"I swear it was an accident!" Samuel turned to face me. He carefully reached out to my hand, the one with a broken nail. "Believe me, it meant nothing."

I took my eyes off my broken nail and looked straight into his. His eyes were agitated, unable to stick to one point. He seemed as heartbroken as I was, but there is no way he would feel the same pain. With his free hand, Samuel wiped away the tears streaming down my cheeks. And despite the situation, I couldn't prevent my skin from reacting to his warm touch. I unconsciously leaned my head in his hand, and when I noticed what I was doing, I stood up and walked away from him. From them.

"Did you sleep together?" I tried to keep a calm tone, but my voice was trembling. There was no more point asking, but I needed to hear it from them. Deep down, I still had hope I was mistaken.

"Missa, it's not like that..."

"Did you sleep together?" I raised a hand to keep him from coming closer. "It is a yes or no question, Samuel. Did you sleep together, yes or no?"

"It happened only once," Nina turned to face me, hands joined as if she was praying.

"It was really an accident..."

"How the hell could your dick accidentally end up going back and forth in my best friend's vagina?" I raised my voice. I was losing my temper, it should not happen.

I excused myself and disappeared in Clara's bedroom. She was still asleep, curled around a white teddy bear twice her size. I looked at her small figure and tears rolled down my cheeks. She was so pretty, so alike her father. At only eighteen months, she was already aware of her charm and capable of using it to obtain what she wanted from people. I was happy she didn't inherit my insecurities. When she was born, I went through a postpartum depression, and back then Samuel was the pillar I leaned on to be back on my feet. He has always been perfect, I sometimes wondered how I managed to end up with such a great man. Turns out he had his own flaws.

When I managed to dry all my tears, I walked back in the living room to find them arguing about something. As soon as they saw me, they shut up. I looked at them for a few seconds, and thought they would form a beautiful couple. They had the same carnations and what I called a perfect height difference: with flat shoes, Nina just reached his shoulders. Samuel also had a perfect model figure, light muscular body chiseled by a regular workout routine. I often teased him saying he would become crazy rich and popular if he were to shoot for Kalvin Klein boxers. They also had the same strong natural presence, the kind that drove people's attention on them whenever they walked in a place. In fact, they perfectly embodied couples we could see in classic spicy romance novels or movies. Both hot and beautiful in their early thirties, ambitious and quite successful. I quickly glanced at our wedding picture hanging on the wall, and even with all the wedding attire, we were no match. Sa-Ni 1 VS 0 Sa-Mi.

I wiped that thought away and sat in the armchair. Samuel came closer and sat on the couch next to me, but Nina stayed up a few meters away. She better stayed away, because a broken nail could hurt more than a perfectly manucured one.

"So, how did this... accident occur?" I crossed my legs and sent them both a cold look. I needed to behave strong, I needed to appear cool and unchattered.

"It was a year ago, during my last business trip to Toronto," Samuel looked down and started playing with his ring.

"So you did meet back then," I stated.

Nina had lived in Toronto for the last four years. So when he came back and said he couldn't meet with her during his trip in Toronto, I found it odd. It was not his first trip in Toronto, and they usually managed to meet at least once. He talked about busy and unmatching schedules, so I didn't give it much thought. But then came unmatching statements. Like him saying they barely talked by messages, and her saying they barely greeted by phone call. I had him deliver a package to her, he said he sent it to her work address, she said he sent it to her home address. Of course, I was not dumb, I knew something happened, something they didn't want me to discover. I was not dumb, but I decided to play dumb. Insisting would only hurt, and I was barely coming out of my depression.

"I had to bring her your gift," Samuel continued. "She invited me to her apartment, we had a nice dinner, and a bottle of wine. We talked about random things, and it felt good. It had been long since I could lightly discuss and laugh with someone as we did. You were still not well, and I had to walk on eggshells with you."

So basically, I was the reason he threw himself in my best friend's arms? Because he needed someone to talk to? I never really considered what Samuel went through during my postpartum depression. It lasted four  months. Four months during which he had to care for our baby and I all while working hard to pay the bills. Months of enduring my high and lows and still managing to comfort me and  smile at me as if everything was fine. Months of forced abstinence for a healthy man used to a very active sex life, because I couldn't bear too much physical interactions.

"And here you were, alone with your old crush in an apartment," I stated, a bitter taste filling my mouth.

"How did you..." They both spoke simultaneously, and a cold laughter escaped from my mouth.

"I've always known, to be honest," one more thing I chose to play dumb about.

We've met Samuel in college, and it was obvious they had a crush on each other. It may have been really superficial, but it was there. They never openly admitted it, but it was obvious. I was already used to being approached by guys because I was close to Nina, the girl almost all men wanted. I was a DUFF. And even though we had similar names, they usually never tried hard to remember mine. I could understand that people called me Nina instead of Missa. But why was it never the other way around? As time went by, we became Nina and Nina 2. Was my name so hard to remember? It was just two syllabus! Two basic syllabus.

So I couldn't help but fell for that nice and extremely handsome guy who remembered my name right away. He called me Missa, not Sima, Nissa or any original derivative or even Nina's friend. Just Missa. And he started hanging out with us, and I noticed that longing look he sometimes gave her. They had similar humour, similar taste, they had similar interests and aspirations... I often felt like I was a third wheel around them. But whenever I asked Nina if she liked Samuel, she simply answered "I'm not into dating, my priority is graduating." I knew her, and if she really didn't like him, she would have simply said so. I believe she didn't openly admit it because she knew how I felt about him. It has always been like that. She'd always let me have what I wanted first. I sometimes wondered why.

It's strange, how people don't seem to notice when the person they like also like them back. Nina and Samuel didn't seem to notice their crush was mutual. What would have happened if I had told them? I knew it was not fair, but I played dumb, and I tried my best to get Samuel to like me back. And on a summer during which Nina travelled for an internship, Samuel and I got closer. I never really knew how I won his heart over Nina, but I never tried to know. Asking would be like admitting what I knew, and I was afraid he would leave me if he found out it was mutual. And here they were, proving my worries were right. Karma sure could be a bitch, but wasn't it being to harsh on me?

"So I guess that night you found out your crush was mutual," I leaned deeper in the chair. "And you gave it a go."

Nina closed her eyes, Samuel ran his hands over his face. Another silence. The wall clock kept going, and it's tic-tac started pissing me off. 10:23 p.m. Strangely enough, now that everything was said out loud, I felt kind of relieved. No need to play dumb anymore. I remembered joking once with Nina about my reaction if I were to find out I had been cheated on.

"I will rip the slut's clothes off, and slap my man three times before ending things" I said with wide hand moves in the air.

"If either of them has a car, you should definitely smash it too," Nina suggested.

We laughed about it back then. We just didn't know she would end up in the role of the slut. I looked at her beautiful dress, and thought it would be a waste to rip it off. Samuel just got a new car, I would definitely not smash it because I chose it for him and I sometimes used it too. I imagined what they would say if I stood up and slapped him three times. I giggled at that thought. I certainly didn't imagine I would be laughing instead of all the drama I planned. Laughing is not a sane reaction after discovering you've been cheated on with your best friend. Expected reactions from women are crying, shouting, throwing things on the ground... How would Nina react if the roles were inverted? How did James react? In fact, where was James when it happened?

"I can somehow picture Sam's mindset that day, but what about you, Nina? Why did you give in?"

"I had an argument with James back then," she was avoiding my gaze. "We somehow broke up, and..."

"You were all heartbroken and thought hooking with my husband would be a good alternative?" Fuck off the cool attitude, why care about being cool in this situation? She gave me a sorry look, and it fueled my anger. Looking sorry was too easy. I stood up and walked towards her, pushing her with the tip of my index. "I guess I should try and sleep with James tonight? Just to see if it helps me feel any better..."

"Missa, please!" Samuel grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away from Nina.

"What?" I angrily freed myself from his grip. "You're taking her side?"

"Nina, I think you should go now," Samuel sounded panicked. I gave him a deadly glare and stepped between the door and Nina.

"And why would she go? What gives her the right to go after what she did? She should be... She should..." My voice broke down, I didn't know what I wanted to say.

What should she do? There was nothing she could do to repair what she did. It was done and there was no turning back. James was already aware of it, and apparently forgave her. My marriage was about to crumble because of her, and she was happily preparing hers. And here I was, holding on a mere door, as if keeping her from leaving would solve anything. It was so unfair, so fucking unfair. And I was being pathetic. That dress I wore was pathetic. Why didn't I choose a better dress? And those weak nails. Why were they so easily hurt? I slowly slid along the wall until I completely sat on the ground. I was just being a little more pathetic, if that was even possible. And then I started crying. Here we go, a normal reaction from a woman who has been cheated on.

The door closed, Nina was gone. And I guessed so was our fifteen years old friendship. I felt Samuel's embrace. I wanted to send him away, but I couldn't. I needed a shoulder to cry on, any one. Even the one who put me through this hell could do. At that moment, it did not matter. All I needed was his warmth. That night, I allowed myself to lean on him. Because it felt like after that, I might have no shoulder to lean on anymore.

Hello dear Wattpadians, chapter two of our little guide, hope you are enjoying it so far!🤗🤗

How would you react if you found out your man/woman cheated on you? would you be the histeric, the crying or the cold type? Let me know your impressions in the comment section!

See you next week for the next chappter!

🤎🤎