My Dear Deadly Husband

Chapter 20

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"I've booked a reservation at the Rooftop Restaurant at six tonight," Keenan said nonchalantly while reading the newspaper. 

Rose looked at the clock while lying on the couch; it was already 5pm. 

She had just been hazily staring into nothing for the past hour and she had been repeating this routine for nearly two months. 

Get up.

Eat.

Lie down.

Eat.

Sleep.

Then repeat.

"Rose," he called out. 

Rose turned over from her position to face the back of the couch. Her knees were nested around her chest and her hands were scrunched up in front of her. 

"You should start getting ready. There is a formal dress code," he instructed.

Rose closed her eyes and clenched her jaw.

"I'm not going," she whispered.

"Rose, speak up. I can't hear you when you're huddled behind the couch," he said aloud.

She slowly got up from the couch and looked over in his direction, repeating herself once more. 

"I'm not going," she stated.

Keenan paused, then he put down the newspaper and lifted his eyes towards her.

"You haven't been out in two months," he replied sternly. "Before, you were begging to leave the house and now you don't."

She scrunched her eyebrows together and dug her face into a pillow.

"I don't feel like eating," she replied, lying back down onto the couch. 

Keenan frowned and got up from his seat. He walked his way over to her and leaned over the couch, shadowing her resting body. 

"You've been saying that the whole day. You need to eat," he affirmed. 

Rose stayed silent and continued to bury her face into the pillow. She was more or so hoping that she would drown in it and fall asleep.

"Look, I'll cancel the dinner but you need to eat something. I haven't seen you eat more than a piece of toast and two muesli bars today," he gruffed.

Rose soon heard Keenan phone the restaurant to cancel their reservation. She took a deep breath in and gradually rolled from the couch to the floor where she shakily stood up onto her feet. 

She wasn't being stubborn. She just really didn't feel like eating. She had been feeling nauseous all day. 

"I'll cook something up for us," Keenan said after the phone call. "Tell me what you want to eat."

He made his way to the kitchen and took the black cotton apron from the shelf and slid it around his body while looking at her.

"Any suggestions?" he asked. 

Rose stood there without a word, not even wanting to hear the word 'food' at the moment. She felt as though she could puke at any trigger. 

"Carbonara it is," he decided onesidedly. 

Keenan quickly got to work and opened the cupboard to grab a saucepan. After he placed it over the stove top, he made his way to the fridge and grabbed a packet of bacon slices, a bunch of tomatoes and a block of cheese.