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A WEEK PASSED BY WITH little happening. The witch hunters stayed quiet. Ciara kept jokingly thinking they were having a summer holiday.
She didn’t believe that was the case, though. Whatever was going on, she doubted it was good. Her best guess was that the witch hunters were plotting their next move. Probably something big.
Some members agreed with her. In fact, most did.
Since Henry’s summer holiday was over, Ciara needed someone else to hang out with. She had started visiting Jesse—sometimes even when Henry wasn’t working. Jesse had given her access to his gym for free. She insisted on paying, but he refused to take her money.
She went to the gym almost daily. It was the perfect excuse for skipping wedding planning with Iris who had been asking for Ciara’s help more and more often.
It was Saturday. Ciara had finished her workout, and she was hanging out at the counter with Jesse. They were mostly flirting.
Her ringtone interrupted them.
“Let me guess,” Jesse said, already laughing. “Iris.”
Ciara looked at her phone screen and sighed. “Yes, it’s Iris.”
Jesse cocked his head to the side, looking between Ciara and her ringing phone. “Are you going to pick up?”
She sighed again. “I guess I have to.” She tapped the green phone icon on the screen and raised the phone to her ear. “Hi.”
“Ciara! I’ve been trying to call you for hours!”
“I’ve been at the gym all morning. I’m sorry I didn’t notice.”
“All morning?” Iris asked, surprise evident in her voice. Ciara could only imagine her checking the time, too.
Ciara chuckled. “It’s a long story.”
“Oh,” Iris said. Ciara could hear from her voice that she was smiling. “So, what are you doing later?”
“Um...”
She had just wasted her chance for an excuse. Wrong move.
“I would appreciate your help.” Iris sounded desperate, which made Ciara feel bad about her excuses.
“What time do you need me?”
“Five o’clock. Does that sound good?”
“Five o’clock at your flat?”
“Yes. Liam is going out with the guys tonight, so it’s just us two.”
“I’ll be there at five.”
“Wonderful! See you.”
“Bye.” Ciara ended the call and turned to look at Jesse.
He read her expression. “Wedding help?”
“Looks like it.” Ciara ran her hands down her face, letting out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know why she doesn’t ask her friends.”
“Maybe they’re tired of doing Liam’s work,” Jesse suggested. Even he had grown tired of Ciara doing Liam’s work.
“Good point.”
“And Iris knows they don’t know Liam as well.”
“That’s true, too.” Ciara nodded. “So, do you want me to plan your wedding? It looks like I’m about to become a full-on professional,” she joked.
Jesse laughed. “Oh, yes! I’ll make sure to ask you.”
Ciara grinned. She enjoyed hanging out with Jesse, because it was easy. He didn’t ask her about the witch hunters. Instead he had questions about her everyday life. It was a fresh change to have someone who didn’t constantly remind her of Theo’s death.
***
CIARA STOPPED BY AT Henry’s flat. She needed a shower and a fresh set of clothes after her workout.
It was five o’clock sharp when she walked up the stairs of the block of flats, on her way to help Iris with all the wedding planning. She had had an accident with lifts in the past, so she preferred to take the stairs.
It was already one minute past five by the time Ciara reached the right floor. She picked up her pace, so Iris wouldn’t wonder why she was late. After all, Ciara was always rather early than late.
She walked towards the flat door, but then stopped, seeing a man leave the flat.
He was shirtless. In fact, he was just pulling his shirt on when he closed the door.
Ciara continued to walk, hoping the man wouldn’t acknowledge her sudden halt. He didn’t need to know which flat she was heading to.
The man nodded at Ciara as they passed by one another. Based on the sound of his footsteps, he was heading for the lift, but Ciara didn’t turn around to see.
She pretended to be heading to another flat while she hoped that whoever lived there didn’t open their door. When she was standing at a random flat door, she turned her head to the side. The lift doors opened, and the man stepped in.
Once the lift doors slid closed, Ciara walked to the right door. She raised her hand to knock. But before her hand hit the wooden door, she froze.
Iris had cheated on Liam.
Unless Liam was still home, and it had been a threesome.
Or perhaps the man had borrowed a washing machine to wash his shirt. Except that sounded absurd.
Ciara tried to think of reasons. Anything but cheating. But the thought of Iris cheating on Liam kept repeating in her head.
She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t call Liam. He would never believe her. If she told him, he would think of her as a jealous ex-girlfriend. Meetings would be awkward after that.
Ciara’s thoughts were racing. She didn’t want to see Iris, but she was already late. She raised her hand again and knocked at the door.
She hoped Liam was home, and the trio had just had a threesome.
Iris opened the door for Ciara right after she knocked. For a few seconds, she looked at Ciara wide-eyed but then faked a smile. “Hi! I didn’t even realise it was five already. Come in.”
“Hi.” Ciara forced a smile and stepped inside.
She couldn’t see Liam anywhere.
And Iris’s hair had never looked so messy. It was all over the place. As if she hadn’t brushed her hair in days.
Iris was cheating.
It wasn’t just the hair that gave it away. She was standing up straight, and her shoulders were tensed.
She also kept biting the inside of her cheek. She seemed worried. Worried that Ciara had seen the man leave. She had seen that, but Ciara mentioned nothing and made sure Iris didn’t notice anything odd in her behaviour.
She didn’t want Iris to suspect anything, so she stayed for a couple of hours. A couple of endless hours.
Eventually Iris relaxed and became her normal self—her normal secretly cheating self. She even tried to have Ciara stay longer, but Ciara came up with an excuse.
Ciara couldn’t stand being around the woman. She wouldn’t spend any more time with Iris than necessary. Ciara had never hated Iris. She had never had hard feelings for her, even though Liam had picked Iris over her. They had been friends, even if Ciara hated helping with the wedding planning.
But Ciara could no longer stand the woman.
She tried to think of other possibilities besides cheating, but the evidence seemed clear. Iris was a cheater.
Ciara was so deep in her thoughts she didn’t realise she was stupidly standing at Henry’s flat door, staring at it. She snapped back to reality when she heard someone say her name. She spun around to see Henry.
“Did you forget your key?” Henry asked, gesturing to the locked door.
“No. I...” Ciara blinked. “Nothing.”
Henry opened the flat door, eyeing Ciara worriedly, and they both walked in.
“So, uh, where were you?” Ciara asked Henry.
“I had dinner with Liam and his friends.”
Ciara wanted to grimace, but she kept it in. “Oh. So guys’ night?”
“Guys’ day,” Henry corrected.
Ciara nodded. “All day?” she asked, making her way to the sofa.
“We went bowling at two,” Henry said and sat down beside Ciara.
“Oh.”
“What were you doing today?” Henry asked.
“I was at the gym, but Iris called, so I went to help her.”
She wondered if she should tell Henry about the shirtless man.
“So, anything new?”
“What do you mean?” Ciara asked, turning to face Henry.
“With the wedding planning?”
“O-oh.” Ciara exhaled. “No, nothing new.”
“You got nothing done?”
“Not that much.”
“Oh.”
Ciara was dying to tell Henry about the cheating. But in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him.
She doubted herself. Perhaps the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Just her imagination playing tricks on her.
It had to be her old feelings rekindling.
It wouldn’t have made any sense for Iris to be cheating on Liam. They were planning a wedding, and Iris was excited about it.
A truth spell would have revealed everything, but using one was out of question. It would have been wrong to use such a spell on Iris, even if she was cheating on Liam.
“What’s on your mind?” Henry asked, pulling Ciara out of her thoughts.
“Just thinking. It’s about the wedding planning,” Ciara lied. “Nothing to worry about.”