The Commander's wife

Eliana settled her gaze outside the window, hoping to see a car, but it never came, causing her shoulders to slump in defeat. A deep, exasperated sigh escaped her lips at the extreme silence in the room. She felt like shedding tears because of the hard work she had put into making the dinner on the table, yet nothing came out, but another defeated sigh.

'It's quite late. How long will Reece be back home?' she mumbled. "It's almost 8:30 pm."

She was becoming worried.

Eliana noticed that time was passing faster than ever, and she felt a heavy sense of fear in her chest. Glancing away from the clock on the wall, she looked at the plates of freshly homemade food on the dining table. There was a lot to celebrate. She smiled at the thought of Reece's excited face when he tasted the seafood, grilled meat, her specially cooked traditional garlic fried rice, and pork.

He would be thrilled and shower her with kisses all over her face.

Reece always enjoyed the food Eliana made. He would even repeatedly boast to his employees about his wife's delicious meals, which made her happy. Reece and Eliana had been married for three years, and the marriage had been good within those years. As a working-class man, Reece had to cater for their family, and Eliana felt she was useless because she was only a housewife. It was just recently that Eliana received good news of her pregnancy and decided to surprise her husband. Not to mention their third anniversary as a couple, which happened to be on the same day.

'Your father will be very proud of us,' she said, rubbing her stomach affectionately. 

After standing for too long, now feeling weak, Eliana quickly sat on the couch and rested her head. It hadn't taken a minute for her when she mistakenly fell asleep. It only took a loud bang for her to jolt awake with beads of sweat on her forehead. She still felt sleepy, but above all was the noise she heard. She walked down the floor towards the open window, but no car was in sight. The sky was pitch dark.

That's when a feminine voice slithered into her ears. Confused, she peeked out of the window, but no soul was around. It was only then that she realized the sound came from the house and not outside. She immediately closed the window as it became chilly and walked into the sitting room to watch on the television.

"An unfortunate accident occurred in the Department of Orthopedics while working as volunteers for the recovery of a few patients in Hormonal Hospital in the central part of the city. The terrible fire was caused by unknown means, and over a hundred and fifty people were discovered to be injured by the medics, while three others are in critical condition. If your loved ones are admitted to the hospital, please do not panic," a young female journalist announced. 

Eliana stood rooted in shock when she listened to the words and read the headlines. Behind the blond journalist was a huge building burning from the top, and it was escalating everywhere. The sight was heart-wrenching to watch. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face, and it changed into a loud cry of panic.

Reece!!

Oh! Please not Reece!! She begged in her heart.

He had informed her about his persistent leg pain and that he would visit an orthopedic to get an X-ray. She was patiently awaiting his return to share the good news and celebrate their wonderful married life, and here she was hearing this! 

"We've received despairing news from inside the hospital. A man was discovered to have lost his life, and his face is currently unrecognizable due to the burns, but his belongings were recovered. If any of these are familiar, please calm down and come to the station to get them. I am so sorry for your loss," the journalist continued with a sad expression. She was on the verge of tears when she got the information.

Meanwhile, a loud growling cry filled the gloomy room. Eliana felt her strength being taken away from her body. She prayed desperately that those items didn't belong to Reece, and sure, they did not. She shed so many tears. She was relieved, grateful, broken, and worried. She remembered the doctor's exact words about the life of her unborn child; however, the pain couldn't leave her. 

She got up, changed into decent clothes, and left the house. The car ride to the scene of the accident was hasty, and when she got there, Eliana burst into more excruciating tears as she saw people coming out of the building, coughing. A few had burns on their backs. Pointing this out, she tried to run into the building, but strong hands held her down. Screaming, she pleaded with them.

"Let me go, please. My... My husband is inside there. He can't... He cannot... Please. Let me go to him, I beg of you. I will not be able to survive without him. Just let me go. Reeeeeeece!! Reeeeeeece!!" She screamed.

"Eliana, please calm down. There are no more people inside there. They've all been rescued. Reece is not there." The stranger, holding her down, explained. His body and face were covered with black bags of dust from helping to rescue both the doctors and patients from the hospital, but the contours of his long-pointed nose and sharp jaws were still visible.

Eliana stiffened under his hold. When she stopped struggling, the stranger released her and let out a sigh. 

"Reece was never there," he confessed.

Eliana turned around to see Reece's best friend, Arthur Herdsmen. She bit her lips and stopped crying. It wasn't very pleasant.

"But he's not picking up my calls. He's nowhere. He told me he was coming down to check on his legs." Truly, Reece didn't pick up Eliana's calls. She tried repeatedly, even when she was on the way. She was sickly worried, and fear had overshadowed her body.

"Well, he lied to you," Arthur scoffed. 

"What?" Eliana was stunned. Reece never lied.

"Aren't I, his doctor? I haven't even noticed his shadow today or the day before. If he were here, I'd have known. Eliana, he lied to you." 

"But he said he booked an appointment with you. He said..." Eliana tried to explain, but was interrupted by Arthur.

"Look, Eliana, I will talk to you later, but for now, I need to go check up on the patients. All right. Also, take care of yourself."

"But..." Arthur disappeared before Eliana was able to complete her sentence. She walked back to her car in disarray and resided inside it. 

She had already called his office, but he wasn't there. If he's neither there nor here, where did he go? Where was he? Is he fine? Has he had dinner? Eliana could not help feeling helpless and useless. She never worked, not even once. If she had at least done so, Reece wouldn't be so desperate to fend for his family. Yes, it was his job, but she also had a duty that she failed to accomplish. Eliana forced herself not to bang her head against the wheels out of frustration. Her lips were also bleeding from her nervous biting on them. She also looked messy. Her life was a mess without the presence of her husband.

Without delay, she started the engine and drove off. On the road, there was traffic. During that period of stop, she called Reece's cell phone repeatedly, and all it said was either that the call was not available or there had been a service problem. Once the traffic was cleared, she drove everywhere she could think of, yet he was not in either of them. This made Eliana even more desperate. She had even crossed paths with a military man by mistake, but the driver had pardoned her since there was no car damage.

'Where are you?'

'We are going to have a baby. Where did you disappear?' was Eliana's thought. 

"Get inside the car. Don't worry, she must have gone to sleep." A deep voice was heard far away.

Instinctively, Eliana turned her head in the direction of the familiar sound, and there he was. She scrutinized his body, but he was in a tight suit. There was no sign of pain on his face. He looked fine. Eliana sighed in relief. She looked around to realize he was standing in front of a café, and that's when it hit her that he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by a woman.

A sudden dark thought crossed her mind, but she was too quick to dissipate it. Reece would never do that. Making an excuse to ease her torment, she assumed he was with a client.

"Reece." She called, but she was very far from there, so he probably didn't hear. She was just about to walk on the pedestrian side when he entered his car with the woman and fled from there.

'Where are they going? Why isn't he picking up his call? It's so late' she thought innocently.

Getting into her car in a hurry, she followed them.

After about thirty minutes of driving aimlessly, she saw the familiar car halt in front of... A HOTEL!!