Scandalous Gossip

Isabella, pushed open the creaky door of the pub and was greeted by the lively hum of chatter and the smell of beer.

She stood at the doorway in her sunflower-patterned dress and let her gaze wander from one table to another in search of her friends with an uncomfortable look on her face.

Since she got married, she has only been to a place like that twice and that explained her current awkwardness.

“Hey! Bella, over here!” Just then, she heard someone call her name and turned her gaze in the direction of the voice.

Almost immediately, she spotted her friends in a cozy corner and weaved through the bustling crowd with a big smile on her friends.

“Please, promise me we won’t have to meet here next time,” Isabella said as she took the seat one of her girlfriends pulled out for her.

There were three of them sitting around the table with their faces flashing with a smile.

“Oh… I see someone has grown accustomed to having dinners at fancy restaurants…” Rosie, the one with the wavy blond hair and pink lipstick cued. “Especially after celebrating her fifth wedding anniversary.”

The rest of the ladies cued as they drummed their hands on the table. They all looked excited as they threw their gazes at Isabella, expecting her to start talking about how her fifth wedding anniversary with her husband over the weekend was celebrated.

A smile appeared on Isabella’s face as she watched her friends tease her. But when she had finally had enough of the attention, she put her hand in the air. “You girls are thinking too much. My weekend didn’t go as you are thinking.”

“What?” Venita, the one with the brown curls, oval face, and brown skin raised a questioning brow.

“Don’t tell us Gerald didn’t take you somewhere nice last weekend,” Caro, the chubby beautiful one amongst them said in doubt.

All three of Isabella’s friends were very beautiful and if one didn’t know the truth, they would be thinking that she had carefully hand-picked them because of it.

All three women were expecting their thoughts to be a joke from Isabella unfortunately the shit was real. Their best friend didn’t get to celebrate her fifth wedding anniversary with her famous husband.

“We didn’t go anywhere. I think he forgot.” Isabella sighed, but before any of her protective friends would start to lash out, she quickly added, “But he promised us a trip in two weeks once he finished shooting.”

The three women all slouched against their chairs. They were gravely disappointed.

“I don’t care that Gerald is busy with shooting a new movie right now. If you ask me, he is not caring enough,” Caro said without mincing words, and she didn’t forget to roll her eyes in the end.

“Well, it’s not exactly easy to be married to a good woman,” Venita raised her glass of beer in support before taking a large gulp from it.

Isabella could sense her best friend’s annoyance. There was nothing she could do to change the fact that her busy husband had forgotten about their wedding anniversary, but she could surely try to make them feel better by changing the topic.

“You know what, the bills are on me today, so please don’t be angry.”

Rosie shook her head. “Since you asked, how can we say no? And it’s not like we get to hang out frequently. I don’t want to be angry today.”

“I think I will be better off reading the gossip online. I have been so busy all day that I forgot to check the ‘Scandalous Gossip’ blog,” Caro said to them while tapping away on her phone screen.

No one had seen her pick up her phone since she often changed gears so easily.

With her friends right back on track, Isabella focused on catching up with them on all the things they have been involved in.

Caro was the only one amongst them who had a divided attention. She kept shuffling between the pages of the ‘Scandalous Gossip’ blog and her friends until her eyes bulged.

“What the fuck!” she exclaimed as she used her fingers to enlarge the image on her screen while squinting.

“What have you read now?” Venita asked as her attention was finally caught.

Isabella and Rosie stopped chatting as they had their curious gazes equally fixed on Caro.

“Hold on. Give me a second!” Caro said with her eyes still glued to her phone screen.

After two or three seconds, she let out a deep sigh and lifted her head. “You girls need to see this and Bella, don’t freak out…”

Before Caro could finish talking, Venita had already snatched the phone from her to study the latest gossip she was reading.

“My Goodness!” Venita’s eyes rounded as she glanced at Isabella who looked lost.

“Can anyone tell me what is going on right here?” Isabella questioned as her gaze moved from one person to the other.

---

“T-This C-Can’t be real,” Isabella stammered while staring at the phone screen. Before her was a picture of her husband, Gerald holding a pregnant woman’s hand and no, this was not a clip from a movie scene.

Under that photo, it was stated that her husband was expecting a child with a second-class-rated actress.

“Bella, I hate to say this, but ‘Scandalous Gossip blog’ doesn’t lie. Over ninety-five percent of the gossip all turn out to be true,” Caro said with a pitiful look on her face as the others all fixed their gazes on Isabella.

Hearing everything her friend just said to her, Isabella rose to her feet with reddened eyelids. Her movement startled her friends.

“I believe that this ridiculous gossip will have to be amongst the remaining five percent of Scandalous Gossip that turns out to be fake. Gerald will never do a thing like this. I’m leaving,” Isabella declared.

She looked hurt while pushing her chair with the back of her legs.

“Whoa! Why are you leaving when you only got here?” Venita was the first to speak. She had that look of concern on her face even though she was still trying to wrap her head around the cheating spike.

“I still need to ask Gerald about the gossip,” Isabella answered.

Seeing that look of determination on her face, her friends knew they could not ask her to stay back, so they followed her out to take a cab since they were still worried about her.

Rosie, Caro, and Venita waved at Isabella as they watched her car pull out of the driveway.

“Gerald will be dead meat if this shit actually turns out to be true,” Venita voiced as her gaze trailed the cab till it disappeared from their sight.