Ecstasy

Woe

Xavier's figure was seen walking towards the car as he walked out of the pizza place. I wondered why we did not just go through the drive-through instead. Well he did say he wanted to exercise his legs a little. I for all did not have the patience to wait until I saw Dominic.

When I called him earlier to inform him of my sudden change of plans and that I would be attending his exhibit, the amount of excitement through his voice was priceless.

I mentally slapped myself once I realized how foolish it may have looked gazing out towards the road with a wide smile.

The car door opened, informing me of Xavier's presence in the vehicle. "Got a small size?"

"Yeah, since you'll be with Dominic for the night, so I figured I shouldn't buy the larger one", he mumbled with his torso turned over to place the box in the backseat. A frown found its way to my face, wondering if maybe spending the evening with Dominic was something that really bothered him. Clearly it did. He seemed too closed off since I told him I would go be with him.

But yes I asked him if he wanted to join me, but he denied the offer in a second. I was internally glad he did because today was Dominics big day and them throwing each other through priceless paintings was not something I needed to see.

"Why you acting so moody about that? And it's not like I'll be there long, only about an hour", I pointed out, knowing that I would have work and David's trial the following day. Not to mention Stephanies birthday was coming soon and considering the time we would spend in Thailand, I would need a lot of time to pack up.

A trip I had not told Xavier about, yet.

"I'm not acting moody. I'm just wondering why you suddenly agreed to go to the exhibit when you knew that I wanted us to have some quality time to ourselves. Our jobs are always keeping us busy Ashley, and seeing how David's trial is starting, I doubt if we'll even have time for tea".

"Well I'm sorry then, everyone at the exhibit and I can't miss it".

"You can, you just don't want to".

"Because he's my husband..!" I whisper shouted, catching both Xavier and I off guard by the words. Well, yes he was my husband, he knew that too and as long as those papers did not have ink on them, he was still mine.

The silence that engulfed the space in the vehicle was deafening, we could even hear the slow classic music playing from the pizza place across the parking lot. Xavier's eyes were fixated on my face, examining every single detail on it.

"The museum is five minutes from here, I can just walk there", I reached for the door handle before Xaviers hand gripped my forearm. At first, it sent a sharp pain through me, but he softened it within a millisecond.

"No, lemme take you there. It's dark, you shouldn't be walking out alone, even if David is in police custody, it's good to be cautious", he tried explaining as he did a reverse and found ourselves on the main road within seconds.

I said nothing back to him, only crossed my arms and continued looking outside, a sharp siren as that of an ambulance briskly driving past us in a hurry with its blinding lights.

"Ashley, I really don't mind if you want to be with Dominic", Xavier suddenly blurted, causing me to quickly face him in confusion. That was really not something I was expecting.

"I never said I wanted to".

"Yet you do", he rolled his eyes from the road and at me for less than five seconds. I opened my mouth to deny, yet not a sound seemed to escape my lips. "You and Dominic, it's your story here, maybe I'm just the character everyone hates for wasting your time away from him, y'know?"