2. Price of Rebellion

She was still shaky as she sat on the couch opposite her husband. Felix had left, and only she remained in the mess he had created for her. She still could not get herself to breathe properly. How could anyone breathe in the mess she was in? She was still nauseous and shaky. She had tried to plead with her husband after Felix had run off, but he was not hearing her. Now out of words and unable to plead anymore, she sat there shaking like a leaf. Was this how her marriage was going to come to an end?

She looked at her husband, tears in her eyes. Shaking in part from the chill of her scantily covered skin, the fear, and the shock of the night’s events, she looked pitiful. But there was no sympathy in her husband’s eyes. Only hate. Hate and disgust.

She wanted to curl over and be left alone. But he insisted on interrogating her, ignoring and/or dismissing every answer she gave him.

“How long has this been happening?” he asked her.

How could he ask her this? She had told him that nothing happened, but he would not accept that response. Did he not believe her? Of course, he did not. He was no dummy. If placed in a similar situation, she would not believe him either. Why did she expect him to be different? How could she blame him? But those were not the important questions. How could she make him believe her?

“HOW LONG?!” he bellowed, and she jumped as fear crept up her throat.

“I told you!” she said through a fresh wave of anguished frustration, “I never touched him! Nothing happened between us!”

“ADREA!” his rage only put fear in her heart.

He did not believe her. He was not willing to believe her.

“I promise you I did not touch him,” she reiterated passionately, “Felix and I…”

“Do not,” Rafael’s voice could have frozen water as he spoke, “Do not ever say his name in my presence!”

Adrea nodded. “Okay,” she said shakily and tried swallowing the lump in her throat away, “Okay.”

She would not say his name. The wound was still fresh. But how could she prove her innocence? How could she assure him that she did nothing? She couldn’t. She hung her head as she realised that she was stuck.

This was her own fault. He had warned her. He had told her several times that he was not comfortable with her friendship with his younger brother. She had not listened. She had thought that Felix was harmless. After all, he was the only friend she had. Now she was reaping the rewards of her rebellion. If only she had been obedient. This was the price of her lack of compliance. The loss of everything she had been building emotionally with her husband of less than a year.

“Please, Rael,” she pleaded, “Please believe me.”

“I don’t want to hear your lies,” he snapped angrily.

‘But they are not lies!’ her heart cried out.

“I swear on my father’s grave,” she began, but he was not having it.

“Don’t you dare!” he got to his feet as he yelled, “Is this how far you are willing to take this?”

“I am not lying to you,” she told him. “I went to bed alone. I don’t know when and how Felix got in.”

“I can’t do this,” Rafael muttered as he ran his hands through his hair.

Adrea watched him helplessly get to his feet and walk towards the door…

How could she make him understand? She was innocent. She had nit cheated on him. She would never dream of doing so. She could not find the words that would make him believe her. She could not convince him.

Wait… He was leaving. He couldn’t leave. She had to make him listen. She got up and followed after him. He must have heard her frantic movements because he swiftly turned around, and she stopped short of crashing into him.

“Don’t,” he said to her. “I am this close to doing something we will both regret. I want space from you.”

There was nothing she could do but watch him walk out the door. She stood there looking blankly at the door as she heard the engine of a car start and then fade into the distance. She stood there as a clock ticked somewhere in the house with nothing but the crushing feeling in her chest ruling her. She had no idea how long she was there, but it was a long time. When she finally moved, it was out of exhaustion and despair. She sank onto the floor on that spot in front of the door and wept.

All was lost. There was no salvation. There was no redemption. He would not want her now. If she was him, she would keep walking and never look back. In fact, she would go to the nearest lawyer and get a divorce lawyer to end their marriage. What was she going to do?

‘What am I going to do?’ she asked no one in particular as she wrapped her arms around herself.

For the first time that night, she realised how little she was wearing. Only a thin, short, spaghetti-strapped nightgown over a pair of panties protected her modesty. No wonder she was cold. But that chill was probably from her heart icing over. She doubted she could ever get warm again.

When the housekeeper walked in hours later, she found Adrea as a half-conscious and half-frozen lump on the floor that was lethargic.

“Madam,” she said as she knelt by the floor and tried to get her attention.

Adrea had her eyes open, but she was not seeing her. She touched her skin and realised how cold she was. In blind panic, the housekeeper managed to take the boss’s wife to her room, where she went into a panic and refused to enter. What was going on in this house?

Confused and not able to bear the young woman’s distress, the housekeeper took her to a spare bedroom. She soaked her in warm water and then carefully dried her before tucking her in bed. With Adrea finally asleep, the housekeeper then called her boss. His phone was turned off. She looked over at her boss’s wife, who was silently crying in her sleep. Had they fought? The housekeeper shook her head as she reminded herself that she was not paid to speculate. However, she could not help but feel sorry for the young wife. What in the world had happened in this house?