CHAPTER 04: BREAKFAST WITH STRANGERS

The first rays of sunlight slipped through the windows with a warm and golden glow, at first glance, it seems like another peaceful morning.

But for a married woman who's living unworthy inside the silent home is opposite and it's weighed heavier than what eyes can see .

Sophia stood in the kitchen, pouring freshly brewed coffee into two porcelain cups. The rich aroma filled the every corners, but it failed to ease the tightness in her chest.

Despite everything that happened last night, she still prepared a breakfast out of habit.

Not because she is expecting appreciation, not because she believed it would change everything she used to, simply because it had become part of her routine.

She went out of the kitchen holding the two brewed cups of coffee and put it on Damian's front table, and one is for her.

Sophia is still in the mood to prepare a table despite what happened on their Anniversary night.

And it's been a week since she had an argument with her husband, and it's still fresh in her mind, and most in her heart like fresh wound. But she chose composure over madness.

And those days had passed... she's been silent the whole time, she speaks less, she reacts less, and Damian didn't fail to notice the changes in her behavior, but he just let her and he gave her space, thinking the result of his actions just shall pass.

Which is very wrong, she wouldn't let it pass this time, three years of begging for his love?

She scoffed. Three years is enough.

When Maria entered the dining area quietly, and she walked towards her watching her arranging breakfast on the table.

"Mrs. Kingsley," she called her with concern. "You don't have to continue this routine if you're no longer comfortable."

Sophia just gave Maria a plain smile after she arranged plate of toast beside Damian's seat.

"I know," she answered softly. "Maybe... I'm just saying goodbye to these little habits of mine?" She chuckled calmly than the last time.

Maria just looked at her out of pity but chose to shut her mouth from saying words might add to the tension, so she just stood aside and let Sophia sit on her chair.

As she sat, a steady footsteps echoed from the doorway of the dinning room. Damian went in with a crisp charcoal suit, already prepared for another day of work.

He remained neat, composed, though the exhaustion is visible in his eyes, sign that he had sleepless nights, and the reason is? No other than work, of course.

And his other woman, Sophia's thought, but she acted like she didn't see him and started eating.

While Damian stopped for a moment when he saw the breakfast setting. "You made all this?" he asked calmly.

And the way he asked, he seems surprised, after a long week she hasn't prepared him any because she was seriously mad and showed him silent treatment.

But ttoday is the only day she made breakfast for them again that's why he looked surprised.

She didn't speak, she just continued eating in silence, not even saying greetings it was just her and the food on her plate.

Damian pulled his chair across from her and he sat without leaving her sight from her. He watched her giving him silent treatment as of now.

The only you can hear are the sounds of silverware and the ticking of the antique clock hanging on the wall.

It was the same table where they shared every time they eat, but today is different.

They found each other like strangers.

Damian reached for his coffee, and brought it near his lips, he speaks because he takes a sip..

"How's your sleep?" Is this the only question he can asked? So Sophia just looked at him like he's some unknown spieces.

"Are you talking to me?" She even pointed at herself, acting innocent that makes his jaw clenched.

"Am I a joke to you, Sophia?" he asked, showing his short tempered behavior.

Instead she feels frightened, she just laughed but no hint of humour because seeing her husband getting pissed by her wording, making her day... just now.

She took some buttered slices of toast with slow, careful movements. "Don't you have any questions in your mind?" She scoffed which made his face harden.

"But my answer to your question is, I have plenty of sleepless nights," she answered honestly.

"I've spent a lot of nights waiting for you..."

Damian lowered his cup. "I know I've been busy," he tried to explain.

"You've always been busy," she mocked his useless reasoning.

"I'm doing this for us," he enlightened her.

Sophia let out another humorless laugh. "For us?" She shook her head not believing him anymore. "I don't even remember the last time 'us' was part of your schedule."

Before Damian could speak again, his phone vibrated on the table. The screen lit up with a familiar name.

Vanessa Hart.

Sophia's eyes lingered on the display for only a second before she looked away with sudden heavy breathing.

"I'll take this," he excused himself and stood up and when he's about to leave he stopped when Sophia spoke.

"How rude... you will answered the call of your other woman while you were having breakfast with your wife here?" she simply said and took a bite of sliced bread.

He stopped from walking away and he turned to her. "It's business... Sophia."

She smiled. "Everything is bussiness, nothing new, and may I suggest to you, next time try to change your useless excuses." She stood up wiping her mouth with a table napkin when she's about to leave, he spoke.

"Why are you acting this way, Sophia?!" His voice raised and boomed in every corner of the dining room for the first time in their marriage.

Her back is facing him while holding a fist and she slowly turns to face him again.

"You still have the guts to ask me when you already know the answer?" she talked like a boomerang in her unusual tone.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again out of frustration. Damian realized he didn't know how to talk to his own wife anymore, and she's right, his every explanations sounded like another excuse...

"I'm going to visit my mother this afternoon," she said changing the subject.

Damian frown. "You didn't mention that."

"You never asked." Those three words lingered and she walked out of the dining room leaving her husband following her by his sharp gaze.

Maria quietly stepped aside as Sophia disappeared down the hallway. Damian is still standing, staring at the half-eaten breakfast of Sophia.

He didn't answer Vanessa's call, instead he ordered his driver to drive him to the office, he went in when Ethan entered carrying a bunch of important documents and placed on his desk.

"Good morning, Sir," his assistant greeted him and also informed him. "The board meeting will begin in just an hour."

"Ethan, what did you do for your anniversary last year?" he asked for an unrelated from bussiness.

Ethan blinked for a moment, surprised by the sudden question. "I took my wife out of town for the weekend," he answered with a happy smile.

"Work could wait for two days, but the moments you spent with your wife will last, and those times you've lost because you let it pass, you couldn't bring it back," he added which brings him into deep thoughts.

Damian lowered his eyes. "Work could wait..." He repeated the words under his breath thinking deeply.