Prologue: Ruci Dmitri

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: This novel is original and a pure fiction. Every character in here is born of my imagination. Any resemblance to real name, person or event is purely coincidental. Enjoy reading!)

*Ding, Ding, Ding*

The dinging sound of the large wall clock catches her attention, causing her to open her almost droopy eyes quickly. She sits up straight on the big plush L shaped couch and looks at the clock which tells her that it is midnight now. With a loud and tired sigh, she gets up and goes out to stand in the balcony and starts looking down ahead at the alleyway. Desperate! This is what she is feeling now as she is waiting for her husband to come home. When after waiting for five more minutes, she could not see any car coming down the alleyway, she goes back inside and pulls out her phone before sending a quick text to her husband.

'Ruc, where are you?' -Itzel. After sending the text, she waits for another five minutes but still did not get any reply. As always! But she decides to be more determined today and sends him another text.

'Where are you now, Ruc? When are you coming home?' -Itzel. Still, no reply even after waiting for ten minutes. Where could he be? She thinks. Is he okay? He never comes back home this late!

Usually, he would be back at six or sometimes seven in the evening. Never this late. She has no idea what business he is into though. And the worst part is that he does not tell her anything. Hell, he does not even talk to her unless it is about Ginger, their Orange Tabby. Or sometimes when he is in extremely good mood, he would ask her if she has had her food. But that is all! Nothing more than that. They both are husband and wife but they have their rooms separate, and he never bothers to check in on her by coming into her room. Neither he likes it when she would go to his bedroom or study. He is a very, very private and secretive man that he would not even share anything about his life or work with his own wife! They have been married for more than six months now, but she does not even know trivial things about him like his favorite colour or food for that matter. Just his name. Ruci Dmitri! And he happens to be her husband. How pathetic! Though their marriage is out of convenience, but Itzel still tries her best to give her cent percent into it. Even if Dmitri never returns her efforts!

She again goes out to stand in the balcony with her phone in her hand this time, hoping that at least he would reply to her texts and would tell her if he can't come back home tonight. But, the time now is twelve thirty five and still no news about him. So, she thinks that she should just call her. Contemplating on if she should or should not call him, she finally decides not to. Knowing how ill and short tempered he could be, even though he has never taken it out on her, Itzel just settles on texting him again.

'Are you okay?' -Itzel. Now her nerves have started to get the best of her causing her hands to start shivering and her palms to become clammy. What if he is really not okay? What if he has gotten into an accident or something? No, no, no! Be positive, Itsi! She tells herself But looking back at the passing time without any news about her husband, she can't help but to get worried and imagine the worst case scenarios. Tapping her smartphone against her palm, she looks forward to hear something from him, anything would do, to calm her growing nerves.

At around one in the morning, when she thinks that she should inform about this to their butler and tell him to try and contact him, she hears the roaring of a car engine coming near the alleyway. She immediately looks ahead and finds a very familiar car, which she has been used to waiting for everyday, coming down the alley, flashing the bright headlights. Smiling in relief to herself, she goes in and starts preparing everything for her husband. Quickly heating the food which she had prepared for him earlier, she dashes into the dining hall with them and sets them on the table. And just then, she hears the thumping of shoes against the tiled floor of the hall. Turning around, she finds her dashing husband coming her way. But what causes her smile to slip away is the look on his face. His usually cold and emotionless face is now contorted with anger. With a hint of a frown, she studies his features. His sharplined jaw is clenched and one of his palms are balled into a fist tightly as another one holds his suit blazer, clenching. What is wrong with him? Itzel thinks before putting on a rather tight lipped smile across her face and ushers him to go upstairs.

"Ruc, you must be hungry! Go upstairs and freshen up while I make a plate for you?" She more of questions him, not finding it in her to order him around. When he does not budge even a bit, she gulps audibly before starting to set his food on the table for him. "Okay, I will just set your dinner down." Saying that, she starts serving the chapati and butter chicken when suddenly her wrist is clasped by his hand. She looks up at him with a frown, not understanding what is up with him. A gasp slips out from her lips when he pulls her forward with a jerk. With a very tight grasp around her wrist, he glares down at her. "What are you doing, Ruc? Please, it is hurting! Let go of my wrist!" She pleads with her voice starting to break at the end. She has seen him this angry, maybe more than this. But never was his anger directed towards her in anyway. Let alone to the point of being physical!

Itzel can feel her eyes becoming glossy from the ache in her wrist and in her heart. She has absolutely no idea why he is behaving this way! Has she done something really wrong for him to be this angry with her. This is the first time that he is touching her, even if it is out of anger till it hurts.

"What is it that I have told you not to do before since we are married?" Dmitri asks her in a low but growling tone. This causes her to cower away a little bit, but he never lets go of her wrist which she is sure of turning red by now. "Tell me, what have I told you to never forget?" He asks again. But she just manages to shake her head from side to side, not being able to say anything. "Have I not told you to never disturb me while I am out at work? Then why the hell were you constantly messaging me?" He growls at her and she finally looks up at him through her lashes with glossy eyes. She disturbed him! She knew that she must have done something wrong! But is it her fault that she is worried about him? She is his wife after all, even if out of convenience.

"I am so s..sorry, Ruc!" She squeaks out.

"Stop calling me that nickname, for God's sake!" He warns her in a low tone. Gulping down the thickness in the back of her throat, she nods and tries to pull away her wrist from his firm grip. And this time, he lets her go. Rubbing her sore and reddened wrist, she backs away slightly while looking down all the while.

"Y..your dinner." She says quietly before sprinting up the stairs and going into her room and shutting the door behind her. She plops on her queen sized bed and grabs a pillow and pushes her face into it. Sobbing into the soft material, she clenches it tightly and does not let any sound to come out of her lips. Soon, she silently cries herself to sleep. Alone, as always.

...

The next morning, she wakes up with slight red and puffy eyes but does not bother to do anything to correct them. Not like he would be home to see her in this condition anyway! She thinks before strolling downstairs to make her way to the kitchen. Dmitri must have gone to work already as it is now ten in the morning. He normally leaves for his business at around nine. But today, something is different. Because as soon as she gets down, her eyes fall on a couple who are busy eating each other out while sitting on the plush L shaped couch in their living room. Her heart nearly stops for a second when she finds out that it is her husband making out with another woman!

"Ruc!" She merely whispers out. But then remembering that he does not want her to be calling him that, she breathes in deeply before bracing herself to confront him. "Dmitri!" This time, she calls him out loudly and by the name everyone else calls him. This act of her causes both the busy people to stop and pull away before glaring her way for disturbing them. The woman who is sitting almost on her husband's lap, has beautiful red hair and forest green eyes. She is without a doubt beautiful. Itzel can't help but feel jealous of her. But the fact that her husband is cheating on her, makes it worse for her. "What is all this, Dmitri?" She asks rather loudly, not able to contain herself. He stands up along with the lady. "Is this why you never sleep with me?" She asks bravely. "Is this why you were late last night? Huh?" She can feel her throat clogging up painfully.

"Yes, you are right!" Says Dmitri without a hint of reluctance in his voice. "And you don't get to question me about what I do or not, remember? This marriage is an arranged one. I never wanted to be shackled to you. It is just something that I regret doing back then. But what could have I done? It was for the sake of my business after all!" Itzel takes a few steps back after hearing him say all that. She knew that already that he did not want this marriage but she had her hopes high thinking that maybe she could make space for herself in his cold heart someday. How wrong was she!

"You could have divorced me earlier." She mumbles lowly. He shakes his head up and down slowly.

"Yes, I could have. And now that I think, I should have done just that." This just breaks her heart even more.

"But why? Why can't you accept me as your wife? What she does have that I don't have?" She asks him bravely, not knowing from she got that. Dmitri lets out a bitter chuckle before going to stand near her.

"You are so fucking weak and always dependent on others, whereas she is not! She is not a liability to me unlike you. I am not going to take your responsibility anymore though. You are free to go! Go back to your father's!" He points her out of the main door. "I will send the divorce papers later today." And this is last straw that she needed. To get the hell out of his house, and his life.

'You are one hell of a responsibility, Itzel!' Her father's harsh words from earlier echoes in her mind, which is triggered by Dmitri. Unaware of what damage he has just imposed on her mind and soul, he casually goes back to sit on the couch next to the red haired lady. Itzel's legs start to lead her towards the main door. When she reaches just at the threshold, Ginger comes to her and starts rubbing against her legs. Smiling sadly at her, she picks her up gently before making her way out of the lavish house of her husband, Ruci Dmitri. While her heart urges her to take a last look back at her husband, her brain opposses strongly. And to save her already broken, shattered heart which is nearly unmendable now, she walks away.

After hitting the main road, with a tear stricken face, she just keeps walking without thinking where she is going to go. Not that it would make much of a difference! Her father would just disown her as soon as he finds out about her divorce. So, she just strolls on the road aimlessly.

*Honk, Honk*

She hears an urgent and shrill honking of a car from behind her and when she turns around, she finds an suv coming straight her way full speed.

"Ahh..." A scream leaves her lips as she clutches Ginger close to her chest before she sees black dots forming in her vision and closes her eyes and eventually, she loses her consciousness.