Let's get divorced

~ ZAYDEN

My wife was mad at me. I should have known it the moment I walked in and she ignored me. But I had been too drunk to realise it then.

I saw it now though, and hearing the anger in her voice as she stopped me from touching her shocked me.

I had been married to Dahlia for an entire year, and not once had she refused my attempts at lovemaking. She was always so… submissive. For her to be mad at me today meant that whatever was going on had to be a big deal.

I sat up and stared at her sleeping form, only I knew that she was definitely not asleep.

“What is wrong, Dahlia? Why are you… cranky?” I asked again, when she said nothing to my first attempt to learn why she snapped at me.

She sat up and turned to stare at me with cold eyes. The slight fog from the multiple drinks I had was rapidly fading away, and I had a feeling of foreboding.

“Just because I asked you to take your hands off me does not mean something is wrong, Zayden,” she responded, her voice cold.

My brows furrowed into a slight frown. “You’re lying. I know something is wrong. Just tell me what it is,” I insisted.

Her brows shot up at my words. “Fine. you want to know what’s wrong? I’ll tell you.” Then she took a deep breath, gave me a withering stare and lashed out at me.

“ Are you not satisfied with her? You think you can just walk in here and make love to me after kissing another woman in front of everybody? Seriously? Have you no sense of shame at all?”

There was a bite to her voice that made me shiver inwardly. I had never seen her this angry. But her words, the implication of what she was saying, hit me harder than I expected.

Realisation Slammed into me like a wave. She knew that I kissed another woman.

But how? That wasn’t possible. The only woman I kissed today was Edda, and that had been a mistake. If Dahlia was saying what I was thinking, it could only mean one thing.

She saw us. Which meant that she was at Edda’s birthday party.

My heart rate quickened. A million questions flashed through my brain as I stared at her, unable to form words.

Somehow, Dahlia had found out about Edda’s birthday party and she had seen us kissing. Regret flashed through me.

“You are not even going to bother with an explanation? Really? You tricked me, took me away from the life I had carefully, painstakingly, built, only to humiliate me and what I stand for as your wife by kissing another woman? If you liked her so much, why the hell did you not get married to her?” she quipped, her voice rising in tempo as she spoke, and her anger filled me with a sense of guilt.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“I am sorry. It’s not what you think,” I said, my voice coming out quieter than expected.

Dahlia snorted and shook her head at my words.

“I don’t want your apology, Zayden. I don’t need it either. I just… I wish you had spared me this entire ordeal. I was perfectly happy where I was and you just came and upended everything!”

Without thinking about it, I grabbed her hand.

“Come on, Dahlia. Let me explain. Edda was just…” I started to say, but she yanked her hand away from mine.

“No. Absolutely not. Save whatever bullshit you want to say. If it’s not for the sake of Grandfather, you think I am going to stay here and watch you do whatever the hell you want? If he had been healthy enough to let me go, trust me, I would not be here. But here I am, still, against my will. The least you could do was treat me with a little fucking respect,” she yelled.

Frustrated, I yelled right back. “Just let me explain! I know you saw us kissing but it is truly not what you think. Edda was the one who kissed me. And you were not even supposed to know about the birthday party in the first place!”

The moment the words slipped past my lips though, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. Dahlia’s eyes flashed with rage.

“I was not supposed to know about it, was I? That was it then. You threw a large birthday party for your mistress, claiming her publicly while our marriage remained a secret. That was your plan, was it not? I am pretty sure whatever guilt you are feeling, if any, is because I found out about you two,’’ she paused, and a bitter laugh slipped past her lips before she continued.

“If Edda had not sent me an invite, I am pretty sure we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. But you know what, it’s okay? You want to cheat on me? Go ahead.”

I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated. Edda had been the one who kissed me, but it turned out she was also the one who invited Dahlia. Which meant that my best friend had lured me into a trap, and I had fallen for it.

But there was no way to convince Dahlia that I wasn't cheating on her, no way to let her know that I was faithful to our marriage, even though I knew how much she hated being stuck with me.

Still. I had to try.

“Listen to me, Dahlia. I know you're pissed at me right now, and even if I make an attempt to explain what really happened, the chances of you believing me are slim. But I need you to know that I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt you. What you saw... it was not intentional on my part.”

Dahlia said nothing for a long while, and tense silence stretched between us. I held my breath as I waited for her response. When she finally met my gaze though, there was a weird cold look in her eyes.

“You know what? I think I am going to make things easier for you. Edda is back now and you are obviously still in love with her. I’m pretty sure it would be better if I leave.”

She paused, stared at me, and said, “Let’s get divorced.”