Chapter Twenty-Six Carys
@silksiobhan: I wish Whit was gay and marrying me thank you
@wishiwasachair: Couldn’t tell if Lina was trying to be the snake or Britney lol
Despite the fact we’ve somehow only been here a little over twenty-four hours, we have to pack to leave as we’re already done here. I’m not complaining. I’m glad to go, especially after last night.
And now, we sit outside post-breakfast waiting for the Nguyens to come for one final chat, and to announce the winners of the Pulse Race Challenge.
Patrick is so hungover he can barely sit up. Hopefully it means he doesn’t notice I’m drowning in guilt. I go into caretaker mode, forcing him to drink sips of water, stroking his forehead, going through the motions of being a good partner.
Everyone looks worse for wear, so I guess Zack’s shots game took multiple prisoners.
I don’t look at Dolly.
The Nguyens arrive in matching white linens, like they’re heading off on their own holiday. They do a bit of spiel to the camera, mostly talking about what a great ‘week’ we’ve had in Greece. I’d never thought about how reality TV shows manipulate time before, but it’s so blatant.
‘And now, time to announce the winners of the Pulse Race Challenge, who together raised the pulses of everyone the most,’ explains Karina for the audience at home.
‘The winners are…’ Lucas pauses for effect. ‘Malachi and Whit!’
Wow, their second win in a row. To be fair, I think all of us knew that Whit beat the rest of us girls hands down. I’m not sure I can look at firefighters the same way again.
But still, that’s two wins, and two first choices in a row.
‘Malachi and Whit win a…’ Lucas does a little drum roll on his legs. ‘Matching set of Mr and Mrs dressing gowns.’ He turns to camera. ‘Just like the ones you can buy on the Wedded Bliss shop, for wedded bliss in your own home.’
Oh. Well. That’s pretty nice but seems like a major letdown compared to winning something for the wedding. While Malachi and Whit seem quietly pleased, everyone else seems a bit nonplussed.
‘There’ll be more opportunities for our couples to win things for their wedding throughout the coming weeks, all the way up to their wedding day,’ Lucas adds when he sees the sea of deflated faces.
‘We’re so glad you’ve had a wonderful time here,’ says Karina, smiling. ‘But remember, only a few days ago we warned you that getting physical would yield fines to the groups’ wedding funds.’
‘And we can confirm that there were several breaches of this rule,’ Lucas says seriously.
My heart thunders in my chest. Please, dear God, please say no one saw us. Or heard.
Patrick is pale, but I think that’s still just the hangover.
He whispers, ‘Wow, okay,’ and laughs, looking at the others with his mouth hanging open with overblown shock.
It almost feels worse that he has no clue that he might be about to find out I cheated on him in front of all our friends. And the Nguyens!
Lucas clears his throat. ‘Let’s get to it, shall we?’
‘Our cameras caught at least one act of masturbation from…’ Karina pauses for effect while we reel at the news that someone was jacking off in here.
‘Zack,’ says Lucas.
‘I knew he was a wanker,’ murmurs Bridget next to me, and I have to bite down on my lip so I don’t laugh.
‘Sorry, dudes, I’m not about to let my nuts go blue for a few quid!’ Zack laughs.
Whit screws up her face in, not quite disgust, but some kind of pity. Poor Lina looks as if she’d quite like to disappear.
‘And in total, the fine is three thousand pounds,’ Karina adds.
Lina makes an inhuman noise you could roughly categorise as a frustrated groan by way of death rattle. ‘Zack,’ she hisses. ‘For a wank!?’
I never thought I’d hear Lina Chen say wank.
‘It’s just three grand, babe,’ he insists. ‘We’ll just cut something I want. Get a less good DJ for the afters.’
‘Err, Zack, the fine is spread across all five couples,’ says Malachi awkwardly. ‘You basically just cost us all… Um—’
‘Six hundred quid,’ groans Whit.
Jackson and Bridget start yelling, and for a second I do wonder if Jackson is about to punch Zack.
But I can’t quite believe it when Dolly joins in, muttering about costs, as though we might not be next on the firing line. How can she be so calm?
‘Settle down,’ Lucas barks. Both Jackson and Zack plummet back down onto the bench in an instant. ‘Let’s get back on track, shall we?’
On the other side of Patrick, I hear Malachi whisper, ‘Thanks for the help,’ to Whit.
She smiles adoringly at him. ‘I’ll always be there to do your mental maths for you.’
God, I’m not sure what could be worse; almost certainly being imminently outed on national television, or having to sit between the fiancé you just cheated on and the most perfect couple in the world.
Karina rattles off everyone’s current total wedding amounts, before confirming that there are more penalties to come.
I can barely listen. Fuck. Fuck.
‘Are you okay?’ Patrick asks, glancing down at my bouncing knees.
‘Just stressed about the money,’ I partly lie. I’m a coward. He’s about to find out, and I can’t tell him.
‘There were two instances of sex in the villa over the last few days, caught by our cameras,’ Lucas begins.
This is it.
‘And they were by two different couples,’ continues Karina, her eyebrows raised.
I’m about to throw up.
‘The first couple was…’ Lucas begins. ‘Bridget and Jackson.’
‘Oh what!’ Zack shouts. ‘I was only having a little wank and you two were dick-deep.’
‘Actually, we only did hands and mouth stuff. That doesn’t count,’ says Jackson, smugly.
‘Guys, that definitely counts as sex,’ Lina insists.
Bridget frowns. ‘Does it, babe? I thought that was just foreplay.’
‘If you’re straight,’ Dolly says, and I want to push her in the pool for speaking up. ‘It’s a very narrow view of sex if we only think of those acts as a precursor to penis in vagina sex.’
‘She is right,’ confirms Karina. ‘And on Wedded Bliss, we consider all sex acts to have the same emotional weight.’
‘And financial,’ Lucas adds, with a wink to camera.
‘You were doing stuff in the bed next to us?’ grimaces Warren. ‘Did I sleep through the whole thing?’
‘Lucky for you,’ mutters Lina.
‘Come on, I’m sure you and Dolly were doing stuff too,’ says Bridget.
‘Negative! Nope. We are very good rule abiders, thank you very much.’
Well. One of you is, I think sourly.
‘Wait, who is the other couple then?’ asks Lina.
My stomach drops as all eyes turn to the Nguyens.
Please. Please don’t read out my name.
Patrick takes my hand in his and I feel like I might throw up.
But then Karina looks down at her card, and… laughs?
‘Whit and Malachi!’ she announces, all the seriousness of a few seconds ago lost.
I gasp from shock that I didn’t hear my own name. Did we… did we get away with it? I’m safe?
‘Guilty,’ Whit sing-songs, holding her hands up. ‘We tried really hard.’
‘Sorry, guys, but the firefighter outfit was too hot,’ Malachi says.
‘That’s where you slunk off to!’ laughs Warren. ‘You dogs.’
‘Hang on, you were just giving us a load of agg a minute ago,’ grumbles Bridget.
While everyone deliberates whether this is fair, I look over at Dolly. Somehow, she seems utterly calm like the surface of a lake. Did she not care about us getting found out? Or was she so confident we wouldn’t that it never crossed her mind?
I wish I could feel the instant relief that some people say they feel, but my heart is still racing, my body drunk on adrenaline and fear. It’s like I can’t breathe enough air.
‘Carys?’ Patrick asks, and his words are muggy, distant.
That’s when everything goes dark.