“What?”

“No, wait, let me rephrase that. The company is real, but Brandon is not working there.”

“Bye Mr. Colburn.” Cherry said promptly, her voice void of any emotions and her expression bland as she begun to close the door. She finally understood her husband’s hostility towards Mr. Colburn as every word that came from the old man antagonized her. They must have dropped him on his head when he was a baby, Cherry thought begrudgingly.

Huh? The door refused to close further, no matter how hard Cherry pushed at it. What’s wrong with it? Cherry thought before her eyes lowered to see a foot stuck between the door and its frame. She frowned, directing her eyes back at the old man while still pushing the door. His expression was relaxed, as if his foot wasn’t about to become a mushed potato.

“If you don’t believe me, then just call the company. They will tell you if your husband is truly working there.”

“Look, I’m really tired of people marking my husband as the black sheep. Why would I bother calling the company when Brandon is going to take me there himself?” Cherry gritted, placing all her weight against the door as she was determined to shut it along with the old man's mouth.

“Because I,” He gestured to himself. “Who is your husband’s colleague.” He redirected his finger at Cherry. “Tells you that your husband is lying about the company that he and I work at. It’s not rocket science, Ms. Graywood.”

Cherry’s eyes broaden and her hold on the door was faltering at the truth spoken words of the old man, but she was quick to school her shaken expression, placing her strength back at the door.

“There’s also a chance that you’re the one lying here, Mr. Colburn. You haven’t really given me any reason why I should believe you.” Cherry commented.

“That’s why I’m telling you to call the company. If Brandon indeed works there, then I’ll be out of your hair and you can even call the police on me if you want.”

Cherry subtly narrowed her eyes before she grounded out, “Fine. I’ll grab my phone.” The faster she could prove her husband’s innocence, the faster she can get her peace back.

The unwavering smile on Mr. Colburn’s face grew in width and, clasping his hands together, he exclaims, “Great! While you do that, I’ll be waiting for you in the living room. I hope you don’t mind me using your kitchen to brew some coffee-”

Dean had removed his foot from the door as he had convinced the young woman in listening to him and was about to step inside the house only for the door to be slammed in his face, leaving him out on the porch as he turned reticent from the woman’s rude action.

He was too stunned to speak and could only scoff in awe. When he first met her, he thought Cherry was a meek oblivious woman, but now he could see some of Brandon in her as the boy wasn’t afraid to express his discontent whenever their eyes would meet and his wife clearly shared the same sentiment. Dean sighed and wondered what an elder must do to get some bit of respect?

Minutes later and Cherry came back with her phone. Opening the door, she saw a brooding Mr. Colburn standing with his arms crossed over his chest as one of his foot continuously tapped the ground angrily. When he heard the door open, his eyes immediately shot at Cherry.

“If it was winter I would have sued you for an attempt at murder for leaving me to die in the cold.” The old man grumbled petulantly, but got ignored by Cherry, who pulled out the business card with the name of the company that Brandon worked for. She searched the phone number online as the number displayed on the card belonged to her husband.

“I’m going to call them now.” She dialed in the number before placing the phone against her ear. After it rang a few times, somebody from the other line picked up.

“Good morning, you’ve called the service desk of Buyer. I’m Rosana. How may I assist you?”

Using a polite tone, Cherry answered, “Good morning. You’re speaking with Cherry Graywood. I’m calling because my husband forgot his documents for work. I tried to call him but he didn’t pick up. He’s probably in a meeting right now, so I wondered if you could let him know that I’ve called?”

“Of course. What is his first name, Ms. Graywood?”

“It’s Brandon.” Cherry answered and from the other line she could hear the rapid sound of fingers hitting against the keyboard. Seconds passed, and the typing came to a halt.

“That’s strange.” The woman at the service desk said.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have run through the system a few times, but I can’t find your husband’s name. I also can’t find any records of a Brandon Graywood ever having worked here. Are you sure that your husband works here, Ms. Graywood?”

Cherry’s brain stuttered for a moment, and every part of her body paused. The words that transferred from the phone to her ear kept being replayed in her mind like a broken record, but her mind had difficulty comprehending them as if they belonged to a foreign language.

“Ms. Graywood?” The woman at the service desk called as Cherry had been silent for a while. Cherry snapped momentarily from her stupor and, as if she was standing in front of the woman, she forced on a smile.

“Yeah, sorry. You’re totally right. I got the numbers confused. I’m so stupid.” Though her voice came out even with some few awkward chuckles, her hand that was holding the phone was trembling uncontrollably and there was a pained look in her eyes. When she said that she was stupid, that wasn’t a lie. She truly felt stupid.

“No problem Miss. Is there something else I can help you with?” inquired the woman.

“No… that was all.” Cherry’s voice trailed off to a whisper and before the woman could greet her a good day, she hung up, her hand falling limply at her side as she gazed at the ground with a blank stare.

Dean, who had witnessed this, had difficulty keeping his condescending smirk at bay and said in a carefree tone, “Should I say, ‘I told you so’ now or after you’re done wallowing yourself in embarrassment?” But the harsh glint given by Cherry had the old man stagger dramatically back, raising his hands up as a surrendering gesture whilst keeping the smile plastered on his face.

“A ‘I’m sorry for my rude behavior’ or ‘You were right’ was sufficient. But sure, I will keep my mouth shut. We don’t want you weeping on the floor.” Dean pulled the black sunglasses on his head back down to cover his eyes. Twirling around on his heels and hands clasped behind his back, he glanced over his shoulder at the young woman who had just some bad news rained on her.

“Well then, shall we go?”

“Go where?” Cherry asked, her voice low in spirit.

Dean turned his upper body as he gazed bewildered at Brandon’s wife, wondering if he really needed to chew everything out before she finally understands something. “Where else if it is not to go to your husband’s workplace?”

“... No” Cherry shook her head. “I’m going to stay and wait for Brandon to give me an explanation.” There must be a reason why Brandon tried to fool her.

Dean clicked with his tongue at Cherry’s stubbornness, his brows knitted in frustration. “You sure are a hard cookie to crack.” He commented as he turned around to face her. “I had pegged you for someone with brains, but I see now that I was wrong.” He took a step closer to have Cherry take a step back. “Let’s say that you’re going to listen to his explanation- then what? We both know that he’s going to cover his lie with a brand new lie. How long are you planning to get led by the nose, Ms. Graywood?”

The old man gazed down at Cherry, and she could see her reflection in his tinted sunglasses, mirroring her morose self. Seeing her own expression made her feel pathetic. She didn’t need to hear the old man tell her something that she already knew. She just didn’t want to lose the last bit of trust that she had for her husband.

“Why are you doing this, Mr. Colburn? Isn’t my husband a close colleague to you?” From the moment she had exchanged pleasantries with him, the old man was dead set on exposing her husband, but she just couldn’t wrap her head around why.

Dean could detect the bitterness in her voice laced with anger, but also doubt. Which was what he wanted. He just needs to give her the smallest nudge in the right direction and everything will fall in its right place. “The answer is really simple, Ms. Graywood.” Dean begun before inclining closer to the young woman to have them now look at each other at eye-level. “I just don’t want to see Brandon torturing himself by hiding his true self. I want to show him you won’t judge him, no matter what he did or who he is.” Though Dean explained his motive in a way that made him seem like somebody concerned for a friend, in reality he just wanted to sprinkle a little chaos on Brandon’s marriage life for all the rude actions the young man had inflicted on him.

Cherry, who had no clue about the corrupted thoughts that brewed inside Dean’s mind, bit the inside of her cheek in thought before closing her eyes, breathing out despondently, “Fine, let’s go.”

“Finally,” Dean exasperated. “Took you long enough.” He then swiftly pulled out his phone to check something before putting it back in his pants. “If we go now, we will be able to catch him.” He walked to his black tinted car with Cherry following gingerly behind him.

From the time they had left her house, none of them had bothered to start a conversation. The only sounds that filled the car were the occasional hums from the old man sitting next to her, his face beaming with a certain delight compared to her grim-looking self. Cherry kept her eyes glued on the road as to make sure that Mr. Colburn wasn’t taking her somewhere suspicious but at the sight of the chattering dense crowd walking down the streets and the familiar buildings towering to the sky the tenseness in her shoulder loosened and she relaxed in her seat.

But there was no time to relax as the car came to a halt in front of a cafe.

“Why are we here?” Cherry asked as she looked around and said, “I thought we were going to look for Brandon.”

“Yes, and we found him.”

“Huh?”

Mr. Colburn nodded at something outside Cherry’s window and, with an expression riddled with confusion, she turned her head only for the skin between her brows to pucker as her eyes became flat like pebbles. There Brandon was. Sitting in the back of a café next to a window with a woman who Cherry had never seen before.