Turn overs
1186 Words
“Rose!”
My voice came out louder than I intended.
Both of them froze.
Rose jumped away from Ethan so fast that she almost fell off the bed. She grabbed the sheets and wrapped them around herself while Ethan sat there staring at me like he had just seen a ghost.
For a moment, nobody spoke, nobody moved.
I stood by the door, staring at them, then my eyes drifted to him.
The one person I trusted the most, now is the person who had just made me feel like the biggest fool on earth.
“So this is the two-day trip you were on?” I blurted out, my throat burning.
“Amanda...” Ethan finally said.
I laughed, a dry, painful laugh.The sound surprised even me.
“How could you, Ethan?” My voice cracked. “You've been sleeping around with Rose all this time?”
Rose glanced at him nervously.
“How did she get in?” she asked. “I thought your room only opens with your key card.”
“I gave her the spare card some weeks ago,” Ethan replied quietly. “I forgot she still had it.”
“Oh.”
I nodded slowly.
“Good thing I still had it too.”
My fingers curled into fists.
“At least now I've seen the kind of person I called my own.”
“Amanda, listen—”
“Listen?” I snapped. “What exactly do you want me to listen to?”
My eyes moved between them.
The bed, the sheets, the guilty look on Ethan's face.Everything felt like a slap.
“Please stop being dramatic, Amy,” Rose said, folding her arms. “It's not like you've really shown him affection lately.”
I stared at her, and for a second, I honestly wondered if I had heard her right.
“What?” she shrugged. “I'm just saying the truth.”
“The truth?” I let out another laugh. “You're sleeping with my boyfriend and you're talking about truth?”
“Amanda, it's not what you think,” Ethan quickly cut in.
I looked at him.
“Really?”
His mouth opened, then closed.
“Look,” he sighed. “I've been feeling lonely lately. You've been busy all the time. You wouldn’t meet up with…..”
“And that gave you a reason to sleep with Rose?” i cut in. The words came out sharper than I intended.
Ethan lowered his eyes, and that alone was enough.
No denial, no argument, just silence, and that made my chest tighten the more.
“You know what hurts the most?” I whispered. “I would have believed any lie you told me before today.”
“Amanda...”
“No.”
I raised a hand.
“Don't.”
The room went quiet again, even Rose stopped talking.
Ethan rubbed his face before looking up at me.
“Maybe it's better if I tell you the truth now.”
A strange feeling settled in my stomach.The kind that comes right before bad news.
“What truth?”
He hesitated.Then he looked over at Rose.
That was all I needed, but he still said it anyway.
“I love Rose.”
The words landed like a punch, or maybe I had heard wrong.
But his face remained serious.
“I've tried my best,” he continued quietly. “I really have. But I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending.”
A tear rolled down my cheek and I wiped it away immediately. I wasn't going to cry in front of them. I would look totally weak and defeated.
Rose let out an evil smile. “Sorry, Amy dear,” she said. “The truth is bitter. Ethan loves me. He always has.”
My vision blurred.
“He only liked you,” she continued. “But I'm the one he really wants.”
At that moment, something inside me snapped. I rushed towards her before I could stop myself.
But Ethan moved first.
He jumped in front of me and stretched his arms out.
“Amanda, stop!”
“Move!”
I shoved him so hard, but he barely moved.
“Move!”
I shoved him again, kept pushing, hitting his chest.But he was bigger.
The more I struggled, the weaker I felt.
The tears I'd been fighting finally spilled—hot and uncontrollable.
“Amanda, please,” Ethan said.
“Don't tell me please.”
“Amanda, I never wanted to hurt you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You never wanted to hurt me?”
The words tasted ridiculous.I took a step back and my legs suddenly felt weak.
“You cheated on me with my own sister.”
“Step-sister,” Rose corrected.
I turned so fast that even she flinched.
“One more word from you and I swear you'll regret it.”
The room fell silent that i could hear my own breathing, the pounding of my heart.
The sound of everything I believed in falling apart.
Ethan took a step closer.
I immediately pushed his hand away before he could touch me.
“Don't.”
My voice came out small.
“Just don't touch me.”
I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.
This time neither of them stopped me, and that was all i expected.
I left the room and practically ran out of the building.
The moment I got into my car, I drove off.
I didn't know where I was going, i didn't care.
I had told Dad earlier that our company was holding a three-day conference and I'd be staying in a suite.
Now I was grateful for the lie, because I couldn't go home—not like this.
I drove until the road became a blur.
Eventually, I pulled over in an empty space and switched off the engine.
The silence hit me immediately. And so did the tears.
I sat there for over an hour crying. Pictures of Ethan kept flashing through my mind.
The first time I saw him, was during college; the first conversation, the friendship, the late-night calls.
Back then, every girl wanted Ethan.
And I was one of them, but the difference was that… I fell hard.
When we finally became friends, I gave him everything I could.
My time, my attention, my loyalty.
Then after graduation, we got the jobs we'd always dreamed of, and not long after that, he told me he loved me.
I thought I'd won, and finally happy. But somewhere along the line, things changed.
He kept asking for help with projects and deadlines. I kept saying yes until my own work started suffering.
I almost lost my job because of it.
Yet there was still one thing I never gave him. One thing I had protected my whole life.
The only thing Ethan could never get from me.
And as I sat alone in my car, crying until my chest hurt, one painful thought wouldn't leave my mind.
Maybe that was why he went looking elsewhere.
- Writer
