Unfaithful: Web Of Betrayal

She never thought that holding hands would become a thing for her again. Being married for so long, Declan barely ever had her hand anymore. Occasionally she would loop her arm around her husband’s arm at formal events. A peck on her cheek to show his friends that he loves his wife, and of course, all the jewelry on her body that he bought for her, or rather custom-made for her from one of his jewelry stores.

But never that warm grip between her fingers pulling her everywhere he walks, a nice wet smack on her forehead, the top of her head, or small cute kisses around her neck the way Roman did to her. He really made her feel like a teenager again.

He took her walking by the beach and had breakfast at one of the beachside cafes. He was acting like a love-crazed teenager, teasing her, seducing her, laughing; he looked happy. Something she hadn’t seen in Declan in years when they were together, nor had she seen it in herself.

Her eyes always scanned their surroundings, worried she might bump into someone she knew from Lancaster. Although, the places where Roman took her on the island are places where all her friends and acquaintances would never go to. Fun places, nothing fancy but easy-going, where people don’t have to dress to impress. The kind of places she went to before she met Declan. But in her mind, there’s a nagging thought, ‘What if someone sees her holding hands with this mysterious man?’

She had forgotten to turn her phone back on since the night before; her heart sank when she realized this. She excused herself to the restroom to turn it on. It took some time for her phone to get signals; she was relieved when there was no message from Declan.

She thought about sending him a text to tell him how bad the reception on the island was and turning her phone off again. But she remembered how it was when Declan did the same thing a few years back; he kept turning off his phone with all kinds of excuses. It was too obvious, she thought. So she put it on silent mode instead.

‘Hey, just checking in to let you know I’m on my second day of shore excursion … will be doing some shopping again today (tongue out emoji).’

After she left the message, she didn’t expect him to call her the whole day. He will reply to her text at best. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, fixed her hair, and took a deep breath before returning to have her afternoon drinks with Roman.

“Are you going back to the ship tonight?” Roman struck her with the question when she came back.From NôvelDrama.Org.

She hadn’t thought about it, she took her seat in front of him and looked him in the eyes, “Maybe … we’ll see …”

He pouted, “Would you stay again tonight if I ask you? I don’t want you to go.” His eyes softened, almost begging her like a puppy.

She smiled, “I don’t know … I still can’t believe we’re doing this … it’s surreal.” It’s an honest answer without being truthful about the reason.

“Is that a good thing … or a bad thing?” he asked with a cheeky smile.

Their eyes locked; she didn’t have an answer to it.

He took her hand without waiting for a reply, “I think you should stay. We’ll have more fun than last night … I promise,” he laughed lightly.

Her head was heavy with thoughts she couldn’t express; she squinted her eyes; she hadn’t even answered her own question about whether she wanted to do this again or not. While her head was telling her no, her heart was starving for someone to connect the way it’s been connecting with Roman. And the sex … there are no words to describe how she felt about the sex.

“If I stay for the night, will you promise me we won’t be doing this on the ship?”

Roman tilted his head back as he laughed, “No … why would I make promises I can’t keep?”

He could see she was still struggling with what they were doing, although for him, it was a very exciting stage of a romantic pursuit of a relationship. He knew it was something else entirely for her. He has his own struggle with it, he has to accept that what’s been making him happy will not last, and he is not ready to accept that yet.

“Adele … I like you very much, and I meant what I said … I think I’ve fallen in love with you if you ask me what I want to do … I’d say I want to do this even after we’re off the boat, I want to see you again, I want to be with you … how can I convince you to do that?” He expected to get a good answer this time.

She looked away from his gazing eyes. “I can’t, Roman; if we do this, it will only stay on this island.”

He could sense her frustration; he didn’t want to push her any further. He had to pull back a bit and not scare her away. “Okay … it stays on the island. Does that mean you’ll stay?” His only salvation was that she wasn’t rejecting him; she just couldn’t be with him because she’s most likely committed to someone else.

Her face tendered with a smile, “Okay,” she said.

Even her soft voice could boil him from the inside. The boy was happy.