Insanity Bites |z.m| |h.s|

Chapter 6: Cheater?

My mind was still reeling from the after effects of Zayn but I tried my best to keep it together in front of my father. With his gaze fixed on my currently non-existent room window, he was light on his feet as he walked towards me.

He sat down on the exact same spot and cast a suspicious glance at the pillows that were strewn haphazardly around me. Some were on the bed, others were lying on the floor. It looked like a mini war zone after a pillow fight episode. My throat suddenly went dry, I hoped he didn't think I was hitting things with my pillow now since they had taken away my baseball bat.

"Umm Rosalie." He pulled at his collar like the material was suffocating him and adjusted himself before looking back at me again.

I didn't respond instead I hugged my knees to my chest and waited. I wasn't the only one in this house who had some explaining to do.

"What you heard that day when I was on the phone, it really was nothing. B-but it wasn't your mother. I'm sorry I lied to you but I sort of panicked when you caught me off guard," he continued looking at me with wide eyes waiting for a reaction.

This was all becoming too much to handle for one night. So I was right to doubt my father from the beginning. All the small fights between my parents, the general brusqueness my mother constantly depicted towards my father and the fact that she had been crying just a few hours ago. Did she know he was cheating on her? Was she hiding behind a veil of apathy in front of us only to break down when she was alone?

I wanted to say I felt hurt and disappointment but those feelings hadn't registered yet. Instead what I felt was the satisfaction of being right for once. Although in this context being right wasn't necessarily a good thing.  

"Who was it then?" I asked. My stance changed and I leaned in now with my arms crossed over each other as I sat there cross legged. It was a more offensive position. I wasn't the prey anymore, my father sat before me hunched up and bent over in guilt. If anything I felt like a predator waiting for answers and I wasn't going to lie, the switch in roles was downright refreshing.

"Just some girl from the office. She does all the more menial work like making copies and faxing. She gets the job done much faster when I talk to her like that," he answered mechanically. It felt like he had rehearsed this answer many times before.

"So if you call her honey bear she gets your "work" done faster?" I raised my eyebrows at him. I wondered if he realized how ludicrous his explanation was. "Why were you late tonight? Were you with her?"

He sighed loudly and ran his hands through his hair before looking back at me with frustration etched all over his face. In that instant my father looked ten years older than he was. 

"Okay fine. You want the truth, I'll tell you the truth. You see the thing is Rosalie, your mum and I have been going through sort of a rough patch in our marriage for the past few weeks and well it's taken it's toll on me. I'm a man, we need some sort of validation in our lives but all your mother has been doing is shutting me out."

"Shutting you out from what?" I hesitantly interrupted. 

"I don't know. Your mother has her issues too, you know." He replied shifting the blame to her instead and that made my blood boil.

"I doubt she's cheating on you," I snapped, starring daggers at him. How dare he blame her for his discrepancies. 

"Yes I know she isn't but she does have secrets Rosalie. Anyway that's beside the point here. As I was saying, I felt neglected and this girl at work started showing me some attention. I mean she always flirted with me but I never really noticed it because all I thought about was your mother."