CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?

I have never been as happy as I was today. I woke up in the arms of the first crush I have ever had in my life.

I turned to my side and saw Antonio deeply asleep. Looking at him flooded my mind with the passionate night we had shared.

The way he held, kissed and passionately made love to me was all I could think about.

Just then Antonio started to awaken. I quickly closed my eyes so that he would think I had been asleep all this while.

“Uhm, Vanessa?” Antonio called out as he tapped my shoulders and yawned.

“Ugh,” I replied as I turned to face him.

“Morning Vanessa.”

“Morning Antonio,” I said with a smile but unfortunately for me my smile wasn’t reciprocated.

“I hope you will keep what happened last night as a secret,” He asked with a straight face.

“Uhm, sure yeah,” I replied as I sat up on the floor.

“Thanks, it’s for the best. What happened must never repeat itself,” He said, then stood up from the floor and packed his things and went up to his room.

I sat there looking and feeling like a fool. I had finally slept with my dream crush but how will it even feel good if it was a mistake to him.

I stood up from the floor and grabbed my clothes when my phone began to ring. I picked up my phone from the sofa to see that it was a call from my father.

“What’s up dad?”

“Honey! How’s everything going?” He asked with excitement.

“Everything is going great daddy,” I replied, trying to mask my sadness.

“That’s nice. Antonio told me about his recent breakup with Blair, do you think he’s seeing anyone now? Knowing the womanizer that he is, he should be seeing someone for him to leave Blair,” My dad teased.

“U-u-uhm, I don’t think I know if he’s seeing anyone. How about we chat later dad, I have a class,” I said trying to dismiss the conversation.

“A class? Honey it’s sunday,” He pointed out.

“Yeah that’s right. Silly me,” I laughed. “I meant I have to prepare for my class tomorrow.”

“Okay darling. My regards to Antonio,”

“Sure dad. Bye,” I said, then ended the phone call. I sunk into the soft sofa and took a deep breath when Antonio’s voice pierced through the quietness of the living room.

“Who was that?” He said as he took a sip of the glass of water he had just poured for himself.

“It was uhm my dad,” I said as I scratched my head.

“Hugo called. Did you uhm, tell him about…?”

“Relax Antonio. I didn’t tell my dad and I think if we want peace to reign in this house as we remain together we should forget about what happened, it wasn’t that serious,” I said as I grabbed my things and stormed into my room.

"Where are you going to?" He said as he grabbed my arm, both of us staring deeply into each other's eyes in an awkward silence.

"I need to sleep, please excuse me Antonio," I said as I released myself from his hold and closed my door.

I understood that Antonio had a lot to lose like his friendship with my dad, but it hurt watching him bask in regret.

I wanted things to go back to normal, so I decided to act like things were normal. I would simply forget that I had slept with my father’s bestfriend.

* * *

“Hope you didn’t get in trouble with Antonio,” Jenny asked as we both stopped for icecream close to campus.

“Believe me, there was no trouble,” I teased as I collected my cup of icecream from the seller.

“You never told me your dad’s bestfriend was that hot,” Jenny said teasingly.

“Eww, I don’t see Antonio that way,” I said with a straight face.

“It didn’t seem like it. I saw the way you looked at him. You looked like you were in love with him,” Jenny continued.

“Well no! I’m not in love with him so can we just finish up our icecream?” I asked as I put a spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.

“Speak of the devil, isn’t that Antonio?” Jenny cut in as she pointed at Antonio who had just come out of a cafe with a young lady.

“Maybe dad was right that he was seeing someone,” I muttered as I gulped my saliva.

“Well she’s hot. He sure knows his ladies,” Jenny said as she swallowed her ice cream.

I stood still as I watched both Antonio and this mystery lady walk away. There was this pain I felt, similar to what I felt when I caught Layla and Bart. Jealousy.

I wondered why I was jealous of seeing Antonio with another woman even when we could never be together.

I decided to let it go and enjoy my icecream date with my bestfriend and act like I didn’t see him. How else was I supposed to move on?

* * *

“I’m home,” I called out as I opened the front door and stepped inside the house.

The entire house smelled delicious and I couldn’t believe Antonio was cooking.

“What smells so delicious?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen to see what was cooking but to my greatest surprise it wasn’t just the food that was unusual.

“Vanessa you’re home. Meet Alex,” Antonio said as he introduced me to the same lady I saw with him earlier on today when I was with Jenny.

“Nice to meet you,” I said as I stretched my hand for a handshake.

“Alex is a new professor in the faculty, so I’m just showing her around,” Antonio said as he tried to calm the awkwardness in the kitchen.

“Oh alright if that’s the case, I’ll leave you two to it,” I said as I picked up my bag. “It was nice meeting you Alex,” I said as I walked into my room.

I dropped my bag on the floor and sat on my bed to call Jenny and tell her about Alex being in Antonio’s home.

As I turned on my phone I saw an email notification.

“That’s weird, who could be sending me an email by this time?” I asked myself as I tapped the email open.

My eyes widened in shock as I read the message that was sent.

“I KNOW YOUR SECRET.”