YOU'RE EXHAUSTING ME!

∆IVORY∆

"Miss, is there anyone here to accompany you?" The voice of the nurse broke my chain of thoughts, pulling me back to reality, I lifted my head to look at her, forcing a faint smile to hide the bitterness in my chest. 

"No, I came alone," I replied softly, with my voice being barely above a whisper, as I sat there in silence, with the IV drip in my hand the only thing keeping me from collapsing entirely, though my body felt weak, while my heart is more weaker being alone at times likes this.

She frowned, with a concerned face. "You're too weak to leave alone, please call someone to take you home." 

I nodded, though deep down, I already knew who I would call. As the nurse walked away, I reached for my phone, my fingers trembling slightly, and I dialed Jacob’s number, I clung to the hope that he’d answer, that maybe, for once, he’d be there when I needed him. 

The call rang once, then twice before it abruptly ended. A message popped up on my screen, "I’m busy, don’t disturb me."

I stared at the screen for what felt like an eternity, his words already pierced my heart, he was busy. Busy doing what? Busy being too far away to care, that’s what. 

The smell of medicine filled the hospital room, the climates felt more colder than it actually was.

I opened my mobile to scroll through social media, needing a distraction from the pain weighing inside me, only to be shattered after witnessing something I shouldn't, the pain in my heart deepened as I stared at the image infront of me.

There it was, a photo posted by my adoptive mother. 

"Reunion so blissful!"

The caption blurred as my eyes focused on the image. Jacob, my Jacob, stood with his arms wrapped around Jessica, the biological daughter of my adopted parents who was found recently and brought back to him.

I can see him smiling so happily, his eyes warm, the same way I always craved for him to be with me, but instead, he is being in such a gentle way with her, she leaned into him, her head on his shoulder, looking perfectly at ease, as if they're a couple. 

I couldn’t breathe, and it's more suffocating.

He had said he was too busy to come to the hospital, though I told multiple times I'm sick and needed to visit the hospital. Too busy to even care about me though I was sick and all alone. Yet here he was, embracing her like she was the center of his world, then what am I? A fool?

I closed the app, clutching my phone tightly as tears blurred my vision, 'Why? Why wasn’t I enough for him? Seven years of love, still why is he like this with me? Indifferent and cold'

Once it ended, pushing my weak body out of the hospital, I walked out, and hired a cab to reach home as soon as possible.

When I got home, I was met with the slam of the front door. Jacob was already there, his presence as overbearing as ever. 

"Why isn’t my luggage prepared?" He demanded, with a sharp and impatient tone, "I told you, I need to go on a business trip tonight, didn't I ask you to pack my luggage? Where exactly did you go without doing what I told you?"

I stared at him in disbelief, the one who should be angry and the one who should react right now is me, but instead of me, he is the one who is acting all furious and fierce.

"I was at the hospital, I told you I wasn’t feeling well," I informed him.

He sighed turning his face away from me, as if my very existence was an inconvenience to him. "Always an excuse with you, I don't understand when you'll be tired of lying again and again."

As he shrugged off his suit jacket and threw it onto the couch, something shiny caught my eye.

My heart sank as I picked up a delicate earring, definitely not mine, since neither he nor my adopted family ever brought something expensive for me, but it fell from his pocket. Beside it, the edge of an open condom box peeked out. 

My head spun while my stomach felt twisted at the sight in front of me. 

"What is this?" I asked, holding up the earring. My voice was calm, too calm, the kind of calm that came before a storm. 

He glanced at me briefly before looking away, totally unbothered, "it's an earring."

"Do you think I'm blind or a fool, Jacob?" Holding his arm, I pulled him to face me, "I'm asking you, how did the earring of another woman come into your jacket?"

He was calm, I sneered with a sarcastic laugh, "so, this belongs to Jessica, right?"

"So what?"

I was surprised by his response, "so what? Are you truly asking that? I was in hospital, all alone without anyone to accompany me, whereas you were so busy with my sister, and my mother posting it in her account, what's all these?"

"Can you stop being dramatic?" He pushed my hand aside dusting off his arm where I touched till now, "I had a meeting with a business client and ran into your sister coincidentally. It’s been a long time since I met your parents, so we talked, and your parents took a photo; it’s something so simple. You’re making a scene over nothing." 

"Simple?" I repeated, with a raise in my voice. "You expect me to believe this is nothing? That photo, this earring, and the box of condoms, how much am I supposed to ignore, Jacob?" 

With an angry look, he threw the flower vase on the floor breaking it into pieces, and his cold eyes met mine, whereas his words cut deeper than any weapon ever could. "You’re going to be my wife, Ivory. Isn’t that what you wanted? All this drama and act, for what? To impress me or to show that you love me? I'm already tired of it, so stop this drama for my attention, as I promised, I'm going to marry you, here after I don't want to hear anymore. You’re exhausting me!" 

I froze in the same spot, but he left as if nothing happened.

This was the man I had spent years with. The man I had trusted with my heart, only for him to treat me like I'm nothing, the pain in my chest felt like it would swallow me whole, but I refused to cry in front of him, as I'm scared that he might call me dramatic once again.

I bent down to remove the shattered pierces of vase, my finger got cut and bled, "ouch!"

Still I've none to care about me, so rather than wasting my time on shredding tears, I completed the work, just as I finished cleaning, my phone buzzed with a message from my best friend. 

"There’s a get-together with all our old friends from school, aren’t you coming?"