Clarence got to the club thirty minutes later. She was dressed in a short black corset dress that accentuated her curves and light make-up. She entered the club and headed straight for the VIP section.
Right away, she spotted a man hunched over the bar and made her way towards him. As she got closer, she couldn’t help but admire Rafael’s good looks when he suddenly raised his head to drink some more.
She walked up to him and sat beside him. “One glass of wine please.” She ordered and waited for him to recognise her but he didn’t.
Rafael who was drunk and caught up with thoughts of June and his life moving forward could hardly care about his surroundings or the women that seemed to flock around him.
He just wanted peace with his thoughts and it seemed everyone couldn’t understand. He took another big gulp from his cup and felt his guard go a couple notches down as he pondered if his security were around for the smallest seconds.
Clarence watched Rafael mutter incoherent words as he drank. She thought it was cute. Her late sister had always said how he was a light drinker and easily got drunk on a couple of glasses but witnessing it was a different ballgame and experience.
When he didn’t acknowledge her, she decided to take the matter into her own hands. “You seem to be having a good time all by yourself.”She said to him, finally catching his attention.
Rafael squinted his eyes at the woman in front of him. She sounded and looked familiar but he couldn’t pinpoint who she was. “June?” He muttered with confusion written on his face, “Is that you?”
Clarence felt slapped by his words but handled it gracefully. “Yes, dear. It’s your darling wife. Why are you here so late at night?”
Drunk Rafael heard the words and felt his heart grip once again. She had followed him here when he spoke so rudely to her. He didn’t deserve her. Clarence watched in shock as Rafael took her hand in his and kissed it.
His tears dropped behind her palm as he begged her while crying like a child. “I’m so sorry, June. I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
“I didn’t mean to. I never want you to be in pain. I love you too much to let you go through the trauma of being a widow. Will you ever forgive me? Please don’t say no.”
Clarence was shocked by his admission. Her heart pricked with guilt but she shook it off and played the bride of Rafael. “Oh dear, I already forgave you.” She meant every word, “I love you more than you can ever imagine.”
Rafael cried the more when he heard her words, taking it to be from June. “I don’t deserve you. I am dying. Carson says the cancer is quickly spreading around my body. I need to do something fast.”
“Did you know? Did you know my father died from cancer? I watched him fight and lose at the end. He became a shadow of the man he used to be and left us all after going through such pain.”
“I never wanted to be like him. I was ready to die in power but the thought of leaving you so soon makes me furious. I have never wanted something so bad and it’s all because of you.”
“I want to be alive and raise Luis together with you. I want to get married to you in front of a crowd. I want to give you the best but I can’t do that with a short life.” Rafael cried like a baby. “You make me want to live, June.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry you had to find out like this.” He suddenly said, “I don’t want you to suffer so please sign the documents. Divorce me and I promise, when I beat this, I will come for you.”
“And if you don’t?” Clarence couldn’t help the words that left her lips. “What if you die and can never come back? What then?”
By now, Rafael was half asleep. His voice slurred as he answered the question lingering from consciousness, “I will beat this. I will fight for us. I love you so much.”
Although slurred, Clarence could see the determination in his eyes.
“I will beat this and come back for you, love, I swear it.” Rafael dropped his head on her shoulder and his hold on her hand loosened. Clarence couldn’t understand how he fell asleep in such a crowded and noisy public environment.
She was suddenly tasked with the responsibility of taking him home. She sat back for some minutes and went through the information Rafael accidentally spilt. For the first time, she was scared of the future.
Rafael was a cancer patient. No matter how hard she tried to wrap her head around it, the shock of the news wrecked her nerves and left an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Although they weren’t best friends at the moment, she didn’t wish him death.
She couldn’t imagine a world without such a powerful man and to think he kept it all to himself and tried to divorce his wife in order to spare her the pain made her covet this man for herself.
Who says she couldn’t try her luck with him again? As far as she was concerned, this was the perfect time to cast her net and take home the trophy. She couldn’t afford to lose this opportunity.
Clarence checked the time and realised it was a few minutes past one. She had a lot of time to carry out the plans in her hands. She quickly paid for their drink and led Rafael out of the club with his arm around her shoulder.
She breathed a sigh of relief when they got to her car and placed him in the backseat. Rafael slept off while she drove to her hotel room as fast as she could. All through the ride, she monitored him through the mirror, hoping he didn’t wake up.
Soon enough, they got to the hotel and she dragged him out of the car and into her room. Clarence swiped her door open and staggered into the room with a sleeping Rafael hanging on to her shoulders.
She placed him on her bed and he fell right into sleep. She locked the door and spent the next few minutes admiring a man she had coveted from her youth. She couldn’t believe the stroke of luck she had.
Rafael turned around her bed, getting comfortable in deep sleep while she slowly discarded her clothes until she was left clad in her underwear. Clarence felt her heartbeat increase as she approached the sleeping man on her bed.
Slowly, she unbuttoned his shirt and soon, Rafael was down to his boxer briefs. She admired his silky glass skin which shone in the dim lights of her room. She bit her lips at the bulge of his manhood and thought of the many ways she could take what she wanted.
Clarence got to work, trying her best to get Rafael excited. She sighed in frustration after ten minutes of work and no result. It seemed like his junior had gone to sleep right with him. Right then, she thought up alternatives to the situation only to be shocked by the strange ringing of a phone that burst into the air.
Rafael’s phone was ringing in the pile of his clothes and causing a noise. Clarence rushed towards it, quickly finding and silencing it before checking the caller’s identity. Wifey was boldly displayed on the phone with a picture of June.
Jealousy burned in her guts when she remembered Rafael’s solemn declaration of love for her. A love she believed should belong to her and not June. A brighter idea was born at the sight of June’s message asking where he was.
Clarence bit her lips and joined Rafael on the bed. She snuggled into him, placing a kiss on his lips as she took multiple incriminating photos from different angles, smiling cheekily as she thought about June’s reaction to seeing him naked and loved up with her.
After the mini-photoshoot, Clarence picked the most suggestive few pictures and using Rafael’s phone, she sent it to June with the words, “Lovely night out with my love.”
June didn’t sleep a wink through the night. As soon as Rafael left the house, all peace was taken from her and she awaited his return home. She decided to call when the time passed and sent a text asking his whereabouts when he didn’t pick up.
Nothing prepared her for the multiple X-rated pictures that flooded her phone from Rafael.
Her heart broke when she recognised the woman in the picture. It was Clarence. While she worried and waited for her husband to return, he rolled the sheets with her. The knowledge of it brought a bitter taste to her mouth and a raw inexplicable feeling of her heart shattering to pieces.
She took a look at the divorce papers which sat on top of the table, waiting for her signature. Tears dripped from her eyes as she picked up the pen. She could take being insulted and devalued, she could work through fire and storm for her marriage, but she drew the line in being cheated on.
She refused to let the cycle repeat itself. There and then, she signed the divorce papers.