Chapter 1: Cheated On

Playlist Song#1: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town by Michael Bublé

DAPHNE’S POV

“These freaking luggages! Urghh!” I groan, surprisingly able to drag three heavy boxes up a flight of stairs without twisting both my ankles, but that only means I look and feel like my large intestine is about to fall out through my crack any second now. “Orison, arggh, why didn’t you pick up your phone?” I muse to myself, breaking a sweat even though it’s freezing out here, but the question I should be asking is why I thought I would be able to carry all my luggages on my own in the first place. Thankfully, I reach Orison’s door on the last floor, and I strain to fish out the spare keys he gave me.

I don’t blame Orison. I’m sure the reason why he couldn’t pick me up from the airport or come help with my luggages downstairs is because he’s exhausted with planning our wedding which is coming up in barely two months time, so I forgive him. He has been doing most of the work with our wedding planner, Scarlet, and I myself, have just come back from a sixteen hour work flight, so I can understand his stress.

I open the door and drag my things inside, and the second I lock the door, I heave out a heavy, exhausted sigh.

“Orison!” I yell. “I’m home.”

He doesn’t respond, probably not hearing my voice over the sound of the couple giggling on the television, so I pull out my phone that’s been ringing in my pocket for the last five minutes. It’s a Facetime from Dad, and I reluctantly pick the call, already suspecting why he’s calling.

“Hey, Dad,” I greet, and a second later, Samantha, Scarlet's Mom, and my stepmom, rears her head through the screen. “Hey, Samantha. Happy holidays, guys,” I say, kicking off my shoes and already imagining a hot shower because the last thing I want to entertain is the frown on both their faces.

Dad speaks. “Daphne, it’s a week to Christmas, and you’ve barely called your stepmother or me. Is this how you want us to end the year? Without speaking? You know that brings bad luck into the new year, right?”

I scoff. I don’t believe in that shit, just as I don’t believe in whatever celebrations the whole of New York is obsessed over. The decorations, the traditions, the superstitions…I believe in none of it, and my dad knows that. I also don’t have the best relationship with him, but we try.

Moaning comes through the TV, and I roll my eyes, walking further into the house. Of course, Orison has something romantic playing on the screen because it’s freaking Christmas.

“Dad, I can’t today,” I tell him, and just then, I come face to face with the television screen, and I freeze, my jaw going slack right as my heart comes to halt and drops to the bottom of my stomach.

I can’t be seeing right.

“Honey,” Dad calls, but my ears have started ringing with the amount of blood that rushes to the organs.

I don’t believe in the holidays, but please Santa, please! Tell me that Orison has started a career in pornography, because I can see him on a live field, having sex with someone who isn’t me.

My eyes immediately fill up with burning acid, and my throat turns desert dry.

“What’s that noise, Daphne?” Samantha asks, and I can hear the disgust in her voice because Orison is full on having sex and streaming it on TV.

My eyes get blurry, but the film in front of my eyes clear up when the woman throws her head back in ecstasy and her face comes into view.

It can’t be.

“Fucking Scarlet!?”

“What’s going on?” Dad and Samantha ask at the same time, and I ignore them, bolting to the familiar room. It’s where Orison and I sleep together whenever I’m in New York, and right now, he’s fucking my step sister on the same bed.

I reach the room, and like I dreaded, my eyes weren't deceiving me. Orison and Scarlet are intertwined on the bed in a doggy position, and one hand is possessively wrapped around her neck in a tight hold. Five feet away from them is a tripod, recording the disgusting act.

“What the hell!” I yell, and the tears spill over.

Orison and Scarlet scramble for covers.

His blonde hair is matted to his sweaty forehead, and his eyes are blown wide, having been caught. I catch sight of his still hard dick, the one that was just sunk deep inside my freaking step sister, and I gag.

“Is this why you’ve been spending so much time with her? Planning the wedding? Really?” I ask, my voice breaking with the gutting betrayal.

“Baby, it’s not what it looks like,” Orison says, and I’ve never been more disgusted at his roach voice.

Scarlet looks like a deer caught in headlights, and I don’t even acknowledge her. I can’t say we are anything close to being friends. Orison only advised me that we should keep the wedding palming within the family, which is why I agreed that my step sister should be our wedding planner. I never knew he had his personal reasons.

“How long has this been going on for?”

“Daphne, don’t overreact,” comes Samantha’s voice, and I realize that my phone is still tightly gripped on my hand and the FaceTime is still on.

“What?” I balk, and I see that Samantha looks disinterested with what I just found, while Dad looks only slightly shocked. “You two knew?”

Everyone goes quiet, and I see red.

“Daphne, my love, it’s nothing serious. This was a mistake. A one time thing, just to relieve my stress. You know? From working so hard.”

It’s now that Scarlet speaks, and remorse is the last thing I feel from her tone.

“Okay, I don’t care that you want to lie to her, but don’t dismiss me like that. We’ve been fucking long before you engaged her, and everyone knows it. Don’t regard me like some cheap whore because I won’t accept it.”

A dry laughter falls from my lips, and in my chest, my heart breaks into a million tiny shards, all of them digging into me at once.

I can’t think straight, but I know what I immediately feel.

Rage.

I run out of the room because I want to be as far from here as possible, but Samantha won’t stop talking.

“Daphne, it’s not that big of a deal. You didn’t really expect him to wait for you when you spend so much time away, did you?”

“Yeah,” Dad agrees, and in a second, I smash my phone on the ground to shut her up. I reach the living room, and the first thing I lay eyes on is a rod by the fireplace. I pick it up. Orison didn’t even have the decency to follow me. On the TV screen, I see that he’s exchanging words with Scarlet, still fucking naked, so I direct all my rage to the TV.

The first time it connects, the screen goes blank, cutting off their voices entirely. I don’t stop there. Everything that comes in my path gets a taste of my rage. I destroy whatever I can until Orison runs into the living room, eyes wide with shock.

“Daphne! What the heck!? That’s an expensive television that you just broke.” He cups his head in his hands, and I toss the rod to the floor, so I can pull the engagement ring off my finger.

I stone him with it.

“Then replace it with this, you scumbag!”

With that, I pick up my phone, and storm out of his house with my heavy luggages, back into the cold.

My phone vibrates in my hand, and I’m too mad to be surprised that it still works.

Through the cracked screen, I see the caller ID. It’s Granny.

“Hey, Granny,” I say, trying my hardest to keep the tears from As sounding in my voice.

Luckily, she doesn’t notice that I’ve been shattered and crying.

“Hello, my sunshine. I just called to let you know that I’ve set up the room for you and your fiancé’s visit. I can’t wait for you two to come to Australia,” she gushes, and I didn’t think my heart could break any further, but it does. Painfully.