The Betrayal Within

Lyra's eyes widened in shock and amusement as her only friend, Elsa, narrated her ordeal at the nightclub to her.

"Elsa, you're kidding, right?"

"I'm dead serious, Lyra. That boy was a total charmer. I don't know if it was because we were both drunk, but the chemistry was electric. You needed to be there! You'd probably have felt it too," Elsa replied a little too seriously.

Lyra chuckled awkwardly and flicked her hair away from her face. "I mean, it's totally cool, but didn't you say he was way younger than you?"

Elsa scoffed and shook her head. "Who cares? I'm not as lucky as you, who have the perfect marriage to a drop-dead gorgeous man. The man of your dreams."

Elsa angled her head backwards to study Lyra, a curious look on her face. "Hey, shouldn't you be happy for me, at least?"

Lyra laughed awkwardly and shook her head, fidgeting. "Oh please, don't get me wrong, El. I'm very happy for you. You know I'd always be. It's just... I'm concerned about you too."

"You don't have to be, girl. I just want to find the kind of love you have. You know, you have a beautiful thing about Zander. I envy you." Elsa had a wistful expression on her face as she said that, but Lyra knew she meant well, despite how she might have sounded. Elsa had always stood by her no matter what, rooting for her, and pushing her when she felt like she couldn't go on anymore.

Lyra Raven, a university undergraduate, had her fair share of misfortunes in life. She'd lost her parents and her only brother in a car accident, in which she'd somehow managed to be the only survivor. The accident had occurred on her tenth birthday, and she'd worn a cloak of guilt ever since, blaming herself for her family's demise, because she had persisted on a birthday dinner in a luxurious restaurant that day. She'd constantly wished she could turn back the unequal hands of time, to rewrite the sad, haunting past. But they were only wishes... and she couldn't ride them even if they were horses. She wasn't confident enough.

Color had gradually started to return to her bleak life when she met Elsa, in high school, and then it had gotten even more colorful on that fateful day, in her sophomore year, when she'd bumped into the man that was now her husband.

The flash of memories brought an irresistible smile to her face, and she chuckled when she caught Elsa slanting her eyes at her.

"I bet you're thinking about him, huh?" Elsa queried, then she added, shaking her head. "I told you, I'm so envious of you. Xander adores you. Have you seen the way he looks at you? I'd totally kill to have a man that looks at me the way Zander looks at you."

Lyra shrugged as she pressed the button for the garage. "Like I always say, El, love will definitely find you. Don't go looking for it."

"So, tell me more about this guy you met at the club," she added as they stepped into the elevator.

Lyra paid rapt attention as Elsa chattered about how she'd hooked up with the guy on a love settee, at a rather secluded spot in the club, and how he'd left her wanting more, with his phone number, and a heart-shaped finger gesture, as passing gifts.

"So, have you called him yet?"

"Not yet. I'm kinda nervous about it."

"Why? I've never known you to be nervous."

"Well... I don't really know what to say to him when I call. And he seemed like-"

She never got to finish her sentence, as Lyra's phone rang out shrilly, interrupting her.

"Hold on," Lyra pleaded, searching her bag for her phone.

She looked at the screen and smiled. "Hey, handsome."

There was an unusual and disturbing silence on the other end, and Lyra's heart skipped a bit. Was something wrong?

"Baby? Zander?" she prompted, not letting the fear she was starting to feel reflect in her voice.

The person on the other end cleared his throat, and started in a clipped voice, "can you get home early today?"

"Zander, what's the problem? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Lyra. Just try to get home early today. I'd like to have dinner with you, for a change."

Lyra? He never called her Lyra.

"Uhm, o-okay. I will," Lyra stuttered, and the line went dead even before she could say anything else. The hand holding her mobile phone dropped lifelessly to her side, the loud thud of her heartbeat almost deafening her.

"Lyra, what's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost," Elsa asked, the concern deeply etched in her tone. But Lyra didn't really hear her. She just heard echoes of a familiar voice, but she couldn't make out anything her friend was saying. Her mind was racing.

Something was definitely wrong.

The dinner was eerily quiet and broody.

Lyra forked around her plate, not having the appetite for the meal of scrambled eggs and bread slices in front of her, watching her husband eat his meal with gusto. Everything about the night was just... unusual.

Starting from the phone call, to the stiff reception when she got back home, and the painful, aching silence that hung in the air between them. Now, it was the way he forked the food into his mouth, not even glancing at her once.

He never ate like that.

Lyra sighed and tried to shake the feeling. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Or he probably had a bad day at work.

She was definitely imagining all of this.

"How's work?" she asked, an attempt to strike their first conversation since she got home.

Zander shrugged and continued to chew with a lot of concentration, still not looking at her.

"Baby?" Lyra prompted, refusing to accept the cold shoulder he was giving her.

"Work was like work, Lyra. Same as usual," Zander finally replied a little reluctantly, between mouthfuls.

Lyra nodded glumly, her mind already racing in search of another question to keep their conversation going. She'd seen that Zander was the least interested in having a conversation.

She was on the verge of asking a totally clueless question, (something about his newfound appetite), when Zander said in a flat tone, "and speaking about work, I'm going on a business trip."

Lyra's jaw dropped, and her mouth fell open.

"What business trip?" she queried before she could stop herself, and when Zander looked up at her with hard, unemotional eyes, she knew she had made a mistake. Her hands dropped to her laps under the dining table, fingers trembling.

This was not her Zander.