The Unfortunate Card of Lies

ell, listening to the muffled voices from the corrid

s voice laced with genuine fury. "The cake! You know Iv

t, her voice thick with tears. "I just...

o the hospital! You know everything about her, her schedule, her p

to see me! To think of me for once! You spend all your time, all your energy, trying to pl

is' s face, probably softening, just as it had in the h

id, his voice now lower, gentler. "But that doesn't

woman who would abandon you the moment things got hard, while I stayed by your side, always! Remember last year, when you almost

istakenly believed his suffering was real, a cruel twist of fate,

just to stay and work for you. My family... they needed me to make money. You know my circumstances. You know how much I sacri

This one was long

er voice barely audible, thick with raw pain. "And a

m. And he was falling for it. I could feel it, the familiar

e of exasperation and pity. "Don't do this. What do you want?

her voice desperate. "Just one, to know that I mat

g against my ribs. Adonis didn't answer. He just stood there, silently. His si

sp. She was leaning in. I imagined her, standing on tiptoe, her

ad stiffened, recoiled slightly. But he didn't stop

sound. Adonis. He wasn't just letting her kiss him. He was kissing her back. Fiercel

protest. My face drained of color, leaving me ghostly white. My legs trembled, threatening to give out beneath me. I clu

. His lips, the same lips that had whispered "forever" to me, that had kissed away my tears, that had promised me a lifet

. It was a suffocating monster, squeezing the air from my lungs. But beneath the agon

emember every detail, every agonizing second. Maybe, just maybe, if I fe