Chapter 3 3. Apologetic

Serena Vale

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The video had ended long ago, but the awful intimate sound of him and the woman kept replaying in my head.

As we returned to the living room, everyone was silent. My friends were staring at me like I was a ticking time bomb but I was just trying to make sense of everything. I couldn't even cry. I was feeling so many things at once that I tried to regulate my emotions.

Logically, it wasn't possible that Douglas would cheat on me. He always called me the most beautiful woman. He said I was the best partner he'd ever had. He even wished he had met me earlier.

But the video was clear as day. It was filmed at an angle that I was certain he didn't know he was being filmed. I was tempted to text the person who sent the video but I didn't want to break my heart even further. I needed to confront Douglas. I needed to confront him as soon as possible.

Just as I picked up my phone to call him, the door opened and the man in question stepped in.

His regular lazy smile was on his lips as he saw the state of the house. "You decided to change the flowers last minute, didn't you?"

For a moment, I just stared at him, wondering how my lovely fiancé could do something so evil to me.

His eyes darted from me to Noelle to Tessa, eyebrows furrowing when we all stayed silent. "Is something wrong with the preparation?"

I glanced at Noelle and Tessa and they both nodded at me before packing up and leaving silently. Douglas looked behind them as they disappeared through the door. "Babe, is everything okay?" He rushed forward, attempting to hold my arms.

I pulled away. "Did you cheat on me, Douglas?" I didn't have the time to beat around the bush. My wedding was tomorrow. I needed to know whether or not it was going to go through.

His face registered his shock at my question, then as if he had practiced it a million times, he laughed. "What are you talking about, baby? Why would I cheat on you?" He looked so honest that I started to doubt if the video was real. "You're literally the love of my life."

I closed my eyes briefly. This was so hard to do as Douglas had never given me a reason to doubt him. But I needed to clear things up. I picked up my phone, played the video, and handed it over to him. "Isn't this you, Douglas?"

His jaw ticked. "Who sent this to you?"

"Is that you or not!?" I yelled.

His face was clear and his voice was unmistakable. He couldn't deny it. "It's me but–"

"But what?" I interrupted. "This is obviously recent. Your tattoo is right there. Even your hairstyle is the one you started cutting earlier this year. What the fuck, Douglas?"

"Look, Rena," he tried to hold me again. I didn't let him. Who knew how many women he had touched with that slimy hand of his? "The wedding is tomorrow. Let's not do this now, okay?"

I blinked. "What?"

He moved closer. "You've spent months planning everything. People have flown in from several cities just for our wedding. If this gets out, we'll both look stupid. We'll handle it privately. For now, let's just go through with it."

My mouth fell open at his audacity. Something inside me broke then. If I hadn't caught him red-handed, would he have lied to me forever? Did he even care about me? Did he intend to continue cheating after we got married too?

"Go through with it?" I asked in disbelief. "You cheated on me, Douglas!"

"It was a mistake, Serena! It meant nothing."

I stared at him, unable to recognize the man in front of me. He wanted me to dismiss his cheating like it was nothing. He wasn't even apologetic. He just wanted to save face. How the hell did I not see the signs?

"Serena, please. You love me. We can fix this. Tomorrow, we'll say our vows. We'll pretend this didn't happen. No one else has to know."

Pretend it never happened.

I took a deep breath, the tears finally rolling down my cheeks. "Get out, Douglas."

"Serena–"

"I said get out!"

The silence that followed was deafening. Realizing he couldn't argue about that right now, he sighed and turned around, leaving the same way he came.

As soon as he left, I fell to the ground and broke down in tears. Tessa and Noelle rushed in. They hadn't left after all.

Tessa knelt beside me, her voice gentle. "You did the right thing."

Noelle placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're not marrying a man who cheats and expects applause for it."

I tried to nod but the tears wouldn't stop rolling. They wouldn't get it, not fully anyway. I thought I had found the love of my life. I'd imagine our life together, our future. I thought we were going to be together forever but it turned out I didn't even know the man I was supposed to be marrying.

Everything I knew was crumbling right before my eyes. How the hell was I supposed to move on from this?

When Lila finally arrived, she was surprised to see us all on the floor. Noelle filled her in and she was about to go out and look for Douglas if Noelle didn't stop her.

"That bastard," she seethed. "If he wanted to fuck everything that walks, he could have just stayed single."

Her words had me crying harder. He was supposed to be my Douglas, not every woman's man. As if I wasn't in enough pain already, another text came through.

Through my blurry eyes, I checked it. It was the unknown number.

[In case he tries to gaslight you into thinking it's nothing, just know that this has been going on for two years. He visited my place last night.]

Without thinking, I threw my phone against the wall.

My chest tightened so hard I thought I wouldn't be able to breathe. "Cancel it. Cancel everything." I couldn't even recognize my own voice as I spoke.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Now, I just wanted to erase it from existence.