‘The choice is yours.’

That keeps ringing in my head. I can’t believe the stuff I’ve just heard either. Are they even real? Is this the true Zeath? I hope it’s all just a dream. I hope my husband will wake up tomorrow, kiss me good morning, and draw me into his embrace like he always did.

My eyes well up at that thought. I watch through the tears as Zeath gathers two pillows and a blanket before moving past me, but my voice stops him at the threshold.

“So... that’s how it is.” The dawn of realization—it’s like cold water washed over me. “Yolie,” I utter, my voice still shaky. “The same Yolie from high school that I know. A total bully and failure. Always had her mom come yapping at the principal whenever someone pinched her and she couldn’t pinch back.” I turn around to face Zeath, who doesn’t do the same. “Is that the potential you mean?”

The man leaves nevertheless, and I’m left alone to scoff in disbelief. The tears slide down as I whisper through the cracks in my tone, “I’m not giving up on you, babe; you know that.”

How I wish it were easier to live inside my head. Because it sounds much better there when I think, ‘I can’t let anyone tramp over me and dispose of me like that. And I’m not filing for any damn divorce either!’

~

He never kissed me good morning, nor did I see him again.

Days later, I have no fucking idea of what to do. I just sit by the window for hours to calculate how long it’ll take Zeath to return home.

No matter how many texts and calls I bombard him with, he doesn’t reply. It’s like I’ve become a ghost to him.

Now I wonder how I let myself be fooled. How did I not put two and two together?

Back in high school, I liked Zeath.

I had this huge crush on him. He always had Yolie in his arms, but I just didn’t mind her, especially since bitching ran in her blood.

I pretended not to see Zeath, ignoring him whenever we met instead of gaping at him. I may even be the only one who never gave him the satisfaction of being an idol, as he was that senior every girl wanted to date.

A little over three years ago, he started to get close to my family.

He sponsored my father’s presidential campaign.

At first, I thought it was just business since he also wanted my father’s full support of the Fanning companies if he became president.

But I began to feel his eyes on me; intense, tiny prickles spreading over my skin.

It was stronger than any other, more chilling than when a ghost stared at you.

He soon smiled at me, something I didn’t see in high school.

Not long after, he dropped the L-word, saying he had been obsessed with me since middle school and how sad he was when he learned we wouldn’t be attending the same college.

We had just graduated then, and he immediately took over his dad’s company as the heir.

Meanwhile, I mopped around, waiting for a prince charming to swoop me off my feet. So, marriage was definitely an option. And that is why I didn’t hesitate to say yes when Zeath popped the question after some months of dating.

Moving from the window to the closet, I grab two of Zeath’s shirts. I haven’t been able to resist sniffing his scent for a while now. It’s like an addiction; bad and good in a way.

Fuck it, what the hell am I doing? Self-pity and self-blame are not a good fit for me. I need to do something instead of wandering about and being driven to madness.

I have to get back to Zeath and Yolie somehow. They shouldn’t toy with one’s feelings nor tinker with marriage vows. And they certainly shouldn’t have bet on a Fanning.

Now I have to play dirty, just as they did.

My phone has been ringing on the bed for ages. I’m sure it’s not Mom, Dad, or Polinel. Those three musketeers are doing a perfect job at forgetting that I ever existed.

But, despite who it is, the repeated ringtone manages to rip me from the claws of Zeath’s scent.

The moment I accept the call, Oasis’s voice slams into my ear. “Mells, you’ve been AWO―”

“Oasis, vow to me on your last breath that I won’t find my name in the headlines tomorrow.”

“Whoa. Deep breaths, Fanning. Whenever are you not in the headlines?”

“Well, this one’s different.” I drop my voice to a whisper as if someone else in the mansion might hear me. “I think Zeath and I are falling apart.”

“Wha― why?”

“Vow to me.”

“I put a noose around my neck. Tell me.”

I take in a deep breath. “Zeath brought in a new woman. She’s damn pregnant.”

Oasis’s loud gasp nearly forces my hand to throw away my phone. “Fuck me, Mells!” she exclaims. “What in the world are you still doing there?”

“I can’t leave my marriage,” I sigh.

“No, you can. You can definitely walk out of a sick marriage when you’re being disrespected. A Fanning doesn’t tolerate that, remember?”

Yeah, I know. I read the hundreds of Fanning laws and mandates, and that’s the first one I caught. “I just...” My voice dwindles. “I love him too much.”

“Aww, Mells. Okay, spill. Who’s this new woman? I might give her an earful.”

“I don’t know if an earful is necessary,” I reply. “She gets her fill from watching fucking Zeath string me along.”

“Is she a governor’s daughter, a senator’s? Tell me.”

“That I don’t know. Her name’s Yolie; the one who followed Zeath around like a pet in high school.”

“You mean Yolie Diza? She was his girlfriend. Her mom’s definitely something, I can’t recall. But I thought they’d broken up long before you and Zeath married.”

I roll my eyes with a sigh. “Well, figures.”

Oasis makes a tsk sound. “You know what? I’m going to give her that earful. I’m not supposed to divulge this information, but she walked into the hospital some hours ago and hasn’t walked out since. Wonder how I only now recognize her after you mentioned her name. I’ll...”

The voice fades out as I slowly sit on the bed. My mind is a maze of ideas; conflicting ones that contrast with my morals. But I know these morals will take me nowhere. 

After all, no one thought of that when they hurt me. Now I have to give them a piece of their own cake.

And thanks to Oasis’s call, I’ve just found my inspiration.

~

“For goodness’ sake, Mells, what are you doing here?” She asks in a panicked state when I barge into her office.

“I need your help. Yolie, I need to see her.”

Oasis grabs my shoulders and tries to push me back toward the door. “Look, Mells, I have two active vows right now. One’s not to expose your ass. The other is to this hospital and my JOB, which I might lose since I’ve already broken a rule.”

I tear the lady’s hands off me. “You are a senior doctor.”

“And this is a Lupin hospital. I am not indestructible. Besides, you’re an angry woman trying to see the owner’s...” Oasis leans in with a whisper, “…preggy girlfriend.”

“Angry wife, Oasis.” I point to myself, walking by her, and leaning on her desk. “I’m his wife.”

Oasis scratches her nape with a sigh. “Can you just... go home? I said I would give the girl an earful.”

“Oh, at risk of ‘losing your job?’ An earful is not near enough. I need more. Now you might be thinking, ‘What more would she need? Yolie and Zeath were dating, after all, before she made herself a third wheel―’”

“No, that’s not what―”

“Which is not the case, nor did he cheat on me with her.”

“Mells, I’m not holding you―”

“They played me, Oasis, those fuckers. It was a damn dare.” Oasis’s shoulders drop as her expression tangles with pity, confusion, and shock. “Apparently, because I lived in a dream world. They’re even getting married.”

“Wait, I don’t understand.”

“Zeath said I’m a troll he can’t stand. Do you understand that better?”

“Oh, Mells.”

I blink back tears, swallowing the bitter taste in my mouth. “And he only married me to fulfill a dare he made with his friends and probably the fuckfaced Yolie back in high school because I always gallivanted around the school like a queen, tagging everybody as trash with my actions. Now that’s unfair, Oasis. You should see that.”

Nothing aside from Zeath’s actions torments me more than talking about this.

If it were possible to not, I wouldn’t. But Oasis always wants to hear the story, and she’ll push you to the edge so she can.

“I sympathize with you, my friend,” she says, “but you know you’ve got to retain some self-respect, right?”

I scoff. “What value does that even have? I’ve done such for years, yet it meant nothing. And I don’t need your sympathy. I need your help.”

Oasis presses her lips into a thin line. Then she sighs and walks past me to sit at her desk.

Now that she’s behind me, she asks, “What do you want me to do?”

Relief washes through me, knowing I can’t enact what I have in mind without her. “I want you to conduct an ultrasound on Yolie for me.”

“I bet she’s done that already.”

“No. I want to intercept the result.”

The lady lets out a skeptical chuckle. I still do not turn to face her as I cross my hands on my chest.

“Okay,” she concedes before I hear her leave her chair to stand beside me. “My conscience is going to beat me, but I’ll meet her doctor now and get you the result. Probably will take minutes.”

She heads for the door.

“One more thing,” I suddenly voice out. That stops her in her tracks before she even places her hand on the doorknob.

“What now, Mellow?” She drawls while turning to me.

“I need you to kidnap her.”

Oasis gasps. “What the fu―”

She glances back as if cautious that someone is watching her through the door. Then she hurries to my side, peering at my face with eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. “What the fuck, Mells, are you insane?”

I smile. “No, I’m perfectly sane.”