2. Perfect Hypocrite

ANNA

I managed to lift my head up and just when I'm about to reply to him, Alice chimed in and I mentally thanked her for doing that. 

I didn't know how to give him a reply without sounding utterly disgusting or even worse, bursting into tears. I didn't know what I was feeling at that moment but I knew there was a lot going on in my head and I had several emotions running through me at this very moment. 

I wanted to cry for so many reasons and one of them was because I have always been the type to speak out on anything that was bothering me in any way, especially to my sister, who I have always trusted and relied on. I just couldn't handle having to keep quiet about everything and pretend like I was okay when I wasn't. I'm this close to pulling my hair out from guilt. 

"Anna wanted a change of environment for her school so she traveled to an entirely different state and since then, we've not been able to meet up very often. She also refused to come back home for the holidays until now that she decided to come back because she wanted to apologize for missing my wedding and also get to meet you," Alice explained.

"Oh, I see," Alejandro nodded his head while chewing the food in his mouth.

"A lot of things happened with her and she couldn't make it to our wedding. It wasn't intentional though. If only she had listened to me and come here two weeks earlier, she wouldn't have missed it," Alice added and I rolled my eyes at her. 

"Didn't she ever see any of my pictures? You never showed me how to get it?" he asked and I immediately felt attacked.

For some reason, it was like he was trying to accuse me of sleeping with him knowing well that he was my sister's husband and the mere thought of that infuriated me. 

I definitely don't understand the sick game that he's trying to play here or where he was driving at with that question but it made me angry and irritated me to the pit of my stomach. I wouldn't deliberately sleep with my sister's husband if I knew what he looked like and the fact that he would even for a split second think that was beyond repulsive to me. 

It was taking everything in me not to cry out and just get up and run as far away as I can. 

"I don't recall ever showing any of your pictures to get or anything but I did send our wedding pictures to her so she could see what she missed out on," Alice responded and the knots in my stomach tightened, making me feel like I was gonna throw up any second from now. 

Unfortunately, Alice's wedding day was a hot mess for me and a lot of things happened that just completely messed with my head. It wasn't that I didn't want to attend, it was more like I couldn't even though I really wanted to. Firstly, my flight got delayed for absolutely no fucking reason and as if that wasn't enough, I got myself into a freaking car accident, although it wasn't too serious and I wasn't injured or anything. 

Like all.of that just wasn't enough, the very next day, my phone got stolen from me and I just ended having a series of misfortune that made me absolutely frustrated and livid. In other words, I never received the pictures that she sent to me and I never asked for them. Just thinking about it now makes me feel horrible. 

I did send my good wishes to her and apologized so many times for missing such an important day in her life which was why I made myself promise to go visit her for the holidays and make things right with her. 

"She has our wedding pictures?" he asked and from the way he spoke, I knew he was trying to get Alice to confirm that she sent them.

I clenched my fist in anger and gritted my teeth furiously. I didn't even know him that well and he already seemed very despicable to me. The fact that he's trying to figure out how to put the blame on me instead of feeling ashamed of the fact that he had slept with a complete stranger when he only just got married, made me feel repulsed by him. 

"I did send them to her but my mother said it never got to her. Her phone got stolen unfortunately so she didn't see any of them and I just didn't bother sending them again. She did send her wishes to me though about not being in attendance but I won't lie, I wish she was present for the ceremony," Alice replied to him.

"I see," Alejandro muttered as he nodded his head.

"You've also never shown me any of her pictures before which I found weird. I mean, I saw pictures of you girls as kids but I didn't even have any idea what she looked like as an adult so at one point I thought you were keeping your sister away from me," he joked and Alice chuckled while I mentally rolled my eyes at him. 

"Don't be so silly Alejandro. It's just that Anna doesn't take pictures and I believe I already told you that. I showed you a black and white picture of her before, don't you remember babe?" she responded and tried reminding him and I didn't even realise when I shook my head. 

"Oh, I remember now but I didn't get to see her face. My bad," he chuckled and I shuddered in disgust. 

I watched the conversation between the couple and the more I looked at them, the more hurt and angry I felt with myself. Hurt because I had slept with my sister's husband and angry because he had slept with me knowing well he was a married man and now he was acting so nonchalant and okay like he didn't just very recently cheat on his wife, my sister. 

 I couldn't even be sure that I was the only one he had been with since the man didn't have any loyalty towards my sister. 

If there was an award for the best hypocrite in the world, it would be given to him and there's no doubt about that.

He knew he was married yet he cheated on my sister and it hurt so much when I saw the way my sister looked at him with so much happiness in her eyes. 

I shut my eyes briefly to calm my nerves but I could feel Alejandro's eyes on me even though my eyes were shut and I was immediately bothered by his gaze as I felt tingles on my skin. 

It angered me that I was having mixed emotions all at the same time when all I should be feeling right now was anger and disgust.

"Anna, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?" Alejandro asked suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

I might be paranoid right now because of my guilt but for some reason, his question felt as if he was trying to mock me especially judging by the tone he spoke with. Two nights ago, I spent an hour talking to him about myself although I didn't go into details and right now, I felt anger surge through my veins because he was asking a question when he already knew the answer. 

He was married and he cheated on my sister. He acted as a bachelor and made me like him and thinking of it only made me cringe and at the same time angry with myself.

I couldn't help but think of the number of girls he must have lied to and deceived about his marital status. 

When I finally opened my eyes to look at him, I was not smiling or trying to be friendly. I couldn't take it anymore. Not at all.

I wanted to personally speak to him. Now that I think about it, I couldn't remember him talking much about himself. He just listened to me.

He never said much and it made me angrier at myself. I should have known from that, that something was off but I was just too lost in the fact that a good looking dude was paying attention to me, to question myself on why he seemed so quiet. 

I felt disgusted for what I had done and it angered me to even think of how many women he must have slept with behind my sister's back.

"There is nothing much to tell you about myself Sir," I replied to him nonchalantly and I almost felt bad the moment my eyes met my sister's and the way she looked at me.

I got up from my seat. "Pardon my manners but I will have to excuse myself. Thanks for the meal Alice and thank you for having me Alejandro," I said to both of them with a curt now before walking away.

I didn't want to stay close to Alejandro for any second longer because I was afraid that I might explode and say things I wasn't supposed to say and I didn't want to hurt Alice.

The moment I got to my room, I locked the door and walked towards my bed but instead of sitting on it, I sat at the edge of the bed, on the floor, and placed my legs in between my thighs. 

The tears I held in for so long streamed down my face nonstop. Memories of that night resurfaced in my head yet again and my chest felt even heavier than before.