KATRINA'S P O V

My hands became clammy, and I couldn't help but feel uneasy as I held the necklace in my hand, and stared at the brilliant and yellow gold diamond stone, matched with the silvery platinum lace that were surrounded with smaller diamonds,

I continued to walk down the hallway, and when I found the room that had a number 717 inscribed on the upper portion of the door, I came to a halt. Cohen gave me instructions to come here, and bring this necklace to him.

I hastily came here as soon as I read his message, feeling so excited, and nervous---I really can't understand what to feel right now. I took a few deep breaths before I lifted my fist, and slowly knocked on the door three times.

I plastered a broad smile on my face as I waited for the door to open, my hand still clutching the necklace tightly, afraid that it might slip out of my grasp. After a brief period of time had elapsed, I became aware of the sound of footfall approaching which made my heart rate quicken.

Soon enough, the door opened, and there was Cohen, my dear husband standing at the doorway, but to my dismay, his eyes were as cold as ice as they stared at me.

‘‘Cohen!’’ I called out excitedly, ignoring the way he was looking at me, and just as I was about to hug him, I noticed that he was only wearing a white bathrobe, and his hair was wet, indicating that he had just gotten out of the shower room.

Something wasn’t right. I made an effort to ignore the red flags that were popping up in my head, but I couldn't deny the feeling that something was odd about the situation.

‘‘Dear---’’ I had even addressed him by the term of endearment that we had grown accustomed to using for each other when I was interrupted by the alluring voice of a woman coming from the inside the room.

‘‘Honey? Who are you talking to?’’ The voice of the woman sounded so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on when or where I had heard it before.

Honey…?

My mouth dropped open in shock as I stared at Cohen.

‘‘Cohen, who’s that…’’ I choked out the words, my voice was wracked with anguish as I did so. But before he could respond, a beautiful woman approached us, and immediately hugged him from behind.

Even as tears started to form in my eyes, I couldn't help but look at her from head to toe without being able to stop myself. She has a pair of grey eyes, wavy blonde hair that cascaded down her back in a lovely way, and she was also dressed in a white bathrobe exactly like my husband's, covering her body in all of its grandeur.

I knew her. I loved watching her in the television because of her beautiful voice. Her voice is quite remarkable, as is the quality of her tone. She has a strong connection with the audience every time she was performing, and this helped her to stand out among the other singers.

But at this very moment, I detest her to the depths of my being. It's a mistake that I ever watched her or liked her songs. All I wanted to do at that very moment was to wrap my fingers around her beautiful neck, and strangle her until I could no longer hear her voice.

She got on tiptoes to reach Cohen's cheek and laid a quick kiss on it, to which he reacted with a sweet smile and a loving gaze—very different from the one he was sending me earlier.

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement when describing how I felt exactly at this moment. My heart was ripped into pieces, and was locked in place.

After she had finished giving Cohen a peck on the cheek, my husband turned to look at me and chuckled in a way that suggested he took pleasure in seeing me in pain at the moment. ‘‘Natalia, this is Katrina…’’ I felt a glimmer of hope when he started to introduce me to the woman whose arms were now encircled around his waist as if she were a snake. ‘‘She’s my assistant who brought the necklace I promised to give you…’’

What?!

I tried to blink my tears away but they escaped one by one, and I immediately brushed them with my hand when Cohen wasn’t looking at me, because they were busy staring at each other.

‘‘Really?’’ Natalia smiled. ‘‘Where is the necklace then? I want to see it!’’

I was carrying a shoulder bag with me, and I decided to hide the necklace inside, but before I could even do so, Cohen had already snatched it from my hand. ‘‘Cohen!’’

Cohen didn’t pay attention on me as he put the necklace around Natalia’s neck. ‘‘Oh my God, this is so beautiful!’’ she exclaimed, stroking the diamond pendant with her fingers. ‘‘Thank you so much, Cohen!’’

Just a few minutes ago, Cohen sent me a message, telling me that I should bring the necklace to him at this hotel. I thought he would give me this beautiful necklace as a gift, because today marked our fifth wedding anniversary.

I thought he would surprise me, and yes, I was really surprised. I didn’t expect that he would do this in front of me.

Taking into account what he was doing at this very moment, I have a hard time believing that he even remembered the day today. I was wrong. It was a grave error on my part to love him.

Releasing a soundless breath, I felt my shoulders sag, same as my spirit. God, I felt like a fucking cliché right now---the clueless wife catching her husband cheat on her.

The feeling of betrayal welled up in my chest, wrapped around my heart, and threatened to slice and dice. I thought he was different from other men. I was wrong again.

Clutching my bag as if I could keep my heart from bleeding hurt, I told to myself to just turn around and leave them. But my mind stopped me from doing so. I am the wife. I am the one he chose to marry, and he gave his word that he would love me, till death do we part.

‘‘I can’t believe this, Cohen!’’ I managed to blurt out, despite the fact that my throat was still hurting from preventing my tears to fall down. My eyes burning fire as I sent murderous glares towards him. ‘‘If you don’t want this marriage to work anymore, just set me free, Cohen! Let’s get divorced!’’

‘‘Oh… so, she’s the woman you were talking about…’’ Natalia said, her eyes raking me up and down. ‘‘What’s your response to what she just said, honey?’’ she asked as she looked up at him, her hand slid in the robe he was wearing, and started to caress his bare chest.

Cohen smiled, and lifted his hand to brush a few tendrils away from her face, before he turned to me, his eyes turned dark as he did so. ‘‘I don’t want to divorce you…’’ he said calmly, and I could see how Natalie frown, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, but her lips gradually tore in a smile when she heard the next words he said to me. ‘‘You don’t deserve freedom! That’s your punishment for having a child with another man five years ago!’’

And then he slammed the door close, almost hitting me in the face which caused me to flinch and stepped backwards.