They Were Lovers Behind My Back

Chapter 3

Alaric's expression darkened at once.

"So I'm something you don't want anymore? Isadora, do you think you can just throw me away?"

I looked up at him defiantly.

"Yes. I don't want you anymore."

Then, suddenly, he smiled and stroked my hair.

"You used to do nothing but cry and make a scene. Now you've moved on to sarcasm and pretending you don't care. I suppose that's progress."

I recoiled from his touch.

"I'm not joking. This is my home. Take Cosima and leave."

Silence fell. Alaric finally realized I meant it.

"Isadora, you're kicking me out? We haven't seen each other in 6 months, and the first thing you do is tell me to leave?"

His voice rose.

"So you do know it's been 6 months?" I couldn't believe his nerve. "How many times have you come home in those 6 months? Did you come to see me even once?"

Alaric shrugged off my questions.

"I only went to Cosima because you fought with me."

"Alaric," I said hoarsely, "do you think that's the only way to settle an argument?"

All at once, I lost the strength to keep arguing.

All I wanted was for Alaric to comfort me. Yet all he ever did was flirt with Cosima to make me jealous.

I'd told him too many times. I was exhausted.

"Fine. If you won't leave, I will."

I went into the bedroom and started packing.

Alaric immediately lost his temper.

"If you walk out, don't come crying to me to take you back."

He got up and carried Cosima from the couch into my bedroom.

Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Alaric," she murmured through her drunken haze, "can we take a walk by the Orvell Clock Tower tonight? Didn't you say last time you'd take me to that place that serves Valdren cuisine afterward? I don't want to go back to your place after dinner. Your bed's too hard."

Each of those three remarks hit me like a thunderclap, leaving me shattered.

"What does that mean?" I grabbed Alaric by the collar. "She's been to Veybridge to see you?"

He denied it at once. "She's drunk and talking nonsense. You believe her?"

"She's been there a lot, hasn't she?"

My voice trembled uncontrollably.

For 3 years, I'd wanted to visit Alaric whenever I had a long break.

He always found an excuse to refuse.

He'd say he was too busy with lab work, or that he couldn't bear to put me through such a long flight.

Sometimes it was, "Veybridge is gray and rainy all year. I'm worried you wouldn't get used to the weather."

I didn't give him time to come up with another excuse.

I snatched his phone and opened the flight-booking app.

There were more than 100 tickets over the past 3 years. He'd bought every one of them for Cosima.

On average, they saw each other every 2 weeks.

Suddenly, I understood why Cosima had taken a new job that involved frequent business trips.

'Maybe they haven't even been trying to hide it. Maybe I've simply been too stupid to notice.'

As I scrolled through the seemingly endless booking history, I couldn't hold back my tears.

"Is this just flirting too? Was all of this supposed to make me jealous? Alaric, you know my father's affair left my mother seriously ill for years. I never imagined you were just like him."

Alaric had no way to explain it away. He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms, holding me there by force.

"Isadora, calm down..."

I tore myself free and hauled Cosima up from the bed.

I needed to hear her admit it.

'Of all the women in the world, why does it have to be her? Why has she been lying to me for 3 years?'

Cosima was much more sober now. She seemed at a loss when she saw how red my eyes were from crying.

"Cosima, she knows everything," Alaric said from beside us, rubbing his aching temples. "It's my fault..."

I gave a cold laugh.

'Does he really think he's done anything wrong? He's only sorry he didn't delete all the evidence.'

Cosima began to panic. She came over and caught my hand.

"Isadora, what good will it do to keep digging into what's already happened? I was looking forward to coming to your wedding after Alaric graduates next year."