Fool me twice

Jake let out a sigh before he started telling Laila what she had been waiting to hear. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry. Let me start again. This time I will tell you the truth. Well, the full truth. The story I told you wasn't a full lie. It was really the story of how I met the woman you have probably seen me with. But it didn't happen last night. It happened about two months ago. You had been busy planning one of your events and you couldn't go with me to this work party. There I met the niece of the president of Sunset Studios. For some reason she had taken a liking to me and she stuck to me for the whole evening.

While I had actually had one too many, she only pretended to be drunk. So, when I took her to the hotel room, fully intending to leave after I had put her to bed, she used that opportunity to take advantage of my drunken state. One thing led to another and we ended up spending the night together. But nothing happened. I swear. The next morning I woke up and I found both her and I half undressed but it seems that at least I was too drunk to finish the job. I know I should have told you about it but I knew it looked bad and it would hurt you unnecessarily. So, I decided to keep it to myself. If you don't believe me, I can call Gloria and let her tell you what happened that night herself."

As Laila continued to listen to Jake telling her about his two month affair and painting it off as an innocent night of misunderstandable mistakes, she could feel her heart getting stabbed over and over again. While she tried to fight back her tears, as she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hurting her with his cheating and lies, it became harder and harder to keep them away with each word that left his mouth.

When he stopped talking, Laila looked up at him with eyes of disbelieve and a clear sense of hurt, she asked, "Is that it?! Is that the story you are going with? That it was a one-time mistake where nothing even happened. Damn it Jake, I really hoped you would tell me the truth. I really thought that you might have been a changed man but I guess that one is on me. You are still that immature guy from high school who fed me all kinds of lies and expected me to believe them. I might have believed you before, but I know better now. How does that saying go? Shame on you if you fool me once, shame on ME if you fool me twice! Well, I have been shamed plenty of times and I have had enough."

"What are you talking about?! I am telling you the truth here Laila! I made a mistake and I admit that but why do you insist on making me an even bigger bad guy? Why would I offer to call Gloria if I was lying?"

With fire in her eyes Laila responded to Jake's question. "Drop the act Jake. I told you that I saw multiple pictures, with both you and the woman in the picture wearing different clothes. So, they were clearly taken on different days. If this was a one-time mistake during a drunken night, why were you entering multiple different hotels and restaurants with her?!"

Jake threw his hands up out of frustration and said, "I told you that it was the niece of the president of Sunset Studio. Just because I had a slip-up with her and she has a crush on me, does not mean that I can avoid her just because I want to. She has been put in charge for the cooperation project between our company and her uncle's company. So, if she insist that we have to meet to go over something regarding that project, I have no other option than to oblige. You know very well that if I offend Sunset Studio, it will be a big blow to the company. So yes, I took her to lunch and dinner MEETINGS and sometimes those took place in hotel restaurants. But if those nosy vultures, who love to meddle in other people's lives, had bothered to stay and watch us until the end, they would have known that we never left the dining area and we went our own ways after an hour or two. Think back on what you saw and tell that it wasn't the same woman in each and everyone of those pictures."

Laila hated to admit it but Jake's words were making sense. She indeed had only seen pictures of them entering. Never pictures of them leaving. And it was true that Sunset Studio is a very powerful company and it wasn't wise to offend them. Though the woman in the picture had a different outfit and hairstyle in each of the pictures she had seen, they could have been the same woman. But even though everything he said made sense, she couldn't shake off this bad feeling she had. If she let this matter go so easily and went along with his explanation just like that, she would come to regret it. She just knew it!