Chapter 1

The flowers softly moved in the wind and spread their lovely fragrance to anybody who had the time to sit and breathe it in. This was it. Her favourite time of the day. It brought her peace to just be in the open, breathe in the air, breathe in the sweet fragrance wafting around. She inhaled, exhaled and slowly opened her eyes. The view was incredible. Sure it wasn't the best but it was home. It's been 3 years since she started spending her afternoons here. In spring, she loved to spend her every break surrounded by the blooming flowers. 

The garden didn't mean so much to her just for its gorgeous view though. This place held some of her happiest memories. She remembered the day she first came here. Peter had gently escorted her all while smiling bashfully. It was adorable. Apparently this garden was neglected but soon after their marriage Peter learned that Cecilia loved flowers, he tried his best to bring the garden back to life and gifted it to her. Feeling warm thinking back on the early days of their marriage, Cecilia smiled. 

Maybe she'll stop working early today, bake some cookies. Peanut butter cookies? Peter loved them. Feeling giddy at the thought of surprising her husband, she almost skipped back inside.

Was that giggling she heard? As she walked farther she could hear clearly.

"Oh you!"

Julia? What was she doing here this early? She visited when Cecilia would be done with her work. Julia knows she's busy working at this time of the day. Odd.

They came into view. 'They' because Peter was here too. Both of them chuckling as if sharing a secret. Julia wiped a stray tear from her eyes and cupped his face.

What…..?

His eyes sparkled as he gazed at her, then, almost like magnets drawn to each other, they leaned in and-

Gasp

Two heads snapped in her direction, alarmed. A dreadful silence filled the air as everybody processed what they were witnessing.

Cecilia has heard real life stories of this exact moment but she has never fathomed that she'd ever be the spectator of such a wretched display. Infidelity is common in a society like theirs, where loveless arranged marriages prevail. Peter and hers wasn't a loveless marriage though…..was it?

Taking a shaky breath in through her mouth, she watched how her husband's face contorted from surprise to horror. Meanwhile, Julia's face remained free of any remorse or guilt.

"Cecilia!"

Peter made to walk towards her but she couldn't bear to be here any second longer. Cecilia evaded his hand and looked at it as if it was filthy. Turning on her heels, she tripped. It seems her legs had quite literally frozen. Expecting the welcome pain of her head hitting the wooden floors, she closed her eyes.

However, the pain never came. Slowly opening her eyes she realised Peter had stopped her fall. Crying out, she pushed him away as if he'd burned her. Not trusting her legs but needing to get the hell away, she ran.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. 

Her mum always said, when you're on the verge of panicking and nothing makes sense, breathe in and out.

Willing the chaos in her mind away and just breathing, she felt herself calm down. Calm enough to not kill herself.

Rapid knocks rudely interrupted whatever small comfort zone she'd established.

"Cecelia? Cecelia! Please! Open the door"

Her heart felt like a thousand needles were being rammed through it. Every second brought a new wave of grief, a new sense of realisation that her husband was cheating on her...with her sister. Hearing his desperate pleas wasn't making anything better. She'd love to drown him out, would love to keep him there, knocking for hours but she needed to know. Needed to know why, needed to listen to what he had to say. 

Maybe she saw wrong? Maybe it was a hallucination because of her medicines, but ….. none of her medications contained hallucinogens. Maybe …

KNOCK KNOCK

Snapping herself out of her attempts to deny what had happened, she opened the door. 

Peter looked like he was about to throw up, he had tears in his eyes. Why was he about to cry!? She should be the one crying! She got cheated on by her husband who she loved and trusted! She was the one stabbed in the back by her own sister. 

"Cecilia….Cecelia I'm so sorry!"

"NO! Tell me I saw wrong, Tell me you didn't cheat on me, Tell me it wasn't my sister. PLEASE!"

Any other time she'd be embarrassed to scream, afraid of being heard by Maids or Butlers but she was hysterical right now.

"I didn't mean for this to happen, trust me love!"

"Don't call me that! You didn't mean for this to happen!? Then why were you kissing MY sister?" 

Her cheeks felt wet. She was crying, wasn't she? 

"I….I love her!"

What?

She felt stupid as she just stood there, gaping, trying to understand what he meant. He loved her sister?

Realising how awful that sounded, he scrambled to explain himself.

"I never wanted to marry you. It was always her!"

Silence.

Slouching as if he'd given up he continued.

"My father wanted someone from house Rosen to be my wife and I wanted to marry Julia Rosen. It was perfect. Your father was overjoyed at the proposal. However, later he suddenly changed his mind. His reasoning was that Julia wasn't ready yet, she needed more time, she was still young...My father didn't mind. He told me it didn't matter….any one of the Rosen girls would do"

Painful silence passed where he expected Cecelia to give some sort of reaction. Then, realising she wasn't going to, he continued his despicable tale.

"I implored him to wait, to not be hasty but he was steadfast in his decision. He didn't care what I wanted, he was just worried the opportunity might be gone"

A sobbed wracked her frame as she realised what a sham her marriage was. It had collapsed like a flimsy pile of stacked cards. Pushing him out the door, she locked herself inside. The agony was unbearable.

She didn't know how she survived the night, drifting in and out of consciousness, resisting the urge to break every glassware, every ceramic vase, scratch her skin, scratch her eyeballs out.

He was in love with Julia? Is that the reason he avoids touching her more than necessary? Is that the reason he's hardly bedded her after their first night? Is that the reason he needed time before they had kids? Is that the reason he'd always accompany them when she'd plan a day out with Julia?

Her red rimmed, bloodshot eyes greeted the morning light as it barged in through the windows that were never closed for the night.