Sarah’s POV

As I made my way downstairs to meet Richard, my nerves got the best of me like a teenager going on her first date. I never thought any man would see me like this ever but here I was about to stand in front of my husband like this. I wondered what he would see as I made my way into the living room where I could hear footsteps. I wondered what he would think of me, how he would react, and what the outcome of this whole thing would be.

Would things go south or would he find this whole thing endearing and pull me closer? “Welcome home honey, I made dinner,” I said, walking into the living room, my heart in my throat. Would he kick me out of his life because of this?

“Good evening, Mrs. Williams, I’m here to return the keys of the car.”

I shrieked at the same Desmond swore and covered his eyes, his cheeks red from embarrassment. “Why are you here? Where is Richard?” I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I pulled the robe closer to my body, irritated that my efforts seemed to have gone to waste.

Desmond dropped his hands and I blanched at the look of pity in his eyes. Richard wasn’t coming “Mr. Williams asked me to drop off the car because he will not be coming home tonight.”

I nodded, forcing my brain to process the words. “That’s all right. I’m sure he has a lot of work to do.” Shaking my head, I turned on my heels trying to keep the tears at bay. This was so embarrassing. “You know where to leave the keys. Have a good night then,” I whispered and turned on my heels. Damn you Richard, I’m done trying to get your attention and your love.

“Ma’am?” he called and I sighed, ignoring him. “Ma’am should I help you clean up?” he asked and I stopped at the stairs staring at him. I almost cursed when I saw the meals sitting pretty on the plates. Was I supposed to throw all that away?

I shook my head and looked down at my outfit. Even if I was going to clean up, I had to change out of this thing. I sent Desmond a smile and raced up the stairs to change out of the lingerie. Thank God I had the good sense to wear the robe over it. My head hurt just thinking about Desmond seeing me in just the lingerie.

I stripped and quickly slipped into one of my rompers. Well, it was Richard’s loss if he didn’t get to taste all the deliciousness, I had prepared for him. Tears were threatening to fall but I refused to give in. I would die first before I let Richard make me shed a tear.

As I made my way back downstairs a few minutes later, I felt tears prick my eyes but I didn’t give in. The whole embarrassing scenario played in my head like a tape on repeat as I made my way to the kitchen to clean up. Was this what women went through to make men fall in love with them? Surely it wasn’t this hard?

I froze, at the dining room area frowning as I stared at the now freshly cleaned table. Where did all the food go? Hearing shuffling from the kitchen, I made my way there and paused at the doorway.

“You didn’t have to stay Desmond; I could have handled everything myself,” I announced my presence as I walked up to him. He was at the sink washing plates and I found myself gawking at those toned hands of his with his muscles clenching as he worked.

He turned to face me and I blushed when I saw the knowing smile on his face. I had been caught staring. “I wanted to help you, it’s the least I could do.” I frowned at his words wondering why he was saying that. It wasn’t like he had anything to do with Richard not coming home tonight.

“I will be leaving now,” he said pulling me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see him walking away empty-handed. With a raised brow, I walked towards the freezer. There was no way I would let him leave this house without something to take home, especially after helping me out with the cleaning.

“Why won’t you take anything?” I asked as I brought out one of the bowls of rice he had packed. I reached for two other bowls containing salad and plantains and then I closed the freezer.

I turned at the same time he stood behind me and we bumped into each other. I flushed; my cheeks red as I reached for one of the paper nylon bags on the counter. I had so many after buying so much groceries for tonight. “I can’t let you leave without taking anything.” I stepped back to pack the food, all the while aware of his eyes on me. “Here you go, eat that for dinner or breakfast but take it.”

He smiled and opened his mouth to speak but I gave him a look. “Thank you, Mrs. Williams. Have a good night.” I nodded and stood there watching him walk away, thoughts of how wrong the night had ended running through my mind.

That should have been Richard and I; all those moments in here should have been between Richard and me. I groaned loudly and walked out of the kitchen stomping my foot to the living room.

Tears pricked my eyes again but I held them back, dialing my mother’s number as I took a seat on the arm of the chair. It rang a few times and then went straight to voicemail. I tossed the phone on the chair in anger and fell on the chair, angrily punching the chair. “I hate you so much, Richard.” I groaned as I let the tears roll down my cheeks.

Sarah’s POV

I walked into the kitchen the next morning and did a takeback when I saw Richard rummaging in the freezer for something. “What are you doing?”

He jumped which caused him to hit his head on the freezer top and then glared at me while rubbing his head. “What are you doing?” he threw my question back at me and it was my time to glare at him.

“Where were you last night?” I asked, shocked at how strong my voice came out when I was a bundle of nerves on the inside. I had never said more than two words at a time to Richard before and now I didn’t even know if he’d hit me for being so gutsy. “You didn’t come home last night.”

He eyed me for a while and then hissed, turning his attention back to the freezer which seemed more attractive than me at that moment. The nerve of this man. Had it been any other day, I would have let it slide and walked away to go and cry in my room or the bathroom but not today. After last night, I was tired of being so silent and not speaking up for myself. Maybe if I had done this sooner, things would have changed.

“Since when did my not coming back home become an issue?” he retorted and I blanched. I hadn’t prepared myself for his reply, at least not that one but I stood my ground.

“Maybe I’m done keeping silent,” I whispered and he studied me silently, those beautiful blue eyes of his twinkling. Damn him for being so fine, so fine that I didn’t care that he had stood me up last night. I wasn’t sure stood up was the right word for what happened since he didn’t even know I had been waiting for him but what gives? A husband was supposed to come home to his wife at least on some nights. I could count on one finger the number of times he had made it back home in time for dinner. And even then, the times he had eaten dinner out of those times were barely equaled five. Eyeing him, I wondered if there was another way to get through to him without being fussy.

Taking two steps in front of me, I stood in front of him, close enough to smell his fragrant cologne that on another man would have been wrong but suited him, and placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on his chest. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and I wondered if he would push me away before I even got a chance to speak. But he didn’t make a move to stop me and neither did he peel my hands off his skin like they disgusted. He just stared.

I blinked back tears as I came to a realization. He wanted to hear what I had to say. “I know this marriage didn’t start as well that, a real marriage but perhaps we can make things work?” I took a deep breath as I finished speaking and stepped back, giving him space and time to process what I had just said.

It took a few minutes before I could get a reaction and it wasn’t the one, I had been expecting. Hell, I expected him to scream at me, push me away, or even walk away angrily but when he started walking towards me with a dangerous look in his eyes, I gulped and took a few steps back. I had put my foot in my mouth and now he was going to kill me. If this was how I died, could I at least say bye to my mother first? I was still expecting her call after last night to check up on how things went.

“So, you want us to be a real couple? You want me to hold you like this...” he paused as his hands came around my waist and I shivered at his closeness. Oh God, we had never been this close before. His touch sent electric shocks through my body, delicious sensations and I never wanted them to stop. “You want me to fuck you, for you to scream my name every night and then wake up in my arms the next morning?”

Usually, I would have blushed and pulled away but I don’t know why his words had the opposite effect on me. I felt myself inching closer to him, wanting to feel some more of his body heat close to me. I was so entranced by his words I didn’t realize when he took a step back or when he pulled his hand away from my face until I felt water splash on my face.

“Only in your dreams dear wife,” he said those last words like they tasted bitter on his tongue. “This is a sham of a marriage, always has been and will be.”

I opened my mouth to respond and then closed it back when nothing came out.

He smirked, the smile at the corner of his lips wicked and menacing. “Some minutes ago you had so many things to say. Cat got your tongue?”

I opened my mouth again to speak but footsteps from behind me interrupted me.

“Good morning Mr. Williams, Mrs. Williams,” Desmond greeted as he walked into the kitchen and I remained where I was, unable. I was trying to make sense of what had just happened.

“We are stopping at the donut shop two blocks from the office and then we’re heading for Martins’ office immediately. I have some urgent work for him to do for me.” Richard informed him as he walked past me after sending me one last smile.

I turned and watched them walk away, my head swimming with different thoughts. I was still trying to make sense of what had taken place here. One minute everything had been going fine and then the next minute, the rug had been pulled out from underneath my feet.

“What just happened?” I asked the empty kitchen, my voice bouncing off the walls.

Sarah’s POV

“What did you say?” I asked staring at the man sitting across from me. Too many things had happened today and I was still trying to make sense of them. This, whatever this was, I couldn’t take it and I had taken so much already. I glared at a drunk Richard, hugging another woman’s waist in our living room, and crossed my hands over my chest.

“We are going to bed and you are going to get out of the way.” He made a move to push me out of the way and staggered, falling sideways. I stretched my hand out to help him but he pushed my hand away. “Don’t touch me,” he glared at me and I took a step back feeling like I had been slapped.

I stepped to the side and watched as he led the woman whom he had brought home, whose name I still didn’t know up the stairs. I blinked back tears and stood there for a few minutes trying to get rid of the huge lump in my throat. Never in my life had I felt so hurt and insulted. I had never loved anyone else in my entire life and Joshua Jones in the fifth grade didn’t count. Richard was my first love and ever since I set my eyes on him on my first day as a new student at Crosland Middle School, I couldn’t look at anyone else the same way.

Was it so hard to love me back? Every day he seemed to find new ways to make fun of my love for him and drag my feelings tor him through the mud. I deserved better than such a life of constant humiliation from the one person that should treat me with absolute respect.

The sound of their laughter pulled me out of my thoughts and I decided to follow them. Perhaps if I talked him out of it, he’d ask the woman to leave. I paused at the door of the room and gaped at the picture the two of them made, sprawled in our bed, moaning as their mouths moved together. Tears rolled them eyes and I didn’t stop them because this time I don’t think I would have been able to even if I tried. I stood for a few more minutes and bolted when one by one their clothes began to hit the floor. I don’t know why I didn’t leave that environment entirely or why I felt it was good idea to hang around but I just couldn’t move. I sat on the floor instead and rested my back against the wall. The sounds of their moans reached me and I whimpered feeling like knives were being driven through my heart.

Even if he didn’t feel the same way I felt, he had no right to play with my emotions like this. Was she the reason he didn’t see me the way a husband saw his wife? Was she the reason he never came home and instead worked till dawn? Who was she and why was she so different from me?

I don’t remember how it happened or when but I must have fallen asleep because I was suddenly rudely awoken when I felt chilly. Why was it so chilly? I blinked and forced my eyes to make sense of my environment.

“Oh good, you’re awake. How can you be sleeping in so late? Don’t you get paid to do a job?”

I frowned and managed to get up, my body aching from spending the night on the cold hard tiles. “Who are you?” I asked rubbing my eyes.

“Who am I?” she repeated as if one of us had a hearing problem and chuckled as if she had cracked a joke. “That’s none of your concern. You should just focus on getting your job done. Now, go fix me some soup, I have a nasty hangover. Don’t forget Richard too.” She called and then before I had a chance to react, skipped off into the room and slammed the door behind her.

“Am I still dreaming?” I asked myself, trying to make sense of what just happened.

***

Turns out everything had been real and she hadn’t been kidding about me making her and Richard soup to cure their hangovers. She had suddenly barged into my room a few minutes ago, approximately an hour after she had ordered me to make her soup as if I was a maid she had hired on a payroll.

“You must really not understand the specifications of your job in this house,”

I ignored her and chose to scroll through my mails instead. After the marriage, I had been made to leave my job and be a stay-home wife because that was the kind of wife Richard needed. Of course, at the time, I had no choice but to go along with it. Now, here I was two years later suffering the consequences of foolishness and stupidity. “Why are you in my room?”

She closed the distance between us and pointed her – in my opinion, way too long – press on nails in my face. “Do not try to be disrespectful to me, the consequences will be too much for you to handle.”

“It’s funny but if I remember clearly, this is my house. You should watch it,” I told her and she took a step back obviously shocked I had talked back to her.

“Susan, where are you?” We both turned at the sound of Richard’s voice and my heart rate picked at the sight of his bare chest. I had never seen him like this, not even in high school.

I looked away before he caught me staring and crossed my hands over my chest. “Take your whore and get out of my room, Richard.”

Susan turned at the insult, her eyes burning with anger. “How dare you?” she shrieked and stretched out her hand to hit me but I caught it just in time. “How dare you?!”

“You should leave my room before I do something I might regret. “ I gritted my teeth, shooting daggers at the two of them with my eyes.