Happily Ever After Comes At A Price

Chapter 32: Why?

   When dawn finally breaks through the horizon and I stifle from my stupor, the only feeling that courses through me is the numbing sensation that has been haunting me for what seemed like an eternity now... In a span of six months, I had my trust broken, my heart shattered and parents gone, deported myself, lost my only true friend and now married! If I didn't know this was my real life, I've have thought it were the plot of a rather boisterous Bollywood movie... Tossing and turning in the spacious bed, I repeat a relentless mantra which I know to be a lie, "I'm okay... I'll be fine." The wheels of time move on and forward, and all I can do is flow with it...

   The house is quiet, even though it's been long since dawn has passed...  I'm apprehensive of what may yet to come. The man, by the small glimpse he showed me yesterday night, was kind and caring. Somehow, he knew I would snap if he been more inched closer. The realization would have been too raw. All that mattered, that he understood and that he left me alone yesterday night. For once, I was grateful to be let alone to my demons. This was what emotions had finally succumbed to. But the nagging thoughts never left. His name, I could figure out. He would eventually have to tell me, right? But the most nefarious one was why... Why had he chosen this arrangement I couldn't fathom, but there was no doubt it was worse than my sins. I've heard of murderers roaming free of justice, what was his leash? But most importantly, what sins condemned him to marry a stranger with nothing but debts and a bad reputation to her name?

   As I tiptoed out of the sole bedroom, I wondered why he hadn't called me out yet. It was way into the late morning; the only ones waking up now could be ones with a bad hangover. But then again, with all these emotions running rampant through me, I didn't have any need for alcohol. It's been way too long. Either something's wrong, he left me or he's sleeping in. I don't know which one I would prefer. 

   And then, out of the blue, the delicious smell of breakfast comes wafting in from the nearby room- infiltrating all my senses. Right now, if my assassin was waiting with the food, I wouldn't care. I was too damn starving. Death for food didn't seem like a bad idea.   

    Following the scent, I walk into the tiny space. The kitchen, I suppose, even if the utensils present were kept at a bare minimum. A plastic table in the centre and two plastic chairs - one well worn, the other as shiny as the glistening sunlight falling into the room. But that was not of importance now, the glass containers covered with plates were. Food...  With two quick steps forward, I sit down. The hunger burning my stomach had reached my eyes; I don't remember the last time I ate. A nagging thought rises on the back of my head, as if I was forgetting something. But I pushed it down, way down. Everything else could wait.

   Just as I was about to lift a plate up, the hairs on my back stood up and I froze as a chill ran down my spine. "Good morning." The voice whispered near my ear, his breath softly blowing away the hair covering my face. 

  That's it. I froze. And I stayed frozen for a while, staring wide-eyed at the space in front of me even though he wasn't there. I kept the stance even after he materialized in front of my vision, shuffling the chair to sit right there, 3 feet in front of me...

   "You know, you did tell me last night that you could speak. Please tell me you weren't lying because you were scared to give me a negative answer." He says, his voice low and soothing.

   Still wide-eyed and dazed, I quickly shake my head. Please don't be mad, please don't be a secret psychopath underneath all that composure. 

   "Well, then I guess you need more time to get used to strangers. It's completely natural for introverts." His last statement leaves an open-ended question to which I could only answer with a shrug.