Trouble in Paradise by Three Way

I always thought that life could be full of coincidences. If I hadn't needed to reach out to Beth, or if she hadn't asked me to find Nicholas, I would never have witnessed such a scene.

Beth said she couldn't get into Coral Villa, and no one answered when she knocked. She mentioned that the villa still had my fingerprints saved, so she asked if I could try opening the door. I figured Nicholas had either left or passed out drunk. Beth, with her disability, had trouble moving around. I drove to the pharmacy to buy both hangover medicine and burn ointment, heading straight to Coral Villa. Meanwhile, she would collect the documents I needed.

My plan was simple. I would unlock the door, get what I came for, and leave. But when I opened the door to Coral Villa and let the gentle moonlight spill inside, Nicholas's heartfelt confession to another woman was the greeting I received. The wooden rocking chair by the floor-to-ceiling window creaked under the weight of two people.

The fragmented moonlight sprinkled in through the glass and fell on the woman's pitifully frail back. It was the kind of scene where anyone watching would feel that tearing them apart would be wrong.

This was the first time I had seen Claudia since I returned. She was straddling Nicholas with her arms wrapped around his neck. She was wearing the very same white satin dress with gold trim I had knocked to the ground earlier today. Nicholas's shirt was half unbuttoned, and he was still in the same outfit I had seen him wearing during the day. It turned out that Claudia's dress and his shirt were a matching set.

He never needed to imagine how I would look in the dress because it had always been meant for someone else.

I had overthought everything. Those clothes weren't for me at all. How could I have forgotten? Claudia was also 26 now, a grown woman.

my limbs felt glued in place. My brain, like a

sense of calm as if I were sinking into an icy river. My limbs grew weak, and my mind turned

don't leave me

managed to express himself clearly. "Just the thought of you leaving again terrifies me. It's like a

BA-QUMS

grievance. "It was so dark. Really, so dark. I was scared of living without hope, afraid I'd never see you again..." "Don't be scared.

passionate side. Perhaps this drunken version was his

drunk could he drop all

moved out. Had they fought? No wonder something

his actions that kept me distracted were just because I