Chapter 1 MAYBE.

Have you ever been crushed? Diane felt like a truck had run over her body. Maybe that was why she couldn't move. She was standing by the door of a room she had been quite familiar with for the past five years, and shock had paralysed her at the scene she met.

The man she would walk down the aisle with was intertwined with a female who was not going at it passionately.

It was like time had frozen, and her head was swelling from discombobulation. Her eyes hurt from the sight, and tears like needles were piercing her eyes; her ears twitched at their moans as it felt like a screech to her ears, her tongue tasted bile like something terrible was threatening to roll from her throat, her skin numbed that she could only feel her blood run cold.

Their moans were so brutal and animalistic that she couldn't recognise the voice of the growl as Austin's, but she could swear that the timid and meek moan belonged to someone she had met before. She couldn't place it.

Austin had been a very conservative man. At least that was the font he put up, and Diane found it rather attractive than boring. He was an organised and disciplined person with a relatively stable personality, and stability was precisely what Diane needed. She put up with his trashy family of a nagging mother and a rude and utterly disrespectful sister, with all their tantrums because she was so in love with the man that she grovelled for his family.

Diane's lips quivered, and hot tears ran beautifully down her face, so hot that her eyes and throat hurt so bad. A powerful urge to go to the kitchen, pick the sharpest knife and brandish it on the fine back of this man she loved with her soul suddenly kicked in, but she was a coward, a stupid full-time one at that.

A painful sigh escaped her lips as she staggered back; their voices were too piercing, and her nose couldn't take the stench of their deed.

"I'm about to, ahh ahh, kyaaaaaaaa!" The girl under Austin shook, and he immediately pulled out while kissing her neck and her jade-like jawline. He always felt so relieved with Chloe, and he liked how adorable she was and how she leaned on him dependently.

"You beast!" Chloe slapped Austin softly on his shoulder as her entire face had a cute red shade, his shy little thing.

Austin laughed deeply. Who didn't like being praised for his masculine efficiency?

A crashing sound drew him out of his ecstatic thoughts, and he felt Chloe stiffen in his embrace.

"What's that?" He turned to the direction of the sound, and his body ran chill. His Fiancee was right there at the door looking defeated and shocked. Her bag had slipped off her hand and crashed neatly on the floor, and a soft sob escaped her barely parted lips like she was trying to gasp for air.

His body trembled in guilt, and he immediately detached himself from Chloe like she was a hot potato and shook his head, "I can explain, Annie, it's not what it seems like."

Diane looked at the man, who looked different from everything she had known about him. He was now standing by the bed in his naked glory. Funny enough, she could count how many times in five years she had seen him bare-chested. She always thought she'd be flustered and timid the first time she saw him naked, but disgust shrouded her eyes.

"Chloe-" Her voice hitched in utter surprise as her eyes flicked to the bed.

His Cousin?

His Cousin, for crying out loud!

Her head spun so fast and hard that she leaned on the door panel. It did not make sense at all.

"No, no, it was the devil-" Austin began making giant steps towards her.

"Don't!" She gritted her teeth and wiped the tears that blinded her eyes, but more poured out. She went as far as having an affair with his cousin. That was incest, in a way. Disgust like a huge bile piled up in her throat as disbelief marred her face. Her heart was already drenched in pain, and her mind was determined to understand the situation.

Chloe was Austin's cousin whom he had introduced her to on one of their outings. She was his closest cousin and was like a little sister to him. Diane also liked this cousin of his, and they had bonded, and unlike his sister and mother, this cousin treated her rather well. They even became friends, hanging out and sharing secrets while this cousin was secretly warming his bed.

"Oh please, tell her already; she was bound to know anyway!" Chloe rolled her eyes and pulled the covers protectively around her chest.

Diane had never heard that tone from Chloe before. It was snappy and didn't resonate with Chloe's personality, which was gentle, patient and sweet. It was an eye-opener.

"What is she talking about?" Diane didn't know whether she was afraid of looking at Chloe or couldn't face this girl she almost took as her sister. It was easier to face Austin, who probably wasn't aware of his nakedness.

"Babe..."

"Don't call me that!" Diane's voice had an edge despite the shakiness it came with.

She was trying to be a calm person, not an angry woman. She was rational; she could swear it, but she was on the brink of losing it. Diane could feel it.

"Fine, but this... It's the devil-" He was a fidgeting mess, biting on his words and stuttering.

In her memory, Austin was the Perfect man. He was always confident, had airs of an aristocrat, and carried himself with arrogant poise and in a conventional manner, but today? That image tumbled and crashed mercilessly.

"Oh please, leave the devil out of this. The devil made you f*ck the hell out of me for three years? You've got to be kidding me!" Chloe snapped at Austin, her eyes sharper than razors, and that was when Diane finally looked at Chloe.

Three years? Wow!

Diane heard a burst of maniacal laughter, and she knew it was her. She laughed so hard that tears poured out more, each hotter than the previous one.

Three whole years!

"So you've been sleeping with your Cousin for three years?" No matter how committed Diane wanted to sound, her voice came out as a messy quiver.

Austin shook his head like a dying chicken and opened his mouth to speak, but then Chloe beat him.

"Oh my goodness, could you be any denser?" Chloe scoffed at Diane. She got up from the bed gracefully, with the duvet covering her nakedness. "We aren't cousins", She drawled.

Another big hit.

Diane looked more pale, like lightning had struck her, and she could only watch as Austin looked pleadingly at Chloe.

"What!" Chloe shrugged her shoulders. "She will know either way or how do you plan to explain about this childhood sweetheart and ex turned non-existent cousin to your family on your glamorous wedding day? She was bound to find out unless your family would cover for me. Will they?"

Chloe chuckled and looked at her fingers like they were fascinating things and then back at Diane from the hood of her long fan of lashes, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She didn't look any but remorseful, "But let me tell you a story." She sat on the bed, her left hand holding the duvet to her chest, and leisurely continued, "When I came back to Arizona, I met him again after we broke up a few years ago. He was, well, way better than he was when I last saw him, all successful and shit like that, so emotions were high, and hormones were definitely higher, so we hooked up."

Austin's face was as a white sheet as he leaned on the wall in defeat.

"He never told me he was now seeing someone else or that Austin was playing the Celebrate card because for the longest time I've known him, he f*cks like a nymphomaniac. Till you saw us hanging out one time and he introduced me as his cousin, I was as shocked and pissed as you are right now, but I loved him, and I still do, so I went with the flow while he two-timed both of us. I didn't have any problem with that. If anything, it fueled my adventurous kink, and clearly, he was good to me on and off the sheets, and he loved me, unlike you, who he was with only for the connection."

"Shut up", Austin growled this time, finally leaning off the wall and glaring furiously at Chloe.

Diane just chuckled self-depreciatingly. She had received so much information that she was surprised she hadn't fainted from disbelief.

She slowly took off the diamond engagement ring Austin had given her. She had previously thought it unique, but now, it felt so heavy and suffocating on her finger. She let the ring fall to the floor with a small 'tiling!' and watched it roll to his bare feet and then slowly stumbled out of the house like a spiritless body.

He didn't stop her, and she had mixed feelings about it; maybe if he did, she would have forgiven him. Perhaps if he did, she would have cried and believed whatever lies he told her. Possibly, she would have screamed at Chloe for being a potential home wrecker maybe...

Just maybe.