Mysterious Fire
Chapter 1
My house was on the news.
After an unexpected fire, a guy and a girl were seen climbing out the windows, stark naked, yelling for help.
All my relatives and friends were blowing up my phone, asking if it was my husband and me.
But it was totally my cousin!
1.
The second I recognized the nude man and woman on TV as my husband and my cousin, I forwarded the news clip to the family group chat.
“@Aunt Carol: Is that your precious daughter on the news, Auntie? She’s probably in the hospital right now, you gonna go visit her?”
One of my nosy relatives chimed in, “Hey, isn’t that Sarah’s place? What was Tiffany doing there?”
Aunt Carol, never one to think before she speaks, sent a voice message:
“Yeah, Sarah, how’d you trick my daughter into going to your house? And is that your husband next to her? Did you set that fire on purpose to hurt them!”
I couldn’t believe my ears! I practically broke my keyboard, typing:
“Oh yeah, Aunt Carol, I took a day off work, kidnapped Tiffany, stripped her and Mike, and then lit the place up just so they could be on the six o’clock news.”
Even I knew that sounded insane.
The group chat went silent. But everyone in my family is sharp and knew I was being sarcastic.
My other cousin, Jessica, who works close to my office and always wants to grab lunch, jumped in to help:
“Sarah was with me at lunch today. The news clearly stated that it happened at 12:30, which means she wasn’t there.”
Then, everyone started piping up, totally unfiltered:
“So, Tiffany and Sarah’s husband were…”
“And it was on the news? How embarrassing!”
I could practically hear Aunt Carol grinding her teeth through the phone.
But like a cockroach, she wouldn’t die. “Sarah Miller! You’re slandering my daughter. You wanna come to the hospital with me and say that to her face?”
Wow, what a giant ego. I’ve never met anyone who wants to be proven wrong.
I answered her right away: “Sure, why not? I’m sure the rest of the family is curious to see Tiffany in the hospital. Come on, let’s all go see her together.”
This was gonna be a great show to witness.
My family, never wanting to help, but always wanting to make fun of someone, eagerly agreed.
Just like that, a big group of us started towards the hospital.
We found the room after asking a nurse.
As we got closer to the door, I heard Mike and Tiffany all lovey-dovey with each other.
“What if Sarah comes to see us? Do you think she will beat me?”
“Don’t worry Tiffany, that woman wouldn’t dare touch you.”
“She is a chicken who cannot lay an egg. She is lucky to have me!”
My fists clenched, and I felt my stomach churn.
I slammed the door open, and both their faces went pale.
After that, Mike’s face darkened.
He said in an accusatory tone: “What are you doing here? Why are you dragging so many people here with you?”
Tiffany acted innocent and hid in her mom’s arms: “Mom! I was so scared. I thought I would never see you and Dad again.”
Tiffany’s voice was annoying as hell.
But her family spoiled her rotten and treated her like a princess.
Tiffany then turned her eyes at me:
“Mom, why are you and Sarah here with so many relatives? You are scaring me.”
Aunt Carol doted on her, patting Tiffany’s head:
“It’s okay, Tiffany, don’t be scared. Sarah says you and her husband are having an affair.”
“It’s alright, we will sort things out.”
My aunt always thought that my cousin was like an angel.
Even though we’ve caught her seeing a sugar daddy.
Her mom still didn’t think anything was wrong.
I didn’t put up with that bullshit.
I held up my phone and asked her, “Why were you naked in my house?”
Tiffany paled, not expecting me to embarrass her in front of everyone.
Tears fell from her eyes, “I just wanted to ask your husband something about work.”
Mike slapped my phone out of my hand.
“You’re insane! Why would you show that picture in front of everyone! Why are you attacking Tiffany?”
Tiffany then spoke, “Don’t be so harsh to Sarah, she is just looking after us.”
I looked at the shattered screen on the floor and felt my blood boil.
2.
When we got married, Mike and I were a happy couple.
But after three years of marriage, and no children, he changed.
He was never happy and was never the sweet and gentle husband.
I noticed that something was off about two weeks ago.
The strange texts on his phone, him going outside to answer calls, the brown hair I saw on his shirt, all warned me.
I was thinking about that, and this news came out.
I saw Tiffany’s brown hair on the news.
I felt like my blood had rushed to my head.
Even though I saw the clues, when I found out it was my cousin, I couldn’t believe it.
I was shaking, like I was being held at gunpoint.
Like a dam broke, I knew I had to file for divorce.
The house and the car were mine, so I didn’t care.
“SLAP!”
I couldn’t take it anymore and slapped him.
“Really? You need to take your clothes off to ask work questions? Don’t say the fire was too big, and you were too hot, and needed to take off your clothes.”
My family made an “Ooooo” noise.
Mike touched his face and pushed me away. “You’re insane!”
Even Tiffany backed away a bit.
Mike jumped out of bed and kicked the phone I was trying to pick up.
He yelled: “Do you want a divorce? You are embarrassing me in front of everyone.”
I looked at how Mike had changed.
He used to give me medicine when I was sick.
He used to learn how to cook the dishes I wanted to eat.
Now, all he had was anger and impatience for me.
I felt sad and said, “Mike, I’m your wife. You were on the news naked with her, aren’t you going to tell me what happened? Are you not even a little ashamed?”
He paused for a bit, and his eyes dodged mine.
But finally, he just said, “You shouldn’t have hit me in front of so many people.”
I sighed.
Mike then said, “It doesn’t matter if I cheated.”
“I make $3,000 a month, but you just sit at home, and you can’t even have a baby. Why would I only be loyal to you?”
His words were like knives in my heart.
I stumbled backwards, gasping for air.
I smiled, “You make $3,000? Mike, do you know my family helped you make that?”
Mike was shocked and scoffed, “Are you crazy? You’re dad is always overseas, stop lying.”
Tiffany giggled, “Yeah, Sarah, don’t make stuff up.”
I laughed, knowing they wouldn’t believe me.
“It’s fine, you can wait and see. I’m going to divorce you Mike.”
I turned to Tiffany and said: “Tiffany, you just want money, don’t think you will get any.”
Tiffany didn’t put on an act, and pulled Mike closer to her, “I know you would never do that to me.”
Mike hugged her, “Wait for me, Tiffany, I’ll take care of things and marry you.”
I couldn’t stand their behavior.
I said: “You all saw what happened! Tiffany cheated with my husband! They are having an affair!”
My relatives have never seen something like this and kept silent.
Jessica walked over to me: “Divorce him soon. He doesn’t deserve you.”
My cousin opened the door and other relatives whispered, “Yeah, divorce him, he is not good.”
“How could Tiffany steal her cousin’s husband? She is a bad person.”
Aunt Carol couldn’t stand that, and was losing face.
She walked over and yelled: “Get out! You can’t talk about my daughter like that! There is a reason she did that.”
“This is a hospital, if you are not here to see her, then leave!”
My aunt started pushing everyone out, and the relatives were upset, “We all know you have a slut for a daughter.”
“I don’t think your family has a face anymore!”
Aunt Carol slammed the door.
3.
I went back to the dark house.
The fire department was cleaning up.
I asked: “I’m the homeowner, what is the status of the house?”
The fire started in the bedroom and went to the balcony.
It was almost destroyed, except for the kitchen.
I felt pain.
“What caused it?”
The firefighters said: “The scented candle lit the curtains.”
I keep the candle in the closet, and no one uses it.
Tiffany must have taken it out for fun.
I felt disgusted.
I looked at the burnt camera in the room and said:
“If there is security camera footage, can that help determine the cause of the fire?”
The firefighter thought for a bit, “That can help you.”
“But isn’t that your family in the house?”
I said: “They won’t be soon.”
Even though the camera was burnt, the footage uploaded to the cloud.
Because a stray cat got into the house, I installed cameras.
Mike was on a business trip, so he didn’t know.
I didn’t tell him because this happened.
I looked at the footage and Tiffany took out the candle.
ding-a-ling!
I picked up the phone, and my dad started talking,
“Sarah, your mom and I saw the news, are you okay?”
I felt warm inside. “I’m fine, I was at work.”
He paused, “Was that woman on the news…. did Mike cheat?”
My parents weren’t in the family group chat, so they didn’t know what happened this morning.
“Yeah, he cheated with Tiffany.”
They asked and became enraged, “Tiffany?! Your cousin?”
“Yep.”
“We can’t come back and do anything to him.”
My dad was talking with business partners overseas, and my mom was with him.
Last month, my dad bought the company Mike worked at.
That was why Mike got promoted.
I was going to tell him, but my dad stopped me: “Mike is greedy. I also can’t promote him even further. I won’t tell him.”
I didn’t care if he regretted it.
“Sarah, do you want me to tell the company to fire Mike?”
“It’s not time yet, no dad.”
“We are almost done with our project, and we will come back soon to support you.”
My nose started to run, and I said okay.
I stayed at my parents’ house.
I was waiting for the report about the fire and gathering information about Mike’s affair.
Mike cheated at home and made the footage legal evidence.
bang bang bang! There was a pounding on the door.
When I opened it, Mike and Tiffany showed up.
I was going to see what happened.
When she came in, Tiffany held her hand out: “I heard that Mike gave you a gold necklace, give it back to me.”
I held my emotions back and suppressed the urge to slap her.
She was a real piece of work, wanting a gift back before the divorce.
I looked at Mike.
Mike didn’t even try to hide the affair.
He put his arm around Tiffany, “Yeah, that necklace is expensive, you need to give it back.”
He came closer to me, “What? Don’t want to give it back? Do you not want to let me go?”
Tiffany didn’t like that and shook his arm: “I’m gonna be jealous.”
Mike smiled, “I’m just joking with her, I wouldn’t want her back, I only want you.”
Tiffany smiled.
I read a text.
Heh, Tiffany, laugh now, you won’t later.
Knock knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
“Is Sarah here? I have the fire report.”
I ignored their shock and walked to the door, “Thank you.”
I went in front of Tiffany, and said, “The camera shows that you caused this fire.”
“The damages cost $520,000.”
“How are you going to pay for it?”
4.
I watched their faces turn blank, and I felt thrilled.
Tiffany’s eyes widened, “What are you saying? $520,000! Are you joking?”
