My Dirty Affair

Chapter Twenty One

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I cursed lowly so that nearby customers wouldn't hear.

Kaya held up her hands defensively as if I might strike, which I was seriously considering, but I wouldn't make a scene in my place of work for someone beneath me. "Mel, I think we need to talk."

"No. Get the hell out." I switched directions and walked around her, figuring I'd make more progress with controlling the urge to sock her if I just be the bigger person and put distance between us.

"Let me explain some things." As always, Kaya was persistent, and she stepped in my way again.

Looking at her now, after everything I found out, made me want to strangle her. I wanted to hurt her. She'd been my friend for years; ever since high school and doing what she did made the pain worse. It would've been a different situation had it been with some stranger, but this was someone I knew. I didn't know how to come to reality with this. "You were sleeping with him. You can't explain that."

"You're right, but—"

I went on. "You came to my wedding and you two had sex there too."

"Mel—"

"No. I don't care. I don't even want to hear it. The only reason why I haven't punched the hell out of you right now is because we're in public. Or you knew that and purposely decided to see me at my job." This time I gave her a chance to speak. She didn't respond and averted her gaze. That was answer enough. "Good-bye, Kaya."

"Melinda, please. I don't want to leave things like this."

"You already have. I . . ." Don't do it, don't you dare cry! I took a deep breath. "Don't you dare try to make up an excuse for what you did. Ellis knew better, you knew better, as my friend." I sneered. "Christ, I can't even look at you right now."

"I know. I'm sorry. I hate myself everyday for it."

"It doesn't look like it. You look perfectly fine from where I'm standing."

Kaya had light brown hair, the length enviously long almost touching her small of her back, and hazel eyes. She had the prettiest smile and clearest face I'd ever seen and at some point I envied her. She had boys coming and going back in high school whilst I could barely keep one. Ellis had been my first and only boyfriend who'd seemed to take an interest in me for who I am and not for what was underneath my clothes.

"It's eating at me on the inside." She said softly.

I sighed. "Kaya, please. Not here. I have to work."

"I wasn't the only one, you know. There were other women." She announced.

My heart stopped at the revelation and for a moment I could've sworn she was lying but the truth was in her eyes. I could read them clearly and yet, I couldn't bring myself to ask anyway if it weren't true. "How many?"

"Two that I know of."

"Oh my God." I needed to sit down.

Kaya seemed to know this because she caught my hand and guided me to a chair at a vacant table. "Mel, I—"

"No. No. Please, stop."

"You wouldn't answer my calls, I didn't know where you were, and I needed to tell you before you found out some other way."

"Kaya, you really shouldn't have told me any of this. I would've been fine not knowing!" The words came out before I could stop them. I realized what I said and hung my head in my hands. If I hadn't have known then I could still at least keep up with my false-happy marriage. "Why did you come to my house that morning?"

She took a seat next to me. "I wanted to see you, really. It'd been a few weeks since the wedding, I heard that you were back from your honeymoon, and I wanted to catch up." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I didn't know Ellis was going to be home by himself. He let me in, though he was pissed I showed up, he thought I wanted sex, but I wanted to see you, and he told me to leave. We got into this big argument and he told me we should keep our meetings to a minimum. I—"

"Why did you even start to see him at all? Were you two together before me and him?" I asked.

"Yes, but it was for a short time and I wasn't invested in him the way he was with me. We were together briefly and it wasn't official, we saw each other on and off when I came home from college on holiday breaks. Then you two started dating and I really cut it off with him until six months before the wedding when he came to me and I just . . ."

It was hard to believe. I thought back to all those times I'd spent with Ellis as his girlfriend and never once did I think something was off or that I'd done something that would lead him to stray from me. He seemed like the perfect boyfriend, I couldn't pinpoint a time when I didn't satisfy him. "It doesn't make any sense." I shook my head. "You need to leave."

"I will. I moved to Easley in South Carolina a while ago before your wedding. I was going to tell you, but . . ." She let that sentence hang. "I'm leaving within the week."

Good. "Okay."

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, Mel. I just wanted you to know how sorry I am. Back at the hotel, I thought," She laughed hysterically, "I thought what I was doing was right and I was reclaiming what was mine, but at the cost of hurting your feelings. I know—"

"No, you fucking bitch, you don't know. You ruined my marriage. You betrayed my friendship and you are worthless. I want you out of my life for good. If you ever come into contact with Ellis again, I will fucking ruin you the next time you come into town. Let's face it, Kaya; you come here all the time for your parents so we may cross paths in the future and if that happens, you better pray I'm not in the mood to kick your ass. It's a small fucking world. The next time I see you," It was my turn to laugh harshly. "I will fucking hurt you."

She didn't even flinch. "I hope everything works out between you and him."

"Get. Out."

Without speaking, she stood and walked out. As soon as she was away, I let out a frustrated breath, my vision blurred but I refused to let the tears fall. Not here, not in front of the customers. I was a good thirty minutes late to clock in, therefore, late to work. I closed my eyes, counted to ten, and let the tension leave my body as I stood and prepared to work.

***

Ta-da!

This is only the beginning.

Just to clarify a few things:

1.) Melinda is in her mid-twenties, a college graduate, and married. She met Ellis in high school instead of through an arranged marriage.

2.) Anthony is Ellis now.

3.) Collin is Jon now.

4.) If you haven't noticed it yet but in the previous version I wrote it so that Melinda didn't have any friends and she was a loner, but in this version she is a lot more confident and feisty (or at least that's what I'm going for).

5.) I know that Melinda finding out about the affair is cheesy and a little rushed, but when I was first writing this I had intended for it to drag with Melinda being oblivious to the signs that Ellis was cheated on her. That version started to get boring to write and I knew it would be boring to read so I cut it and made it shorter. I'm trying to make these characters the polar opposite of the old version's characters.

Part 2 of this story is coming some time later (I don't have a specific time yet) because I want to see how much you like or dislike this version. Your comments are welcome. I DO READ THEM. But DO NOT advertise your stories on mine, please.

HAPPY READING!