My Dream Marriage

I run up the stairs and into the bedroom. I can’t believe Edward could say a thing like that. Does he think I am a cheater, I don’t even have that capacity. I mean I have him, why would I do that? I want to cry or better still wail but I can’t. My tears don’t seem to come out of my eyes.

Let me call someone, I might feel better then, I think.

“Neera, you sound off and awful. I thought you should be celebrating right now. Jackie, please ask her,” Azila says after the two of them connect on the video call with me. “Yes Neera, I think you are too different. You have lost some sparkle and you seem thinner than when last I saw you, wait, don’t tell me you are starving to stay in shape for your Mrs Moneybags title? I don’t like it at all,” Jackie says but I am far from staying in shape.

“I can never do that, I love my food, you know that.” “I know but still, you need to do something. Is anyone around you right now?” Jackie asks. “No, I am the only one in the room .”

“Okay then Neera, we are your friends, please tell us if there is anything going on with you. We can offer some help, to me you don’t look fine at all.” “Even from your voice, anyone can notice the change in you. You have changed a lot, is it about your parents.” Azila agrees. I can feel tears starting to fall. I try to blink them but they come off without any barriers. I want to tell them about what I have been going through but Edward chooses this as the right time to come in. He looks at me and that is enough to tell me that I shouldn’t dare to say something that would portray him as a bad person. I also don’t want to share my personal matters with anyone.

“Yes, after my parents passed away I have never been myself. I miss them a lot.” “I can only imagine Neera. I hope you will heal soon and go back to your old self,” Azila says. “Another thing and the most important one, whatever you do, you have to know that it is not you alone. There is someone else, a life that you need to take care of. You don’t have to stress yourself because it will affect your baby and you too.” “Thank you guys. Jackie, how are you coping up?” I may need one or two tips on pregnancy from her, she has some experience on this even though she is still in the process.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Great. I can’t wait to meet my bundle of joy. I am preparing for the baby shower next month. My boyfriend kind of told me that his parents are planning it for me. I will let you guys know the date, I don’t want you two to miss, I won’t accept any excuses from you,” Jackie says, seemingly excited about all this unlike me, whose husband thinks that I am carrying someone else’s baby, not his. “Okay then, count me in. I need to read my pregnancy journal that the doctor gave to me. Thank you guys.” “Good-bye Neera, don’t be a stranger.” I hang up and smile but it is short lived when Edward comes in. Whenever I see him, I am reminded of the things that he always says and does to me, mean things to me.

“Neera, you were smart today but any day I come to know that you are disclosing whatever happens here in this house to outsiders, you will get it from me,” Edward comes to me and says. “They are my best friends Edward, not outsiders.” “Don’t you dare interrupt me when I am talking to you. Don’t you think I can cut off that little friendship of yours? Don’t test me.”

“Edward, you stopped me from leaving this house and now the only friends that I have you want to break us too? What more do you want?”

“I haven’t done anything not to talk of more that I want. I told you to stay in this house and not go anywhere but what did you do? You have to sneak out and meet that good for nothing Aniston and even get pregnant for him. What? Did you think whatever you did in hiding won’t come to light? I give you a last chance to get rid of that bastard or else.” There we go again, surely I thought he was more intelligent than this. In this era of technology with every way to prove if this is his child or not, can’t he at least try that?

“Or else what Edward? Listen, I can let you do anything to me but this child, there is no way I am gonna let you harm him in any way. I am not giving in to this one, not now, not ever. This is my child and yours too Edward. Get that into your thick skull,” I say and he chuckles. What is so funny about this?

“Thick skull you say huh? I will show you a thick skull if you continue showing me this kind of attitude. I see you are quite defensive over that child but I will make sure that you never bring him into this house. You are so adamant about protecting that man’s image huh? Your love is quite something,” he says.

“His name is Aniston. You know what, you should be thanking him for saving your wife. I was kidnapped but what did you do? You accuse me of cheating on you,” isn’t he seeing the big picture?

“Thank him?” He chuckles. “He escaped this time but I am not done with him and you just had to get in the way. If it weren’t for you, I could have been done away with it. You are to blame.” What is he saying? “What am I to be blamed for?” Sometimes I wonder if it is me he is talking to or not.

“For yester… Neera, you should be ashamed of yourself. You wanted me to come and rescue you when clearly you had run away from home and gone to meet him. How would I know where you were? It seems only Aniston knew where you were.”

“You didn’t even bother to know where I was. Aniston showed effort in looking for his sister. When I told you about it as my husband, what did you do?”

“Enough. I am not going to discuss this with you. You will not get out of this house again, not even to see a doctor until you decide to do what is right for this family,” he says. “If you think I am lying, why don’t you do a DNA test to see if I am guilty or not? That one cannot lie for anyone.

“You think I don’t know your plans? I know very well how manipulative you women can be and given that you cheat on me and come back to this house, you can do the same to prove your point.” “How?”I really don’t know. “You know very well what I mean.” He can’t be insinuating that I may bribe the doctor to make the results rule in my favor. I don’t even have money to sustain me for a week, not to talk of enough to bribe a doctor. I am so exhausted of this.

“I am tired, Edward, I don’t want to talk about this.” It is better to clean this entire house than have this conversation with him. “No you are not, young lady. You should be grateful that I am not divorcing you because of this. I will be back in the evening and by then, I expect you to have made up your mind.” He says putting on a suit jacket which was on the chair and not even bothering to button it.

“Edward, my decision remains the same today, tomorrow and ever. I am going to keep it no matter what,” he doesn’t expect me to kill my baby. This is the only family I have and after everything I have been through, I feel stronger than ever.

“Okay then. You have proved to be unfaithful and not even sorry about it. You said you are not changing your mind right? Then listen, you will have to deal with what comes your way. I can’t have my wife cheating on me and still behave as if nothing happened.” He says, making to leave the room but I stop him.

“Have you ever loved me, Edward? Because you have never shown me any affection. I want your answer right now,” I demand.

“You want to know. Neera, I have always told you from the very beginning I have never loved you, why are you forcing issues? You are only paying for your folk’s sins. I only tolerate you because of my dead grandpa but I would have kicked you out of here a long time ago. You make me go crazy just thinking about staying under the same roof with you.”

“So you mean if you had your way you could have thrown me out? Why did you marry me in the first place?” Couldn’t he have just said no?

“As I said earlier, I only did what was required by my family but not what I wanted. I am a disciplined son of my mother so I had to follow the custom of the family. So, you have to know that you are only here to give me an heir and nothing else but that chance seems to have been thrown out of the window the moment you corrupted your womb with Aniston’s seed. You should now know that if you don’t cleanse yourself of that sin, you are never going to be a part of Lawanson’s family.”

“Edward, how many times should I remind you that I have never been intimate with any other man apart from you?” I say in hopes that he will remember the first night we were intimate and know that my intentions were pure from the beginning.

“I remember but anything is possible, how do I know if you had undergone surgery to fool me? You are so cunning and I know quite the right medicine for you. The best one for people like you. How dare you Neera, take advantage of Edward Lawanson?” He comes to my side and holds my chin so that we could see eye to eye. His last statement just left me dazed, like this man seems to find fault in everything I do. I am just staring in his eyes with no emotion even though his grip on my chin feels like it could break my jaw. He looks into my eyes for a moment then says, “no one plays with Edward Lawanson, not even a good-for-nothing wife like you.” He spits the word ‘wife’ like venom. He pushes my face away and exits the room and bangs the door startling me.

I have seen a confusing man like him, he talks as if everyone is his enemy. I can never do this to him, he has everything a woman could ask for in a man except his uncivilized words that he always hauls at me. Why does he hate Aniston this much? I get it he is his business rival but my meetings with Aniston are always coincidences. He could even utter something like divorce. Divorce? That has never been on my mind and it doesn’t even belong in my dictionary, I have never thought of divorcing my husband at all. I have to admit that I love Edward but he doesn’t love me back. I am going to have to be patient with him, he could have freaked out about being a father, this being the first time. Time could tell as time is the healer of all wounds, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I am going to press on, even if it isn’t for me, I am going to do it for my unborn child.