I walked toward the exit, but then I heard faint sounds coming from the bathroom.
Driven by an impulse I couldn’t explain, I found myself walking toward it.
Inside, Cooper stood with a cold, hard expression, his hand gripping Kaia’s chin as he spoke in a low, stern voice. “Behave yourself. If Luna finds out about this, you’ll regret it.”
Kaia’s eyes welled with tears, her sobs barely a whisper in the tense air.
“I didn’t say anything… I just called her ‘madam,’ like you told me to.” She reached up, draping her arms around his neck, pressing a soft kiss to his face. “Please don’t be angry, okay?”
Cooper’s gaze darkened, his hand gripping her head as he deepened the kiss. Even his breath grew heavy, uneven.
I stood there, frozen, as his hand slipped beneath Kaia’s short skirt.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
In that moment, the words my mother once whispered to me came rushing back:
There was no cat that did not stray.
And, in that quiet moment, I realized neither did Cooper.
I played baseball for a while, the rhythm of the game distracting me from the growing tension in my chest.
“Sorry, wife, I got an urgent call and had to take it. That’s why I’m late.”
I scanned his collar, noting how it had been carefully adjusted to hide the faint mark of a kiss. Without missing a beat, I said, “It’s fine. I’m tired of playing. You guys go ahead; I’ll wait over there.”
Cooper’s friends were around and as there were four of us, we paired off into two groups.
In a quiet gesture, his friends had paired Kaia with Cooper’s side.
An unsettling thought crossed my mind.
Did his friends know about his affair with Kaia?
That question was answered over dinner.
One of his friends, who couldn’t hold his liquor, got drunk after only a few drinks.
He slurred, “Cooper, you’ve got the life everyone envies. Your wife’s a goddess and this secretary? She’s as sweet as honey…”
Before he could finish, Cooper’s face darkened and he cut him off sharply.
“Shut up and go rest if you’re drunk. Stop talking nonsense.”
His hand then found mine, rubbing it in what was meant to be a comforting gesture.
“Wife, don’t listen to him. He’s just drunk,” he said, his words hollow.
But inside, my heart sank like a stone.
They all knew about Cooper’s affair, everyone but me.
I had been kept in the dark, foolishly blind to the truth.