punishment for your rude words

Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy

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Chapter 6: punishment for your rude words

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I am woken up by my stomach screaming for release the next morning. I stand up as fast as my spinning head allows me to and rush to the enclosed bathroom. To my luck the toilet seat was open. In one swift movement I throw myself onto my knees, my stomach already emptying itself on my way down.

I hate throwing up, i had hated it as a child and i still hate it as an adult, if not even more. My throat stings and my stomach aches from all of the tensing up. My whole body is shivering, i feel cold despite the big amount of sweat running down my back. I lean my back against the glass door of your shower, closing my teary eyes.

“God damn alcohol”, i groan before a second wave of cramps washes over me, forcing me to release everything my stomach had to offer into the toilet bowl.

I lean back again, panting. I hate this so much. I never should have drank that much. I take deep breaths, hoping the ache in my stomach will fade and i wouldn’t have to throw up again. Breathe in, breathe out. Just think of happy things, not of wanting to throw up. Breathe in, breathe out. To my luck it stops hurting with every new breath i take.

I stand up, my knees nearly giving up under my weight. If i hadn’t held onto the bathroom wall and dragged myself to the sink to rinse my mouth from the sour taste, i would have fallen.

I look into the mirror, regretting it once i see my face. I had been too drunk to actually remove my makeup yesterday, which resulted in me looking like a raccoon today. I clean my face with the cleansing oil and the cleansing foam from my own company. I like the products i had invented, as it gives me the best results for my skin. I dry my face with a soft cotton towel and put on a light layer of moisturizer and sunscreen, both from my company as well. I decide to rinse my mouth with mouthwash once again.

I take one last look at myself. Given the current situation i look pretty okay, definitely okay enough to show myself to the housekeeper and husband.

“I hope Mrs Calloway has finished breakfast already”, i mumble to myself.

I was too lazy and hungry to actually change out of my pyjamas, hoping Elijah wouldn’t be in the kitchen to see you like this. He would most definitely tease me for the little hearts on my pyjamas and I am not in the mood for that.

I open my bedroom door, inhaling deeply.

The smell of fried eggs, rice and hangover soup hits my nose, making my mouth water. Excitement fills my stomach as I waddle to the kitchen.

“Wow Mrs Choi the food smells amazing like always”, I gush, once I have entered the kitchen.

The small woman turns around, clearly startled by my voice. She bows at me deeply, smiling brightly like a grandmother would at their grandchild.

“Good morning Mrs Kim, the food is nearly finished. Did you sleep well?” she asks, already turned around again to stir the steaming soup.

“Not really, my head was spinning too much, also my stomach retaliated greatly throughout the whole night”, I sigh.

“I’m sorry to hear that Mrs Kim”, the older woman says with honest concern in her voice.

“It was my own fault anyways. I shouldn’t have drank that much last night”, I answer before a dark figure calls my sudden attention.

Elijah is sleeping with his head resting on the black marble surface of the kitchen island, his body slumped over and his mouth slightly opened. Strands of his dark hair hang into his face, moving with every breath he takes. He is dressed in his pyjamas as well, long black pants paired with a black oversized t-shirt and faux-fur slippers which he had discarded at the feet of his stool. At least i don’t have to feel ashamed of being in my pyjamas in front of him.

“Is he okay?” I ask Mrs Calloway, studying the sleeping man in front of me.

“I’m totally fine, safe for the fact that you just woke me up”, he answers groggily, surprising me.

He peels his eyes open slowly, staring at me with narrowed brows.

“Last time I checked, the bed is the place where people normally sleep”, I retort, sending him an equally evil glare.

He sighs, sitting up and rubbing the spot between his terribly dry eyes.

“You don’t say.”

He gets up from the bar stool, trudging to the dining table to sit down at the chair closest to the big windows, which give view into the big garden, and lays his head down onto his hands once again.

I follow his actions, sitting down at the chair opposite of him, my eyes never leaving him. He looks fucked, i had thought i looked destroyed, but after seeing him, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

His body is visibly shaking, sweat running down the back of his neck and his skin paler than last night. How much did he have to drink yesterday? He groans, his stomach probably telling him to go and throw up.

Should i be nice to him?

I really want to punch him in his smartass mouth after what he had said to me last night before bed. He would deserve it.

He groans again, furrowing his brows as if in pain.

“Why did I drink so much last night?” he whines, clearly in pain.

No I was raised differently. I shouldn’t be rude to him, especially now in his hangover state.  

“You look awful. Do you want some water to drink?” I ask, eyeing him.

He shakes his head, dismissing me with a weak wave of his hand. At least his hangover takes up too much of his energy for him to be too rude to me.

Mrs. Calloway arrives at the table with the finished breakfast. It smells and looks mouth watering. I can’t wait to dig in.

“Thank you Mrs. Calloway, you can go home for today we’ll clean up ourselves”, i say, putting a spoon full of rice and a fried egg on your plate.

“As you wish Mrs. Kim. I will see you tomorrow then. Have a good day Mr and Mrs Kim”, she says bowing her head before shuffling out of the kitchen to the front door.

“Why did you send her home?” Elijah grumbles.

“Why not? She deserves a break”, I answer him.

Elijah scoffs, “she hasn’t even worked a full day here and you are already giving her breaks.”

“So? What about it?” I spit.

Elijah raises his head for the briefest of moments, regretting in an instance as a sharp pain courses through his brain. He lies back down again, groaning as he does. I cock an eyebrow up at him and click my tongue. Fixing my posture i reached for the bowl of rice.

“How many eggs do you want? And do you want some vegetables?” I ask Elijah, offering him the bowl full of steamed vegetables.

He slowly raises his head once more, looking between me and the bowl before sighing loudly and sitting up straight. The hunger must be bigger than the hangover.

“Thanks”, he says, taking three scoops of vegetables as slowly as his aching muscles allow him to.

I put two delicious looking fried eggs on his plate, regretting it the instance he looks from my chopsticks on his plate up to my face.

“I can take them myself”, he says annoyed, taking a third egg.

“I know, I just wanted to be nice given the fact that we have to live together from now on”, i answer dryly, acting like i wasn’t internally cringing at your own actions.

He stares at me for a moment, his eyes scanning the entirety of my face and stopping at my eyes. This is the first time he directly looked into my eyes without the intoxicated haze between the two of us. It makes me nervous. His eyes almost glowed golden in the bright sunlight hitting his face. They were swollen and red, from not sleeping well, so i figured. I narrow my eyes, feeling weirdly nervous at the intensity of his stare.

“Listen Miss Ivanov, I hope you don’t mind me calling you like that”, he begins and i shake my head. I really don’t mind, on the contrary i prefer it.

“We may be living with each other from now on, but please spare me the polite small talk and nice gestures”, he continues.

I look up from my plate just to find him still staring at you.

“I never wanted this marriage as much as you didn’t too Mister Kim. So for the sake of our own sanity can’t we at least try to make it as comfortable as possible?” I ask annoyed, slowly losing my temper.

For a moment we both just stare at each other, the faint sound of a car honking outside the only thing ringing in the uncomfortable silence.

“Fine”, he finally says, “if it means that you’ll shut up and I can eat my breakfast in peace”, he agrees, finally stopping to stare at me and looking at his plate instead.

I roll my eyes, sighing loudly, deciding to accept his answer as for now. My stomach was protesting once again and the smell of soup made me forget about my want to throw a pissy remark at his head.

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The both of us finish our breakfast in silence. It was a comfortable silence, well as comfortable as not caring enough for each other to make actual small talk and therefore just accepting the silence, can get. Mrs Calloway had outdone herself once again, the soup healed the last bit of discomfort and the coffee washed the last remains of tiredness out of my body.

Elijah must have felt the same way too, as his skin finally has gotten its colour back and his eyes weren’t as puffy anymore.

Elijah is the first one to get up from his seat, taking as many empty bowls and pans with him, as he can carry. He puts them into the sink and turns the water on.

I watch him from where i am seated, surprised by how willingly he wants to do the dishes.

I get up from my seat after having watched his figure for a while, taking the rest of the empty dishes with me.

“I am surprised at how willing you are to do the dishes”, i say honestly, putting the dirty dishes into the sink with the rest of them.

“I hate mess and someone has to do the dishes, given the fact that you sent Mrs Calloway, our housekeeper and the person actually responsible for such things, home”, he answers dryly, kneeling down to look through the cupboard underneath the sink.

“Well I didn’t want to risk you making a scene in front of her, so I figured why not give her a day off”, i throw back.

Elijah appears from underneath the sink, looking totally fed up by my attitude with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Maybe this comes as a surprise to you, but I can actually behave myself.”

I snort, mirroring his posture by crossing my arms in front of my chest as well.

“Laugh all you want, for all I care”, he mumbles already squatting down again.

He continues his quest for whatever he is looking for, rummaging around the spacious cupboard.

“If you are looking for the dish soap it’s up here next to the paper towels”, i finally say, holding the bottle of green soap up into the air.

He stands up, taking the bottle out of my hands.

“Thanks”, he mumbles, squeezing a healthy amount of soap into the water.

He puts the first dish into the warm water, rubbing it clean with vigour. I normally would help a person doing the dishes, i actually quite like doing it, it calms me down. Doing the dishes with Elijah however seems like punishment more than a reward.

So of course i choose the one thing, which seems appropriate in this situation. I decide on leaving him to it whilst i go as far away from him as possible.

“Thanks for cleaning the dishes I’ll go take a shower”, i announce, turning my back to him.

I have already taken three steps when a wet hand, grasping me by my wrist and pulling me back, stops me. I stumble backwards, nearly crashing into Elijah if he hadn’t taken a step back as well. I twist around, sending him an angry glare.

“Don’t you dare think I’ll be washing the dishes alone”, Elijah warns, looking down at you.

“Can you still remember when you told me to go fuck myself last night?” I retort instead

“Yeah”, he shrugs his shoulders, “what about it?”

“See doing the dishes without my help as your punishment for your rude words”, i smirk proudly at the way he blinks in confusion. “So as I was saying, I’ll be taking a shower now”, i turn on my heels to finally continue my way out of the kitchen.

“Miss Ivanov come back here in an instance!” he yells, but I don’t hear him anymore.

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TBC