CHAPTER 2• MARRIED?
~Chiara .
"Chiara, just where in Hades have you been?! I've been worried sick!" Nathaniel yelled the moment I got into the apartment.
I gave him a disgusted glare, wondering how I fell for him in the first place.
He was a deadbeat boyfriend who never took the initiative to treat me to something nice. All he had were excuses , constantly gaslighting me. He was currently unemployed for the past five years of our relationship and was living in the house I paid for, for free. Yet he had the nerve to cheat on me with my snake of a best friend.
I felt so dumb for letting myself cry over his sorry ass.
"Get out." I seethed coldly.
"W-What?"
He stuttered in disbelief.I have never raised my voice at him , simpering was more my arena.
"Get the hell out of my house , Nathaniel!!!"
"Babe, what's going on? Is there something wrong?" He asked innocently,crossing the room to wrap his arms round my waist.
I slapped those dirty arms of his away.The 'Me' before yesterday would have fallen for his innocent act.
"You have some nerve to stand here and play innocent." I spat bitterly, shoving him on the chest with all my strength.
"What the hell are you talking about, Chiara?"
"I know you've been playing house with Yvette, you bastard!"
He blanched, face turning chalk-white as the tiles in my bathroom.
"How could you?!" I shoved him in the chest when he had gone for several seconds without uttering a word.
"Babe…it's complicated.I - I can explain." He stuttered.
Shaking my head, I flung my arm in the direction of the door.
"I don't want to hear it,Nathaniel.I've had enough .Just pack your things and get out. I never want to see you again."
He went in his knees and managed a few tears
"But I don't have anywhere else to go ,babe"
"That's your problem,not mine !"
"But Chiara, we can't just throw five years away.We've been together since forever"
"You should have thought of that before you started sleeping with my friend." I retorted.
"I'll break things off with her I promise. I won't speak to her ever again. We can live our lives peacefully," he sounded desperate.
I did not give a fuck. He could go and live with her for all I cared. I just wanted to get rid of him immediately .
I kicked him out of my apartment and threatened to call the police if he kept banging on my door , pleading.
I didn't confront Yvette.Nathaniel wasn't worth it .
Nathaniel could pass the message to her
I hissed and blocked both their contacts across all platforms.
I waited for the tears but surprisingly, there was none.. So what I did was make myself a cup of green tea and just sit with my thoughts till I nodded off.
~
Days rolled into weeks and I settled into a monotonous rhythm.
I went to work, came back ,sprawled myself on the couch and dozed off to series and series of kdramas. It was a boring life but at that moment I was living the dream.
No Nathaniel jumping me every moment I got home from work.One would think that for all his libido ,he would actually be good in bed.Nada.
I didn't think about him much. In fact, I pushed him to the back of my mind and from what I'd heard from my personal news channel, Jessica ,he and Yvette were now quite the item .He was living with her now and she wasn't apologetic in any sense.
I thought of the handsome man from my one night escapade occasionally. I wondered if he thought of our passionate night together but then that was most likely impossible. Obviously ,I was not his first rodeo so why would he think of me like I was special or something?
~~~
There was a knock on my door on that Saturday morning. I stepped out of the kitchen where I was making some waffles for breakfast, wiping my hands on a napkin as I approached the door.
I assumed it was Jessica because she said she was going to be here to pick up a pair of shoes for the event she had to attend today.
All I had on was a piece of towel around me and a turban on my head.I opened the door and turned almost immediately.
"Thought you weren't interested in the shoes anymore, Jessica.I'm running late for work so you'll have to find the shoes yourself and help yourself to some waffles if you're interested .Let me go put some clothes on ."
Silence .
I spun and my face paled the moment I saw him.
"How did you find me?" I blurted out immediately, impulsively crossing my arms around my chest to hide my half nakedness
He cocked a brow at the gesture,his eyes lingering on my exposed thighs. "I married you, of course I should know where my wife lives."
"What?"
"You heard me."
I stepped aside for him to help himself to the said waffles.My brain wasn't quite catching up to the scene before me He looked like sin in a tailored limited edition design suit, he smelled of expensive cologne and aftershave.
He looked so out of place in my cramped apartment.
"Don't tell me we actually got married that night." I said slowly so his words could be interpreted themselves by my brain.
"We did." He said matter-of-factly, wiping his mouth.
That wasn't the answer I wanted;I wanted him to tell me that he was joking.
"You're not kidding?" I asked just to be sure.
He narrowed those tricolour eyes at me , offended.
"Do I look like a joke to you? I have better things to do with my time than stand here debating a simple fact."
He was the entitled ,arrogant sort for sure.
"Gee, you have to calm down." I said with an eyeroll , shrugging into my bathrobe. "How soon can we get an annulment?"
He frowned."Who said anything about an annulment?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, staring at him , disconcerted
"Let's finish what we started."
"Look, mister..." I trailed off. I didn't even know this man's name.
"Alex Carrington." He completed it for me.
"The Alexander Carrington?" I quipped
He shrugged nonchalantly as if he was used to this sort of reaction.. He just stared at me with the same bored expression he came in with.
"Wait, you're the CEO of Carrington Groups??!"
"Yes," he answered coolly.
I gasped. My mind was blown.
The company I worked for had been trying to pitch to him for months and we hadn't been able to secure a meeting and now he was standing right in the middle of my living room.
I pinched myself. This had to be a dream.
"Ow," I winced softly.
This was real .
"I'm Chiara DeLuca," I introduced myself, choosing not to give him the satisfaction of being wowed by him.
He shook my hand, his grip firm. My pulse went haywire at the brush of his calloused grip.
"Nice to see you again, wife."
I flinched slightly at the mention of the last word.
"How did this happen?"
"Pretty simple. We were drunk, we found ourselves in the registry and got married."
He brought an envelope out of his suit jacket and handed it to me.
I took it with shaky hands, opened and saw for myself the marriage certificate with our names on it. Stamped and sealed.
"Oh lord." I whispered.
How did I let myself get so reckless?
I turned to him and frantically said, "We have to fix this."
"On that ,we both agree and that's why I have an offer for you Ms.DeLuca."