8

Tristan finally pulled over in front of the bakery I worked at. I would’ve asked him how he knew where I was working but of course he must’ve driven Indy here.

“Don’t move.” He said with that annoying authoritative voice of his. Curious to know what he was up to, I didn’t move. 

He got out of the car, turned around and surprisingly opened the door for me, stretching his hand to me. 

I raised an eyebrow at him but he only wore a smile. 

“Just give me your hand.” He said angrily through his smiling teeth.

What sort of weird man was this?

I accepted his hand then he helped me out of the car. 

“Thank you?” I said, still wondering what had gotten into him all of a sudden. He stood up for me, drove me to work though he said I shouldn’t work here anymore, he also helped me out of the car?  

“Hazel,” he snapped, drawing me out of my world of thoughts. “Don’t think about any of these as a big deal, it’s absolutely nothing, okay? I haven’t and will never accept you as my wife, you’re only my wife to the world. Everyone has to think we’re perfect and I’m the only one that has the right to insult you or point fingers at you for anything.” 

Oh my gosh, I had never met anyone as crazy as this man? The only one that had the right to insult me?! Was that even a thing?! 

“Don’t frown in public.” He made me realize I was frowning, wearing a very stupid smile that was definitely fake. “You can work here because you’ll need to get rid of the boredom of being alone.” Uh?

“Alone?”

He didn’t respond to me, only staring at me intensely with his hands locked behind him. 

After a while, I realized it was stupid to keep staring at him without a word so I turned around to leave. 

“Wait.” I felt him hold my hand and gently pull me to his hard chest. With his hands on my waist, he placed a soft and short kiss on my forehead then another short kiss on my lips. 

Oh my gosh, what’s wrong with this man? I wasn’t certain if this was some kind of dream but his hands on my waist and his kisses made me feel very giddy.

“I'm still trying to make the internet believe we’re a real couple so this is nothing but an act. Bye.” He shut the car door, turned around and got in, zooming out of sight. 

'Tristan is crazy.’ I sent a mental note to myself. 

*** 

I decided to take a tour of the house tonight since I was bored. I realized that everywhere was mostly gray-themed, just like our bedroom and the fact that they were glass walls for you to have a perfect view of outside the mansion was amazing. 

The doorbell rang at the exact time my phone started ringing. 

I glanced at my phone’s screen and my eyes popped out of their sockets when the caller ID had Indy’s name on it. So she could finally call?

I answered the call angrily. “Look who decided to call.”

“I’m sorry, I really am.” Her voice croaked. 

“Indy, I can’t believe you lied to me about Tristan accepting this. How could you be so cruel? Do you know what mess you’ve put me into? Do you know how much my life is being ruined? Do you know how hard your disappearance is on everyone? It’s best if you return now and clarify things. Where the hell are you?” I hollered.

I heard sobbing from the other end of the line. 

“Hello? Is everything fine?” I asked in a gentle tone. 

“I can’t return, I just can’t. I’ll— I’ll…” she trailed off.

“Why not?!” 

“I can’t return, at least not now.” She was obviously crying so much, judging from the sound she was making. “I’m sorry for everything but…” she trailed off again then there was a beep sound, indicating that the call had ended. 

I immediately dialed the number again but it wasn’t reachable. 

“Good evening, Mrs. Hendrix.” One of the workers greeted me.

I didn’t respond to him because I was too interested in calling Indy back but the number was switched off now.

 “You have visitors here to see you.” The man said.

“Visitors?” 

“Yes, they are waiting downstairs.” 

I squinted my eyes at him. “Do you perhaps know who they are?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Okay… let them know I’ll be there in a jiffy.”

“Okay.” He smiled then left my sight. 

Who could be here for me? They were probably Tristan’s visitors. Speaking of Tristan, he hadn’t returned home today. He was never this late to return home. Or maybe he was and I just never noticed?

Scuttling back to our bedroom, I flicked the switch on, got rid of my clothes and got into a fancy dress, straightened my long, dark brown hair again then applied mascara and a bit of eye liner. 

“Okay, you’re so gorgeous.” I said to myself, adoring the masterpiece of beauty I was looking at right now. “Gosh, woman. You should be the winner of a World beauty pageant or something. No woman on Earth is this beautiful, sexy, hot, definitely not.” 

Now I realized I was starting to seem crazy talking to myself, but whether or not one’s husband appreciates your beauty, it’s always so wonderful to motivate yourself and constantly remind yourself of how beautiful and overly-worthy you are.

I wore a pair of shoes, grabbed my phone then headed downstairs, quite nervous to know who was here.

“Hi, Hazel.” Two people with the happiest faces I had ever seen were seated on a sofa. 

“Hi…” I smiled at the familiar man and woman.

“It seems like you don’t remember me but I'm Kye and this is my wife, Charlotte.” He introduced. Oh… he was Tristan’s best friend. 

“I’m sorry, I guess I have a bad memory.”

“It’s not a problem. It’s really so nice to see you again.” Charlotte beamed. 

“Yes, same.” I smiled shortly. “Do you perhaps want anything to eat? I can make you a quick meal.” 

“We already had dinner.” Kye replied, smiling too. These were the only friendly faces of people that had been from Tristan, and maybe his father too, I wasn’t quite sure. 

“Thank you. I’ve heard a lot about how great you cook and I’d love to try it someday but not today, my belly is pregnant with food.” She laughed and I joined her too. 

“It’s really great to have you here. You’re the only ones that have been here with smiling faces.” I admitted and they burst into laughter after sharing a glance at each other. 

“When you have the chance to know everyone in the Hendrixs family, you'll realize that they are all really great people, always so cheerful.” Charlotte assured. 

“Well, maybe except Nikita.” He added. 

She scrunched her face up. “Faith is the border between good and evil, but she’s perfect for her brother.” 

I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into laughter at her facial expression. 

“Oh no. Please don’t tell Tristan, he’ll kill me.” Her eyes widened and I laughed again. “I’m dead serious. No one has the right to say anything bad about his annoying bratty little sister. He will never let anyone and he has never insulted or scolded her or hurt her feelings in any way, she’s his precious gem. As a very good friend of yours,” good friend of mine? “I’ll advise you to never speak ill of his sister to him or insult her else…'' They shared a glance again. 

He had never scolded her? How was that possible? He had scolded her in my presence. 

“Noted.” 

We spent about an hour chatting, swinging from one topic to another, some of which were related to Tristan or his family. I was able to get along with them pretty well, they were literally my favorite people now. 

I was able to know that Charlotte was Spanish and Tristan spoke Spanish very well, Charlotte was pregnant and I felt so honored to know that I was the first person they had told, excitement was an understatement to what I was feeling. Babies were my favorite people in the world and I would be the happiest if I ever had a baby of my own. Judging from Tristan’s attitude, I was never going to have a baby of my own else I cheated on him. 

“I think it’s time we leave now so…” Kye gazed at Charlotte. “Will you let her know now?”

“I guess so.” She shrugged.

“Let me know what?” I don’t know why but the tone they said that made fear flicker in me.

“The main reason we’re here is to let you know that Tristan has travelled out of the country.”

“When?” 

“Tonight.” 

“He gave us a letter to give to you but someone I call my wife lost it.” Kye glared at her. 

“I’m sorry.”

“What difference does it make anyway? At least I’ll be free from his torture.” I scoffed with a roll of my eyes. 

They shared a glance at each other again. “It actually makes a difference. He said he wants a very long break from the crazy happenings around him, he wants a break from frustration so he might leave for 6 or 8 months or even a year or more.”

My eyes widened. “A year?!” 

“Y–yes.” 

“Wow, just wow. Isn’t that just perfect for both of us?” I scoffed again, this time, it was due to the weird pain and anger that struck my heart.

Was I so terrible and useless to him that he was going to leave for a year or more? How on Earth could I even still be in love with him? 1 year was certainly more than enough to stop loving him after the bad memory I’ll have of him.

“Are you fine?” Charlotte asked, concerned. 

“Of course I am. That’s it, I’m now unmarried, fully unmarried. What’s the point of the stupid marriage anyway? I don’t care, I don’t mind, I can live my life in peace once again.” How on Earth was my heart feeling so much pain? Wasn’t I supposed to feel extremely excited that he was leaving? Why was my poor heart so weak?