The Marriage Agreement

Chapter 38: Rain soaking, blind hoping

Tine's POV

"Wat asked me to give you this."

Phukong's voice brought me out of my thoughts. He walked inside my office, dragging a small suitcase with him.

I stared at the suitcase while he stared at me.

"You look worse than him. How is that even possible?"

"What.. is this?" I continued to stare at the suitcase.

"I don't know. He said he'd text you about it. Didn't you get any text?"

Sarawat hadn't really called or texted me since... since that night. Its been a week since that night.

A whole damn week.

In fact, it was the last time talked.

Day after day, Sarawat continues to wait for me until I come back to the office, even if its late. And he continues to give me lunch boxes with flowers.

And a part of me dies when I go back to the apartment and open up the lunch box. Every night, I start crying as I eat the food. Every night, I struggle to sleep because he isn't there.

Sometimes, I look outside the window late at night, wondering and hoping if he is still there. But why would he still be there? He doesn't even know I am living in that apartment. He probably thinks I come to the office directly in the morning and leave after I seem him.

He doesn't say anything when I see him at night. Just kisses me on the cheek, and hands me the food and flowers. And then he leaves.

But he never asks me to come back.
He never says he made a mistake.

Would things be different if I didnt marry him just to get inheritance? Would we be happier?

That's all I can think about every night.

I never wanted anything from Sarawat. I never asked him for anything.
I just wanted honesty. I wanted Sarawat to be the only person I could trust blindly.

After spending a decade on my own, a decade of disappointing family members who wanted to control every part of my life, I thought I was finally free. On our wedding day, I told mom I had found someone I could finally trust and in many ways, it was the best day of my life.

Sarawat was angry about the fact that I never ask for help. But what he doesn't understand is -- I don't ask for help from people because there is this innate fear in my that people around me are trying to control me. Because that's all I have known all my life.

Father always tried to control my life, but it got worse when mom dead. Him trying to make it difficult for me to access mom's inheritance was just the tip of the iceberg. Every small decision was a transaction and a way for him to control me.

You want to study law instead of business?
You need to never, ever speak up about the fact that you step-brother tried to kill you with a car.

You want to go on a trip with my friends?
You need to first spend more time with your step-mother and his son -- mainly so the reporters could take our pictures together

You want him to help me pay rent? 
You need to attend a party so your father can impress the newest billionaire in town.

And may be I overreacted when I found out what Sarawat had done.
May be I shouldn't have yelled at him.

But the moment I realised Sarawat had tried to essentially control my life and devised a plan to force me to marry -- I only had a knee jerk response. And that was sheer anger.