CHAPTER 5

ARIA'S POV

I’m thankful that Regis doesn’t ask any questions as he drives me back home.

He offers to drive me into the compound but I turn him down and wait till he drives off before I sigh and walk into the house. The house is brimming with maids who rush over to me the instant they hear the door open but I raise a hand to stop them all from coming close to me.

I am no longer the mistress of the house.

I walk past them all to get to my room. Adam and I only share a room when he is looking to satisfy his sexual urges. He crawls into my bed and peppers kisses all over my body till I give in and that is the only time I ever feel wanted by him. As I walk into the room, I refrain from staring at the bed for longer than I should, afraid that the memories of us tangled up in sheets with him buried deep inside of me will break my resolve. And right now, I have only one resolve–to leave Adam for good.

I begin to pack while that resolve is still strong, not even stopping for one moment to think about the fact that I have nowhere to go. I can’t bear to stay one more day under the same roof with Adam, knowing how deeply his betrayal cut. I only pack a few things that are important, assuring myself that I will come back for the rest of my things later when the divorce is finalized.

I am only halfway through packing when I hear the sound of a familiar voice that never fails to send chills down my spine and even right this moment, I can already feel  the chilling crawl of dread and it makes me stop packing immediately.

Adam’s mother, Elodie and his sister Eva are here.

I exhale sharply, trying to keep my breathing under control and to also keep the terrible memories of them from flushing into the forefront of my mind. A few more deep exhales and I finally get a hold of myself, resuming packing my things. Once I finish packing, I haul the heavy suitcase out of the room and walk into the living room where Elodie and Eva are seated on one of the couches, legs crossed over one another like they owned the place.

 Elodie has her signature scowl on her face that doesn’t fade even when I bow to greet her.

“Why are you here?” Elodie asks, standing. I am confused by her question and my inability to give an answer makes her scoff, her face contorting into the ugliest form annoyance can take.

“I almost forgot how dumb you are.” Elodie says again. Dumb. Her favorite word to throw at me the way she pleases and of course, it doesn’t hurt less today. In fact, it is even more painful now that I realize that besides having to live with Adam’s indifference, I have also had to deal with his mother’s hatred and utter disrespect for me and all along, my response has either been silence or an apology that she never deserved.

“Why are you here instead of the office, huh?” She sneers and continues, “My son works tirelessly day and night just to make money for someone like you to leech off him, all he asks of you is to do your job as his secretary and yet you can’t even do that one thing? Do you think you are entitled to his money just because you are his wife?”

Her words are like hard blows to the chest, every single word that strung her sentences together hitting nerves and breaking right through them. I feel something rising inside of me. It has always been there but I have always managed to control it.

To top it all, Eva, Adam’s snobbish sister had to chip in, “She’s a trickster who duped my poor innocent brother and I wonder why isn’t she at the office! Such a lazy bum! I don’t even know how Grandpa accepted such a penniless bitch to be part of our elite family!”

“I had to be at my grandmother’s funeral.” I respond simply, hoping the scowl on her face will disappear but it gets even more profound and she adds a scoff for good measure. Did Elodie and Eva not know that my grandmother died?

“Is she dead for real? Or is it just an act?!” Eva has the guts to ask me and I glare at her.

Elodie continues, “Of course, that’s your excuse for being a lazy gold digger. Tell me, did that grandmother of yours teach you to go after other people’s money instead of working for your own?”

That very thing that has been rising inside me since I saw Adam’s mother reaches its peak. It’s anger. It is red, pure and fiery and controls my whole being that I can not even bring myself to care about anything other than keeping my grandmother’s name from being soiled.

“Do not talk about my grandmother like that!” I yell and she jumps slightly, startled by my outburst.

“Did you just yell at me?” she says, taking a step forward but I don’t flinch as I stare back into her eyes.

Eva approaches me and she lashes out, “Did you just shout at my mother?!!!”

Eva has always tried to demean me and every possible way at every chance presented to her. She grabs my arm, presses it harshly, making me wince in pain. Elodie smiles and as usually, she is greatly entertained.

I push Eva with the other hand and she tumbles on the sofa. She remains shocked for I have always allowed them to bully me and this time, I retaliate.

“Did you forget your place? You are nothing but a–”

“Gold digger who married your son for his money, yes, I get it!” I snap at her, having had enough of the name calling every damn time, “But you don’t have to worry about that anymore because I already filed for a divorce. I am leaving your son so you can go ahead and swallow all of his money for all I care.”

I turn around to leave, huffing as I drag the heavy suitcase with me but then Elodie clamps her hand down on the suitcase to stop me. She looks at the suitcase in amusement.

“You are really leaving!” Elodie can’t even hide the joy in her tone.

“Yes, so please just stop and let me go.”

She shakes her head, “Not so fast! You can’t just leave.” And then she signals to two of the maids who have been standing, watching the whole exchange.

“Search her!” She orders when they come forward. They hesitate and she glares at them.

“Did you not hear her? She is no longer the mistress of the house. Search her right now.”

I am too stunned to react when the maids finally snatch my suitcase from me. Eva tries to hold me preventing me from snatching back my bag from the maids.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I say, my voice shaky.

“I can’t just let you leave. Who knows what valuables you have stolen from my son inside that germ ridden bag of yours.”

My mouth opens and closes several times at her words as I can’t even come up with a single string of sentences to say to her. I just watch as my things come tumbling to the ground in the rough search. Tears of humiliation burned at the back of my eyes. I don’t struggle any more from Eva’s grip and she stares at me triumphantly.

“What is that? Hand it over.” Adam’s mother says when one of the maids found a gold bracelet I had lodged into my case. Grandmother’s bracelet, the only thing I have left of her.

“No!” I rush forward to stop her from handing it over but I am too late. Adam’s mother is already holding and inspecting the bracelet.

“Oh, wow! Mom, you finally found something she stole from Adam!” Eva exclaimed enthusiastically.

Upon saying those words, she drags me and throws me onto the marble. I hit my nose. As I touch it, blood is coming out. I wipe it quickly and spring up to my feet.

“I knew it! You took something. Did my son buy this for you? What gives you the right to think you can walk away with something he got for you after filing for a divorce?” Elodie snaps.

“That doesn’t belong to your son! It is mine and I will appreciate it if you give it back.”

She does the exact opposite and only continues to accuse me of being a thief until the door opens and Adam walks in. I don’t feel relief at his presence like I usually do when his mother treats me this way, instead, I feel nothing but resentment for him. I want to scream how much I hate him to his face.

His face twists into confusion when he sees the situation.

“What is going on here?” He asks, walking further into the house and looking from his mother to me.

“Thank goodness you arrived, son. This leech was about to leave with something that clearly doesn’t belong to her.” His mother responds.

“And she hit me!!!” Eva adds, almost in tears, complaining to Adam.

This time, Adam is too shocked to ask me why I hit his dear sister. I thought,as he did in the past, he would force me to apologize, but this time, he did nothing. I wonder why.

My eyes are starting to water for some reason and I am confused as to why Adam’s appearance suddenly triggered them yet I smile through the tears.

“Adam, will you please tell your mother that I have never gotten a gift from you?”

Adam falters, seemingly speechless for a second as he stares at his hands. I also look down at his hands and I finally understand why my eyes sting with tears and why I am sniffling in preparation of a sneeze that rocks my entire body. Lilies. I am allergic to them.

Despite the tears rolling down my cheeks, I start to laugh. I laugh so hard, ignoring the burning gazes of everyone present in the room who probably think I have gone crazy. I sneeze in between laughs, yet I don’t stop laughing as I turn to Adam’s mother.

“I have been married to your son for three years and he doesn’t even know I am allergic to lilies, yet you think he is capable of getting me a bracelet?” 

I shake my head at my sad reality.