Love and Betrayal

It was 2am on a Sunday morning when I decided to do something I had always told myself I would never do. Check her phone. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, the room dark except for the small light coming from my phone screen. Celine was asleep beside me. She was facing the other side, breathing softly, completely calm. The kind of calm that made you think nothing in the world could be wrong. But my mind was not calm. I kept staring at her. That night, something in me had changed. I don’t even know when it started. Maybe it was the way she had been acting lately. Or the way she laughed a little too quickly when I asked simple questions. Or how she started keeping her phone face down all the time. I kept telling myself I was being paranoid. That’s what people say when they don’t want to believe their instincts. But love makes you blind… until it doesn’t. I slowly reached for her phone on the bedside table. My hand shook. I paused for a moment and looked at her again. Still asleep. Still peaceful. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, though I wasn’t even sure who I was apologizing to. Then I picked up the phone. It was locked. Of course it was. I tried her usual PIN. 1998. Wrong. I tried her birthday. Wrong. Then something strange happened. My fingers just typed a code I had once seen her enter when she thought I wasn’t looking. It opened. My stomach dropped immediately. I didn’t even know what I was expecting. Maybe nothing. Maybe just harmless chats. Maybe I would feel stupid and put the phone back down and sleep. But I was wrong. Very wrong. I opened her messages. The first name I saw was saved as “Bluemoney.” That sounded normal at first. Until I opened it. Bluemoney: “Last night was amazing. I can’t wait to see you again. Same hotel?” Celine: “Yes, but he suspects nothing. He’s too in love.” My heart stopped. I felt like the air was pulled out of my lungs. I read it again. Slowly. Hoping I misunderstood. But the words stayed the same. “He’s too in love.” That was me. My hands started shaking harder now. My chest felt tight, like something was crushing me from the inside. I scrolled up. There were more messages. Another man. Saved as “Zubby.” Zubby: “You should leave him. I can take care of you properly.” Celine: “Not yet. He’s useful to me right now.” Useful. Not loved. Not cared for. Useful. I sat there frozen, staring at the screen. My ears started ringing. I could hear my own heartbeat louder than anything else. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. I turned slightly and looked at her again. Same face. Same lips. Same Celine I had fallen in love with. The first woman I had ever truly loved. My first everything. I remember how we met. At a small café near campus. She had spilled coffee on my shirt and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. I didn’t even care about the shirt. I just remember thinking she was different. Now here I was. Holding her phone. Finding out she was living a double life. I scrolled more. There were pictures. Hotel rooms. Fancy dinners. A necklace I had never seen her wear before. And then I saw something that made my blood run cold. A message from another number. - Her elder sister (tessy) Tessy: “Your boyfriend still doesn’t know? Good. Keep him distracted. The others are starting to get impatient.” Others. Plural. I felt sick. Her sister was actually in on it this whole time. My mind started racing. How long had this been going on? Was I ever really her boyfriend? Or just… something in the background while she lived another life? Suddenly, Celine shifted in her sleep. I froze instantly and locked the phone. My heart was beating so loud I was sure she could hear it. She turned over slightly, her eyes half-open. “Babe… what are you doing?” she mumbled. I forced myself to breathe normally. “Nothing,” I said quickly. “Just checking the time.” She stared at me for a second. Then smiled softly. “Come back to bed.” And she closed her eyes again. Just like that. Like nothing was wrong. Like she wasn’t destroying my entire world in her sleep. I slowly placed the phone back on the table. My hands were cold. My body felt numb. I lay back down, but I didn’t sleep. I just stared at the ceiling. My mind was screaming, but my mouth stayed silent. Everything I thought I knew about love… about her… about us… was now broken. But even worse than the pain was the confusion. Why me? Why stay with me if she had all of them? What was I to her, really? That question kept repeating in my head until morning came. When the first light hit the room, Celine woke up startled, like she had seen a ghost in her dream. Her body jerked slightly under the blanket, and her eyes snapped open fast. For a moment, she didn’t move. She just stared at the ceiling, breathing unevenly, like she was trying to come back from somewhere dark. Then she turned her head. And our eyes locked. That moment… something in me changed completely. The love I had for her didn’t just fade. It twisted. It turned into something heavy, something bitter. Something I didn’t even recognize in myself. Disgust. It hit me so hard I had to look away for a second. She noticed immediately. “What’s wrong?” she asked softly. Her voice was still calm, still sweet… but now it sounded different to me. Like a mask. Like every word she had ever said might have been carefully chosen. I sat up slowly, rubbing my face, trying to hold myself together. But I couldn’t. Everything I saw last night was still burning in my mind. The messages. The names. The lies sitting right beside me, pretending to be asleep. She reached out and touched my arm. “Babe… talk to me.” That was it. Something in me snapped. I pulled my arm away. “Don’t touch me,” I said. She froze. The room went silent. Even the sound of the birds outside felt too loud. She sat up properly now, pulling the blanket closer to her chest. Her eyes were scanning my face, trying to read me. And I could tell… she already knew something was wrong. “What happened?” she asked again, slower this time. I laughed once. But it wasn’t a real laugh. It came out sharp and empty. “You really want to ask me that?” Her expression changed slightly. Confusion. Maybe fear. But still… she tried to hold her calm. “I don’t understand,” she said. That made me shake my head. I stood up from the bed. My chest felt tight again, but this time it wasn’t confusion. It was anger. Pure, burning anger mixed with betrayal. I pointed toward the door. “Pack your things,” I said. “And leave my house.” Her head snapped up. “Wait—what?” “You heard me,” I said, louder now. “Leave.” She stood up slowly, still holding the blanket around her. Her eyes searched my face like she was trying to find a way back into me. I shook my head immediately. She stepped forward slightly. Her lips parted, but no words came out. For the first time, she looked lost. But I didn’t care anymore. The room felt colder. I picked up her bag from the floor and threw it toward her feet. “Pack up,” I repeated. “Now.” She stood there for a long moment, looking at the bag… then at me… then back at the floor. And slowly, she started moving. Not crying. Not begging. Just moving quietly, like she already knew this ending was coming. And I stood there watching her, wondering one thing I couldn’t answer: Had I ever really known her at all?