Cate was on her way out when she heard someone call her name. She turned around and was surprised to see her brother, Edward standing there. She walked over to him. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Why didn’t you come upstairs?”
“I was about to when I saw you.”
“Oh.”
“We need to talk.”
She looked at him. His expression was grim. “It sounds rather serious.”
“It is.”
“What is it about?”
“Boris.”
Cate looked startled. “Boris?”
“I know that you’re cheating on him, Cate.”
After she recovered from her shock, she tried to laugh it off. “I’m not cheating on Boris. Where did you get such a ridiculous idea from?”
“His sister came to see me this morning.”
“Oh. What-what did she tell you?”
“That you and her married brother are having an affair.”
“How-how does she know that?”
“So, you admit it?”
“I’m not admitting anything. I just want to know how she knows that?”
“His wife told her. She found a piece of paper in his jacket with your name and cell number written on it. How do you explain that, Cate?”
“Him having my number doesn’t mean that we’re having an affair.”
“Okay. How do you explain him calling you at 1:30 am on your cell?”
She was pale now. “All right. We’re having an affair.”
“Cate, what the devil were you thinking. He’s married, for Pete’s sake and you’re engaged.”
“Neither of us planned for it to happen. We met in the park one afternoon, struck up a conversation. We went to a cafe for a Latte and a Cappuccino. Then, we arranged to meet again.”
“While you two were enjoying your Latte and Cappuccino did he mention that he was married?”
“Yes, he did. Besides, he was wearing his ring.”
“And what about you? Did you mention that you were engaged or did that not even come up in the conversation?”
“Yes, I told him. And he saw my engagement ring.”
“And so, neither of you thought it would be wise not to continue your little tête-à-tête seeing that you were both in a committed relationship?”
Her face suffused with color. “We saw no harm in becoming friends–“
“Ok. So, you thought it was a good idea to be friends with a married man. When you realized that you wanted more than friendship, why didn’t you walk away? It would have been the sensible and decent thing to do.”
“We tried to walk away from each other but we couldn’t.”
“How long have you and he been seeing each other?”
“For three years–“
“Three years?” he exclaimed, startling her. “Three years. That’s as long as you and Boris have been engaged.
“Yes.”
Edward shook his head. “Three years is a long time for two people to be having an affair. I’m surprised that you weren’t found out before now.”
“We were very careful.”
“Until he got careless. Maybe he wanted to get caught.”
“Why would he want to get caught?”
“Maybe he wanted to end the affair but didn’t have the guts to do so. So, he got careless and got caught. Now, he has no choice but to end it.”
“You’re wrong about Derrick.”
“Frankly, I don’t care if I’m right or wrong about him. What matters is that if you don’t clean up this mess you’ve gotten yourself into, you can kiss your future with Boris goodbye.”
“You haven’t told him, have you?”
“Now, why on earth would I do that?”
“I’m sorry.”
“The only people who know about your affair are his wife, his sister and me. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
“I must see him.”
“What on earth for?”
“I must tell him that we’ve been found out and–“
“Stay away from him, Cate.”
“I–I can’t. I must see him. I’ve to go. Goodbye, Edward.” And she hurried away before he could stop her.
Notes to Women 