Chapter 1 BETRAYAL

I checked on my wristwatch and sprinted down the hospital hallway, my white coat flaring behind me as alarms blared in the background. My grip tightened on the medical chart in my hand, the edges biting into my palm while my heart raced with bubbling panic. Streams of assorted feelings surged through feelings that I didn't want to entertain.

I was almost running out of breath from all the sprinting when I bumped into a nurse in the hallway. I grabbed her, my feet still refusing to be planted on the shaky ground underneath. "Hey! Sorry, have you seen my boyfriend?"

The nurse's brows furrowed at the thought. She took a second to think before she finally gestured vaguely down the hall. "I think I saw him follow Marylyn into a room down the hall some minutes ago."

"Marylyn?" I asked in confusion.

No. Actually, I was just thinking, and it came out loud. So loud that it wrinkled up the nurse's face in confusion.

Marylyn was my best friend for many years. We had gone through a lot together, sticking together through thick and thin. Well, actually, we were not on the same level. She was a rich kid, the only one of her class who sought friendship from a nobody like me. So it would be fair enough to say that she was with me throughout my lows. The only weird thing I knew about her was that she wished to have a man like mine.

A pure, refined wine! A complete package is how she always called him, saying that Vincent was every woman's dream man. She praised him even for the smallest things and righted even his wrongs. But that was just her telling me that I had chosen wisely. I was blessed with a good man. It never triggered anything.

Except that very moment, I heard that my man had followed my best friend into a room. Vincent had not gone to greet me that morning after going MIA on me the entire weekend. Something didn't sit well with me.

"You don't seem okay," the nurse pointed out, studying my furrowed face and the uncontrolled rising and falling of my chest. "Is anything the matter?"

"Umh... No," I responded, shaking the raging wild thoughts playing in my head. "Thank you. Please excuse me," I excused myself and ran off in the direction where the nurse had gestured earlier.

My stomach twisted as I ran down towards the supply closet. My head felt heavy with the wild thoughts that ran through my mind while my heart thudded inside my chest. Each step felt heavier than the previous, anxiety fueling my every step.

On getting to the door, a faint sound reached my ears from the inside.

But it was not just any sound.

It was a silent moan that sent a cold chill down my spine.

I dragged my feet near the door, and immediately, I placed my ear against the door; I froze.

"V...ooh. Ooh, yes, baby. Like that...aah," the sound echoed again, even louder now.

I couldn't move. couldn't breathe for minutes I could not count. The ground beneath me shook dangerously, holding me still.

V??? That sound...and that voice...something sounded damn familiar. Too familiar, yet too unbelievable.

The moans echoed again and again while I listened behind the closed door, my fingers lingering on the doorknob while I battled with my divided thoughts. I didn't know whether to walk in and confirm what I was thinking or just walk away to save myself the pain.

'But, that can't be... 'I must be paranoid,' I tried convincing myself.

Finally, after a tormenting moment that felt like an eternity, my trembling fingers found the courage and twisted the knob, pushing the door open with all my might.

I pushed myself inside, and for a moment, everything stood still, except for the dagger that was slowly piercing through my heart.

First, it was the strong smell of sex. And it reeked past my nostrils to the high heavens, as the entire world needed to know of what was happening inside that room. A suffocating stench that made me nauseous.

And then, then came the deafening combo of thrusts and moans and heavy breathing and the curses of suppressed pleasure.

My eyes snapped, and I caught sight of them - Marylyn was pressed against the table, moans of pleasure leaving her mouth as Vincent De'Luka hungrily trailed wet kisses down my neck, his trousers and boxers hanging halfway as he mercilessly pounded into her.

They were intact, his manhood fully buried inside her pot of honey, hungrily thrusting in her as if he was quenching a thirst of an entire century.

Beads of sweat dropped on Vincent's back that faced me, a stinging bittersweet sign of a sweet moment of pleasure that I was about to interrupt.

I staggered back, and my vision blurred for a second as moans and thrusts became louder. My legs became too heavy to walk me any further. I almost choked on my blocked breath. My entire body shook with the disbelief and the shock of what stared right into my eyes.

My boyfriend and my one and only friend?

"H...o...w can thi..." My mouth ran dry as soon as I started, and the words came out so faint that they did not interrupt the duo.

The medical chart slipped from my hand, clattering on the floor and startling the duo from their nearing climax. They sprang apart, moans and curses of letdowns raining from their mouths as guilt and shame spread across their faces as they faced me.

Oh, well, that was what I, the stupid, naive me, imagined.

They should be ashamed and shocked by their betrayal, right?

My eyes locked with Vincent's. I now had two streams of tears running down my chubby cheeks.

Tears that didn't touch him at all.

He was there, standing so tall and dauntless as if he was silently commanding me not to ask a shit about what I had witnessed. At some point, I could swear that I saw the guilt vanish from his face.

Or maybe it was never there...

Behind Vincent came a nervous giggle followed by a mocking murmur, "What a bad-timing bitch!"

I shook my head, not letting that bitch get to me. I took a deep breath in and out, calming the storm that was raging inside of me. "No!" I whispered, my voice cracking as I wiped the tears from my eyes.

I shot my clear vision toward Vincent again, as if confirming something. Perhaps demanding explanations, which Vincent didn't seem to be bothered about.

He stood there, emotionless. There was no guilt. It was like he couldn't even see me. I had suddenly turned invisible to my man. He couldn't see my pain, nor could he see his betrayal.

"This is not happening. This..." My mouth went dry as Vincent shifted in his posture, pulling his pants up slowly, unapologetically.