I Love You.

Chapter 17

I Love You.

Lyla Atelo.

"Go and freshen up. You need to look good for our guests. To show them how well I'm taking care of you." Michael had not noticed my swollen face, or maybe he didn't even care about it at all. All that mattered to him right now was his visitors and the role they were about to play in his company.

"Okay." I washed my hands in the sink after laying out all the dishes on the dining table.

I made my way upstairs. Tired and drained. Under the cold shower, the tears fell endlessly from my eyes. That feeling of loneliness had found its way into my heart again. That pain was tearing my heart from its apex up to its base. I was under the shower for close to thirty minutes when I heard pounding footsteps and my name being yelled.

"Lyla! Lyla! Where are you?" It was Michael. He sounded panicked.

I turned off the faucet and grabbed a towel to wrap around myself.

"I'm here." I called back and opened the bathroom door. Relief instantly flooded his eyes as he took cautious steps towards me.

"Hey... Are you okay?" He gave me a funny look and I couldn't help the frown that formed on my face.

"Okay? What do you mean?" I was confused as well as I tightened my towel harder around my body. "I'm fine as you can see."

"Kendra called me." His gaze was still steady on my face. "She said you were at her house a few hours ago. You dropped off some boxes of chocolates in the corner of her house."

"Yes, I did that." I didn't deny anything. "I wanted to apologise to her for suspecting her of cheating with you."

"What happened then?" He seemed eager to hear what I had heard Kendra said.

"I heard so many things, Michael." My voice had gotten softer. I strode towards my wardrobe to grab something light to wear. "Something that is really hard to believe, Michael. And I feel more than betrayed."

Michael was fast to reach where I was standing. He immediately pulled my hands into his and peered into my eyes.

"Listen, Lyla. Kendra is not a good friend." He began immediately, as if trying to convince me of that fact. "You shouldn't believe anything that comes out of her mouth because she is a liar, and a very good one at that."

"I don't doubt that." My lips curled into a derisive smile. What was he trying to do? Extract himself from the situation by spoiling Kendra's name? ...which was already spoiled, by the way.

"Yes. She is. You mustn't speak to her ever again." He looked around for... my phone? "In fact, block and delete her number before she fills your head with lies and false rumors about me."

"Rumors about you?" My eyebrows contracted together. "Why would she make up lies about you?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe she's just jealous of you and wants us to have issues... fight, or even divorce? I feel like she wants to take your place in my life. She wants to be my wife. But, I wouldn't make that happen. Only you, Lyla, only you are my wife. Only you will always be my wife! Kendra can dream all she wants but you're the only person my heart has space for."

"Are you trying to say that she lied to me? That you never paid her to pretend to be my friend?"

Michael paused and blinked for a few seconds. Guilt clouded his face as he hung his head low.

"About that..." He began, more slowly than he has been rushing his sentences earlier, "She didn't lie. I did pay her. But I was only looking out for you."

"Looking out for me?" My eyebrows pinched together. "Michael, you know how much I hate relationships that are based on lies! You know my last traumas from that. You know—"

"I know, Lyla." He said dejectedly. "But, when we got married eight years ago, you were closed off from interacting with people. I brought you from the village and into the city. Everything was new to you. You wouldn't even talk to our neighbours, so yes, I had to pay her to become your friend. And when she did that, I saw how radiant you became. How happy you were to have a friend, and that was all that mattered to me. Your happiness, Lyla. I would pay anything to make you happy. I will give you the world, Lyla!"

He said it with so much conviction that the pain in my heart began to dissipate slowly.

"I love you, Lyla. I really do. And I may not say this every time but you're the best thing that has ever happened to me." His eyes glistened as he made a step towards me once more. "After a while, I realized that Kendra wanted more. More than the money I was paying her. She wanted me. And the more I pushed her away, the more she started filling your head with nonsense. For one, I didn't know she had made you apply to be a teacher. You could just be home while I provide everything. You shouldn't be lifting your finger to do something as big as working. That is beneath you, my beautiful wife."

His words held me under a spell I stared into his honey brown eyes. I believed every word he said. Suddenly, every bad thing that had happened in the past few years between us didn't matter to me. This man right here was a good man. He was after my heart, and he was going to cherish it forever. My heart swelled in happiness once more.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. We both looked at each other knowingly. Our guests had arrived.

"You're not leaving, right? You're staying here with me? And you'll come downstairs with me, as your husband, right?" He stared at me pleadingly... and something struck me.

My heart shattered as fast as it had been mended. Michael had not confessed because he meant it, he confessed because he thought I was packing out of the house. He thought that I wasn't going to welcome his guests to show them that we were indeed a happy family.

"Of course, I'm coming down with you as your wife." I told him with a small smile on my face.

I hurriedly dressed up within three minutes. I didn't have the chance to apply any light makeup because our guests would have to stay out a little longer. Michael wouldn't want that.

"Are you ready?" Michael asked from beside me as we stood in front of the door.

"I am." I told him as I reached out my hand to open the door, my face wide with my fake smile. "Welcome to my—"

My entire figure froze as I stared at our guests. What was Sage's butler doing in front of my doorstep?