Cameron rested for a moment, then rolled off Cassandra and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Don’t be mad anymore. I was wrong. Let’s just move forward together.”
Cassandra closed her eyes.
He continued, “I’ve been keeping it buried for years. I knew that once I said it, you’d leave me. That’s who you are. But no man can accept his girlfriend sleeping with some older guy. Cassie, I was just trying to ease the resentment in my heart. Nothing actually happened between me and her.”
Both of them were utterly exhausted–physically and emotionally.
Cassandra’s strength was gone, and her heart was growing colder by the second. “Nothing happened between me and Professor Myers. Whether you believe it or not, that’s the truth.”
*A man and a woman, alone in a hotel room all night, and nothing happened? Cassie, if you’re going to lie, at least make it believable,” Cameron said.
“You don’t believe me?” she asked.
“Cassie, you’re too beautiful. I believe you could hold yourself back, but that old man? No way he kept his hands off you.”
She was left speechless.
He continued, “Then why don’t you tell me what you two actually did that night? Don’t tell me you just watched TV and played cards like it was some kind of innocent slumber party?”
She stayed silent.
“Besides, when we first slept together, there was no sign of resistance down there.”
Cassandra was about to speak, but after hearing that, she lost even the will to respond.
Doctors and experts had long explained that the hymen could tear on its own from exercise or other activities. Unlike in the past, when girls married at 12 or 13 years old, modern women typically didn’t finish school until their 20s. Their bodies would’ve matured long before then.
Cassandra knew very well that Cameron understood all that, but that thorn had been stuck in his heart for a long time. At this point, nothing she said would change a thing.
“Cameron, you still don’t trust me,” she said.
Cameron only kissed her cheek and said, “As long as I love you, that’s enough.”
That night, Cameron didn’t try to force her again. “We’ve got a whole lifetime ahead of us, Cassie. We’re
not in a rush for this.”
Cassandra said to herself, “There’s no whole lifetime left for us.”
What stood between her and Cameron had never really been about cheating, or about Javier or
Annabelle. It was the fact that Cameron had long decided she was the kind of woman who’d trade her body for a spot in graduate school.
He didn’t understand her, much less trust her.
They might have smoothed things over for now, but this would always stay between them. It was a knot
that could never be undone.
Ever since that night, Cameron seemed relieved after they finally talked everything out. He became even
more attentive toward Cassandra.
Lisa changed the recipes daily. If Cassandra wouldn’t drink the tonic, she would use the herbs in soups and dishes. Cameron had made it clear that Cassandra had to take care of her health and get pregnant as
soon as possible.
Every time Cassandra went out, she could feel someone tailing her.
She deliberately hid out in the women’s restroom at the mall for a while. Soon, two men and two women showed up outside. The two men waited by the entrance while the two women stepped into the stalls on
either side of her.
Cassandra flushed the toilet on purpose. The stalls on both sides followed with flushes of their own, and
then the two women came out.
As she walked out of the stall, she asked, “Did Cameron send you to follow me?”
One of them replied, “Mrs. Dorsey, Mr. Dorsey is just worried about your safety.”
Cassandra let out a laugh. It was broad daylight in a crowded area, and this was a peaceful society. What danger could there possibly be?
Just then, Daisy texted her. “Cassie, I just got back from the film studio. Got time to grab a meal?”
Cassandra sent her location at the mall.
Daisy replied. “Let me throw on a disguise. Go book us a private room. I’ll be there soon!”
The two women craned their necks, trying to see who Cassandra was texting, but they were afraid she might get angry.
“It’s Daisy,” Cassandra said.
F
Then, she remembered she had used Daisy as an excuse before, so she added, “If you don’t believe me, wait and see for yourselves. But there’s one condition–you have to wait outside the private room. You’re not allowed to come in, and you definitely can’t listen to our conversation.”
Chapter 12