TRADE THIS REALITY WITH ANOTHER

LOLA

Fredmon.

My ex-boyfriend I had broken up with two years ago to marry the man who was now my husband, my nightmare.

Same tall blonde with his jacket hanging loose on his arm like he was fighting the urge to leave it in the trash, his tie unknotted across his neck like a scarf, his plain shirt tucked out with the first few buttons undone, he looked different. 

Not different in a way that I wasn't able to recognize him immediately. Different because he was here.

Official gala events have never been his thing. How did he even get access?

How did he get through the rest room door?

My head had questions, but my mind wanted something else.

I was late to push back the emotions as they came, or maybe I refused to resist.

I didn't care that he was looking at me like he had just seen a ghost.

I was sure that he had questions. The way his lips parted thinly gave it away.

I couldn't explain how what happened next happened. I would think about it later. We would talk about it later or never.

The warmth of my last dream still fresh on the edges of my memories, my feet moved. Swift. Calculated. Until I was kissing him again. Hungrily.

He didn't object as I allowed the taste of my tongue to melt in his.

Just when I thought he would push me away for being cruel when I did, I heard the soft thud of his jacket against the hard floor just before his palms pressed my back closer into himself.

With his hand guiding the back of my head, he devoured every breath that came up my throat unapologetically.

He drew from everything I had to give without holding back like I was the prize, not a project that belonged to another woman or some hopeless imperfect being.

I leaned in for a few more seconds before finally breaking away.

"What are you doing here?" he asked like he didn't know I was a Langford daughter in-law. It was all over the news.

My expression must have given away that thought.

"I mean, what are you doing by yourself locked in here... with that sad face?"

My body absorbed his words like a type of food it wasn't used to.

I took a small step towards him. I wanted more, but he wanted answers. 

"Why did you allow this happen to us?" I watched his face wrinkle from the years of sadness he had had to endure after I got married.

I wasn't ready for this. I drew in a heavy breath but the consequence of that breath reminded me of who I now belonged to - the red dress tightened under my br*asts, stretching at my skin cruelly.

I flinched.

His gaze softened into concern.

He almost held my arms, but stopped in time.

His lips parted to say something, but the heavy knock on the door beat him to ruining the silence.

Even before his voice came, I knew it was Eddy. I had been out of his sight for more than can be tolerated. 

"I wouldn't be surprised if you snuck food in there," he started with a low, demeaning tone.

"Because how else are you in there for the past 12 minutes?" his voice rose to a yell, his words jabbing roughly through my confidence.

As I smoothened my dress and dabbed my smudged lipstick evenly across my lips with trembling hands, Fredmond stared at the door like he was fighting the urge to pull it down.

"Lola! I wouldn't miss a photo with Hargrove because of you," Eddy's voice came again, harder than the first time.

"I need to go," I whispered with a tight voice, tiptoeing my way around Fredmon for the door.

I was already pulling the handle of the door when Raymond's warm fingers came against mine.

What was he doing?

But he just nodded like that was supposed to be an answer to my thoughts.

I didn't get the chance to stop him before he shoved me out of the way, letting himself out instead. Then, jammed the door shut.

I froze in shock and the fear of what would happen next.

"Fredmon!" I heard Eddy call out, and the fear spread across my body.

I fought with the part of my mind that wanted to convince me that Eddy didn't just arrive, my breathing echoing off the walls, I had to cover my mouth with my palms.

Fredmon grunted a reply, an old habit he pulls whenever he wasn't interested in a conversation but couldn't walk away.

"Why are you here?"

"Are you disappointed?" Fredmon spoke with the authority of a man in his territory.

I held my breath.

Eddy let out a dry chuckle. I could feel his eye peeling at the door behind which I was still trapped.

"You said you were cutting ties. Changing your mind like this is shameless," Eddy's voice thickened. I could imagine his face hardening and his gaze darkening too. I had experienced Eddy's fury too many times to know exactly how it looked.

I didn't know Eddy had met with Fredmon in the past.

That was what all my thoughts were until Fredmon spoke again.

"Father invited me. Moreover, I am delighted to be here. Father's considering retirement soon and I too can be greedy and shameless."

For a second, all the words I had just heard seemed foreign.

I was afraid to put the obvious pieces together.

My hands fell limply to my sides.

Fredmon is a Langford.

As in, the surname he had always told me didn't matter was "Langford?"

Fredmon Langford?

I was married to my ex's brother.

My gaze froze in space as I blinked rapidly like I could trade this reality with another.

Then, the truth I had successfully made myself forget, the guilt I had shut my mind to came sprouting fast and mature.

I love Fredmon. I've never stopped. The kiss from minutes ago had reconfirmed this.

And Connor? The dream still brewed fresh in the back of my head. 

I wasn't ready for this.