CHAPTER SIX

Chris was standing behind a couch in the living room. He was looking at the phone in his hand while holding a bag in the other hand. He was a compact, well-dressed man in his early forties who always looked like he was running fifteen minutes behind on six different things simultaneously. I could see sweat break out on his face. He had double eyelids, clear skin, and shiny eyes. He looked up when I walked in.

“Oh… hi… Quinn. Good thing you're back.”

I looked around the apartment, waiting to see Henry pop out from somewhere. Maybe he was in the room. “Hi, Chris”. I was about to go to the room to find Henry when Chris stopped me

“Ermmm…can you please help me with something before you go inside?”

I stared at him for a while. “What’s that?”

He quickly rushed to open his phone to read out whatever was on it. I stared blankly at him. 

“Something is going to be delivered here tomorrow, but I won’t be able to come pick it up for Henry before the weekend. Please can you bring it along to the awards on Saturday. I’ll get it from you there.

“Hah,” I scoffed as I moved my gaze from Chris to the other side of the living room. “Did Henry tell you I was coming? Did he think I was kidding when I said I wasn’t coming?” I now looked back at him, squinting my eyes at him and staring at him in a rather suspicious manner. “Hold on. Was that the silly idea he came up with to make me come? Ordering something and asking me to bring it for him. Look, I'm not coming, so you guys should not kid yourselves.” 

I was already angry, so I turned away from him to go look for Henry and tell him face to face that I wasn’t going to come. I rushed up towards the second-floor room where he usually slept. “Henry, just know that I am serious. I am not going to sit still and let you choose whatever you want for me,” I said as I entered the room, but he wasn’t there. I kept on moving around to find Henry.

“Quinn, but–” I heard Chris try to say something.

“Can you stay out of our issues?” I said fiercely.

“But you keep looking for Henry”

I came downstairs to the room where I slept, but he wasn’t there. “Where is he hiding?” I said as I moved towards Chris.

“Henry is not here”

“What! Then where is he?”

“He is probably on his way to the airport. He told me to come get some stuff for him.”

“To the airport? For what?” I was more confused than I was when I saw those tickets yesterday. 

“No, it's for his trip. He couldn’t come back to pick his things because of the stretched-out photoshoot today. But he will be back by Saturday in time for the awards. Ermm… I don't know what is going on, but I think it’s best if both of you talk things out. I have to go now so I can give this to him before the plane takes off.” He gestured to the bag in his hand as he walked away with a little smile.

I stood in the middle of the living room as I watched Chris walk out the door. Whatever just happened was probably not real. I was now guessing that it was all a show. There’s probably a spy camera here watching me to see what I’ll do, right?

Just as I was trying to snap myself out, my phone buzzed. It was the sound of a notification. I picked up my phone from my handbag. It was a text from Henry. The text read: I couldn’t make it home before my trip. Meet you on Saturday for the awards. I sent your contact to my stylist; she’ll DM you. Take care.”

I stood there holding my phone, reading his text one more time. Take care. He didn’t even make an effort to apologise for not coming home. I sat down slowly on the couch, touching my chest as if to make sure it was still there.

I grew up watching my mother endure my womaniser father. Despite my father’s infidelity, my mother never left him. She acted like she had thick skin, but I knew she sometimes cried in the bathroom. I used to judge her for it when I was younger. I used to think I would never be that woman. Now here I was, trying to hurt myself for a man who has zero care about me or about what happens to me. Henry can be anything to me, but just not a cheater because I couldn’t bear another trauma.

I can’t live like my mother, I said as I quietly moved to the desk where my laptop was. I opened it, but the fan community page was still open from last night. This time, it was a video that popped up when the site reloaded. I clicked on the video, and there I saw Henry kissing a woman on my screen. The text in the video was: ‘The bts of the kiss scene is better than the original’. In the video, he seemed more passionate about the woman than he had ever been with me. I felt cheated on again, despite knowing it was just an act in front of the camera. 

I couldn’t keep on watching, so I navigated away to a fresh page. An icon popped up to create an account or log in. I clicked the icon to create a new account.

“If Henry is going to act like a devil, then I have to act like the wife of a devil,” I said as I arched my head like an angry cat.