"Babe," Daniel called out softly. "Natalie," he called her name as he walked closer to bridge the gap between them.
She stepped back.
"I'm sorry." He said.
"Sorry?"
"Yes.' He sighed. "I'm sorry about everything. Honestly, the café incident was a mistake. How do I make it up to you?"
Natalie had had enough. She couldn't just stand and watch as he played on her feelings for him and lied to her face.
Who did she think she was?
A fool?
Maybe she was because she loved him so much. But, she wouldn't stand for this lie of a marriage anymore.
She shook her head. "There is nothing you can do." She said.
Her response got him riled up; he hated situations he had no control over, and Natalie was a situation he always controlled.
Always.
Angered at her stubbornness, he grabbed her arm. "What do you mean, uh?" He raised his voice.
"Get your hands off me, Daniel." She said, her chin rigid as she clenched her teeth.
"Listen to me-"
"No, you listen to me!" She said, yanking her hands with so much force. "I've had enough of your bullshit." She said, walking off to the side of the bed.
Her defiance was something out of the wild. He stared at her, dumbfounded.
He inhaled and made a weak attempt to coerce her.
"Babe, it was a mistake." He said.
"How many times?" She asked, catching him off guard.
"What?" He asked confused
"How many times did you sleep with her?"
"Babe, I didn't-"
"How many times, Daniel?" She shouted. "And don't you dare tell me, you never, cause we both know you did." Her voice rose a notch higher, her body shaking at the weight of her emotions.
He swallowed, looking at her as he weighed his options.
"I did not sleep with her, Natalie!" He matched her energy in an attempt to subdue her.
Natalie was livid. She had hoped to take a week or two to get herself prepared to move out while she served him the divorce, but his constant denial of the truth was making her so mad, she could crash into a building.
She spun to face the bedside drawer and flung it open. Moving out the content of the envelope, pictures of the nudes she had received from the content of his spare phone, pictures taken with different ladies in different locations, vacation pictures, bedroom pictures, and itinerary.
She turned to him in a flash and systematically started throwing each hardcopy at him.
"You did not sleep with her, right?" She said. "The same way you didn't sleep with this model-" She flung a picture at him.
"Or this actress?" She flung another
"Or this singer? She flung another at the already stupefied Daniel.
His eyes widened in horror as he took in the gravity of his situation.
"Oh, I remember this particular picture was of your then secretary. This was the first news I got on your trip to Arcadia, barely a year after we got married." She looked at him. Her eyes, red with tears.
"Don't tell me you were cheating on me then, too." She looked at him, hurt.
He couldn't respond.
"My God, Daniel!" She placed her hand on her mouth as the tears spilled.
"Was any of this true?" She asked, gesturing between them. "Was any of what we shared true?" She asked, her voice breaking.
Daniel could only look at her, unable to voice a word. He couldn't process how she got wind of these pictures. His mind was racing.
"I can't believe you would do this to me-to us." She swallowed, sniffing.
He walked towards her tentatively as he tried to hold on to her arms.
"Don't you dare touch me! Don't you dare touch me! She screamed. "I loved you, I gave my heart to you, my innocence to you. You were my first, and you promised." She swallowed the bitter tears as she moved away from him.
"Natalie, I'm sorry. Please, babe, let's work this out okay." He had said.
She shook her head.
"No," She said quietly. "I've had enough of this."
Daniel walked up to her and hugged her from behind.
"Babe, I love you. I'm sorry I made mistakes. It was all in the past. I can explain everything."
She shook her head and faced him, staring into his eyes as he held her face with his palm. Placing his head on hers, he whispered. "I'm sorry. It was nothing for me. It was purely physical. I don't love any of them."
"Daniel, please stop with the lies. You can't continue to lie your way through things. I can't accept your lies."
"Okay, babe. Ask me anything. I'll do it. Please, babe."
He said, staring at her eyes as she closed them as though in surrender.
He held his breath for fear of losing her.
"No-".
Then he kissed her. She was slipping away from him, and he couldn't have that. He didn't like the way he felt when she left him after their last argument on the stairs.
He had almost lost his mind when he couldn't reach her because she blocked him. He had felt so much relief when he heard her voice when he called Kayla, and he made a mental note to reach out to her every day when she was away.
They had spoken, but he had felt a strain. She had refused to carry him along with her return plans, but that was not going to hinder him.
He had decided to go pick her up himself and put her at ease. It was always easy for her to believe him. But when he saw her, she had been all smiles, and he thought she was fine with him. It wasn't until he got intimate with her that he noticed how frigid she was.
She was always happy to please him, any way he wanted. She was never shy to exercise her submissiveness to him.
He likes it just that way. But she had just looked lost, with tears streaming down her face.
He held her chin, intensifying the kiss until he felt her kiss him back. He kissed her back with much passion until they finally broke off, panting and staring at each other.
Natalie held his hands on her face and brought them down, then stepped away from him.
"I want a divorce." Her voice soft, yet strong despite her heart breaking.