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Chapter 31/The Slap of Reality

Chapter 31: 31/The Slap of Reality

Chapter 31

Cedric’s Point of View

I froze in place, the knife still in my hand, as shock paralyzed my movement. Isabella looked into my eyes with a confident smile and asked, "Did you like my surprise?"

Before I could utter a single word, she approached, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me deeply. I was a body without a soul, just a mass of shock thinking about the disaster that had just crashed down upon me; Stephanie was upstairs, and I was here, nearly naked, in Isabella’s arms.

Isabella noticed my coldness and lack of reaction to her kiss. She pulled back slightly, though still cornering me with her body. "What’s wrong, Cedric?" she asked suspiciously.

I brushed her hands off me with a slight sharpness, trying to find my voice. "Isabella... why did you come? I told you not to come!"

She replied, running her fingers with provocative softness along my neck, trying to regain her proximity. "I missed you... I couldn’t take it anymore."

I grabbed her wrist to move her hand away and said sternly, "You know I don’t like this behavior."

At that moment, I was praying silently that Stephanie wouldn’t come down. I was terrified of the idea of her seeing us in this position at least until I could get Isabella out of here at any cost.

"And I don’t like being away from you," Isabella said coyly, ignoring my anger. She turned toward the pan and said in surprise, "Are you making breakfast yourself? That’s sweet; I didn’t know you did that."

I spoke to her in a dry, commanding tone: "Isabella... leave now!"

She knit her brows stubbornly. "No... I won’t."

I grit my teeth and warned, "Isabella!"

She looked at me for a long time in silence, as if searching for something in my features, then suddenly asked in a cryptic tone, "Are you cheating on me?"

I felt my heart leap out of its place, but I maintained my stoicism and said, "What kind of talk is that?!"

She suddenly laughed and tapped my chest lightly. "I’m teasing you... fine, I’ll go, but promise me you’ll be back soon."

Desperate to be rid of her, I said, "I promise."

She approached again, planted a quick kiss on my lips, turned, and walked out of the kitchen. As soon as the sound of her heels vanished, I leaned my hands on the table and let out a long exhale. I sighed with relief because she had finally left before everything I built last night with Stephanie collapsed.

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Stephanie’s Point of View

I stepped out of the bathroom, the warm steam still playing against my skin. I was wearing my robe and feeling a sense of peace. I stood before the mirror the same mirror that had witnessed every detail of my last night with Cedric when suddenly... the door was thrown open violently.

A tan-skinned girl stood there, her short black hair framing a face dripping with rage. She was dressed in black, which added to the sharpness of her appearance. She looked at me with black eyes burning with hatred and said in a voice like poison, "You slut!"

She didn’t give me a second to process what was happening. She moved toward me with lightning speed, reaching out to grab me by my hair with a primitive force that snapped my head back.

I fell to the floor with a cry of pain, and she began dragging me behind her, raining down the foulest insults. I could only scream, desperately trying to pry her hands off my hair, which felt as if it were being uprooted.

In the midst of the chaos, I heard Cedric’s panicked voice as he burst into the room: "Stop it, you madwoman!"

But she didn’t stop; instead, she tightened her grip while continuing to curse me: "You bitch... you damn whore! You’re stealing my man from me!"

Finally, Cedric managed to pull her away from me by force. At that moment, I saw Alex rushing toward me. He leaned down and helped me up, asking anxiously, "Are you okay?"

Before I could answer him, Cedric was still holding back the girl who was acting like a maniac. She screamed in my face, "You whore... are you fucking my man?"

Cedric shouted back, "Isabella... stop!"

I didn’t understand anything. Who was this girl? And which man was she talking about?

But she settled the matter when she screamed, "He’s my fiancé! Do you understand? Cedric is my fiancé... and you won’t have him!" She raised her hand before my face, pointing her fingers to reveal a large diamond ring shimmering coldly under the room’s light.

At that moment, I felt the ground give way beneath me, as if the room’s walls were collapsing over my head. I stumbled until Alex caught me so I wouldn’t fall. Is Cedric engaged? Did he deceive me with all those promises, asking me to be his girlfriend while he was actually bound to another woman?

The girl looked at Cedric and, in a swift motion, slapped him hard across the face, screaming, "Are you cheating on me with this whore?"

Alex stepped in, trying to diffuse the situation. "Cedric has nothing to do with this!"

Isabella looked at him with spite. "Don’t try to defend him, Alex... I see everything with my own eyes!"

I stood there, completely silent, looking at Cedric with eyes full of heartbreak and shock. How could I have let him deceive me like this? How could I have thrown myself into the arms of a man who belongs to someone else?

In the middle of this loss, I felt Alex’s arm wrap around my shoulder with intimacy. He squeezed me gently and said in a voice audible to everyone: "Stephanie, my girlfriend..."

The veins in Cedric’s neck bulged as he saw Alex’s arm encircling my shoulder. His gaze shifted from Isabella to us with a shock that mirrored my own.

As for Isabella, she froze in place, darting her eyes between me and Alex, then back to Cedric, who looked as if he had just received the shock of his life.

Isabella spoke in a voice thick with suspicion and bewilderment: "Your girlfriend? Alex... is this your girlfriend?"

[FBC_9715 Thank you so much for your support. I am so grateful to you. You are an angel. Thank you again]