The Remorseful Brothers Novel

ANASTASIA

Clara’s face turned to the side with the impact of the resounding slap that I just landed on her cheeks.

She reeled backward, clutched her face and stared at the floor for a long while, This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

That slap was the very least of all the things I wanted to do to her. I was literally holding myself back from hurling insults at her as I beat her up. But what would that do? Absolutely nothing. What had happened has happened, it was now in the past.

“You found out,” came her quiet voice. “Dennis told you, didn’t he?”

“I can’t believe you blackmailed him into keeping quiet about such a thing. Do you think he’s like you? A pretender? You smile at me but deep down you hate me for,” I made air quotes with my fingers, “taking Aiden away from you.”

Clara remained there, saying nothing.

“Clara, how could you? You were my friend! I confided in you. I told you everything, I sought your advice in literally everything I did.”

I tipped my head back and looked up at the sky as I attempted to stop my tears from falling. Not here, not before her, no.

My mind drifted back to all the little fights that Aiden and I used to have. Half of our misunderstandings were instigated by her, with the things she would advise me to do or say to Aiden, the approach she’d lead me to whenever I told her about something Aiden did that I

disliked.

Alden was always so calm and collected that we’d eventually work through it all, coming back stronger together. I never told Aiden that it

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was Clara who asked me to do or say so but I stopped telling her stuff that happened between us. I stopped stuffing her with unnecessary details because I became scared that she’d cause a rift between us

with her bad advice. And all the while, I chucked it all to the fact that it was just how Clara was aggressive.

I laughed out loud, “I had been a damned fool, hadn’t I?” I shok my head, “Clara why? Why would you do that? You were like my second skin.”

“No,” she finally spoke up. Her voice was quiet but I didn’t miss the venom that dripped from her tone. I looked down at her face and the look there frightened me.

“I was never your second skin, not until Aiden came. He was your second skin. You made my man your second skin!” She sneered and I flinched back, deeply surprised.

“What are you sa-”

“Why did you never ask why Aiden came to visit that day? I specifically told you that I was expecting someone. Why did you ever ask what was between us when you saw him and realized you knew him? You flirted with him right in my presence!” She gripped her hair and turned around, turning her back to me but I glimpsed the watering her eyes, the one she was desperately holding back.

“Are you being serious right now? How was I supposed to know? You should’ve just told me.”

She turned sharply and laughed sarcastically, tears running down her cheeks, “Oh what do you expect me to say to my best friend that was in love? Perhaps, I should go like, ‘Anastasia, I have something to tell you. The man you’re actually in love with is the man I also love and I want you to leave him for me.‘ How about that!”

At some point, after I cried and even now, I blamed Aiden. Since Clara

claimed that she was worried that she’d hurt me or whatever, Aiden could have told me. He should have explained to me that he once met my best friend on a damned dating app and they talked all night for several days. Any sane person would know that Clara didn’t just want only friendship from him and even Aiden must have own that at a point.

The perfect time he should have told me was when Clara stopped being subtle with her disapproval. Many times, I had mentioned to him how worried or scared I was for him that Clara didn’t like him with me but he never said a thing!