Diana and Marlie met at the small café. The atmosphere was heavy, filled with a silence that even the clinking of cups couldn't break.
Marlie, arms crossed on the table, watched her friend with concern.
"Diana?"
"Yes…" Diana replied in a low voice. "I didn't want to believe it myself, but Ray came to my house, completely shaken. And what he told me…"
She paused, eyes lost in the steam rising from her coffee.
"Isabella… naked… and Gale shirtless… in the same apartment."
Marlie frowned, shaking her head slowly.
"No, impossible. Gale would never do that. He's not that kind of man."
"That's what I thought too," Diana sighed. "But Ray seemed sincere. He was angry, hurt… I've rarely seen that look in his eyes."
"Or," Marlie suggested, "he misunderstood what he saw. You know how he gets carried away by his emotions."
Diana stayed silent for a moment before murmuring:
"Maybe… but part of me wonders if he's right."
Marlie placed a hand over her friend's.
"Don't jump to conclusions. We don't know the whole story. Isabella is going through a rough patch, and Gale has always had this need to help others, even at his own expense sometimes."
"You mean he was just comforting her, and Ray saw something else?"
"Exactly."
Diana sighed deeply.
"If only things were that simple…"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Ray trudged home, his steps heavy.
His empty gaze fell on the living room table, still cluttered with papers and half-full glasses. A heavy silence filled the room, broken only by the rhythmic patter of rain against the window.
He yanked off his jacket and tossed it onto the sofa before sitting down.
His fingers trembled slightly.
The image replayed over and over: Isabella, naked, in Gale's arms.
His chest tightened, breath uneven.
"Why…?" he murmured. "Why did you do this to me?"
His hand slammed onto the table, knocking everything over.
Glasses shattered into a thousand pieces.
Ray clenched his teeth, breath short.
"This… is all his fault!"
His eyes lifted to the mirror on the wall.
The reflection staring back at him was no longer the man he knew.
His features were tense, twisted by rage and pain.
A tear escaped despite him.