Chapter One: Betrayal Always Hurt

~Eve pov~

I walked stealthily into the doctor’s office, it’s been almost an hour since my blood was taken to be tested. I sat across from Dr Felix, her fixes were fixed on her computer, but I could tell she briefly acknowledged my presence with a little nod. 

“Here,” she handed over a letter to me, “you are perfectly fine, Eve.” She finished with a smile. 

“So I don’t have any problem right?.” I stated, staring at the letter in my hands.

“I’m still figuring out how we can help your husband, if there are no way, then you should consider surrogacy or implantation.” She said, but the fact that she mentioned my husband was quite surprising. 

“You mean my husband has been here? And he has a problem?” I asked, shifting in my seat. 

“Were you not aware?” She asked, looking surprised. “I’m sorry, but that means I just divulged a patient’s personal information, so you can’t tell him you heard it from me.” She said, and I could see her eyes begging me. 

I didn’t say anything before I left the doctor’s office. My mother in-law has been calling me all sorts of names for the past three years, but suddenly she started calling me a sterile woman because I was yet to give her a child. I asked my husband to come with me to the hospital so we can be tested and see what the problem was, but he flatly refused. He said he was the one who told his mother about my infertility because he knows he had no problem. But it turned out, he was the problem, not only was he infertile, but he had to make me take the blame to cover up for himself before his mother. 

The plan was to go back home and shove my test result in their faces, but nothing prepared me for the sigh before me when I got home. 

I saw a woman, sitting across Brian with my mother in-law. 

“Eve, meet Morgan, the girl Biran was supposed to get married to before he ended up with you.” Tracy, my mother in-law said, words rolling off her tongue like what she had just said wasn’t a big deal. 

“And what is she doing here?” I asked in annoyance. 

“What do you think? She is probably here to see how Brian is doing.” Tesie, my sister in-law, replied from where she was sitting, scrolling through her phone. 

I turned to Brian, “Brian?” I questioned him with my eyes. 

“Don’t worry Eve, Morgan is just a friend. She has been out of town for years, she must have missed me…I mean us,” he spread out his arms so I’ll know the ‘us’ he was referring to, “so she is here to say hi.” He concluded.  

I didn’t reply to him, I walked into our room instead. I had no idea he had another woman in his life before we started dating. He was a hotshot back then in school, so it’s no doubt girls were after him. But he told me I was the first girl he ever brought home to his parents. I wondered why his parents were not pleased with me at first, particularly his mom and sister, but now I know why. 

They had seen him with a girl who was better and classier than me, I bet she is from a good background too compared to me. 

Brian walked into the room fifteen minutes later, I was lying on the bed, not wanting to acknowledge him.  It’s not like he would listen if I complain to him. He will tell me I am overreacting again, just like what he said when his mother first raised her on me, when his sister took my things and claimed they belonged to her. Whatever happened in the house was me overreacting according to Brian. He had almost brainwashed me into thinking I was being delusional about what was being done to me in that house. 

“You are not sulking because of Morgan, are you?” He said, sitting close to my legs. 

“Why did you lie?” I asked, my back still facing him. 

“About what?” He asked, probably feigning ignorance. 

“You said I was the first woman you had taken seriously, the first to know your mother. But what about her?” I tried to keep my tears in. 

“Morgan?” Was he being serious, who else would I be referring to? “About her, It was just a few times.  Yeah, I wanted to take things to the next level with her, but her education was more important to her. She wanted to further her education, I wanted to settle down.” He explained, shrugging his shoulders after speaking. 

“How do you feel seeing her again?” I didn’t know if I was asking  the right question. 

“I feel nothing. My feelings for her died long ago.” I was backing him, so I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. But I hope he was telling the truth. 

“Okay.”

“It’s almost lunch time, you should head to the kitchen to prepare lunch.”  He stood up and walked away.

I almost forgot I was the housemaid. 

Morgan had left before I finished cooking, which I am glad she did. I set the table, and everyone gathered to eat— a ritual I hate being a part of. Just as I expected, a few minutes after we started eating, Tracy started talking about how excellent Morgan was. 

“Morgan was a first class student back in school right?” She turned to Brian. I was also a first class student, but I didn’t attend a reputable school, so it didn’t matter. 

“Yes.” Brian briefly said, not taking his eyes away from his food. 

I didn’t know if he answered that way because the food was too sweet, or because he didn’t care about it again for real, but I hoped it was the latter. 

It’s been almost two weeks since Morgan came for the first time, but she literally turned our house to her second home after then. She never failed to show up six times a week. I kept complaining to Brian, but he kept saying I was overreacting. And the fact that his mother treated her like a wife whenever she was around was more unnerving. 

I decided to try my luck today again and went for an interview I sent my applications for. The interview was brief as always, the moment I mentioned the school I graduated from, everything else I said no matter how intelligent it sounded like trash. 

I got back home to see my mother in-law and Tesie were not around. But there was a red heel by the door. I hoped it wasn’t what popped up in my mind, so I walked stealthily into the bedroom, ignoring the sounds coming from there. 

“Oh my god, Eve! You are not supposed to be back this soon.” Brian said, bringing the duvet up to his chest level. 

I leaned towards my right side to get a clear view of the woman in bed with him, and it’s just who I expected it to be. 

Morgan.