You are my wife
Lotus sat in her empty mansion, feeling a sense of loneliness creeping up on her. She missed her kids, James and Jennie, who were in Australia with Monica. Her kids were the primary reason why she was still pushing and living on. They were the primary reasons why her life still had a bad balance, why she was even trying to make sure her relationship worked with Peter. But it seems that wasn’t going to be possible anymore. She just realized that he was using her all this while. But for what? If he wanted Sheila, why was he trying to make her fall in love with him, which she did? Despite all the caution she put, she fell so hopelessly in love with him that she would begin a nagging sense of peace that she knew.
She picked up the phone and dialed her best friend’s number. Natasha recently flew to Australia on behalf of Lotus to visit James and Jenny.
“Hey, Lotus. How’s everything going?” Natasha asked on the other end of the phone. Her voice could portray how much she missed the younger woman. There were soft noises in the background. James and Jennie playing together, but Natasha knew that Lotus might not be in the best mood to talk to them.
On hearing the question, Lotus could feel her heartbeat quicken. The answer to Natasha’s question was obvious, and it was slowly kicking the fact that she had lost Peter in.
“It’s going okay, I guess,” Lotus replied, her voice laced with sadness. She almost believed that it was okay. “I miss the kids. How are they doing?”
“They’re doing great, Lotus. Don’t worry about them. I just wanted to check in on you to see how you’re doing with all of this.” Natasha said. “How’re things going with Peter? Is there any change?”
“Change?” Lotus scoffed before letting Natasha in on all she had to go through because of Peter’s sudden change in character. “I’m tired, Nat. This wasn’t what I bargained for when I agreed to when I got married to him. I have always lived with Peter, even though at the early stages, I didn’t want to show it. I wanted a man like him for my kids; after all, they can’t have the life I desire for them without their father. You know Natasha, I can’t keep patching up for him. If he doesn’t want me anymore, I am making plans to be out of his hair this minute.”
“I know Natasha. But have you ever tried to ask how he feels? What’s wrong? Don’t you feel that all this too strange?” Natasha questioned thoughtfully. “One minute, he was acting all lovey-dovey, and the next, he is hooking up with Sheila?”
Lotus let out a deep sigh. “I have tried to know how he feels. He keeps shutting me out and disgracing me. Worse of it, he now relates to our marriage as a mere contract. How absurd does that sound to my hearing.”
Natasha shook her head. “You can’t keep on this way, Lotus. But all the same, in every relationship, a party needs to sacrifice to keep it going. Be it the male or the female. I know you have been doing your best to make sure you settle things, but who knows, maybe he depends on you to see what’s going wrong.”
Lotus pondered Natasha’s words for a moment. What could have gone wrong with Peter? A whole billionaire who has the key to success itself. His presence exuded dominance and wealth. He made head turns, and people cowered at their feet when they entered his black book. That was the basic thing that made her fall and give her all to him. However, she had been trying to ignore the fact that it had been her fault all along. She was too trusting and almost allowed the love she was beginning to bore for him to affect her life and everything about her work. Her company was slowly deteriorating but thanks to Davis, who was here to save the day.
While trying to find out, she ignored her emotions and feelings. She almost ignored her children and exposed them to his harsh ways. She was still thankful for the fact that they didn’t have to witness his coldness to her, and at times, she often had to make excuses for him.
Thinking of all this, she shook shook her head. “I’m sorry, Natasha. I’m done trying to make things work. Very soon, his relationship with Natasha would be everywhere on the internet, and I can’t go over the same shame and turmoil I went through. All I want is to focus on my business and establish it to the point where I can move to New York myself.”
As she hung up the phone, Lotus heard a commotion outside her mansion. She walked to the window and saw Peter trying to stop Davis from entering the house. She felt her blood rise and walked outside to confront him.
“Peter, what are you doing? You don’t have the right to stop my visitors,” Lotus coldly told him, crossing her arms above her chest.
Peter glared at her, his eyes blazing with fury. “I just wanted to make sure that Davis didn’t make a move on you. You know how I feel about him.”
A scoff escaped her lips as she stared at the man she used to love, the man who proclaimed to love her in everything they did. The man who wanted to be there for her in her downtime, now it had all turned to rubbles.
“I can take care of myself, Peter. If anyone needs to leave, it’s you. Go and meet your usual flings,” Lotus retorted, her voice laced with hurt and anger. “You don’t have the right to meddle with my personal life.”
“You are my wife, Lotus. I won’t have you meeting any Tom, Dick, and Harry.” He insisted.
Davis calmly watched the couple with a slow smirk tugging on his lips. He could vouch that his master would be happy at the progress.
“Oh, now you remember I am your wife? Can you hear yourself, Peter? After all the time of ignoring me and treating me like a scum, you are here telling me I am your wife.” She seethed angrily. “I don’t have anything more to say to you; let’s just act like the strangers we are and not put into each other’s life.
Peter seethed with anger and, without another word, stormed out of the house. Lotus watched him go, her heart heavy with sadness and regret. Even though she was so upset and mad at him, she still had a level of control over her words. Those venomous words lay below her tongue and could cast a flaming fire rolling.
She turned back to the house, only to see Davis looking apologetic. “I’m sorry about that, Lotus. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
Lotus smiled at him, her heart softening. “It’s okay, Davis. Come on inside. Let’s talk business.” She had earlier texted him to come to her house to discuss the ways to take the company forward. He said something about being stuck but later made time to see her. Those little actions made Lotus extremely grateful to him.
They spent the rest of the evening discussing ideas for her architectural company, and Lotus couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude towards Davis. He had always been there for her through thick and thin. She wondered if maybe, just maybe, there was more to why he was helping her so steadily.
As she walked him to the door at the end of the night, Davis turned to her, a glint of hope in his eyes. “Lotus, I know we’ve been working together for a while now, but I can’t help the way I feel about you. I care about you more than just a colleague.”
Lotus felt a flutter in her chest, but she knew that she couldn’t let her emotions rule her. “I appreciate your honesty, Davis, but I’m not sure what I feel right now. Let’s take it slow, okay?”
Davis nodded a small smile on his lips. “Okay, Lotus. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”
Lotus couldn’t help but feel a sense of hope as they said their goodbyes. Was she doing the right thing by promising him of a chance with her? There was no way she was doing that at this time; she wanted to keep things really platonic, but he was making it very difficult for her to think straight.
—Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
Peter stumbled into his empty office, feeling the weight of loneliness and frustration crashing down on him. He had gone to the mansion earlier, but she had turned him away, and he couldn’t shake off the feeling of rejection even though he knew he deserved it. He was doing all this for her and to make sure that there was still a fire between them, hoping it didn’t sizzle out with time. He still loved her; he wanted to make things work as soon as he got his things straight and Sheila off his neck.
Earlier, he had taken a drink in his office. It made him extremely active, and he didn’t know what exactly was put into the drink. He needed to let off some steam and knew exactly who to turn to.
He sauntered over to Sheila’s desk, a dark glint in his eyes, and she smiled up at him, her fingers trailing down his chest suggestively. “What can I do for you, Peter?”
Peter grabbed her arm, pulling her up from her seat. “Come with me,” he commanded, leading her to his private office. He knew she was the one who did that to his drink, and he’d be damned if she didn’t suffer the consequences.
They spent the next hour indulging in pleasurable activities while Peter initially felt a sense of release. He had taken Sheila hard on his office table, he had expected her to cry out in pain, but the whore just moaned pleasurably, and he wondered just how many men she had slept with that made her that way. The feeling of calm was soon replaced with a wave of shame and disgust. He didn’t want to be this person who used women as objects and let his base desires control him. He still loved Lotus.
He stumbled out of his office, feeling empty and alone. He knew he had trapped himself in a vicious cycle, unable to move past his feelings for Lotus and unable to control his urges with other women. He needed to break free from this cycle but didn’t know how.
He made his way to a nearby bar, downing shot after shot of whiskey, hoping it would numb the pain. But it only made him feel worse as memories of his failed marriage and broken dreams came flooding back. He was slowly losing his sanity; his relationship with his father wasn’t better either. He hadn’t even seen the old man for a while and wondered what he would think of him when he saw that he was no longer with Lotus.
He stumbled out of the bar, his driver catching him before he fell to the ground. He was taken back to his empty mansion, where he drunkenly lay down on the porch, feeling the cold stone beneath him.
He couldn’t help but wonder how he had ended up like this. How had he become the kind of person he despised? He knew he needed to make a change, but he didn’t know where to start. And so he lay there, in his drunken stupor, waiting for the morning to come and bring with it a new day. He shit his eyes tiredly as he lay on the on the porch, a line tear sliding from his eyes.