Chapter 5 Five

• Sorren
• I stood there in silence, taking in the panicked expression on Tessa's face, the hum of the ceiling fan overhead doing nothing to ease the tension in the room. Her face was pale, lips pressed tightly together, but it wasn’t the silence that had my chest heaving. It was what I had seen.
• I had gone through her phone, something I shouldn’t have done— but with Abel's presence here a few seconds ago, I admit I got curious. We just got married for bloody sake, and I walk in to find her with her ex-fiancée, my brother in a compromising position. Anyone in my situation would have done the same thing - I tell myself that- but I never expected what I found.
• A message. From a nun. Updates about a child. Her child. He fucking daughter!
• “Tessa,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady even as my insides churned with anger, confusion, and a pit that felt like betrayal. “Give me a bloody response, dammit!”
• She stood there, her gaze meeting mine with confidence, something which wasn't present back at the altar. “It’s none of your business, Sorren,” she replied quietly, almost too calmly for what I had just uncovered.
• “None of my—” I cut off, pacing to the window as if looking out at the skyline would somehow make sense of the chaos quietly unfolding. “None of my business? Tessa, we’re married. Everything about you is my business from now on.”
• Her silence felt heavier than any word she could utter. I approach her in large strides. “You have a child, Tessa?” I asked again, accentuating every word.
• Her eyes finally met mine but they were cold and distant. “I never said it was your business, Sorren. We got married because we were forced to, not because we wanted to. Don’t mistake that for something more and think I owe you any explanations, especially after I caught you locking lips with your girlfriend!" She snapped, breathing heavily.
• The blow landed harder than I expected. I knew that this marriage wasn't built on love. It was more out of obligation to our families, but even so, we were in this together, weren’t we? I don't know what she saw during the reception, but to this lowly of me? To think I would behave like my asshole brother? To think I will cheat on her when all I've wanted was to make her mine?
• I try to keep my voice from shaking. “So what, then? This marriage is just an obligation to you? Just something you did because it was expected?”
• She sighed, rubbing her temples like she was tired of the whole conversation and my presence as well and it hurts. It fucking hurts. “Yes, Sorren. That’s exactly what it is. It’s about doing what our families require of us.”
• No. It wasn't for me. It was more than that. Wasn't it obvious to her that I have been in love with her for years? That she was the reason why Lisa and I broke up? That one look at her and every woman suddenly became a scarecrow to me. That she owned every part of my being and seeing her with Abel drove me fucking crazy?
• I took a deep breath. "Lisa is an ex-girlfriend. We broke up years ago,"
• "For an ex-girlfriend, you two seem very much cosy together," she claps back almost immediately.
• Her words cut deeper than I wanted to admit and I could feel the ache building continuously in my chest. “I want our marriage to work Tessa,"
• Her eyes flashed for a moment with a flicker of something unguarded, but she quickly masked it. “I want this marriage to work, Sorren. I have lost a part of me and making this marriage work is the key to getting that part of me back. So, please, for the love of everything you hold dear to heart, don't mistake that for something else and stay the hell away from my business," Tessa claps back coldly, seizing her phone from my hand and striding past me.
• I felt like the ground had been ripped out from under me. I had known going into this marriage that Tessa still has feelings for Abel, but hearing it now, hearing her deny me this part of her life, it was cold and spiteful and different from the woman I had at the altar.
• “Damn it, Tessa!” I curse but she didn’t flinch at the noise, her expression unchanging. I go to speak but her phone rings, stopping me. She stares at it intensely, a fire of jealousy ignites in me thinking it was Abel calling her again.
• Before she could react, I seized the phone from her hand. Denis's voice came through the other end like a raging lunatic girlfriend.
• "You shameless bitch! Why are you in a hotel room with my husband? Have you no dignity you bitch! First, you cheat on him with a bastard you don't know and now you're cheating on your husband barely hours after your wedding with my husband. I am warning you Tessa, don't mess with my husband. Abel is mine and mine alone," it wasn't Denis's angry voice that made me gasp. It was the information she had spilled, clarifying a lot of things. Like why my wife had disappeared out of the blue.
• "If you don't want your husband fooling around, put a leash on him, Denis and keep him away from my wife!" I fire back angrily before hitting the power button and throwing the phone on the bed.
• I turned to Tessa who kept a disinterested face. "You cheated on Abel and because of that, he married your sister instead?
• "Like I said, Sorren, it's none of your goddamn business!"