Lady Baby

6

Max and Sharon tried to reason with uncle Olu. Sharon kept arguing that he was in no position to make such a decision but the man's mind was set in stone. When she threatened to leave, he still didn't back down.

Max suspected uncle Olu had it all planned. He must have known they would come visiting and he also knew Sharon would not have the heart to fling his hospitality in his face because of therapy. She had conceded at last. Max wasn't worried though, if the man wanted them to go through marriage counselling, he could live with that. The rest of the day had consisted of him mounting his masking frame, staring at the view from the balcony of their room, and trying to paint anything. Long story short, he wasted about four canvases.

"Good night," Max said as he settled into bed. Sharon mumbled a reply then kept typing away at her keyboard. Trust Sharon to bring work wherever she goes.

But you did the same.

Max shook off the thought and focused on Sharon. She was shuttling between weaving her curly dark hair in two fat braids and typing God knows what on her laptop. Even in her oversize sweater, pajama bottom, and fluffy pink slippers she still looked stupidly appealing. He could stare at her all day.

"It's already past eleven, wouldn't you come to bed? " Max asked hopefully.

The room was getting pumped with excruciating cold air from the central air conditioning and the temperature regulator at the wall wasn't working. Max was suspecting the old man also planned that little 'oversight'. At the moment Max was dying to share some body heat with Sharon and maybe even get lucky tonight. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"I'm not ready to sleep, and even if I were the idea of sharing that tiny bed with you doesn't make me giddy with excitement," Sharon said in a flat voice.

Max's smile vanished. "Fine. Don't use the bed as an excuse, just admit you don't want me to touch your precious body." Max turned away and pulled the blanket over his shoulders as he struggled to find a comfortable position on the small bed. It was only respect for uncle Olu that kept him on the bed, he had half the mind to go downstairs and sleep on one of the cushions. Hell, he'd even prefer sleeping in the hammock he saw at the back.

"No, mosquitoes," Max mumbled.

"Stop mumbling; if you have something to say to me say it to my face," Sharon said, her voice taking that biting tone he absolutely hated.

"You really don't want to hear what I have to say... you really don't."
All Max needed was to sleep and forget he was sexually frustrated.

"But I want to hear what you have to say."

Max could feel her eyes shooting daggers at the back of his head.

"Go on, tell me what's on your mind. You expect me to happily jump into your arms when you are plain self-centered, unappreciative, and insensitive to my needs? This vacation is evidence of what I'm trying to say."

Max turned to her and saw she was still meticulously tending to her hair. Even in anger the woman still remained irritatingly poised. He felt like shaking the perfection out of her. The person he met at the parking lot three years ago was so far removed from the one staring at him with quiet indignation.

"Look who's calling me self-centered. You hardly let me touch you, isn't that self-centered and insensitive? Or you think I'm not human, you think it's not blood that flows in my veins? News flash—you are not perfect. I bet you think I'm the ogre in this marriage but guess what?" Max asked, his ears feeling hot from his rising frustration and anger. "You are married to this ogre and the more you act like a princess up in her perfect little castle, the more I smear you with my filth."