The Deceitful Newlywed

You just got married to a man named Darius King, and your wedding day was perfect. All of your friends and family were there (well, his family anyway, your family is very religious and didn’t approve of you marrying a man). It was a fantastic day full of laughter, fun, great food, and most importantly, the bonding of you and the person you expect to love for the rest of your life.

All of the decisions that came with it were surprisingly easy with Darius by your side. You both decided quickly on the cake flavor (chocolate), where you would have the wedding, and who you would invite. You both had trouble deciding which of you would walk down the aisle (since it’s traditionally the woman, but you two are both men) and quickly decided to walk down the aisle together. You both also had trouble with your last name after you got married. Darius didn’t like how “Darius Lee” sounded, and you didn’t like how “Marcel King” sounded. Upon trying to hyphenate it instead, you two couldn’t decide on “Darius and Marcel Lee-King” or “Darius and Marcel King-Lee”, so you two decided to stick with your last names instead of fussing over it. It seemed a bit weird, but you didn’t mind and Darius seemed to like the idea better.

In short, everything was perfect. Everything went the way it was supposed to.

You two decided to have your honeymoon in London. You aren’t sure why you decided on that other than “we’ve never been, so why not?” Plus, Darius wanted to go.

You two set off to England after the wedding, and when you got there and settled in your hotel, you both went to bed as it was late and the flight was long.

And that’s when everything went wrong.

You and Darius had a lot of things planned for your honeymoon, but Darius went out early in the morning before you got up. He left a note for you saying, “In case you wake up before I get back, I need to go out to get some things for our stay here. I’ll be back soon. Love, Darius.”

You never thought about what Darius went for since there was so much trust between the two of you that it seemed unnecessary to question it. So, you go downstairs to get some breakfast in the hotel while waiting for him to return. You assumed it wouldn’t be long.

You got your breakfast and sat down at an empty table. Not long after you sat down, an older woman approached you.

“Hey, didn’t you come in with a friend last night?” She asked. “Where is he?”

“Oh, he’s my husband.” You say. “I’m not sure though, he should be back soon.”

“Shouldn’t you know where your husband is?” She frowned. “Especially since…you two aren’t from here?”

“I’m sure he’ll tell me when he gets back!” You cheerfully say. “I could call him, though.”

“Yeah…you probably should.” The woman said. “Anyway, see you around.”

“Wait, how did you know I wasn’t from here?”

“Your accent?”

“Oh, right.”

The woman shook her head and walked away.

You decided to call Darius after that conversation. You had to call twice before he finally picked up.

“Hey Darius, are you on your way back?” You ask.

“Marcel. Hey, I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll be back for a while.” Darius said, slurring.

“What?! Why?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t say. I have to go stay with some friends for a while…”

“Everything was fine yesterday! Also, since when do you have friends here? You’ve never told me you had friends here!”

“Marcel, I’m sorry, I have to go.”

“Darius, wait — ”

Darius hung up.

You groan and put your head in your hands. You were so confused and shocked, he never keeps secrets from you and he just bailed on your honeymoon!

You started thinking that maybe he wasn’t the person you thought he was. Maybe he met someone over the internet that he loved more than you and came here to meet them. Maybe he was never even gay and was just using you because you were easy. Maybe you bonded your life to someone who doesn’t even love you.

You got up and went to the front lobby, pulling up a picture of Darius with his short dreadlocks in two ponytails as you went.

“Excuse me, did you see this man early this morning?” You ask the person with mid-length, pale pink hair at the front desk. You look at their nametag and it says “River”.

“I’m sorry, I just started my shift a few minutes ago.” River said, “You’ll have better luck asking her, she takes the night shift.”

They pointed to a red-haired woman standing near the entrance to the hotel. You remember seeing her last night and you wondered why you didn’t look for her originally.

“I don’t know why she hasn’t left yet, but that’s good luck for you.” River said.

“Thank you.” You say, walking away.

“Hope you find who you’re looking for!”

You approach the red-haired woman and you look at her nametag as well to remember her name. It says “Ava”.

“Hi…uh, Ava?”

Ava looks up from her phone. She seemed a little irritated and you wondered if it was because of you.

“Hey, if you need anything, I’m off the clock,” Ava says. “You should talk to River, they are just as capable as I am.”

“I don’t deny that, but it has to be you.” You chuckled nervously. “It’s my husband. The man I came in with last night? I’m worried something happened to him. Did you see what direction he went in early this morning?”

“Ah.” Ava looks up like she’s contemplating her answer. “Darius King, right? He signed out at around…five in the morning? He said he needed to go out for something before everyone came out for the day. I think he turned right when he walked out.”

“Thanks.” You say. “Are you okay? Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I doubt it unless you can give me a ride home.” Ava sighs. “My brother is supposed to, but he said he was too caught up in something…this is why I need my own car.” She added under her breath.

“Oh…I’m sorry, I wish I could give you a ride home.”

“It’s fine. Go find your husband.”

You nod, leave the hotel, and turn right.

Now, you know for sure he might be having an affair. He’d lie to Ava, of course, because you can just ask her.

You continue walking until you see a convenience store. It says it’s open twenty-four hours. You doubted you’d get lucky enough to find someone who was here around five a.m., but it was worth a shot. If there is a chance he was here, you shouldn’t ignore it. He is still your husband after all, and you thought you two had a great relationship.

You go to walk inside and move aside for a brown-haired cashier that seems to have just gotten off the clock. Then, you realize he could probably help, mentally slap yourself, and run after him.

“Hey, excuse me?!”

The cashier turned around. His nametag said “Oscar”.

“Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you saw this man early this morning. His name is Darius?” You pulled up the picture of Darius again.

Oscar looks at the picture and raises his eyebrows.

“Yeah.” He says. “We had a quick conversation as he was paying for two bottles of orange juice. You must be his boyfriend.”

You blink. Boyfriend?

“I’m his husband.” You say. “We just got married.”

Oscar seemed stunned.

“Wait. Sorry, I just worked a late shift and I’m exhausted. You’re his husband?”

“Yeah?”

“He mentioned just getting married and leaving his partner down the street at the hotel…but…I…honestly didn’t think too much about him saying ‘boyfriend’ instead of ‘husband’. Plus, he seemed kind of drunk, so I wasn’t taking anything he was saying seriously. What’s your name?”

“Marcel.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t remember the name he told me, but it wasn’t Marcel. It started with an N. Maybe Nathaniel or Nicholas or…”

Your eyes filled with tears and you blinked them away.

“Do you know where he went at all?” You ask.

“I’m sorry, no.”

Someone cleared their throat and you and Oscar turned to see a man who seemed like he was homeless looking at you two.

“Does Darius have short dreadlocks? He’s black, slim-ish build?”

“Yeah…?” You reply.

“He’s sleeping with some other dude for sure. He got into the car with this redhead and they kissed. I noticed he threw away a wedding ring before he got into the car, so I wrote down the license plate in case someone came looking for him, and I dug the ring out of the trash.”

He gives you a piece of paper with the license plate on it, and Darius’ wedding ring. Your eyes welled up with tears again, and Oscar looked over your shoulder to read the license plate.

“I see that license plate every day!” Oscar exclaimed. “Red van, right?”

“Mhm, it picks up another redhead — a woman — from the hotel every day. Around this time, actually.”

You stand there in shock for a second.

“I have to go.” You say, sprinting away.

“Oh, okay?” Oscar says. “Hope you find him.”

You run back to the hotel and see Ava still standing there at the entrance.

“What is your association with this car?” You demand, on the verge of tears.

“Excuse me?” Ava scoffed.

You show her the license plate and her eyes widen.

“That’s my brother’s car!” She says. “How did you get that?”

“Your brother is sleeping with my husband!” You say, basically sobbing at this point. “A man told me he saw them get into the car together, and he saw him throw away his wedding ring!”

Ava’s eyes widened further.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I swear I had no idea.” She says. “That idiot! There’s no way he doesn’t know Darius is married! And I didn’t even know he liked men, he has a girlfriend!”

“Is everything okay?”

River wandered over during that.

“No, we just found out that my brother is sleeping with his husband!” Ava exclaimed. “And now I’m super irritated because he abandoned his little sister at work to sleep with a married man! I think they are at our house, but it’s too far to walk!”

“Oh, that’s…” River shook their head. “I can drive you. Let me just tell one of the concierges to manage the front desk while I’m gone. I’m sure they can do it fine.”

After River gets someone to manage the front desk, they lead you and Ava to their car, and Ava gives them the address to her house. You explain all the details to River and Ava on your way there.

When you all get there, Ava unlocks the door and yells for her brother.

“Noah!”

Noah runs up from the basement and shuts the door behind him.

“Hey, Ava,” He chuckles nervously. “Sorry I left you at work.”

“Whatever, who’s down there?” Ava says, raising an eyebrow.

Noah looks around, and his eyes land on River.

“Oh! Hey, River!”

“Noah.” Ava waves in front of his face as River rolls their eyes. “Answer my question.”

His eyes land on you, and his eyes widen.

“Uh…” He laughs nervously.

“Answer my question, for God’s sake, Noah!”

“No one’s down there!”

“Really? Then, let me see!”

“No!”

“Why not?!”

“It…” Noah glanced around the room again. “It’s dirty down there.”

Ava huffed.

“Noah, I know there is someone down there.”

“What do you mean?” He laughed again.

“Noah, this isn’t funny! You can’t just sleep with other people’s spouses! You have a girlfriend and they just got married! This is their honeymoon!”

Noah rubbed his feet on the carpet and muttered something.

“What was that?” Ava said.

“I was worried about what she would think, okay?!” Noah exclaimed. “We…used to make jokes about how she would never date a man who likes other men…so, I’m sure she won’t accept this. We met over the internet and he provided me with an escape from that. I knew he was married, but…I thought he would handle it.”

Ava glared at him.

“I’ll just…go get him.” Noah opens the basement door and runs downstairs.

He returns with Darius, who sees you and freezes.

“Marcel…hey, uh…”

You walk up to him and smack him.

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!” You scream. “IT’S OUR HONEYMOON!”

“I…I know. I’m sorry.” Darius mumbles. “Look, I wasn’t sure how to tell you I didn’t love you anymore…and when you proposed, it made things ten times harder. I…I really did want to tell you.”

“WHY WOULD YOU SAY ‘YES’ IF YOU DIDN’T LOVE ME ANYMORE?” You’re sobbing again. “YOU HAD ME MARRY YOU AND THINK EVERYTHING WAS FINE ONLY TO DITCH ME ON OUR HONEYMOON?!”

“Marcel…”

“WHEN WE GET BACK TO AMERICA, IT’S OVER! WE’LL OFFICIATE THE DIVORCE AND YOU’LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN!”

“Marcel, please, let’s talk this through calmly…”

You turn your back to him.

“Thank you so much. Both of you.” You say to Ava and River, wiping away your tears.

“Of course.” River says.

“No problem.” Ava sighs. “I’m sorry about him…and my brother. This wasn’t fair. Come on, I know the room is registered under his name, so I’ll get you a new room.”

“No…you don’t have to do that.”

“I know I don’t have to,” Ava says.

She takes your arm, and River takes the other. Together, you walk out of the house and head back to the hotel.