CHAPTER THREE.

ELOISE'S POV.

“Eloise!” A firm call jabs me out of my thoughts, making me tremble mildly on my seat as I snap my head in the direction of the voice. I'm greeted by a pair of angry eyes, staring daggers at me and those eyes belong to no one else but Mrs. Wesley. I so badly want to roll my eyes at her right now.

“Yes, mother.” My voice is almost inaudible and my thoughts immediately travel back to the conversation I just had with my best friend over text.

That heart wrenching caption. The photos I just saw of my husband walking hand in hand out of a hotel with a girl rumored to be his ex-girlfriend, keep flashing in my mind. The overall possibility that he could be cheating on me. My poor heart can't take any of this. It's pounding so fast; I fear it'll stop working soon. And I'm angry… so angry, I feel like setting something on fire right now.

“You have refused to engage in any conversation since you got here, instead, you keep doing whatever it is you do on your cell phone regardless of the fact that we are at the dining table trying to eat!”

“I'm sorry, mother.” I say grimly, putting the phone away and once more picking up my cutleries. I shoot a brief glance across at Klein just in time to catch him glaring at me, but he immediately tears his gaze from my face when our eyes meet and focuses on his meal.

Is he really cheating on me?

“Even if you work at that small, miserable company of yours, I doubt there's enough work for you to do that would stop you from doing house chores and having kids, but here you are… lazy and childless!” Mrs. Wesley drops another bomb and I lower my head, pretending to focus on my food as I try to hide my sorrow. This isn’t new. I have to deal with my mother-in-law’s derogatory comments every time I come here and I have long stopped expecting Klein to speak up for me.

“Oh my God, Mum! You have to see this!” Ava bursts out all of a sudden.She’s leaning into her mother now and showing her something on her phone. “It’s Klein and Jasmine! It seems a few reporters spotted them going into the hotel together last night and took photos. Those photos are breaking the internet!” She reports in the most enthusiastic tone, drawing all her mother’s attention to the phone in her hand. “Everyone is commenting how good they look together and I couldn’t agree less! Mum, they look like a real couple!” Her eyes light up with joy and excitement as she blabbers on. Mrs. Wesley takes the phone in her hold and starts scrolling with a smile plastered on her lips. She seems to be very pleased with what she’s seeing.  My heart is as heavy as a rock. I'm taking in short, shallow breaths to try and steady my raging heartbeats and I'm blinking many times to stop the tears burning in my eyes from spilling down.

And Klein has still not said a word to address the issue.

When I can’t take it anymore, I gently push my chair behind and rise from it. My feet carry me as fast as they can out of the dining room to the nearest restroom I can find.  Once in, I shut the door behind me and come face to face with my reflection in the mirror. The tears clogging my eyes break loose and cascade down my cheeks. I struggle to breathe, but fail. The air in my lungs feels like Sulphur steams. I feel like all my organs are shutting down one after another and it’s just a matter of seconds before I crumble on this floor and close my eyes for good.

My husband cheated on me and his mother and sister are elated about it. It’s making waves on the internet and he hasn’t as much as flinched ever since it was mentioned.

The door suddenly creaks open and out of fright, my soul leaves my body. Terror rakes its claws down my spine when I turn to check who it is and see my sister-in-law walking into the room with a smirk playing on her lips. Sirens start ringing in my blood.

“I figured you’d be doing this here.” She remarks in an amused tone and I immediately understand that she’s referring to my tears. I quickly turn back to my reflection in the mirror and carefully wipe the tears off of my cheeks.

“What do you want, Ava?” I ask and I’m immediately overwhelmed with shame at the hoarseness of my voice. She joins me in front of the mirror and rests her gaze on me.

Oh, how I want to cripple that grin on her lips with a solid smack!

“The tears in your eyes tell me you’ve seen the photos of Jasmine and Klein that are circulating online.”

Several moments go by and I say nothing to confirm or refute her statement.

She nods and chuckles lightly.

“Indeed, you have. That means you must have also seen the captions of the posts and the comments people are making about them. You know… about how good they both look as a couple.”

I still don’t say anything. I stay silent and unmoving as I keep staring at my reflection in the mirror, my mind clouded with thoughts of the things I could do to hurt her in the most lethal way. Physically. An attempt to swallow the painful knot in my throat feels like I’m trying to force a bunch of toothpicks down my throat. I shut my eyes and breathe, broken, grinding my teeth so hard, my jaws start to hurt and balling my fingers into fists with my hands by my side.

“Ava, I want to be left alone.” My voice is strained and low and as expected, Ava disregards my wish and rides on.

“It’s true that I hate you, Eloise… God, I hate you so much that I would unplug your life support to charge my phone. Everyone in this family feels the same way and if you know what’s good for you, you’d divorce Klein and move on with your life. He doesn’t give two shits about you. In case you didn’t know, Jasmine is the only woman for him and now that she’s back in the country… in his life, it’s just a matter of time before he kicks you out. This marriage between the two of you was a mistake. You and Klein were never meant to be. If you’re as smart as you claim to be, you’d divorce him and move on with your life.”

With that, she swivels on her heels and sashays out of the restroom, leaving me utterly and completely disconsolate.

The last three sentences she spoke have set all my nerve endings on fire and I can’t tell if it’s as a result of the poignancy and condescension of her tone or the brutal accuracy of her words.

The rest of the dinner is a nightmare. Ava and her mother ride on with gushing over how perfect Klein and Jasmine look in the photos and even read some comments out loud to my hearing. Klein stays silent. As though he has no explanation to give me.

I have lost all of my patience and almost all of my sanity by the time the dinner is over. Klein leads the way out of the house after exchanging goodbyes with his mother and sister. I do none of that.  I have not been able to breathe properly ever since I saw those images online. I have so many questions to ask him concerning the issue. He cheated. That’s clear as day, but for some reason, I want to hear his own side of the story. I want to hear what he has to say about all that’s going on, but I do not have the slightest idea how to get him to tell me what I want to hear.

I mean, I know how to get him to tell me.

I have to ask.

Yes. All I have to do is ask him what is going on, but I’m too scared, too terrified to do so.

One minute I’m convinced I have mustered enough courage to voice out my concerns, but the moment my eyes meet with his cold, emotionless ones, all the words fly out of my brain and I suddenly lose my voice.

“Eloise.” Klein’s call stops me in my tracks and so does the blood in my veins. Without turning to face him, I stay planted on my spot as I wait for him to come over and meet me and with every step, he takes closer to me, my blood pressure rises to an all-new higher level. Without the evening breeze blowing out here and serving as a coolant for my rapidly increasing body temperature, by now, I would have burst into flames and burned to ashes.

It takes a century for him to finally meet up with me and I’m a millennium old by the time we’re standing face-to-face with each other, but thankfully, I’m not senile and can still think properly and that’s why I’m very conscious of the hundreds of questions ringing in my mind concerning his sudden call and need to talk with me.

Has he finally come to his senses and realized that he needs to give me an explanation for everything that’s going on?

“Klein.” My voice is hardly audible. My breath hitches when our gazes meet. There’s not a single modicum of emotion in his eyes as he looks at me.

“I have somewhere to go right now so I’m not going home with you. Loid will take you.”  He calmly dictates and his words slap me in the face like a hundred hands. The pain in my chest amplifies within an instant and my eyes start to sting with tears.

He doesn’t want to go home with me. He wants to go and spend another night with his mistress.

“If that’s understood then, I’ll be on my way.”

“Klein.” I blurt out before he can turn away from me. My heart careens out of control when his gaze meets with mine again

“Yes.”

I have to ask him about those pictures circulating online. I won’t get a wink of sleep all weekend if we don’t address the issue. I know he doesn’t love me, but he has never openly had an affair. His reputation is his utmost priority and he has never done anything to taint it. I need to know why he’s suddenly throwing all of that away now.

I swallow dryly, nervously as I ask:

“Have you heard the rumours flying around about you and Jasmine?” 

“What about them?” The nonchalance of his tone makes my heart sink into my stomach.

Of course he knows about them, and he doesn’t care. If anything, he seems delighted about the rumours. The only reason why he’s not had an affair before now is because she wasn’t here.

“Klein you…” My voice catches in my throat as I attempt to speak again. I shut my eyes close, let out a heavy exhale before prying my eyes open again to continue. “Are you having an affair?”  I ask, my voice raspy and watch his eyebrows nearly fly off his face from sheer shock and mortification. His countenance morphs into a bewildered expression and I once more, regret ever opening my mouth.

“What if I am? Are you going to ask for a divorce?” His question paralyses me with shock. I stare at him, silent and unmoving, with my heart threatening to hop out of my chest.I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut by a hundred fists. When he realises that I have no response to his question, he gives me a reproachful head shake, while sighing like I absolutely exasperate him and says: “I didn’t think so.” He then turns to Loid, one of our personal drivers who is standing a few meters away from us, and instructs him to take me home.  I nearly crumble to ashes when he shoots me another burning gaze and says: “You can think whatever you want about what’s going on between Jasmine and I. I don’t care.” 

And with that, he walks away.