“Would you Nek Cellos take Taina Seneca as your lawfully wedded wife” the priest says
“I do” Nek smiles, I’ve never seen him smile; he has perfect pearly feet and looks so innocent when he smiles, I wish he’d always smile.
What are you thinking Taina, he’s just your boss and this is just a contract marriage? “Taina... Taina…”, I look up and I notice Nek has been calling me, there’s a bit of worry etched on his face, but I don’t dwell on it.
The priest clears his throat and continues “Taina Seneca, would you take Nek Cellos as your lawfully wedded husband”. I freeze, at this moment everything feels so real, am I making a wrong decision? I think to myself. I feel someone reach for me, it’s Nek
“Mi Amor the priest is asking you a question”, I look at him and smile, it’s too late to back out; at least I got married to the rich and handsome Nek Cellos, that should be some consolation.
“I do”, I say as I force a smile
“You may now kiss the bride”, I totally forgot about that part. I move my head to the side so that Nek could kiss my cheek, but he has other plans in mind.
He slowly holds my chin and slips one around my waist, whilst drawing me closer to him and then he kisses me. He looks up at me, “we are finally married Mrs. Cellos and you’re mine now” he says with a dangerous glint in his eyes, “only mine” he whispers.
I gasp, I’m too shocked by that kiss to even respond; I never thought I’d kiss my boss. With his hands around my waist, he leads me to the documentation booth, where we complete the marriage registration.
I notice he keeps glancing at me; and his hands around my waist, it feels like he’s preventing me from bolting. To be honest I can’t blame him, I’ve been looking at the door; but I’m not dumb, it’s too late to run and I’m his now.
We walk back to the car, holding hands; his doing not mine, but I can’t deny it, I’m enjoying this feeling of closeness.
As we get into the car, Nek signals the driver to move, “Give the driver your house address, you’re moving into my house”, this was not part of the agreement I think to myself.
“That’s not needed, I’m very comfortable in my parents’ house” I coolly say. I’m not moving into this man’s house; I’d have to see him 24/7, and I don’t think I can handle his 24hrs. ego.
Nek smiles “It wouldn’t be a real marriage, if my wife doesn’t stay with me; people wouldn’t believe we’re married, so be a good wife and listen”
“Who are the people, no one knows we’re married, I’m going to stay at my parents’ house and that’s final” I quip
“My family knows we’re married, and they could visit at any time; what would I tell them if they don’t meet you at home? would I tell them that my wife needs her personal space, so we don’t live together” Nek says half irritated
What he’s saying makes sense, and I’m too tired to argue “Alright, but we’ll sleep in separate rooms, that the most I’ll do since you’re literally begging me to stay with you” I half-heartedly smile as I roll my eyes.
“I didn’t think you have a funny bone you; so, you can make jokes” Nek laughs to himself
“I can, and you didn’t know that cause you’re always working me to the bone”, I jokingly say.
Nek laughs sparingly, this is the second time I’ve seen him laugh in my 3 years of working with him; it’s nice, I settle on that.
The first time I saw Nek smile, was my first day of work, I wore a bird costume to work; apparently, it’s a work culture to trick a new employee. I walked into the office feeling confident in my Mr. Tweedy costume, unfortunately for me the first person I say that day was Nek, and he couldn’t help himself but roar into laughter; I was totally humiliated, but I couldn’t shake the fact that I liked seeing Nek smile.
“Taina…Taina…, where’s your mind at”, Nek says as he eyes squint at me; Nek’s eyes are a gorgeous mix of blue and green, sometimes it looks like I’m staring into the sea. Focus Taina, Nek’s just your boss, nothing more, “my minds here, I was just thinking about the stress involved in moving my things” I lie
“Okay….” Nek says, looking like he doesn’t quite believe me, but not wanting to pursue it, “you don’t have to worry about that, we’ll go shopping for new clothes, just bring your personal items”
“But….” I stop mid-sentence, if this man wants to change my wardrobe, why should I fight it; all the times I’ve argued with this man, he’s always won, he can have this one.
“Thank you, that’s kind of you”, I feel very grateful to him, and he’s slowly entering my good list now.
“Hmmn, I couldn’t bear you walking around in rags” Nek says. That’s it, I’ve had enough with this man, just when I think I can deal with him, he becomes more unbearable.
“Stop the car” I calmly say
“Keep driving “Nek says
“Stop the car right now, I’m going to report to the police that you are kidnapping me” I shout
Nek pulls me into his laps, “what would you say Mrs. Cellos, that your husband kidnapped you; come to think of it does your boyfriend work in the police force. You better not have a boyfriend” he says as his lips land on mine.
I’m in utter shock, it takes me some seconds to regain my composure; I remove myself from his laps and I decide to be quiet, I’m slowly learning that this man is capable of anything.
He chuckles to himself “I found the best way to keep Mrs. Cellos quiet’
This man is so infuriating, how will I spend 5 years with him. It hasn’t even passed a day, and I already feel like throttling him…
“Taina” Nek says softly, waking me up. “Yeah” I say, sleepily rubbing my eyes.“We have arrived at our parents' place” he says. “Oh” I say, sitting up, taking into view my environment. “It’s been a while since I was here” I say, coming down from the car.He smiles, “don’t worry, we’ll see them more often” he says, holding my hands with Taek on his other side.The maid opens the door, at the sound of the doorbell. A huge smile on her face at the sight of us, “they are at the lounging room” she says, before stepping away from the door.“Thank you” we say, walking past her and towards the lounging room. “Hi everyone” I say, waving as I walk into the room. I take time to respectfully greet my parents and Nek’s parents before returning to Nek’s side.Everyone has an enthusiastic look on their face as their eyes rover on me, I’m guessing they haven’t heard the reason why they’re there.“Who are the parents of this cute little boy” mom says, as she takes Taek from Nek.I smile, “it’s ours”
The months that went by were fun, full of love and laughter. Nek showed up everyday without missing a single day, bearing flowers and gifts each time he came.He was always with Taek, almost as if he was trying to make up for lost time, which is completely understandable.Taek’s clocked one and Nek threw a massive birthday party for him, inviting my friends in Yuhic. I had wished that my family and friends in Yula would be able to make it but Nek explained that it wouldn't be a nice way to reveal the existence of our child, they’d be happy for us but also hurt and confused. So we decided to wait until we returned to Yula.Nek proposed to me at the end of the party, signifying that it’s a new start in our marriage and I gladly accepted as he’s the only man I want to be married to.Three months later“Are we going straight to your parents' place?” I ask, with Taek in my arms as we alight the plane. Nek takes Taek from me, noticing that I look uneasy, “are you okay?” He asks.I nod, “I’m
I smile, “I love you too but you have to work for it. I forgiven you but I need to know that I can trust you. I need to know that the situation with Juris will never repeat itself again whether with Juris or with any other lady”.He nods, “I understand and I promise to put in the work”I smile, “you have to”. He nods, “can I ask a question?” He asks, looking a bit uneasy. I nod, “you can ask me anything”. He smiles, “who’s the guy that I met at the Excellence, is he your boyfriend?”I chuckle, “you mean David. David isn’t my boyfriend, he’s just a very good friend and besides, I wouldn’t let you kiss me if I had a boyfriend that’ll be cheating. And in the same manner, I can’t have a boyfriend if I’m married to you, if I do so, that’d be cheating”A look of relief washes over his face, “wait.. so that means… that means” he says, gently holding me by the shoulders.“What?” I ask, looking into his eyes. “Does that mean the child is mine, the little boy I greeted is our son” he asks, a s
After a while, he stands to his feet and walks to his desk, pulling out a pile of tissue from its box. He gently dabs his eyes and blows his nose into the tissue, backing away from me so I can’t see him.The room remains silent, only the sound of his sobs filling the room. My heart goes out to him as I watch him cry, I want to walk over to him and embrace him in a hug telling him it’s okay and that I’ve forgiven him, but my legs don’t move as I remain fixed to my seat while I watch him dab his eyes.“I’m sorry” he chuckles, returning to the seat, “I guess it’s just pent up emotions for the past one year”. I smile, “it’s fine”.He shakes his head, “no it’s not, I chose my ex over our marriage, our relationship, our family. I literally embarrassed you in front of the staff and others by not upholding your honour”.He sniffles, “for the past nine months, I’ve been planning to see you. I wanted to apologise for my mistakes”“Two months with Juris revealed who she truly is, she is a gold d
I walk into The Excellence, taking the first stairs, turning right; my heels clicking behind me. How I knew his office was not really a big deal, to others maybe, but to me no.I had taken a chance, The Excellence in Yuhic is built almost exactly like the one in Yula with few structural changes to fit in with the culture in Yuhic.I based off my judgment on that information, the worst that could go wrong is that I got lost and if that happened, I’d just call for help.My actions bring my movements to a halt as I stop at a door, there’s no plaque specifying what the room is, just like the one in Yula. Unlike the others which have a Plaque attached to this door, this one doesn’t. Nek didn’t want people to know he had an office here or that he was around, he said it caused too many unnecessary visits. And to be honest, I completely agree with the concept.I take a deep breath, pulling myself together before knocking on the door.“Please come in” I hear a voice on the other side of the r
“Dear Taina BellosTrust this email meets you well. I’m writing to you, because I need to see you and sort out some facts that tie me to my past. I’d personally go over to your home, but we are not as close as we used to and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like that. I’d love it if we could meet at the Excellence hotel, in my office this evening at 4pm. My secretary will guide you at my arrival.P.S. I know it’s old fashioned to send you an email, but I don’t have your new number and I figured you’d still be using your old email.Warm RegardsNek Bellos”My heart flutters as I read the email. I've read the message over four times but every time I see the name Bellos attached to my name, I just can’t help but feel butterflies.The first thing I did after receiving the email, was to save it to my computer; just in case he rethinks his actions and retracts the mail.“Dear Taina Bellos” I mutter under my breath, reading the email once again. The feeling of giddiness overwhelming me as I re