Chapter two

Chapter two

Evangeline rushed out of the cab as soon as she reached the gates of the Castillo mansion, her home which was gifted to both her and Damien right after the wedding. It was a truly enchanting house which stood tall against the backdrop of a beautiful lush garden, the architecture was also stunning with elegant columns framing the entrance, and a charming balcony on the second floor- still she dreaded the innermost parts of it.

“When did he get here?”. She asked a guard standing right at the entrance in a frantic manner, a triple of nervous sweat streamed down her cheek which she brushed off immediately with a napkin.

“An hour ago ma’am”. He responded.

An hour wasn’t good, she thought, she almost winced as she managed to escape hitting the door in an exasperated attempt to get to the dining hall before any more time was wasted. a faint gasp left her as she finally reached and her eyes fell on the man she was married to.

He’d gotten more buffer than the last time they saw each other, his hair has also gotten darker and had a more sheeny slice to it. Evangeline gulped hard as he strode to the dining table where her husband was sat, waiting patiently but with an obvious scowl on his face which made her insides jittery. She knew how much Damien hated tardiness. Unfortunately she was stuck in traffic from a high police chase which led into a car crash with only few casualties, she had to get down and take a short walk with Mario to the next street and flagged a cab from there.

“Welcome madam’’. The housekeeper greeted finally breaking the silence in the room, Evangeline was grateful for this as she was nervous as ever.

She smiled warmly as she turned to the side, acknowledging her presence, “hello Vanessa’.

Slowly she took her seat at the far end of the table which was at the opposite just how he liked it, silence befell the room again and only the sound of the American goldfinches at the garden could be heard from outside the window. Evangeline’s throat ran dry and she nervously singled the housekeeper to pour her a glass of wine.

Vanessa nodded as she proceeded to reach for the bottle of vermentino when Damien finally spoke up, “I think the madam can pour herself a glass of wine”, looking straight at Evangeline his brow arched, “Can you not??”

“Y…yes I ca-

“You may leave us Vanessa. Tell the chef that the madam and I are ready to have dinner now.”

The housekeeper nodded and left the room, Evangeline however prayed for a misfortune or a miracle of some sort to save her from this misery. Her teeth gritted as she clutched onto the hem of her sweater from under the table, he just embarrassed her in front of a staff, she hadn’t seen him in six months and his first priority was bringing shame and trampling on her authority- typical, she thought.

“Well…..” He muttered as he folded the sleeves of his pristine blue shirt revealing a musk of man hair underneath, “…pour yourself a glass of wine Evangeline, or is daddy little princess incapable of doing such a simple task?.”

She shut her eyes for a moment to gain composure and opened it, accompanied with a soft smile she reached for the bottle and poured herself a glass. Damien rolled his eyes seeing the look on her face, it was smug and sinister just like her father’s….he despised this look.

“You were late”

“I apologise” she said putting the bottle down, “my cousin came over and I-

“I don’t want to hear it” he cut her off.

Her head sunk low in shame, “I.. I’m sorry.”

“Humph”.

Her fingers dug deeper into her thighs as she felt on edge just wallowing in his presence. This was the norm in her marriage to a man who despised her, four years passed and Damien Castillo still had no plans to let his hostility towards his wife subside. The food was finally served by the chef, a lobster bisque and garlic bread with a side of salad. It was her favourite.

“Is there any hint of ginger in this?”. She asked the chef to ease the tension, her husband was allergic to ginger.

Damien frowned at his wife’s pathetic attempt to show that she cared, it was probably a plan concocted by that father of hers to try and get him in their good graces. It was no secret that he was allergic to ginger as well as a plethora of a f*e other things, the thought of her being aware of his allergies made his skin crawl- who knew? She could probably conspire to harm him one day.

“You may leave”. He muttered to the chef who hadn’t answered Evangeline’s question yet.

Once again she was left hanging, embarrassed in front of another staff and her cheeks rose with colour, her eyes lowered down to her food, void of any appetite she pursed her lips. She looked up at him again, he was eating without as much sparing her a glance which wasn’t new. She wanted nothing more than to retreat to her room at this moment.

Damien’s gaze finally rested on his wife as he lifted his head to look at her, he wondered what she looked like after six months and nothing had changed except for the dreaded fact, the irredeemable resemblance she posed to the woman he so wanted but was no more- her sister.Thus he lost his appetite as the bisque left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth just by looking at thing’s face, he gently pushed it forward and dabbed the corner of his lips with a napkin and washed it al down with a glass of wine.

“How have you been Damien?”

His eyes sparked as he heard her speak, for a moment it almost sounded like hers- not his wife. This almost sent him over the edge but he wasn’t falling for her nasty tricks, not today.

“Fine”. He replied calmly

Evangeline was this as a glimmer of hope, maybe he was in the mood to talk to her finally and she quickly adjusted her posture propping herself more upright, “it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other Damien. For a while I almost thought-

“You almost thought what?”

He sounded greatly perturbed by her words and she lowered her voice to say, “I thought you wouldn’t come back”.

He almost sneered but refracted and instead rolled his eyes, “I definitely did not come back because of you Evangeline. As a matter of fact, I have some news to share with you.”