The sky was darkening quickly, as the sun had already gone down, when Mariah heard the door opening. Whispering to Kai that he should stay in the bedroom, she went downstairs to find out what was happening. She picked up an empty bottle of wine to use as a weapon, before entering the kitchen, where she could hear footsteps.

"Mariah?" Ray asked, staring at his girlfriend who was standing right in front of him, with the bottle raised, ready to attack.

"Ray?" Mariah was just as shocked. "You weren't supposed to come home until tomorrow! I thought it might be a burglar or something."

The raven haired male laughed loudly. "I bet you did. I missed you, baby, so I decided to come back earlier."

Mariah faked a smile. "That's great. I missed you so much."

"Well I'm pretty tired. Do you mind if I join you in bed?"

"Not at all," she lied.

She kept smiling the same fake smile all the way up the stairs and along the hallway, until they finally reached the bedroom door. She barely had the chance to wish Kai had gotten the time to get out of there, before her boyfriend opened the door.

No Kai. This time, Mariah's relieved smile was real. He must have heard Ray's voice and figured he'd better hide. The man was clever, that was for sure. But of course, he had to be clever to have managed to hide the fact that he was sleeping with his best friend's girlfriend for five years.

"I'll just go have a shower," the rose haired woman mumbled as her boyfriend crawled in under the cover. "Ten minutes, okay?"

Ray nodded tiredly, but Mariah didn't even notice. She hurried across the hallway and into the bathroom, where she stood face to face with the man she loved.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Kai whispered.

"I don't know," Mariah replied. "He said he missed me, so he decided to come back home."

Kai groaned. "How the fuck am I supposed to get unnoticed out of here when he's around? Not to mention that my clothes are still in the bedroom."

"You're not going anywhere until you have a shower with me."

They both smirked as their lips met in a blissful kiss.

---

Max understood perfectly well why Ray had decided to go back home after just three days, instead of staying another night, as they had planned to. It didn't take a genius to get how excluded he must have felt, when all Tyson and Max did was to make out.

But he was surprised to find that none of their friends had seen neither Kai nor Mariah during the few days they had been away. When he thought about it, it had happened before. Ray had been forced to travel a lot the past year, because of his job, and every time he was away, both Kai and Mariah had seemed to disappear.

But that had to be a coincidence, right? If he went to visit them, then they would surely be there. Kai had never been the kind to go out anyway, and maybe Mariah didn't like hanging out with her friends if her boyfriend wasn't there. After all, Ray was her oldest friend. Her best friend. There surely wasn't anything in the thing with Kai. It wasn't like Mariah would ever think of cheating on Ray. They had been together for almost half of their lives, after all.

The blonde sighed as he turned over in bed, looking right into Tyson's sleeping face. It wasn't like he didn't trust Mariah or Kai. He did. A hundred percent. But someone else might come to the conclusion that something might have been going on between Kai and Mariah. Maybe they would even tell Ray.

No, he trusted his friends. He just didn't want his friend to be hurt by a rumor, something that couldn't possibly even be true.

Smiling, Max kissed his lover's forehead, before falling to sleep.

---

Tala sat in a corner, eyeing Kai, measuring him. The other male did the same towards himself. That was what they usually did when they were hanging out with their friends. Just staring at each other, pretending to be interested in the conversation when the others asked them about something.

Personally, Tala thought that the conversations they all had were pretty superficial. They all thought they had real problems, when they didn't even know what the word problem meant. He had experienced things that were so much worse, and so had Kai. What it was? Tala had been in and out of foster homes for eighteen years, until he turned eighteen and was thrown out on the streets. He had lived with Kai for a while, but he wasn't able to pay his part of the rent, as he couldn't get a decent job because he couldn't afford a real education. So he had left, lived on the streets, where he had gotten addicted to drugs, until Kai tracked him down and dragged him back to his own apartment.

And what was Kai's problem, you might ask. Tala felt sorry for the younger man every time he thought about it. It must have been terrible to have been in love with his best friend's girlfriend for so many years. How long had it been now? Twelve years? Thirteen?

"I can't even look at her," he had said once. "It hurts too much, seeing her with him. I'm about to fall to my knees, crying, just at the thought of it."

"Tala? What do you think?"

"Hn?" he mumbled, a bit confused.

"What should I buy for Kenny on his birthday? The new Ming-Ming CD, or tickets to one of her concerts?"

Tala gave Tyson an insulting glance. "Why the fuck are you asking me? The little guy would be hysterical over any of them. Don't you think you should give him something that won't accidentally cause him a heart attack?"

Kai laughed shortly at the comment, and even Tyson allowed himself to smile a little, as soon as he understood that it was a joke.

"Kenny would get a heart attack over anything," he replied, causing the others to laugh.

---

When Kai went back to his house later that day, he picked up the picture of Mariah that was standing by the fire place. She looked so happy, so… satisfied. It was one of the only pictures of her that didn't include Ray as well, and so Kai loved it. He was ashamed. Ray was supposed to be his best friend, and he could barely even look at him, because he knew what would happen if the other man found out about his relationship to Mariah. Ray's world would fall apart, and it would be all his fault. He hated himself for what he was doing. He and Ray had been friends before he even knew that Mariah existed. And now, the only thing he could ever think about was new lies to tell his best friend, so he could fuck his girlfriend one more time. It was pathetic, really.

He let out a deep sigh as he put the picture back down. It was wrong of him to even admit the feelings he had for Mariah, and he should certainly not be doing something about them. Even looking at her was a sin, as with every glance he gave her, his obsessive love for her grew to be even bigger, more impossible to control.

What was there to do about it? He loved her more than Ray ever could. And she loved him back. If it wasn't for the mistake she had made when she started dating Ray, they would have been together now. He would have had his happily ever after.

But Ray was Mariah's boyfriend. Officially, anyway. And Kai had to settle with seeing the love of his life in secret, feeling dirty and disgusted with himself every second he was by himself. Only when he was with her, the thoughts let him go. Only when he could look into her beautiful eyes of liquid gold, all of the lies and deceive seemed to be worth while.

Okay, so I know it's short, but please don't kill me! I'm so busy with school work, so I barely have any time to write. Besides, I thought this would be a fitting end to the chapter.

Please review!