pale.

"It was just an accident back then."

I stared her right in the eye and asked, "What accident?"

Simon answered, his voice hoarse, "Seven years ago, I got drunk at our class reunion. Natalie escorted me back to my hotel and… We both lost control of ourselves. She got pregnant after that."

My ears were buzzing again.

I was supposed to attend that class reunion seven years ago. However, Simon said I'd worked too late the night before, so he wanted me to stay home and get some rest. He promised he'd leave early to keep me company.

But I ended up waiting in the living room until midnight, only for him to send me a message. "A client invited me out for drinks at the last minute. Don't wait up."

At the time, I felt bad that he still had to entertain a client so late at night. I made sure to prepare him a hearty meal to help with the hangover the next morning.

In reality, while I was busy worrying about him and waiting for him, he'd been in bed with my best friend.

Staring at them now, I felt an excruciating pain in my chest that made it almost impossible to breathe.

"And then what? She got pregnant, so you married her?"

"The child is innocent," Simon said quietly.

My tears poured down as I fired back, "What about me? I waited eight years for you! Am I not innocent?"

Natalie covered her mouth, sobbing too hard to speak. Simon tried to take my hand, but I avoided him. He stood in place and softened his tone.

"Tara, let's head back home and talk about this."

"Save it."

I wiped away my tears and started walking away.

Behind me, Simon called out, "Tara, don't head home alone. Let me take you home."

"I'm not the one you should be taking home," I retorted without looking back.

Natalie let out a sob, and Simon stopped in his tracks. In the end, he didn't come after me.

I walked along the road by myself, the backs of my feet rubbed raw from the heels. Every step sent a stabbing pain up my leg, but I didn't stop.

I remembered my freshman year of college, when my roommates had ostracized me, and everyone had told me to just put up with it.

Only Natalie moved my things out for me and shared her tiny bed with me. She'd patted my back and said, "Tara, don't be scared. I'll always be on your side."

When I'd come down with acute gastroenteritis, and Simon couldn't get back from out of town, she'd carried me all the way to the hospital. While waiting in line to help me with my registration, she'd been so frantic that she'd even lost one of her shoes.

Simon rushed to the hospital as quickly as he could. He'd skipped out on a business meeting to close a deal that would've been worth ten million dollars just to be by my side all night.

In the middle of the night, the pain had woken me up, and he'd held my hand as he gently comforted me. "I'm here, Tara."

There had been a time when they genuinely cared about me. That didn't change the fact that they'd lied to me for almost as many years.

By the time I reached my apartment building, the sky was completely dark. Looking up at the familiar light, I was hit with the realization that I was the biggest joke alive.

This was never my home. This was just the fantasy Simon had created for me while he was busy living with his real family.

When I entered the apartment that he and I supposedly shared, the wedding invitations we ended up settling on after three years were still stacked up on the coffee table in the living room.

Every time I'd asked him when we'd finally get married, he'd hold me and say, "Just wait a little longer. Wait until I'm done with my next overseas assignment."

I ended up sitting on the couch until dawn. My phone screen lit up, went dark, then lit up again. Natalie had sent me message after message.

"Tara, I know I have no right to beg you to forgive me. I just wanted to remind you to take your medication. You have a weak stomach, and you had a little too much to drink today."

"I really don't want to lose you, Tara."

The last message came at 4:00 am.

"If I could turn back time, I wish I'd never taken him back to the hotel that day."

I stared at those words for a long time, until the pain in my chest left me numb. She remembered what medicine I took. She remembered the food I couldn't eat. And yet she'd still conspired with Simon to keep the truth from me for seven whole years.