Tainted Secrets (Zarcus/Zalfie)

One Mysterious Message

"And this is the master bedroom..." the woman said welcoming us inside, her arms spreading wide in enthusiasm. Marcus and I had finally found the time to start our flat hunting despite me having mixed thoughts about the situation and we were currently being shown around a lovely little property in Brighton by an overly happy estate agent.

In spite of her annoying personality I had to admit the flat was simply perfect for us. However I couldn't help feeling that I should be sharing it with someone else.

It had been three days since Alfie and I had had our first kiss and it was a moment that I had been replaying in my mind constantly ever since, followed by a wave of pure guilt.

Part of me was disgusted with myself for cheating on Marcus as he did not deserve to be treated this way in the slightest, but the other part knew how amazing it had felt and that the sparks had been too great to ignore.

"Do you like it Zo?" Marcus asked swivelling round to face me, his face full of excitement. He obviously had the same taste in flats as I did, which made me smile slightly.

I then nodded vaguely. I couldn't think of a place better for our first home together, but something was missing or rather someone.

"I'll leave you two to discuss it..." the estate agent woman smiled, exiting the master bedroom in which we stood. We waited until her loud footsteps had disappeared before beginning to talk to one another.

"You can say if you don't like it..." Marcus urged, his face dropping slightly. He could probably sense that something was off with me, but I did not want to disappoint him so I just smiled,

"No I really do like it!" I assured him, giving him a soft hug to ease his tension. Marcus complied, wrapping his large arms around my tiny frame and sighing,

"Oh Zo, I actually cannot wait to being living with you, I really can't."

"Me either."

I pushed my face into his chest affectionately but really I was trying desperately to stop myself from bursting into tears. This was tearing me apart. I would never be able to pluck up the courage to tell Marcus about how I really felt about Alfie and what had happened between us. I could not bear to witness his crushed expression because the truth was I cared about him way too much.

"So do you think we should go for it then?" He asked, our bodies still moulded together. I thought carefully for a moment, several thoughts swirling around in mind. I knew I had to do this; it was the only way I could try and force myself not to be in love with Alfie.

If I spent as much time with Marcus as humanly possible, I might merely forget about him and move forward in my life. Oh I wished that it was that simple. Besides I was getting married to Marcus, so there was no logically way I could have said no to him.

"Yeah, I think we should." I smiled, my head still resting on his chest.

We broke away from the hug suddenly as the estate agent made a quick reappearance into the room, she was beaming wildly and her personality was really starting to annoy me thoroughly.

"So are you thinking of putting an offer in?" She wondered cheerily, her eyes moving between the both of us.

Marcus gave me one last look and I nodded slowly in approval.

"Yes."

"Fantastic!" She exclaimed almost jumping for joy, "Well if you come with me to the property agency, I can see what I can do!" She was even more excitable than Marcus was when he was in a good mood.

Marcus and I trailed after the delighted woman down the steps that led to the flat and outside to her car. There was a part of me that simply couldn't be bothered to go with her to the property agency because frankly I was kind of scared about the whole of idea of actually leaving home. In spite of absolutely loving the flat, I just couldn't help but be unenthusiastic.

However as we reached the very last step my mobile bleeped in my pocket, causing me to jump. I instantly stopped and allowed Marcus to walk on in front of me.

I yanked my phone out of my jeans causally and began opening the message, I was confused to see that it was from an unknown number but curiosity got the better of me and I couldn't stop myself from taking a look. But I was truly horrified by what I saw.

There was a video attached to the message and as it began to play my heart dropped into my stomach and my whole body tensed. The video was seemingly shot through my own kitchen window and showed Alfie and I moving closer together before embarking on our first kiss.

My mouth fell open in shock as so many questions raced through my head. I didn't understand how anyone could have seen us? They would have had to been standing right outside of my house! Why would they have filmed us in the first place? My mouth was dry as I glanced up to make sure Marcus to see him having a small conversation with the estate agent.

My mind rapidly thought back to that night in which Alfie and I kissed as I struggled to remember what happened after the kiss because that was the only part I had been able to focus on. Suddenly it hit me; there had been rustling from outside!

This meant that someone must have been outside and for a specific reason as well. They were obviously spying on us, which seriously creeped me out, I couldn't see why anyone want to do that?

I scrolled down the message quickly to find that there was text at the bottom and I was dreading to what it was going to say.

"I wonder if Marcus knows about this..."

My heart quickened and I began to tremble with a mixture of anger and fear. I had no way of knowing who had sent it but I assumed it had to be someone who knew Marcus and I well, which made it a lot worse.

"You alright Zo?" Marcus called, as he slowly slid into the estate agent's car. My hands were shaking as I shoved the phone furiously into my pocket and slowly shuffled towards him.  I plopped into the back seat after Marcus and slammed the door shut. He frowned at me and cocked his head.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just t-tired... Sorry."

There was no way on earth I was going to tell him what had just happened or how I was truly feeling. I rested my head down on Marcus' shoulder and closed my eyes. My mind was aching with such awful thoughts.

Someone had witnessed Alfie and I kissing, they had even recorded it! Why would anyone do that to me? I didn't exactly have any enemies. And why would they be spying on me outside my house to begin with? I was determined to find out.