Could a mother go too far in preventing her daughter from being with the person she loves? Could one person's preference in life force a daughter onto a path she never intended to follow? And could it be, that secrets reveal ugly truths, as the fight for what you believe in, forces the ultimate betrayal? Silent Betrayal follows Mira Radebe as she falls in love with a person she could only describe as her 'love at first sight'. But her mother blackmails her into leaving Arabella in her past, and to do exactly what she wasn't ready to do. She is forced to run the family company, and once she came of age, she had no choice but do just that. Her life is thrown out of its comfortable orbit when she starts dating her best friend, Dean, and even though she loves him, she finds it hard to forget how much her heart ached to be with Arabella. She silently betrays her own promises, as she fights to accept she could trust others, when her whole life she knew not to. Excerpt Soft music played over the speakers and the chatter slightly faded, the closer I shuffle to Dean's office. I looked at the portraits on the walls and, as the door at the end of the hall opened, the song thrumming epitomized what I was feeling. Lost in your eyes, drowning in blue Arabella stopped in her office's doorway, uncertain whether she should just step back and close the door. "Hi," I managed in a small voice. She walked closer, peering at me, uncertain. "Uhm..." "How are you doing?" She asked, as her perfume drifted my way. She was more than a metre away from me, but still managed to completely overwhelm my senses. I was high and she was the drug I hadn't even tasted yet. Tones of jasmine, peony and pink pepper made my mind go fuzzier with confusion than her small talk approach had, "I'm doing well. The party is-" "Since the day I saw you in this place...you had done something to me," I stared at her, completely stunned. "Mira...are you completely straight, without question?" My mouth opened, but I managed nothing. It happened so fast, the next thing I knew, my back was against Dean's office door and her hands captured my face, just as her mouth met mine. Her lips tasted of champagne and cherries. I groaned and pulled her hips tightly against mine, while my mouth opened to receive her tongue. She stroked the sensitive flesh on the inside of my lower lip and I melted into her like caramel ice-cream on a sunny day. My mind was lost to her subtle, yet completely seductive onslaught. She moaned against my mouth and my hands moved up her sides and I enveloped her breasts. Her tongue softly slid along mine while the pressure in my core built up to a high that was indescribable. Oh, this woman could kiss. Our tongues danced between our lips in a build-up of undeniable passion. I felt like I was in a dream, but when the sound of howling men echoed down the hallway, it all abruptly ended. Arabella stepped back, shocked, and I leaned away from the door as two men appeared with Dean. They were cheering, and something in Dean showed that he knew it made us uncomfortable. At least he was a decent enough guy to know that men going batshit over woman kissing was annoying as hell. "I shouldn't have done that," Arabella said in an almost dismayed tone and I stared at her, pained. She had made it sound like a mistake and the retort in her manner hurt me. I shook my head and walked away, said my goodbye to Dean, and left. I had been kissed into a complete stupor, but the participating party clearly had not experienced the same thing.