Chapter 16: Loyalty Test

VIVIAN'S POV

“Any moment from now, he would burst out!!” I said in my head as I stared into Alexander's eyes as they burned with rage.

That kind of rage that makes the whole room go cold and hot at the same time.

Alexander was standing at our table. Where I had been laughing just one minute ago.

“What is he doing here??” he repeated, this time louder than the first.

Not “hello.” Not “how are you.” Just that.

Adrian stood up. Slowly. Like a man who did not want a fight but was not afraid of one either.

“Alexander,” Adrian said, calmly. “We were just having a business dinner. I was just about to talk to her about a buyer I have in mind for her..”

“Business dinner?” Alexander laughed. A bitter laugh. A laugh that did not reach his eyes. “Is that what you call it now, Vivian? Business?”

I stood up too. My hands were shaking under the table. I hid them behind me so he would not see.

“Alexander, I am in a meeting,” I said. My voice was cold. Colder than I felt inside. “This is business. You cannot just walk in here and embarrass me.”

“Embarrass you?” he said. “You are embarrassing yourself. Sitting here. Laughing with him. Touching his hand. Do you think I am blind?”

“He was just having a conversation with me, Alexander!!” I shouted. My voice cracked. “Not everything is what you think it is, Alexander!”

“Then tell me what it is!” he shouted back.

I couldn't raise my head to him. Not only was he furious at that moment but he felt like a different person.

“Are you trying to make me jealous, Vivian?” he asked in a sharp tone.

“........Is that what this is? You go out with him to make me jealous? To punish me?”

I felt something snap inside me. Like a thread that had been holding me together for months finally broke.

“Jealous?” I laughed. “Alexander, you are not important enough to control my social life. You do not get to tell me who I can have dinner with. You do not get to tell me who I can do business with. You lost that right when you started running to Catherine every time she called!”

His face changed. Like I had slapped him.

“Don't bring Catherine into this,” he said.

“Why not?” I shot back. Tears were in my eyes now. I did not try to hide them. “You bring her into everything! You go to her when she calls. You keep secrets for her. You hug her in cafes while your wife is at home crying! So do not stand here and act like I am the one doing something wrong!”

“I am not doing anything wrong with Catherine!” he said. His voice was shaking. “You do not understand. My father called me this morning about her. I had to go. I had to...”

“Your father?” I laughed again. My laugh sounded crazy even to me. “Your father? Or Catherine? Which one is it today, Alexander? Because this morning you would not even look into my eyes. Not even for a smile. You would not drop me off. You would not talk to me. And then your phone rings and suddenly you have a voice. ‘Hello Catherine... how are you?’ In that soft tone. That soft tone you never use for me anymore!”

He opened his mouth and closed it. He had no answer. He had no answer because I was right.

Adrian touched my arm gently. “Vivian, let us go. You do not have to do this here.”

A part of me wanted to take his hands off but I left it anyway. After all, he was the one for me at that time and Alexander was the opposite.

Alexander's eyes went straight to Adrian's hand on my arm. His jaw tightened. So tight I thought it would break.

“Take your hand off my wife,” Alexander said.

“Alexander!” I shouted. “Do not talk to him like that! He has done nothing to you!”

“Nothing?” Alexander turned to Adrian. His voice was full of hate now. “You think you are better than me? You think because you buy her dinner and you listen to her little dreams, you are a good man? You are just waiting. Waiting for my marriage to break so you can pick up the pieces. That is not kindness. That is opportunism.”

Adrian did not shout back. He stayed calm. That calm made Alexander even angrier.

“Alexander,” Adrian said, quietly. “I am not trying to steal your wife. I am just trying to be there for her when you are not. And you are never there.”

That hit Alexander. I know it did. His shoulders dropped a little. His eyes went soft for one second. Just one second.

I looked at him. I looked at Adrian. Two men. One who had my name on paper. One who had my heart in his hands for a few weeks.

“Adrian has been kinder to me in a few weeks,” I said, my voice shaking, my tears falling, “

“……than you have been in this whole marriage, Alexander. In the whole marriage. Think about that. He asks me what I want to build. You only ever asked me what I was going to do for your family. He asks me if I have eaten. You did not even ask me how my day was. So yes, I have dinner with him. Because at least with him, I feel like I exist.”

Alexander opened his mouth and closed it. He had no answer. He could not argue. Because I was right. And he knew I was right.

“Vivian,” he said, finally. His voice was broken. Soft. Like the Alexander I married.

“Enough of all this, Vivian. You need to come home with me, now!

I wanted to. God, I wanted to. I wanted him to choose me. I wanted him to say, “I choose you, Vivian. Not Catherine. Not my father. You.” I wanted him to hold me and say, “I am sorry. I was wrong.”

But I also wanted to prove I could live without him. I wanted to prove I did not need him to breathe. I wanted to prove I was not just a wife waiting at home for a man who would not even look at her.

I wanted both. And wanting both was going to hurt. I knew it but I could not stop.

“No,” I said. “Not tonight. I am finishing my conversation with Adrian before anything,” I answered in a cold tone.

He turned to leave and Adrian's voice suddenly rented the air, catching Alexander's attention.

“Pfff….if only you knew..” he blurted out.