Chapter Nine

Never lie to me, unless you're absolutely sure I will never find out the truth. " -Unknown

"I wasn't always like this. I used to go swimming with my friends, and I liked it" He linked his right fingers with her left. Tracing the veins on her left hand, with his left finger.

They were seated on the edge of the bed, their bodies close to each other.

"What happened?" She asked.

"One day, we went out to swim as usual, in the lake we always swam in. We pulled off our clothes, got into the river, and began splashing water on each other. But, what we didn't realize was that the current of the water had changed. One of my friends got his boxers stuck and went under the surface to free himself, we waited for him for a long time. He was taking too long to show up. So, myself and my other friend decided to go underwater to see what has gone wrong.

"We found his body, sprawled against a rock. He was looking lifeless. But before we could get to him, we lost our balance as well. We fought against the current with our might, but it was stronger. We drowned. I can't remember what else happened, but when I woke up and asked after my friends, Daniel was already confirmed dead and Richard was in same situation as me, admitted in the hospital."

"I can assume Daniel's the friend who got his boxers stuck, and Richard was the surviving one" Doris; who has been quiet while he spoke, eventually said something.

Matthew nodded his head in the positive. He unclasped his fingers from her own and rubbed his hands over his face.

"I had so many nightmares for months, about what happened at that lake. I never went there again. Richard and I couldn't keep in touch for long because we were both fighting our own demons. Eventually, he travelled out of the country. We communicate once a while, but not one of us has brought up the event at the lake. I'm guessing it's cause he feels as guilty as I am, about what happened that day,"

He stood and walked towards the French doors that led to the small balcony of their room.

"When the nightmares became so much, my aunts and uncles called for a psychologist. I was enrolled in a therapy session for three months and two weeks, before I resumed my academic life. Because of the environment and people that could influence my recovery, I had to travel out as well"

He felt her slender fingers roam around his back and neck; soothing and calming down all the tension that has built up within.

He sighed and relaxed his shoulders. It has been a long time he spoke about what happened at the lake, and for some reason, he was glad she didn't look at him with judgement in her eyes. In fact, it seemed like she understood his pain.

"I'm glad you told me this part of your life." She whispered.

He turned to face her, holding her by the shoulders so she could look at him.

"You're my wife, I can't keep such part of my life a secret from you. I want you to know that I would tell you anything, and that you should feel free to tell me anything about yourself too," He hugged her.

'This is your chance, tell him the truth he won't be angry.'

'But what if he isn't ready to hear such truth. He just told me a very deep truth about himself, it would be cruel for me to try to hurt him like this.'

She battled with her subconscious thoughts.

Matthew broke the embrace and looked at her face.

"Sorry. I've dulled the atmosphere between us now, haven't I?"

She smiled.

"Nothing to worry about. I'll fix the issue and we'll still enjoy our honeymoon as planned" He looked at the circular black wallclock.

"The time's 4:45 pm, should we order and binge-watch some movies or go down for something to eat?"

"I'd say we order and watch a movie. What could we possibly watch?" She headed towards the desk, where he kept his laptop.

"Okay, I have a few collections on my laptop. There's horror, general and historical fiction... You name it, but they're a lot" He picked up the black landline phone on the locker beside the bed.

"What would you like? Indian, French, or perhaps Italian. Name it, and I'll order..."

"Uhmm, pizza would be great"

"Italian it is..." He punched in some numbers and it went to dial call.

'Hello. Welcome to Raffles Hotel Singapore, I'm speaking from Marco and Maria's Kitchen, how can we satisfy your need?' a feminine voice sounded from the Telecom.

Matthew placed the order for two boxes of cheese pizza, and a bottle of red wine to go with it. He joined Doris on the bed, then they decided to watch the movie, Knives Out.

Halfway through the movie, after they finished one box and half pizza, Doris fell asleep on Matthew's shoulder. Her wet hair as a result of being in the water, was sticking to her face. It has not dried completely because of the weight of her hair.

Matthew brushed the wayward strands away from her face. Her hair smelled like milk and lavender. He could live with that fragrance. After placing her pillows properly, he laid her on her side of the bed and covered her upper body with the bedcovers. He watched her body rise and fall in tune with her breathing. She was truly beautiful.

His thoughts flashed back to the time at the beach, when she stripped her clothes and stood before him in nothing but her underwear. Pink lacy bra and matching panties, with her wavy hair let loose. She had no idea how much she affected him at that moment, he was her puppet. He didn't even realize that he was going into the water as he was smitten by her beauty.

He sighed, suddenly losing interest in the movie playing before him. He turned off the screen and kept the laptop away, tomorrow was another day to continue. After he cleared the bed of the empty boxes and wineglasses, he brushed and washed his face before joining her on the bed again.

Slowly but surely, sleep engulfed him in its bosom and he dozed off.

The next day, he awoke earlier and rushed to have a shower before his wife would wake up.

That strong masculine smell took over her senses, it filled her nostrils. Slowly she opened her eyes, to adjust her pupils to the daylight. It was already a very bright morning and the sun was out. She sat up immediately.

"Goodmorning sleeping beauty, how was your dream? Did you dream about us last night?" Matthew was already in fresh set of clothes.

He was wearing a black polo with navy shorts. His hands on his waist, while he silently watched her every move.

"Goodmorning you too. Yes I had wonderful dreams, though I can't remember them. But no, I did not dream about us" She got out of the bed, needing to use the bathroom.

"Don't worry, you will soon" He winked at her.

She ignored him and went into the bathroom.

"Nature or science?!" He called out.

"What?!" She shouted back.

"Do you prefer nature or science?" He asked again.

"Nature, I guess." She replied moderately loud this time.

"Okay, then put on something comfortable after you are done having your bathe. We'll go somewhere today, preferably after breakfast." He walked out after what sounded like an order to Doris.

Doris came out of the bathroom to pick out the clothes she would wear, Matthew already left the room. She chose a white hood, black crop-top and black jeans. If she has no idea on where they would be going, she could at least make the effort to dress as comfortable as she would feel.

As she dressed up, her dream came back to haunt her. Dorine came back all of a sudden, and the worst part of the dream was that, both Matthew and Dorine totally ignored her existence.        She wondered if the same thing would be her fate in reality, should Matthew find out.