Chapter 47

Azalea

I couldn’t sleep at all. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept thinking about Cassian. He looked so scared when he got that phone call about his mother.

The way his hands shook when he grabbed his keys made me feel so sad for him.

I kept turning in my bed all night. I thought about our nice evening together before that phone call ruined everything. His mother was always so kind to me when we met.

His sister was nice too. They made me feel like I was part of their family, even though Cassian and I had only been dating for a few months.

I called my boss, Marla, early this morning. My voice was shaky because I was so worried. I thought she would be mad that I needed time off work, but she was really nice about it.

“Take care of yourself, honey,” she said. “Family comes first.”

My phone felt heavy in my hand. It was already past ten in the morning, and he still hadn’t called me.

He should have called by now to tell me how his mother was doing, or at least to let me know he got to the hospital safely.

I walked around my small apartment with no shoes on. The call rang so many times, but he didn’t pick up, and I was becoming worried about him. What if something bad had happened? What if his mother got worse?

I felt so stupid. I was so worried about his feelings that I forgot to ask important questions. Which hospital was she in?

What room? Was there anything I could do to help? I just watched him leave and felt useless.

I knew Cassian must have told me last night that her sickness wasn’t much just to make me feel less worried.

He was just trying to protect me from worrying. The way he rushed out so fast didn’t seem like it was something small.

He was trying to keep me from being scared, which made me love him more but also worry more about his family.

I used my other line to call him, and a wave of relief washed over me when I heard the phone connect. Finally, I was about to find out what was going on.

“Honey, how is she?” All my worries came out at once. I was so scared and needed to know about his mother right away. “How is Mom?”

“Who the hell are you?” A voice screamed over the phone. “Bitch.”

The voice was not Cassian at all. It was a woman, and she sounded very angry. I was confused.

My hands were shaking as I looked at my phone again to make sure I called the right number.

It was definitely Cassian’s number, but why was this woman answering?

“I should be the one asking this,” I replied. “Who are you and why are you picking up my man’s phone?”

I tried to stay calm and nice. Maybe this was a nurse at the hospital, or maybe his sister was using his phone.

Cassian told me his family was very close, so maybe they shared phones when there was an emergency.

“Your man?” The way she said it made me feel cold inside. She sounded angry and shocked, like she owned something that I was trying to take.

“Yes. My man. Who are you?”

“How dare you!” the voice screamed again. “How dare you put a claim on someone else’s husband?”

The word “husband” hit me like someone had slapped me. I almost fell down and had to hold onto something.

Husband? That couldn’t be right. Cassian wasn’t married. He couldn’t be. Not the man who held me so gently and made me believe in love.

“Husband?” I gasped. “Are you playing a joke on me?” I tried controlling myself, even though I was angry.

My mind tried to find reasons that made sense. This had to be a joke or a mistake. Maybe Cassian’s family was testing me to see how I would act when I was upset.

The other idea - that the man I loved was lying to me - was too scary to think about.

“Do I sound like I’m joking, bitch?” the voice came again, this time calm, but I could sense danger in it. “Leo is my man, my husband, and we will be married soon. Who the fuck are you?”

“Leo,” I repeated the name.

She said the name Leo, not Cassian. That made me feel better. Leo wasn’t my boyfriend’s name.

My boyfriend was called Cassian. This woman was confused or calling the wrong person.

“Cassian is my man,” I informed her. “I don’t know anyone by the name Leo. Goodbye.”

I was about to end the call when she spoke again. “Don’t you dare cut off that phone, or else I will make you regret being the other woman.”

Her threat was clear and dangerous, and for a second, she made me remember him.

The scary way she talked reminded me of Adriano. He used to threaten me like that, making me feel like he would hurt me if I didn’t do what he wanted.

My body got tense, ready to run away like I used to do when I lived with him.

“I’m not the other woman,” I said through clenched teeth. “I should be the one being annoyed, but I didn’t.”

How could this stranger say I was breaking up someone’s marriage when I didn’t do anything wrong?

I never tried to steal anyone’s boyfriend, and I wasn’t going to let her say I was a bad person.

“Annoyed.”

“Yes, I should be the one screaming over the phone, not you,” I added.

“I have every right to be angry and demand how you got my boyfriend’s phone and why you even answered it, but I didn’t. I’m doing my best to stay calm, considering you’re probably a member of Cassian’s family. I get it, you’re trying to test me. But I’ll be the bigger person and let it go. Have a nice day, and I look forward to meeting you through him.”

I used all my strength to sound nice and grown-up. If this was a test from Cassian’s family, I wanted to pass it.

I wanted to show them that I was a good person who deserved their son’s love.

My phone felt hot after that call. My heart was still beating fast, but I felt good about how I handled it.

Cassian’s family had some strange people, but every family has difficult members. At least now I knew what to expect when I met this girl in person.

The sun was low in the sky when I woke up, and I felt confused because I didn’t mean to sleep. My phone showed some missed calls from numbers I didn’t know, but nothing from Cassian.

It was getting scary that he hadn’t called me. Even if his mother was really sick, he could send me a quick text message.

I dialed his number, but it wasn’t available. I was about to dial his number again when a strange number called in.

“Hello,” I picked up after hesitating a bit.

“You’ll regret ever stealing what’s mine,” the stranger hissed. “I’ll make sure you pay for choosing to be the other woman in someone else’s marriage.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Leo’s wife,” she answered rudely.

“I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong number,” I said, ending the call.

Leo? I didn’t know anyone by that name. Why would I ever steal another woman’s man when I already have mine?

Cassian’s face flickered in my mind, bringing a soft smile to my lips.

I’m not the kind of woman who covets what belongs to someone else or tears apart another woman’s home.

Cassian is more than enough for me. He’s the only man who’s ever made me feel safe, seen… and loved.

The phone ringing made me jump. I stared at it, feeling annoyed and scared. How many times was this woman going to call me today? Why couldn’t she understand that she was wrong and leave me alone?

Only Cassian had this number, so getting a call from someone else on it felt unsettling.

When my phone rang again, I braced myself to finally give her a piece of my mind, but I was wrong. It wasn’t her. It was Cassian, the man I loved deeply.

I felt so happy and relieved that I almost cried. Finally, after being worried and confused all day, I would hear his voice and everything would be okay again.

“Honey.” His voice made me feel warm and safe. This was my Cassian, the man who called me honey and made me feel loved and protected.

Whatever happened with his phone earlier, he would explain it, and we could laugh about this weird day together. “I’m so sorry. I missed your call.”

“Cassian.” I tried to sound normal. I didn’t want to worry him with stories about the prank phone calls when he was already dealing with his mother being sick. “Where did you put your phone?”

“I’m so sorry about everything,” Cassian said. “I heard from Mom that my niece picked the call to prank you.”

I felt so relieved and happy. I was right all along! It had been a family member - his niece - playing a mean joke.

The scary woman who threatened me was just a young relative who thought it would be funny to scare me.

I felt proud that I had been right from the beginning. Even when I got scared and started to doubt, part of me knew that the love Cassian and I had was too real to be fake.

“I know,” I muttered. “I know she was only putting me into a test. So I forgive her.”

Even though I thought it was a really mean test. Making someone think their boyfriend was married wasn’t funny at all.

But families can be weird, and I wanted to show Cassian that I could handle whatever his relatives did.

“You’re such a darling,” he said over the phone. “I told you my Azalea is such a kindhearted girl.”

I heard him say this to someone, and I knew it must be that girl who spoke to me earlier.

His words made me feel so happy. Even when he was worried about his family, he was telling them what a good person I was.

The girl who was so mean to me on the phone was probably feeling bad now, seeing that her “test” only proved what Cassian already knew - that I was patient and forgiving and good enough for his love.

The bad day was over, and I was exactly where I should be - in love with a man who loved me back enough to brag about me even to the relatives who had tested me.