The Whispers

6

She hadn't planned to go anywhere but last night events occupied her mind — well, when she wasn't thinking about Nate and his huge bulge — and she planned to see Rebecca. Just thinking about Nate made her burn pink with excitement and lust. A woman could fantasise, right? Especially when her fiancé was across the globe with a dead phone! Justified, right?

Shaking her head to rid herself of the unwarranted thoughts, she made her way to the bathroom for a quick shower.

She was having a sandwich for a quick breakfast when she paused to leave Ken another message because if he'd gotten the first one he'd have called her back. Right?

Surprisingly, the phone rang twice before a female voice answered it. Colleague! Great! What the hell was Ken so busy with?

"Hello!" The voice jolted Bea into the present. It sounded so familiar, though, but she couldn't point it out really.

Probably one of those colleagues Ken sometimes brought home for diner!

"Hi! Can I talk to Kenneth Bolton, please?" She said thanking the stars that this time the call went through.

She heard a muffled sound before the woman yelled "Ken, you have a call, honey!" through the receiver.

Honey? Hon...? Maybe it's just the way their addressed each other. She knew how casual Ken was with his coworkers.

But then the woman giggled and said, "Go put on a towel, darling. You can't walk around the house naked!"

Towel? Naked? House? Who was this woman and why was Ken naked with her around? Why was the woman using endearments to Ken?

Then the pieces fell together and it all made sense.

Ken was cheating on her with...whoever that was!

Bea felt her world tilt on its axis and her ears pinged with a strange noise that sounded like the sound after an explosion. The receiver fell from her hand and hanged towards the tiled kitchen floor.

"Hello! Hello! Must be a prank call. You know how crazy my friends are."

The voice sounded so distant and slow like they make them in movies. There was a hammering like someone was doing carpentry in her head. She put her head on the cold marble of the counter and took deep breaths. She needed to wake up from this bad dream because her life was upside down as it is. Her head cleared slowly even though the hammering didn't stop. An aspirin would help.

She got up to get an aspirin when she realised that the hammering wasn't in her head but someone was banging violently on her door.

"Beatrice!" The voice from the other side screamed.

Nate?

She hurried to the door before he could break it down.

Nate threw himself in her house as soon as she opened the door, looking around like a madman.

"What do you want, Nate?" She'd told herself she wouldn't cry until she'd spoken to Ken about what just happened, but her voice wobbled slightly.

Nate noticed the receiver hanging from its cord and the half-eaten sandwich. "I've been knocking for like ten minutes but you didn't answer the door and I was worried." He pointed at the hanging receiver, "Bea, what's wrong? You look pale."

Bea was still holding the door open. "I need to be alone right now, Nate." A lone tear rolled down her cheek, opening a flood for others that she'd held at bay until this stranger stood concerned in front of her while the man she was supposed to marry was getting naked with strange women.

Seeing Bea cry tore Nate apart and he instinctively took her in his arms cooing her with soothing words. "It's going to be okay. Everything will be fine. You're not in this alone." Honestly, Nate didn't know what he was saying but his chest contracted in pain at seeing Beatrice cry.

I'm with a stunning, caring man who smells like heaven and here I am crying my eyes out like a fool.

Pushing away from him, she looked down at her shaking hands, too embarrassed to look at him.

"Let me get you something to drink and you can tell me what's going on, okay?" She nodded and went to sit on a couch.

Hastily making his way to the kitchen, he came back with a shot of whisky and handed it to her.

She took the shot in one swallow and welcomed the burning in her chest. It was better than the pain in her heart. For years she'd been faithful to Ken, and endured being ill-treated by his parents. And for what? There were so many things Bea could've expected from Ken, but not cheating!