Chapter 2

Renia's POV.

He looked so peaceful and much more handsome while sleeping. His features were at rest and I swear I felt myself falling in love with him over and over again. Last night was...it was great, mind-blowing, fabulous, exquisite...every damn adjective you can find. I bet they won't even match up to how awesome last night was. That was the first time Raphael has ever made love to me, we consummated our wedding last...after two years of being married. And I am so glad I waited or rather he made me wait because last night was everything I have ever dreamt of and more.

Raphael was so gentle and caring and he made me feel loved once again even though he was drunk, I wouldn't trade last night for anything in this world. I cried you know, when it was all over, when I got down from that incredible high he took me, I couldn't help the tears...they were tears of joy though. You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this day, how long I have been waiting for him to kiss me and make love to me. I used to hurt every night when he comes back from work and he doesn't so much as spare me a glance, sometimes I cried myself to sleep due to the pain but for the first time in two years, I cried because I was too happy. I have never believed in the whole 'tears of joy shit' but I couldn't help it.

Last night, I fell in love with Raphael all over again, I fell even deeper in love with him.

As if he could hear me thinking about him, he snuggled into me and buried his face between my breast. I couldn't help the smile that took over my face, we have never cuddled before. We always sleep in the same bed but he has never passed his side of the bed before. I think he was always conscious of touching me, even in his sleep. In all the two years that we have been married and been sleeping in the same bed, he has never so much as touched me.

My smile got wider with each passing second and I started running my fingers through his hair and that was when I felt it. He sniffed me at first and then he froze and he slowly removes his face from my breast and then he pushed me away. He pushed me so hard that I landed on my butt.

"The fuck...why...what... why were we cuddling?" He asked his voice thick with disgust.

"Raphael..." I started standing up from my position on the floor. My butt was hurting like fuck. I am pretty sure it was going to hurt even more by well... whenever.

"Why are you naked? Why am I naked? Did we...? Don't tell me we..." he kept trailing off as if the word was poisonous or rather as if what we did was sinful.

"Do you not remember what happened last night?" I asked him.

"Will I be here asking you about it if I fucking knew?" He yelled and I flinched a little.

"Ohhh... we did what every normal married couple do at night. We made love, Raphael." I said.

"We made love? Jesus,  woman I was fucking drunk. You took advantage of me and you are here spewing nonsense about making love..." He said. His face and voice were laced with obvious disgust. I could feel my heart breaking with each word that was coming out of his mouth.

"...we didn't make love, Renia. We fucked and you know very well that I wouldn't have touched you if I wasn't drunk..."

"Don't say that, Raphael." I interrupted.

"It is the truth and you know it. This thing...whatever it is that happened wasn't supposed to happen..." he said. I moved closer to him and took his hand. I forced him to meet my pleading eyes.

"Please don't say things like that. Last night meant everything to me. You touched me for the first time since our marriage. You told me that I am beautiful and that..."

"That wasn't me talking. It was the alcohol." He interrupted and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes but I tried, I tried hard not to let it fall.

"No, no, it wasn't the alcohol. You meant it, I could feel that you meant it, I could see it in your eyes and I felt it in your touch and the way you kissed me..."

"Renia, stop deluding yourself and forget whatever happened last night. It wasn't meant to happen and I promise you that it will never happen again." He said.

"Raphael please..." I pleaded and the tears that I was trying so hard to hold fell.

"Why the fuck are you crying? I didn't hit you and..." he trailed off his eyes roaming my very naked body.

"... and put some cloth on woman." He yelled. I flinched and let go of his hand. I grabbed the nearest cloth that was on the floor and it happened to be his shirt. I quickly put it on and didn't bother with buttoning it up. When I turned back to face him he was already in his shorts.

I wiped my face "Raphael, please tell me you didn't mean anything you said. Last night was great, you said that...you said that it is the best night of your life."

He laughed "Alcohol makes you say a lot of things, Renia. I was drunk so..."

"Shut up..."

"...I bet I only touched you because I was horny and you were the only woman available and..."

"I said shut up," I yelled and this time he shut up.

"Why? Why are you doing this? Is this how much you hate me? What did I do to deserve all this? We were perfectly fine and then we got married and you became a different person entirely. Tell me, Raphael, what happened? Did I do something? Tell me if I did because I am more than ready to apologize." I pleaded.

He shook his head "You didn't do anything."

"Then why? I thought you love me but you..."

"I don't." He said.

"Sorry what?" I asked me. He didn't mean what I think he...

"I said I don't love you. I never did." He said looking me dead in the eyes and I knew, I knew he wasn't lying. It was right there in his eyes.

I staggered back and blinked, thrice. This hurt, it hurts so fucking much that I couldn't breathe properly. It felt like someone was ripping my heart off my chest and feeding it to dogs and my head... I couldn't...I can't. God, I think I am going to be sick.

"Then why..." my voice came out all choked up and tight and I realized that I was crying. I wasn't even aware that I was crying. I swiped at the tears and cleared my throat before asking the question.

"Why did you marry me? If you never..." I couldn't even say the word. It hurts too much to do so.

"Why did you ask me to be wife, Raphael?"

He shrugged as if he had no care in the world and sat down at the edge of the bed. Even the sight of the bed makes me want to puke. To think I...

"To take my revenge. I married you because I needed to take my revenge." He said.

"Revenge?"

He waved me off "It is nothing to worry your pretty head about."

"What do you mean it is nothing to worry my pretty head about? This is my life we are talking about here, Raphael." I yelled and he laughed.

He frigging laughed at me and it was so cold and hollow that it made my skin crawl in disgust. What did I ever see in him? This wasn't the man I fell in love with. He is so different and yet I knew he is still the same person.

"I meant what I said, Renia. Don't worry yourself about it." He said.

I let out a deep breath and the next word that came out of my mouth shocked him... I was equally shocked.

"Very well then. I want a divorce."

There was absolute silence for a while and then he let out a loud laugh, only this time it wasn't cold and hollow. It was obvious that he found my words funny.

"What is funny?" I asked him.

He smiled and walked up to me. He stood close and picked a strand of my hair and wrapped it around his middle finger.

"I don't think you get it, Renia. I married you because I wanted to get my revenge, I wanted and still want to make your life miserable by having you trapped in this kind of marriage where your husband doesn't even spare you a glance and treats you like you don't exist and I will be the one to decide if we are going to get a divorce or not." He said using his thumb to wipe away my tears.

"Two years. You have punished me for two good years. You made me question myself and...you made me...I thought..." I couldn't even form a proper sentence without choking on my words. I wiped my tears with the sleeve of his shirt and cleared my throat again.

"I want a divorce, Raph," I said again and he only smiled.

"You are not going to get one. You are going to be trapped in this marriage for a long time, I will only let you go when you start growing gray hair and you are no longer desirable to any man. So suck it up, Mrs. Knight."