Lights Will Guide You Home

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

He was yelling.

She was yelling.

There was a screaming match happening in their home right now, it was so messed up.

She didn't know what had happened. This morning, everything was more than fine. With his birthday coming in only two days left, she was really excited about her surprise. Much to her dismay, however, everything changed into a drastic turn when he found out about something he wasn't supposed to know yet. She didn't want to keep a secret from him - she knew it was against the unwritten rule of being married or something, but knowing that this same secret could turn into a potential fight, she had purposely kept it under his radar at least until after his birthday. She didn't want anything to ruin his birthday and the surprise she had planned meticulously for a while now. She was planning to come clean the day after his birthday, hoping that his good mood would help her to calm him down from the secret she was about to let him know. Instead, an hour ago, he found out about it and right now, which brought them to their screaming match.

She didn't know when or exactly why their harmless arguments turned into a catastrophic fight. This was hands down the biggest fight they ever had after they got back together a few years ago. She hadn't expected them to fight like this again and now that their fight only got worse she didn't know how to make it better.

"This, this is just unacceptable!" Ross yelled exasperatedly. "I don't know why you agreed to do that without discussing it with me." He paced around their bedroom, rage filled his entire body. "Does my opinion mean nothing to you? I'm your husband for god's sake! You don't get to make this kind of decision alone! You decide it with me, your husband!"

"You know as well as I do, that your opinion matters to me! Don't talk to me like I don't appreciate you as my husband!" Rachel yelled back, feeling suddenly defensive at his long list of accusations toward her. How could he accuse her of not respecting his opinion? "This is my career we're talking about here and it's not like it is a big deal! I'll only leave for two weeks, not the whole year. That's all I'm asking." She sighed and sat at the edge of their bed - her hand on her swollen belly, feeling exhausted. He stopped pacing and his face softened when he looked at his wife's face filled with exhaustion.

They had been fighting for the entire night after he picked up her phone and answered a phone call from her office asking his wife to confirm her trip to Milan while she was in a shower. When he confronted her about it, she finally told him that she was going to Milan by next month for a business trip and to say that he wasn't happy with her decision was the understatement of the year. He was angry and pissed at some level Rachel hadn't witnessed before. Today was the first time in forever he raised his voice at her and it made her flinch.

"You have to understand, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. I can't just give it up. I can't let that bastard who's been sniffing around for my job to just sweep in and steal my promotion away. I've worked too hard for this, Ross. I've worked my ass off these past two years for this job and I'm not going to bail out on such an opportunity just because I'm pregnant." She tried to reason with him, to let him see why she needed to go, to make him hopefully understand her. Her voice was soft, but also showed her determination at the same time, and yet Ross wasn't even budge.

He shook his head adamantly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "No. You can't go. I can't let you go."

She looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe he'd said that. All their entire relationship, she had been nothing but supportive to his career. She was there when he had asked them all to go to Barbados for his big speech - even though they were no more than friends at the time. She was there to support him at every dinner and parties his university hosted, including the gala dinner they had just attended last weekend. She was willing to listen to him practicing his speech whenever he was chosen as a speaker for a seminar - offering him a few feedbacks as well on top of everything. She even happily tagged along with him a few times for seminars and conferences he had outside the city.