4: I SLEPT WITH A STRANGER

ADRIANNA

I cracked open my eyes, and a piercing light stabbed into my brain like a thousand knives. I groaned, my head throbbing with a dull, relentless ache. I tried to lift my hand to shield my eyes, but even that small movement sent a wave of nausea crashing over me. I looked around slowly, taking in my surroundings, but my eyes widened immediately. I was in an unfamiliar room, with no recollection of how I got here. Panic set in as I scrambled to piece together the events of the previous night. That was when I looked beside me and fear gripped me immediately. There was an unknown figure, beside me, sleeping on the bed with me, a complete stranger. I looked down, praying that whatever thought I had was not true, but fate seemed like it wasn’t on my side. I slowly looked behind the blanket that was raised to my chest and I was completely naked. I screamed in fear, realizing what had just happened. I wanted to believe what I thought was not real and it never happened, but with what I was seeing, I was left to believe it actually happened.

I jumped out of the bed, screaming as my hands picked up the nearest cloth I could find, to cover myself up. My screams woke up the stranger that was peacefully sleeping on the bed.

I backed away from him, as far as I could.

“Who are you? And what did you do to me?” I screamed at him, as tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

What the hell happened last night? I thought. Why couldn’t I remember anything? The last memory I had was when I caught Raymond and my sister on my bed together, and in rage and pain, I walked out of the room, to get some fresh air, but that was the last thing I remembered.

I could not remember how I got here or what happened.

Was I kidnapped? I started to wonder, because I could not just understand why I could not remember anything no matter how hard I tried, all I felt was excruciating pain, every time I tried to think deeply.

“Did you kidnap me?” I asked out of confusion.

“What? No” he replied almost immediately, his voice holding confusion.

The realization slowly began to kick in, I had just slept with a complete stranger, someone I had never seen before and on my wedding night at that. I slumped to the floor, my eyes streaming with tears. I could not just understand why my life was like this. Why did I had to go through this pain? I had already experienced the pain of seeing the person I called my soulmate, sleep with my own blood sister, now I had to go through another pain of accepting that I had just slept with a complete stranger.

I sat down on the floor, my legs weak and my body attempting to give up on me. The stranger walked up to me squatting down beside me, but I did not want to have anything to do with him. I didn't even want to see him. I immediately gathered the strength and stood up, attempting to leave the room, when he stopped me, by holding me in my right hand.

“Where are you going to?” he asked me, still holding his grip on my hands.

I felt irritated by his question, he had just taken advantage of me, and here he was asking me this stupid question?

“So bold of you to ask me that kind of question, after taking advantage of me” I responded to him, my tone holding pure anger.

He instantly released me, moving back in shock.

“What do you mean i took advantage of you? I never did that” he said to me, his face contoured in confusion.

“This was purely consensual” he added, still looking at me confused.

What does he mean by consensual? Did I ever agree to this? I jogged my memory, trying to remember what happened last night and that was when everything slowly started coming to me. Every detail and what had happened.

I gasped in shock, as the events of last night slowly came to me. My vision blurred as tears streamed down my cheeks again.

I slowly began to accept my fate, as I walked out of the door, my shoulders sagged as I continued crying. I could hear the voice of the stranger calling me, but I never looked back or answered. I just wanted the ground to swallow me or just submit myself to death.

I did not even feel like going back to that house, that was full of memories and pain, but I had no other place to go to. So I decided to take a walk, to relieve my mind of this emotional overload. The walk around the city was quite peaceful, although I kept getting unusual stares, I am guessing because of the dress I wore and my damaged makeup that was smudged with mascara from my countless tears. I walked for about forty minutes, and I soon got tired. I decided to just head back home, if not for anything, but to take a refreshing shower and a long rest.

When I got home, everywhere was quiet. I could see the decorations still hanging up and it brought me back to tears again. I rushed into my room, thankful that no one saw me. I cleaned the damaged makeup on my face with the wipes that were on my table. I took off my clothes, entering into the washroom. I turned on the water to fill the bathtub, the water came out warm soothing my hands when I brought it close to the water. I stepped into the bath, when it became full, and it immediately calmed my nerves. I completely submerged myself into the bathtub full of water, just staying in that position for some seconds. I came out right after gasping for air. My bath was pretty quick, as I wanted to be done and have my rest. When I was done, I dressed up in some comfortable clothes and headed downstairs to the kitchen, because I was quite thirsty and also very hungry, I had not eaten anything since after my wedding reception.

I walked to the kitchen and I instantly froze, there was someone in the kitchen. I could not actually see the person, because he was backing me, but I knew it wasn’t Raymond, nor was it Jasmine, obviously she was not a man, I thought inwardly. I knew everyone went home after the party last night, so I was sure this was someone that I did not know. I looked around and instantly grabbed the nearest object I could find to use as a weapon, a spatula. I pointed it at him as I asked him a question.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here? Turn around and face me, so that I can see your face” I asked, my voice threatening to fail me.

I was never prepared for what I saw next. The unknown person turned around and the spatula slipped out of my hand from shock.

The person standing before me was the stranger that I had a one night stand with. My eyes widened in shock and my body cowered in fear. I screamed at the top of my lungs immediately, running out of the kitchen into the living room.

My screams had alerted Raymond, and Jasmine, who immediately ran downstairs and saw me shivering from fear.

“There’s a stranger in the kitchen” I shouted at the top of my lungs, as I pointed to the kitchen.

“A stranger? What do you mean” Raymond asked, confused, and it was at that moment that the stranger came out of the kitchen holding a plate of food.

“Oh, that’s not a stranger Adrianna, that my brother, Ethan, my elder brother,” Raymond added, as he looked towards the stranger's direction.

My ears became hot at that instant, I hoped I had heard him wrong. I looked at him in shock, as the realization hit me. I had just slept with my husband’s elder brother.