Welcome To Hell, Dear Wife-Chapter 23: Eavesdropping

Chapter 23: Eavesdropping
For a moment, the world around Mira seemed to go so quiet.
All the buzz, laughter, clinking glasses, and even the whispers all faded into a dull hum in her ears. All she could see were their faces.
Travis and Naomi. Here in this place.
They looked different.
Rich, even.
Naomi was draped in a shimmery white dress while laughing too loudly at something a man in a tuxedo said.
Travis also stood beside her, all puffed up in a suit that was too new and too stiff. He kept adjusting his collar, but he had a smug look on his face like he had finally won the lottery.
A well-dressed older woman with kind eyes touched Naomi’s arm with a face full of concern. "But my dear, isn’t it all too soon? I mean, after you said your friend just passed away? Are you both really okay with holding the wedding so quickly?"
Naomi’s face instantly shifted as she put a hand over her heart, her eyes suddenly watery in a way that was too perfect. "We know, it feels so fast. But this is for her too. We are honoring her with it." She let out a sad little sigh that sounded very much practiced. "Poor Mira. She always dreamed of witnessing our wedding day. She was my best friend after all."
Travis immediately jumped in, pressing his own hand to his chest but his looked like a bad actor in some sort of soap opera to Mira. "It won’t be the same without her. But Mira always blessed our relationship right from the start, even when people thought she was the one I was dating. She’d want us to be happy."
The people around them nodded with faces full of sympathy. A few even raised their glasses in a sad toast to Mira’s name.
Mira felt like she was going to be sick. Her blood felt like fire in her veins.
She could not believe it.
They were still using her name and her death. They were painting themselves as the sad, loving couple who lost their dear friend, when they were the monsters that caused her very death!
Mira was furious.
How on earth were they even allowed in here in the first place?
Last she checked, they were broke losers who lived off of her while spending money from the business she had built back then, a business she had only including them in simply because she loved them.
How on earth were they able to get into a place like this, clearly made for rich people? Not even the money they stole from her was enough to get them into a place like this.
She could not help but follow them even when they drifted away from the sympathetic group.
The second they thought they were alone, their sweet act dropped like a mask they had been forcing themselves to wear.
Travis rolled his shoulders as his face twisted into a sneer. "Ugh. These rich people drain me. I can’t deal with all the fake smiling I have to do. My face hurts."
"Yes, but we must do what we must do," Naomi snapped, her voice losing all the sugary sweetness it had just seconds ago. "This is the only way for us to climb up too. Do you know what I went through to be able to get invites for us? We have to make the right connections if we don’t want to go back to eating noodles every single night."
She rolled her eyes before continuing. "That meager money we got from Mira can only do so much, so we need to use it to get even more money while we can. Well, unless you want that bitch Mira laughing at us from heaven."
She smoothed her expensive dress and dusted invisible dust off it. "We are together because only I can make you a better man, and you know that."
"Ugh, not you bringing up Mira every chance you get," Travis groaned, looking genuinely irritated. "We both know you’ve always hated her so much, but you keep using her name any chance you get even here. It’s kinda creepy, you know?"
"Oh please, I just did what I needed to do. That’s all." Naomi hissed back in a low voice as she straightened Travis’ collar. "Be careful with this suit. You know we have to return them. I can’t afford even the repair fee should they ask."
Travis ignored what she said, letting out an ugly laugh instead. "You do realize that we basically caused her suicide, right? I mean, we did take everything from her."
Naomi stepped back like Travis had spat poo at her. "Caused what? Don’t tell me you’re starting to grow some fake conscience right now. It doesn’t even suit you. You were screwing me even before you met and love-bombed her."
Mira couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her mouth at this point.
Naomi froze as her eyes immediately darted around like a scared animal. But just then, her eyes landed on Lorena Sanders, who still remained hiding behind a pole.
The fear in Naomi’s eyes vanished, only to be replaced by a nasty, relieved smirk.
"Oh, it’s just you. Miss Lorena Sanders." She tilted her head, allowing her lips to curl into a mean smile. "Have you picked up a new hobby of eavesdropping since your career doesn’t seem to be working anymore?"
The audacity hit Mira like a punch. She couldn’t believe Naomi would have the guts to speak to her that way,
not with this body and face she now had.
No matter how low Lorena Sanders had fallen, people like Naomi had no right to be that condescending.
Mira couldn’t let her talk to her harshly as Mira and still do the same damn thing as Lorena. Hell no.
"Aren’t you overstepping your boundaries here?" she started, her voice dripping with disdain that she was starting to learn fast.
"Whoever you are, I’d say you are more suited to be one of the cleaners here. I can practically smell the dollar store perfume you’re wearing from here. Yet you dare to speak to me like I’m your equal or something?"
She looked Naomi up and down in a very slow and insulting manner. "I may have fallen, but you are still far beneath my shoe that I can barely see you. And that cheap shiny dress you probably rented for the night is proof of it."
Naomi’s eyes twitched. The insult about the dress seemed to hit the exact mark on her. "I see that you’re as rude and nasty as everyone says. No wonder the whole world is celebrating your downfall. Some are even throwing parties."
She then straightened up as if trying to look taller or maybe even more powerful. "And no, I am not beneath you, at least not anymore. I’m in fact your equal now. Perhaps even higher, because unlike you, I am actually a good person, and people like me."
Mira took a step forward as she almost laughed in her face. "A good person? Really? Is that what you tell yourself before going to sleep every night? I mean, what good person steals her best friend’s man, her savings and caused her death?"
Naomi’s face seemed to go white. She turned into a stammerer as her cool act cracked. "How... how did you..." But then she quickly caught herself as she masked her panic with a loud scornful tone that was to be heard by people close to them now. "It doesn’t matter...you’re just a washed-up actress who reads too many gossip magazines. Nobody cares what you think."
Their raised voices drew attention as a small crowd began to gather, eager for drama. "Lorena Sanders is at it again," someone even whispered, loud enough to be heard.
Seeing the audience now, Naomi decided to adjust her tactic as she moved closer to Mira. Her smile was sweet for the crowd, but her words were pure poison only for Mira’s ears.
"I saw you walking in here with Lucas Atkins," she whispered with a voice sharp like little needles. "What is it this time? Did you already crawl into his bed just to buy yourself a little bit of clout? How much did that even cost you? Oh, let me guess, it was free because you’re that desperate."
She then stared Mira down as her fake smile widened. "You can strut all around here in that so-called expensive dress of yours for as long as you can, but nobody actually wants you here, not even the man you forced to bring you here. You’re at most the latest shiny toy he’ll get bored of soon enough."
As if that was not enough, she delivered the last blow as her voice dropped even lower than was possible, such that it was almost inaudible even for Mira to hear.
"At this point, you’d probably even fuck your own brother if it gave you a step up the ladder. That is exactly how pathetic and low you’ve fallen now."
That did it for Mira as her hand raised up before she could think, and a slap cracked through the air loudly. Her palm had connected with Naomi’s face with a force that snapped her head to the side and left a very large red mark on her skin.
And Naomi was ready because instead of getting mad, she stumbled back dramatically as she fell to the floor. She held her hand to her red cheek while her eyes instantly filled with fake sparkling tears.
"I’m so sorry, Lorena." She wailed in a perfectly trembling voice for the crowd. "I just felt sorry for you, that’s all. Why must you take it this far? You called me a nobody and I didn’t say anything and now you slapped me..."
The crowd erupted in gasps as angry murmurs filled everywhere.
"She hit her!"
"So vicious!"
"This is what happens when you let a bitch who should be canceled roam about like this!"
"She’s insane, she hasn’t changed at all."
"Someone call security, she should be thrown out!"
Two large security guards were already pushing through the crowd with stern faces, and their eyes locked on Mira.
Even Mira knew she had let Naomi get the best of her, but it was too late now. She was about to be dragged out and humiliated all over again.
Just as one of the guards’ thick hand reached for her arm, a low and calm voice cut through the chaos with so much authority.
"Nobody touches a hair on my wife’s head!"