Page 4 of Unfaithfully Yours

THREE

Kamran

To say that this week had been strange was an understatement.

Each moment I spent with Melissa, I wanted to tell her that I knew, but each time I opened my mouth, something irrelevant and pointless came out.

Inevitably, I went to bed each night feeling like I was losing my mind. And the person I would normally reach out to—the person that I had reached out to on the weekend, made my head hurt to even think about.

That scene on the couch was the strangest part of all of this. So, I tried not to think about it at all.

I just hoped that when me and Ryan saw each other tonight, things would be normal between us.

“You okay?” Melissa asked and her hand landed on my shoulder as she passed me. A light, friendly touch that made my skin burn from the betrayal.

“Yeah,” I managed.

I was standing at the full-length mirror in the bedroom, trying to do something with my hair. As usual, the more wax I added, the more the curls seemed to rebel and stick up in weird directions.

Sighing, I tried not to let it get to me as I glanced over at the true reason for my frustration.

Melissa was putting on her lip gloss. She didn't need much makeup or styling.

The pretty girls never did, and she was genuinely beautiful.

I'd thought I'd won the lottery when she'd first agreed to date me.

Maybe it was hard-wired in, but it just felt like winning to be the guy who got the perfect Barbie, especially when I'd realized how kind she was on top of her good looks.

Basically, wedding bells had been ringing in my ears from day one. She was exactly the type of person my parents had always wanted for me.

Call me a mama's boy, but my mother's opinions mattered to me a lot back then and still did sometimes.

Plus, I wanted the type of life that my parents had growing up.

I was a big boy now, yet here I was, wondering what my parents would think if I filed for divorce...

That thought had been running circles in my mind all week but right now it seemed so premature. We hadn't even talked about it yet. Maybe we could still work things out...

With that in mind and nothing but my own fear to stop me, I forced myself to brave the conversation.

“How are you?” I asked pathetically.

Melissa paused and glanced at me in the vanity mirror.

“I'm good... you sure you're okay?”

I couldn't hold her gaze and ended up looking down at the carpet. I'd never noticed the shiny bits of fabric woven into the cream to make it look brighter. How fancy. Definitely Melissa’s decorating touch there.

“You seem preoccupied lately,” Melissa said. “Is something going on at work?”

I shook my head.

“No. It's not work. It's… It's us. ”

I was proud of myself for even getting that much out.

She froze, capped her gloss and turned around to face me.

“Kam,” she said slowly, her expression unreadable. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

Why did she say it like I was the one in trouble? I had nothing to hide, but for some reason, the first thing that came to mind was Ryan on top of me, his mouth on mine.

Okay, maybe I did have something to hide, if only because I didn't even know how to explain that one. It was a strange, drunken moment that seemed more like a trip than reality.

I licked my lips, forcing those images away.

“Are you really happy with me?” I forced myself to ask.

I waited a full minute for a reply, and she still didn't answer said it all.

Swallowing, I looked up, finally facing her unreadable blue eyes. It was like looking at a shut door. I couldn't read her at all.

“Is there something that I can do?—?”

“Kamran,” she suddenly snapped. “Don't start.”

I stared, unsure what to say, but the moment I opened my mouth, she cut me off again.

“We're supposed to go meet your friends right now. We're supposed to have fun, right? Why do this now?”

I spluttered.

“B—because I feel like you're pulling away from me, like maybe you're even?—”

“Kam, enough . We'll talk later.”

She went through the door, leaving me standing there, stunned.

“—looking elsewhere,” I finished to the empty room.

Damn.

I felt like such a fucking push-over because I wasn't even mad. I was just disappointed.

She didn't want to fix anything, did she? Maybe she had already checked out of this relationship. It was starting to seem like it.

But when had it happened? Someone couldn't just go from in love, to out of love that quickly, could they?

We'd only been married for two years. It felt like the ink on our certificate was still drying to me. Yet, she seemed to be halfway out the door.

At the same time, confusingly, she didn’t want to deal with a fight, or a breakup.

“Kamran! The Uber's here!”

Swallowing, I shook myself and tried to do what she suggested. Maybe she was right. I needed to keep my chin up and act like nothing was wrong for Dave's sake. It would be pretty shitty to show up to his birthday party as a wet blanket.

Still, once I was sitting next to her in the back of the car, our gazes met, and I felt so conflicted I didn't even know how to act.

She couldn't expect it to just go on like this, could she? If she didn't know that I knew, did she just want to stay with me while stringing her boss along at the same time?

Looking into her eyes, I just couldn't reconcile this version of her with the Melissa that I knew.

She wasn't like this.

Case in point, she reached across the seats and grabbed my arm, squeezing it.

“We'll talk later,” she promised quietly. “Everything will be okay. Don't worry.”

I wished I could stop worrying, but at this time, there was nothing else to do, even with her reassurance.

“Okay, Lissa,” I said, simply.

I would just have to try to shake this off and be myself for the evening.

Everything will be okay , I told myself, repeating her empty promise.