Chapter 8 Caught

• ‘What am I supposed to do in this enormous place? What is the meaning of this stupid marriage? What does he want?’
• Scanning my gaze around his majestic room where the only unfitting piece I found in that was ‘myself,’.
• Hugging my knees close to my chest, I had many questions, I had my hesitations, I wasn’t ready for this marriage, my consent was not involved in this, Papa decided it for me.
• He took me to that hotel, he did this to me still I didn’t resist and went along.
• ‘But, In that case, how can I behave like a wife?’
• Especially when each time I appear before him, my voice, my strength, my ability to perceive disappeared?
• “Ah, what would happen in these six months?”
• Muttering to myself, I plopped on the bed, extending my hands out.
• Struggling very hard to eradicate his perceptions from my mind but they were knocked more and more by each passing second.
• And when I was stuck in my dilemmas and confusions, my phone rang. It was an unknown number and for a moment, I thought my so-called husband called.
• Then I realized- I didn’t know nor have his phone number.
• “Shit. What does he want?”
• Cursing, I cleared my throat and picked the call in a softer tone, “Hello?”
• “Liliana…”
• But, to my surprise, it wasn’t him but the one who heartlessly separated my paths with the second I got married.
• Gray Clifford.
• My heart skipped a beat, sitting up, I clutched the sheets with dismal as the ache in his voice pricked me immensely.
• If there was someone to blame for his condition it was me.
• I broke his heart, I gave him false hopes only to rip them from him cruelly.
• Biting my lips anxiously, I called him weakly, “Gray…”
• “Are…” He gulped, “Are you happy?”
• I couldn’t reply, I was struck between emotions and that question abruptly stole words from my tongue and my silence encouraged him to speak further.
• “Do you still think about me?”
• And to my utter surprise- I didn’t.
• All on my mind was the obligation, the mystery, the heaviness of this marriage that I didn’t think about ‘anything,’
• Not him, the money we got, or even my sister’s operation.
• “Please try to understand, Gray… I am married now. This is wrong, you can’t call me anymore,” I whispered, getting up in frustration when the realization of how much this marriage was affecting me sank in.
• And it enraged me because I didn’t want to carve my thoughts around him… which exactly I did.
• He asked, “Did you marry on your will? Or your father forced this on you?”
• Holding my side, I knew I must do something so that he would forget about me and using a fake cold tone, I lied.
• “It was my decision. My husband is a very honorable man, who wouldn’t want him?”
• He whimpered, “Don’t lie to me, Liliana please,”
• “Why be this anguished now, Dammit?”
• When he became desperate, I decided to shatter his heart further by taunting him for his incompetency.
• “Where were you huh? Flirting? Being anonymous? Now I have married a man who at least doesn’t hides his identity from me,”
• Pacing around the room, my tone was but filled with wrath because that was the biggest complaint I had with him.
• That I fell for a man I didn’t see nor met.
• “Oh, so suddenly that husband of yours has become ‘this’ important?” He argued, voice cracking badly as my words were piercing his heart without a doubt.
• “Yes,”
• To my cold reply, he ended up sobbing that stopped me.
• My mouth gaped, dismal cluttering, constricting my chest that screamed at me for being his culprit but I had no way out of this turmoil.
• This was the end of us, I wasn’t a cheater…
• No matter how I got married, I couldn’t allow myself to be disloyal.
• “Please, please, Liliana, have mercy on me, I love you. Think about me for once. What can he give you that I couldn’t?”
• To his miserable wailing that was agonizing me as well, unwillingly my voice broke too with a tear glistening in the corner.
• “Please try to understand, we cannot be together anymore. I cherish our bond but I am-”
• Turn to continue my pacing only to bump into the muscular chest with thick scent that froze my whole being that my mind turned blank.
• It took me five seconds to comprehend what happened and when the fury of his glare dropped to my core, I gulped apprehensively.
• Lifting my gaze, I saw him before him, jaw clenched, dripping with seethe, holding his composure briefly, he slowly took the phone from my hand and put it on speaker.
• My throat dried, eyes widening in appall when Gray began to beg me for a chance and he heard everything.
• “Please, Liliana, I don’t know who your husband is or whatever reasons you had but trust, he cannot love you as much as I do,”
• Shit. Shit. Shit.
• His eyes darkened, pressing his teeth to reveal the anger creeping up in layers as I trembled, afraid to confront him.
• And smearing his last string of patience, Gray spoke what he shouldn’t-
• “Please, please, my love, after everything, don’t abandon me, I love you, Liliana, I love you so-”
• Oh, no, no, no, no-
• He cut the call.
• Bringing a momentary silence in the room where my heartbeats were pounding heavily against my chest, tears reflecting in the corner.
• But, before I could justify myself, he slammed the phone away, breaking it in one throw that released a shriek from me.
• I attempted to maintain a fair distance from him but not allowing me, he grabbed my arm and twisted it in a warning grip that burst the tears I held back.
• “Ah, Sir, listen-”
• “So that was why my closeness and touching was repulsive huh?”
• He snarled at my face, hovering me as he pushed me against the wall, chest nearing mine to lock his terror into my soul.
• Shaking my head, I whimpered, “No, no, that was not it-”
• “I told you to break up, didn’t I?”
• “I did-”
• “Then who the fuck was he?!”
• I winced in pain when his grip on my arm tightened, glaring into my soul that flowed uncontrollable tears.
• Those bloodshot eyes refused to listen but I knew I must do something or else circumstances won’t be favorable for me.
• “Sir, please, this isn’t what you think. We are nothing-”
• Sobbing at this harsh grip, his other hand gripped my jaws, forcing me to maintain the eye-contact where his eyes were flickering with intense possessiveness.
• The fact he couldn’t bear me with another man was ‘very’ transparent.
• “I SAID WHO WAS HE, LILIANA!?”
• He growled, pressing me harder into the wall.
• Shrinking my eyes at the extent of his fury for something wrong, I held his wrist, praying he would be compassionate.
• Shutting my eyes, I gasped for air, telling him everything, “I don’t know.”
• He hissed, “Don’t lie to me, dammit,”
• He wasn’t listening, his grip was hurting, those eyes were stealing my breaths. I never predicted such obstinacy from him.
• “I swear I am not lying!”
• Afraid, I sobbed a little, hoping to impede the blazing anger where he pressed me harder into the wall.
• “I don’t know anything, we met online, it was only a little bit of flirting but nothing…He was anonymous, he never told me about himself…”
• His jaw clenched, it wasn’t enough to convince him, in fact he seemed more displeased as if my words came as nothing but a lie.
• “Then how come he is still calling you?”
• “I don’t know. It- it was casual. Nothing serious.”
• Sniffling to not let apprehension take over me, I held his wrist in a tender grip, praying some compassion would shower him and he would shred and hold faith in me.
• “Sir, Please, you have to believe me, I am not lying,” I whispered, probably my tears would melt him but I was proven wrong.
• “Why would I?” Scowling, he harshly let me go.
• Drained of energy, I placed my palm on the wall to take support, afraid of him, his wrath, the ownership gleaming in those eyes.
• I was right about me being a puppet he intended to control, a thing he wanted to possess.
• “You don’t look at me, you dislike my touch but quite emotional for someone you haven’t even seen,”
• He hissed at my face with barely recognizable distances between us, staring directly into my soul to embed his dread there.
• “It was nothing… I was telling him to not call me again,” Yet I miserable reasoned.
• “Nor will I let him.” He growled, taking a few steps back.
• “Let’s see how he will call you when you won’t have a phone in the first place,”
• “Sir, please, don’t-”
• “Enough,”
• Pointing his finger at me while crushing my phone under his foot, asserting his dominance that everything in the marriage would go according to him.
• Lowering my gaze, I held my dress, not sure what to speak anymore and without a warning he stopped before me again.
• Contemplating me as I was highly perturbed in his presence.
• “Fuck!” Shouting, he punched the wall.
• Shutting my eyes, I almost screamed in horror because I thought it was directed to me but fortunately it wasn’t.
• Not daring to move an inch, I kept sobbing quietly where I could feel his extensive glare on me and too frightened to endure it, I didn’t dare to open my eyes.
• The sound of his loud breaths, the closeness, the suffocation of his presence drained my energy, I was absolutely scared of him.
• Soon the sound of his retreating footsteps reached and he walked out of the room furiously and my marriage fucked up more.