*  Trust is the surest foundation of every relationship. *
****
   They arrived at the boutique soon,  “ De Royal. ”  Mira was awed by the design of the building. It was magnificent.
Definitely too good to be true.
  They walked in after locking their car.  “ Good morning, sir and ma. ” The guard at the door, a tall man with a clear mustache greeted them with a bow.  “ Good morning. ” 
   “ Welcome to De Royal, Mr and Mrs. ” A young woman, tall with a pretty face greeted them with a beautiful smile.  
Mira returned her smile, still feeling awkward at the greeting. She still wasn't used to being addressed as “ Mrs ” yet, though she knew she'll have to get used to it eventually.
     “ Thank you. ” 
“ What are you looking for? ”
“ Clothes for newly Weds? ”
“ Oh! ” The lady's smile got brighter. “ Can I ask how old? ” 
“ One week. ” Mira's voice carried a confident stance with it. 
“ Happy anniversary, Mr and Mrs. ” she said, though her eyes were on Miranda.
  
“ Thank you. ”
She led them to the Newly Weds session and left them to choose their wares. 
  “ What do you think of this matching Pajamas? ” Joseph asked her, “ It's cute.  A bit expensive though. ” she added.
“ We can afford it. ” He assured her, causing her to nod. 
Minutes later, Joseph's phone rang. “ I'll be back. ” he whispered softly and she nodded with a smile.  “ Take your time. ”
“ Take care, Babe. ” He left a peck on her lips before walking out of the session. 
Mira busied herself with looking through the wares available, as she kept looking.  She found herself being grateful that she was married.
“ Love is a beautiful thing. ” she read on one of the matching tops.
Indeed, it was. 
“ Tch, tch. ” A sound from behind attracted her attention, but she paid it no attention.  “ Look who we've got here. ” Vera's shrill voice followed.
Still, Mira refused to look backwards.
She simply focused on what she was doing. 
“ I read that the rate of divorce here in America is 50-50. ” Her words came out very sarcastic. “ And most of them end in just 2-5 years. ” 
Mira ignored her, still. 
“ Isn't this, Miranda? The girl who stole your fiance? ” One of the girls behind her spoke up. 
“ Yeah. ” Her words sounded bitter. “ They are married now.  ” 
“ Don't tell me — ” Her words were interrupted by Vera. “ Yeah. ” 
“ She's not that beautiful anyways. ” 
“ Exactly my point. She's just normal. I wonder what Joseph saw in her. ”
“ Love. ”
“ He claimed to love Vera too, didn't he? ” 
“ But you know what happened in the end? He left her. ”
“ Um… ” 
“ But that doesn't change the fact that he's married to her. ”
“ Their marriage is still in the infant stage. ”
“ How many months has it been? ”
“ months? ” Vera let out a sarcastic laugh. “ It's been just a week. ”
“ A week? ” 
“ That’s laughable. ”
“ You both dated for over a year right? ”
“ Yeah. ”
“ But it ended even though you were very much in love. ”
“ Exactly. ” 
The girls left, leaving Vera and Mira alone. 
“  You've been with my love for a week. ” She began.  “ I hate you for that. ”  Seeing her non reaction she continued.  “ You claimed to be a good Christian, yet you stole what's mine and made it yours! ”
Her words finally got Mira's attention as the latter turned to face her.  “ I didn't steal what was yours. ”
“ You didn't? How laughable. ” She crossed her well manicured fingers on her chest and stood proudly. 
“ I was his first, Mira. He learnt how to love from me. ” Her words cut Mira in the heart, if one thing.  The fact that she wasn't Joseph's first never ceased to haunt her. 
She had wished countless times that she was his first, but what could she do?
She wasn't his first and there's nothing she could do to change that. 
All she could do was to accept it and simply live with it. 
“ We had the best time together. ” She continued her words with dreamlike eyes.  “ It still feels like yesterday when we shared our first kiss. ” Vera added intentionally.
Though Mira knew she was telling a lie as Joseph had assured her that the only thing they shared was pecks and hugs, hearing her saying that boldly made her doubt Jose's words.
Yet, she decided not to voice out her disbelief. 
   “  That doesn't change anything. He's married to me now and loves me unconditionally. ”
“ Tch. ” Vera shook her head with pity.  “ I'm sure you've heard the saying that a person never forgets their first love? ” 
Mira was quiet, she couldn't deny how true that statement was.
“ Besides that, we've been intimate, Miranda. ” Her words were like a timing bomb, created to explode at a certain time. 
   “ That's a lie. Joseph will never do that. ” 
“ Joseph will never do that? ” she mimicked Mira,  “ Tsk, I thought you knew better than to trust men, Miranda. ”  She advanced towards her and whispered in her ears.  “ Men lose all rationality when it comes to satisfying their sexual desires. ” 
Her words made Mira lose all the respect she had left for Vera, she couldn't believe what she had just heard.  “ How many men have you been with? ” 
“ Not much. ” She blinked her eyes proudly.  “ Just six. ” Mira widened her eyes in shock.  “ Joseph was my first though. ” 
Mira fell quiet for a while before speaking up.  “ Since you've been with five other men besides Joseph. Why then do you keep holding on to him? ”
Vera averted her gaze from Mira to the displayed shelf. Her eyes caught a couple Outfit which said,  “ You are my first and last. ” 
She brought her gaze back to Mira who was now becoming impatient, “ Because, Joseph was my first and will be my last. ” 
“ You are dreaming, aren't you? ”
“ I'm wide awake and dead serious, Miranda. ”
“ Joseph can never be yours. ”
“ Says who? ”
“ I'm his wife. ”
“ Doesn't matter. My dad married three times and divorced twice. ” She continued before, Mira could interrupt her.  “ Besides, Joseph's parents got divorced didn't they? He must have told you how lovey dovey they were in the early years, didn't he? ” She squinted her eyes at Mira. 
“ He's not his Dad. ”
“ I know. But the same gene runs through his veins. ”
“ And your point is? ”
“ Joseph will come back to me, Mira. You just wait and see! ” With that, she walked out of the session with her 12cm heels, leaving Mira to her thoughts. 
….
A/N : I spent an hour on this chapter! Can you believe that, guys?