Jason Campbell was a divorcee who was dedicated to his work or anything he set his mind to do.

He had decided that he was not going to get married again after his divorce. His wife Rebecca who he had loved dearly and had done everything to satisfy in every way had run away with his best friend.

He could not believe it at first. They had all been so close that even when Brian had visited his wife in his absence, he had not thought much of it.

Of course he had come home unexpectedly a few times because he had forgotten something and had met them together chatting and laughing and he had thought nothing of it and had also left them alone and gone back to work. Little had he known that they had been having an affair.

When Rebecca started acting funny, it was his best friend Terry that he had gone to.

'Terry, did Rebecca complain about anything to you?'

Terry had been shocked but when he realised that it was just an innocent question, he had said, 'What is the problem? Are you having problems with Rebecca?'

'I won't say we are having problems exactly but she is really acting wierd. I do not know what the problem is'.

'Have you tried to find out? Have you asked her?' Terry asked.

'Yes, I have asked her to tell me what is bothering her but her response has remained the same'.

'And what is that?'

'That there was nothing bothering her and that there was nothing wrong with her. She said that she is okay and that she is as fine as she has always been. But you know, I don't believe it. I feel it in my guts that there is something terribly wrong. Something that I should know which I am missing'.

Terry quickly said, 'Don't overthink the whole thing. There may really be nothing the matter and it is all a figment of your imagination. You know women with their mood swings. Who knows if she is pregnant or her hormones are acting up. But if you really want, I could speak to her on your behalf'

He had been very grateful that he had offered. He was normally not one to share family secrets but he was just bothered and if sharing it with Terry would bring about a solution, then why not and Terry was not really an outsider. He was still family.

He didn't know how or when Terry had spoken to her but he had called him some days later, asking him to give Rebecca some time and that she would come clean with him but that it would be wrong to force anything from her at that stage.

It had been difficult because he knew how it had been between them. Now, she didn't even want him to come close to her anymore.

He missed her terribly.

On one occasion when he had told her that she was denying him his rights as her husband and that he was missing her terribly, she had allowed his roaming hands to continue exploring.

He had thought that it was alright then but their coupulation that night had been a disaster. She had not been her usual responsive self. She had laid as a log, allowing him to have his way with her. He had tried all the skill that he could possibly muster but all had been in vain.

He had regretted the act and had decided since then not to make any more sexual advance towards her untill he was sure that she wanted the same thing as he did.

The situation had escalated and Rebecca had started hinting at divorce.

'Rebecca, our marriage has always been based on trust and lack of secrets between us. What is it you are keeping away from me? What have I done that you have found it impossible to reveal to me? And if it is not me, then what is it that is troubling you so much that you feel there is no need for you to share it or them with me? Don't you know that seeing you this way is breaking my heart? I have been in perpetual agony since you started giving me the cold treatment. I have gone through our time and life together but I can't seem to get it - what the problem is or where I have gone wrong.

Is it something you needed that I have been unable to satisfy?'

Rebecca had looked at him with irritation, stood up and left.

Though the next day, her behaviour had been more civil and she had apologised for her short temper the previous day.

'Just leave me be for now. If there is anything I want you to know about, then I shall definitely tell you at the right time. But please do not force it out of me'.

He had thought that there was going to be progress from then henceforth but that was not to be because, he got home the very next day with a bouquet of red roses that had been grown in a hot house, since it was not the season for roses,only to find the house empty. He asked the servants and they told him that the madam had called a cab and had asked them to carry her suitcases down into the cab and had driven away.

'But she left this letter for you', the kitchen help said.

Jason took the letter with trembling hands and was about to tear it to find out what was written inside. What had made his wife. A woman he had loved for so long and had been married to for about four years, to feel the need to leave him.

He wanted to find out what he had done wrong and see how he could make amends for it but he became scared and put the letter into his pocket to be read at a later time.

He tried calling Terry to tell him of the latest development but he did not pick his call and even disconnected it after sometime.

Jason was shocked. Terry never disconnected his calls before. He always picks his calls eagerly. They were best of friends afterall.

But maybe, he was in a meeting or with someone and did not want to pick his call yet because it was not convenient. He decided that that must be the case and decided to wait for sometime, say an hour before calling him again but in the meantime, he was going to sent him a short message to call him as soon as he was free of his engagements.

'Terry, my dearest friend,

I know you must be working on a very tight schedule or in a formal gathering that has made you unable to pick my calls. I understand that but I want to plead with you to give me a call as soon as you are free of your engagements or better still come to the house. I have something very important to talk to you about. It involves Rebecca.

I am eagerly expecting your call.

Thanks.'

After writing that, he felt a little relieved. He had dismissed all the help for the day. Those who lived with him had retired to their quarters, those who came from their homes had gone back home in obedience to his instructions.

He paced back and forth in the living room. But he could not help his restlessness. He went into his study but he felt claustrophobic and rushed out. He paced the garden but was impatient. He dialled Terry's number again but this time it was switched off.

'What is happening?'

He could bear the suspense no longer so, he brought out the letter, the maid had given him as a last souvenir from Rebecca and tore it open.

He wondered why he was so scared to read the letter. Maybe it was because reading the letter would make her decision to leave him final but at least he would be spared the agony of not knowing why she had done what she had done.

He had wanted to read it when Terry got there but he would have to do it himself afterall it was meant for him alone and not for all the men in Lake District.

The contents of the letter was a shock to him. He nearly had a heart seizure. It read:

'Dear Jason,

I have decided to leave you for good. I can endure it no longer.

The fact is that I was never in love with you. I had married you because of the material things I knew your wealth would get me.

I had thought that it was enough until I started having feelings for Terry.

Yes, the same Terry you know. Your best friend. As me stayed together even when you were there, we found that there was a strong chemistry between us.

We tried to ignore it. Afterall, we could not do this to a husband and a best friend. If it were someone else or would have been quite easy.

We fought the attraction we felt for each other for your sake but it was no use.

On one occasion, Terry had come to see you and tell you everything and probably move away from Lake District but you were not in but I was.

He didn't want to tell me what the problem was but I was able to get him to confess the reason for his visit to me.

I could not bear it. I had decided that I was not going to fight my feelings for him anymore and he was here to reveal all to you and abandon me here.

I could not endure it so I hugged him, begging him not to go anywhere because I was going to end my life if he did.

The contact was really innocent, I promise but the current it generated between us was anything but.

How it happened was beyond our comprehension but we found that we could not take our hands off each other.

It was a steamy encounter that led us to being intimate with each other. We could not help it and afterwards, we knew that we could not continue pretending that there was nothing between us.

I could not bear your you h after that. I now knew the difference between love and lust which was what I had had for you.

I could not go back existing the way I had been. I had to start living and Terry brought me alive. Being with him made me realise what I had been missing these years.I had never been on love before but now that I had experienced it, I was not going to allow it be taken away from me at any cause.

You could not understand the change in my behaviour, naturally. You were just too trusting. If you weren't, you would have been able to read the signs but I am sure that you did not once suspect me of infidelity nor your friend at that.

I had not meant to keep you on the dark because I was not ashamed of my love. That was why I spoke about divorce but Terry was feeling guilty and remorseful and asked us to wait a bit before revealing our relationship to you. He was sure that you would be heartbroken because he felt that you really loved me. I know that as well. I was sorry that you did and that our actions would hurt you but I could not do anything about that . I could not sacrifice my happiness for someone else.

You are rich, handsome and kind. I believe that you will find another woman who really deserves you. Someone who would love you the way that you deserve to be loved and not just for your money.

Terry may not be as rich as you are but at least I am happy with him and I find fulfillment in his company.

My lawyers will draw the divorce papers and mail or send it to you for signature. I hope that you will be gracious enough to oblige me by signing them without delay because we need to get married immediately.

There would be no need delaying the signing of the divorce papers as it would do none of us any good. I would rather continue to live with Terry as his mistress than come back to you. This is not being heartless. It is just to let you know that I shall not change my mind.

Let's end this as quickly as possible so that we can all go on with our individual lives.

You are a good man and I wish you the best. But I am not the woman for you and neither are you the man for me. I have just realised that.

Best wishes.

Rebecca'.

Jason felt an intense pain in his heart. He felt faint. He was sure that he was having a seizure.

No! this could not be happening. It must be a nightmare. He was sure he was going to wake from this soon and find that it had all been one hell of a horrible dream.

What was this? How could Rebecca do this to him? Rebecca who he had loved with all his heart and done all that he could to satisfy.

He thought of Terry. They had been friends from high school and then in college. They had been closer than biological brothers. They had shared everything. Okay, almost everything, except of course their girls.

Terry had been his best man at his wedding.That had been the happiest day of his life. The day he made the woman he loved, his formerly.

He had been happy when Terry and Rebecca had got along very well. It would have grieved him if they had not got along but he did not have that to contend with.

He had tried to be the best husband that he could possibly be. Being very attentive and satisfying her every whim.

Maybe he tried too hard.

To think that he had actually called Terry to come to him so that they could see how they were going to get Rebecca to come back. In his stupidity, he had not realised that Terry was the source of all his problems with his wife all along.

He laughed derisively at himself. 'What a fool, I have been'.

Then he clutched his heart. The pain steered in his heart yet again. It felt like his heart had broken into a million tiny pieces and was breaking into smaller bits even more with each painful realization and as the reality of his situation dawned more and more on him.

Terry who had been like a brother to him,could do this to him?

He was the one responsible for the elevated position he held in the firm he worked with. Terry was a. brilliant lawyer,no doubt about that but he had pulled strings to ensure that he was highly placed. How could he not, Terry was his best friend and the brother he did not have afterall.

But Terry had not honoured that sacred relationship. Maybe it was not as meaningful to Terry as their relationship had been to him.

He had to fall in love and elope with his own wife. He who he had gone to to help bring his wife back to her senses without knowing that he was giving them even more opportunity to betray him and plot his downfall.

Jason was sure he was never going to recover from this.

He was in so much pain that he felt sleeping was going to be a remedy. He got up to enter the room but slumped heavily on the settee.

He was having a severe headache. He was not sure now if he had done the right thing by giving his servants the day off. He had asked them to take the day off. Those of them who lived with him had gone to their quarters behind his building and those who came from their houses had gone back home.

He had tried to be a good and considerate employer but maybe he needed someone to be with him right now because he was sure that he was dying.

But then again, maybe it had been the right decision to have asked them to leave because he was not sure he wanted them to see him in this pitiable state.

He had been crazy in love with Rebecca. Their sex life had been great from his estimation and he had thought that she felt the same way because of the way she had always responded and acted. But now, he realised that she must just have been acting and laughing behind him. She was really a great a tress because he never had an inkling about her thoughts and intentions.

He had been faithful to her, not seeing any other woman's beauty but hers. No woman but Rebecca had meant anything to him. He had tried all he could to keep her satisfied and dated. Sexual, financially and otherwise.

Do where had he got it wrong?

The two most important people in his whole life had betrayed him. They had not just betrayed him but had killed him.

Hurt, betrayal, heartbreak didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling.

How? And by the two people he loved and trusted the most?

What was he going to do now? He called one of the male servants, and Bruno came immediately. He lived in the quarters behind the house.

He asked him to make him a hot cup of coffee and as Bruno was about to leave, the sudden stab of pain again on his heart as he tried to rise from the chair sent him reeling and he fell heavily on the floor.

'Sir, sir what is the matter?' Brino asked in his fright and going to his boss, he tried to lift him but he was really very weighty and fearing the worse because his pulse was really faint, he looked around confused, not knowing what to do.

He was frightened and immediately called for the doctor.

'Doctor, It's the Campbell's residence. please come, my master is dying'. He did not know how else to convey the emergency so that the doctor could come immediately and he actually thought that Jason was dying. He had never seen his boss as weak and helpless as that since he had known him.

The doctor came with his bag of medical kit and helped Bruno to carry Jason to the bed.

Bruno picked the letter he saw lying on the floor and put in his pocket after going through it.

He was filled with rage for the madam who had caused the good master to feel this type of pain that had made him as helpless as this and put him in this state. He did not want any other person to see this letter. So he kept it safe to give back to his boss when he recovers and he sincerely prayed that he does.