Paige narrates:
After leaving the bathroom I realize my husband is not in the room, so I calmly get dressed and then go downstairs to the living room.
Breakfast is already waiting for us, only Mason isn't down yet, I thank the housekeeper and she leaves. I drink my coffee while I count to a thousand before getting up to look for my husband, my patience is not much this morning.
In minutes a distressed Mason comes downstairs, he must be. He smiles at me, and I don't smile back.
"Good morning," she says, sitting across from me as usual.
"Tell me what happened with Ethan yesterday. I don't want to go to work and find out that he and Sarah know about the agreement or who knows what," I say, annoyed.
"Tell him about the agreement? Do you really think so? I didn't say anything. I just drank too much, and I might have spouted those typical confessions of married men. Just like I've often heard him complain about Sarah, I vented," she says, sipping her morning coffee with milk.
"What complaints could you possibly have about me? We're not even a real couple," I argue, even angrier than before.
"I just repeated what he told me when they were newly married. You know how he can get intrusive with his questions among friends," she says, taking a bite of her toast.
"If I find out you're lying to me, you'll regret it. I've tolerated your affair and pretended not to notice that you're still with her, and if there's someone else, you'll regret it," I say, rising from my chair, something hidden just by the look in my eyes.
"I don't know why you're looking at me like that. Maybe he was just tired. Don't think things that aren't true," she replies, shaking her head.
"Well, I better go to work," I say as I make my way towards the exit.
I hop in my car and head to the office, still thinking about Ethan's gaze. I may not have known him as long as Mason, but I can tell when Ethan is nervous just by looking into his eyes.
Upon arriving at the company, everything appears normal. For a moment, I thought I might run into Ethan or Sarah at the entrance, but that wasn't the case. I sit in my office and start working, powering up the computer and focusing on all the paperwork I need to input into the system.
Time flies by unnoticed until a knock on the door interrupts my work. I look up and find Sarah standing there.
"Hello," she greets me with a smile.
"Hi, how are you?" I respond, pausing my typing.
"I'm good, just hungry. Care to join me for lunch? I've had enough of my coworkers after yesterday, can't go out with them every day," she whispers the last part.
"I believe you. I accept your invitation since, if you don't come, I won't even realize it's lunchtime. Why don't you have lunch with Ethan?" I ask out of curiosity.
"That idiot ditched me for your husband," she answers, rolling her eyes.
"I didn't know that" I mutter more to myself than to her.
We go to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and we talk about her outing from the previous night. I laugh at everything she tells me. I also understand why she doesn't go out with her coworkers often; they always try to pry information about Ethan from her.
"Then why do you hang out with them?" I ask, furrowing my brow.
"Because if I don't, it'll be worse. They'll say I'm stuck up and never spend time with them. Enduring one day a month keeps the peace, plus I do get along with a few of them. I can't deprive the world of my presence; it would devastate them," she says, pointing at herself.
"Of course, you had to bring up your ego," I say, laughing.
The rest of our conversation revolves around men, all because my friend tells me that the previous day, during her outing, a guy tried to buy her a drink, but no matter how many times she refused, he persisted. It amused.
The rest of our conversation revolved around men, all because my friend told me that the previous day, during her outing, a guy tried to buy her a drink, but no matter how many times she refused, he insisted. It amused her and her coworkers at the office, who couldn't stop laughing at the poor young man's persistence.
"The worst part is that the poor guy wouldn't stop insisting. I'm not kidding, he spent like three hours sending me drinks that I kept rejecting," she says, laughing.
"I won't feed your ego by telling you that you're beautiful. That's already more than clear to you."
After that, we ate, laughed, and talked about trivial things, nothing of importance. I couldn't forget that Mason was having lunch with Ethan, and many ideas came to mind, like going to where they were and finding out what my husband was hiding from me. Then I remembered that we're not a real couple, and the thought passed.
Lunch ended normally, and we returned to work. I continued my workday, but I couldn't stop thinking that something was being kept from me.
Narrating as Mason:
When I left the house, I called Ethan.
"Hello," he says in a serious tone.
"Hi, can you talk now?" I ask directly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How was your morning? Mine was peaceful," he replies, annoyed.
"You know I don't have time for your sarcasm. Where should we meet?" I insist again.
"You won't stop bothering me until we meet, huh? The usual café," he answers and ends the call.
I drive my car to the usual café, and when I arrive, I sit at the same table we usually occupy and wait for him. When I see him coming, I brace myself for the scolding or whatever Ethan is going to say. I can already imagine what he's going to tell me.
"I'm here," he says, annoyed, sitting across from me.
"You need to tell me what you said to me last night. I haven't stopped thinking about it. I had to make up something to Paige about what we talked about because you were looking at her in a different way. Just so you know, I'm quoting her verbatim," I say, frustrated with the whole situation.