Chapter 22 - Feliks
A few days had passed since the incident. I was currently sitting in my office trying to focus on work. I found myself scrolling through files without being able to do anything reasonable. My thoughts were scattered.
I hadn’t been able to do anything productive since the incident. I scrolled through the documents a few more times before finally giving up.
I could not focus.
I closed the file and pushed it to a corner, then leaned backward, resting against the chair as I began to rub my temple with my hand. Everything that happened still bothered me a little too much. I didn’t know what it was all about, but I knew I was bothered.
I’d never thought that Jenna and I would get to this point, but well, we had.
I kept rubbing my temple while my thoughts traveled through my head. I couldn’t understand why Jenna would cheat on me.
A soft knock on my door interrupted my thoughts. I sat up and looked toward the door. “Please, come in.”
The door gently swung open, and the older housekeeper walked into my home office. I rolled my eyes. She was the oldest among all the housekeepers and had been with the family for a very long time.
I didn’t like her so much when I was growing up. She’d always spank my ass and order me to sit still.
She counted her steps carefully as she let herself in. I noticed that she didn’t shut the door after she walked in. She had a companion. A younger housekeeper held a tray and walked in after she did.
The younger one bowed in front of me before setting a glass on my table and left again.
The older housekeeper didn’t leave with her. She was still standing in front of me. I was about to grab the juice when I noticed that she was still standing there. I looked up to her with a slight frown.
She cleared her throat. “Are you not going to offer me a seat?” she asked me. “You weren’t thought that elders were meant to stand, were you?”
She pulled out a seat and sat on it without waiting for me to invite her.
I sighed deeply. “You already offered yourself a seat,” I said.
My voice was low. I was tired, and I was very sure that I would not be interested in chit-chat or whatever she wanted to do.
“Can we have this discussion some other time?” I asked her.
She chuckled lightly. “When there is a death, would there be a solution?”
I shook my head. It was frustrating whenever she began to speak in parables. I leaned backward again. I decided to let her say whatever she wanted to say while I pretended to listen. I decided not to mind the glass of juice in front of me anymore.
She adjusted carefully to where she sat and faced me after she was done. “Feliks,” she called while staring into my eyes.
I blinked and looked away from her, tilting my eyes to another corner.
The old lady was close to me, but at this point, I didn’t want to entertain her—or anyone else. She’d been a mother to me while I was growing up, so she was closer to me than anyone else. Although she punished me sometimes, disciplined me, I still didn’t hate her.
“I am very sure of the fact that you are aware that your wife is pregnant,” the old lady said. She spoke slowly and carefully.
I didn’t see any reason why she should bring up my wife. It wasn’t necessary at that point because I was still mad at her.
“I do not know why you haven’t been close to her lately,” the old lady continued. She seemed not to notice that I wasn’t interested in the conversation. I didn’t want to talk about Jenna at this point.
“Whatever is going on between you two is not good for her condition. You must sort it out.”
I sighed deeply. I should just lie to get out of this trouble.
“There’s nothing much going on between Jenna and me. We are cool. I have just been swamped with work. I do go to her when I’m free.”
The old lady chuckled. “If you’d been going to Jenna as you claim, then she wouldn’t be in the condition she is right now.”
I gulped down hard on my saliva. I wondered what must have happened to her and what condition the old lady was talking about. I hadn’t seen her after what happened.
“What do you mean?” I asked the old lady.
“This is unhealthy for the poor, innocent child.”
I quickly sat up, my eyes and mouth opening a bit wider than normal. My heartbeat sped up, and I was suddenly interested in the conversation.
“What is Jenna doing to our child?” My voice was loud enough for the old lady to hear, but it wasn’t a question for her to give answers to. It was rhetorical.
The old lady cleared her throat before she spoke again. “Jenna has not eaten much in the past few days. She will grow weak if she continues like this.”
I gulped again. I could no longer count the times I’d done that in one day.
“I want you to talk to Jenna and try to fix things with her.”
I bowed my head slightly.
She continued. “She eats very little and cries too much. I am pretty sure she hasn’t been sleeping either. I walked in on her crying the other night. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone. Not even me. I don’t know what the issue may be. I am going to emphasize that you fix it.”
“I don’t know how... but I didn’t know about any of this.”
The old lady got to her feet. My eyes traced every single move she made. Her soft facial expression had hardened a little. “I thought as much.” Her tone got a little higher and stern. “You think you can fool me with the cheap lies you told?”
I shook my head. She was so short, only a few inches taller than the large table between us. I would’ve preferred that she was seated—at least the chair was high enough to lift her a little. I could not see her from shoulder downwards unless I stretched my neck.
“You are both far too nonchalant about the health of the innocent baby. Don’t you care about your child?”
I placed my finger above my lips and scratched that part briefly.
The old housekeeper wasn’t going to give me a break. “The condition she is in could lead to a miscarriage or a weak baby. Worse, she could give birth, and God forbid, the baby and mother may not even survive it. What’s worse than that? Giving birth to a dead child?”
She was practically shouting as she came around the table, shaking her finger in my face. I understood the point she was trying to make, though. It was my fault. Although Jenna cheated on me, if I was careful enough, I would’ve noticed and could’ve done something about it.
You should take charge and not let whatever issues you are having with your wife cost you more than you can bear!” She let go of my ear and inhaled deeply. “Fix this!”
I wondered how she was able to keep such strength. The force she applied when she pulled my ear didn’t feel like it was from an old lady. I wondered why she wasn’t scared of me, even now that I was a grown man.
She walked away—after scolding me some more.
I scoffed immediately after she slammed the door behind her, but a small smile appeared on my lips—a smile of amusement at how the old lady maintained her stern and strict self, even toward the big, bad guy. She wasn’t scared of me one bit, and it showed in everything she’d displayed here earlier.
However, my smile slowly disappeared. I was a fool. How the fuck did I not notice Jenna’s condition? I was in the same mansion, and my wife was going through all this with my unborn child in her womb, and I hadn’t even noticed.
I sighed deeply. I was such a bad father. The child hadn’t even been born yet, and I was already a bad father.
I stood and began to pace the room, tapping my mouth with my finger. I was even more stressed now; I didn’t care so much about Jenna—I was more concerned about my unborn child. I wanted a healthy child, and that couldn’t happen if Jenna had a miscarriage.
While I paced the room, I felt strands of sweat dripping down my forehead. They had been there before the old lady left, but I hadn’t noticed them, or I just didn’t pay attention.
I wondered what Jenna was so sad about that gave her sleepless nights. Was it about the baby? Or because she’d been caught, and she would not be able to see her secret lover anymore?
I folded my fist and clenched my jaw. My blood began to pump faster. I wondered what kind of connection she had with that guy. I couldn’t stop asking myself why she’d to choose him to cheat with.
I wondered if he was the one she talked to on the phone and giggled. Was it a lie that she was talking to her friend Violet? Had it been this guy all along?
I decided to read her messages. I knew they would make me even more angry, but I still decided to do so. I could find answers to the questions that lingered in my heart.
However, I knew that once I confirmed this fact, it would hurt me even more and increase the hatred I had for Jenna. Even so, I decided it was worth the risk. If I could not kill Jenna after she gave birth, I would make life a living hell for her.
She’d regret that I didn’t kill her. I would send her to a Bratva prison cell. I would tell her child that his mother was dead since I wouldn’t want her in my life after her baby was born.
I hissed as I walked back to my table. I pulled out the drawer where I’d stashed Jenna’s phone and grabbed it. I held the phone and stared at it until my vision blurred out. My heart beat even faster, and my fingers trembled.
I shut my eyes tightly and shook my head. It was better to know the truth than to be in the dark.
I unlocked the phone and began to scroll through her messages.
There were bundles of messages from her female friends. I ignored them as I scrolled through. I could not locate the number easily. I knew I would search the whole day if I kept scrolling, so I typed and searched Leo’s name.
I found it.
“Here is the bastard!” I cursed as I tapped on Leo’s message.
I wished I’d punched him harder back there .
I gulped and took a step backward as I opened the message. My blood was pumping madly. I noticed the last message Jenna sent to him. I fixed my eyes on it. It caught my attention first, so I decided to focus on it.
I don’t want to talk to you or see you leave me alone .
My eyes widened as I read the message. I could not believe it. Had I accused Jenna wrongly? Had she been innocent all along?
I shook my head. I needed to know the truth. My fingers were now shaking even more. I paused for a while and inhaled deeply. I wanted to calm down before I continued reading.
I was really a bad person.
“This can’t be true... Right?” I shifted to another position.
I could not read the messages standing in one place.
I scrolled through the messages. I realized that Leo had been texting her long before then, begging for her attention, but she hadn’t replied to any of the messages. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my palm. I lifted my head. The AC was on full blast, and the room was cool.
I walked to my table and sat there. I knew this would take longer, and standing would not do.
I noticed from the messages he sent that she’d blocked his old number. I decided to search for Leo’s number. I found it in her archive. She’d truly blocked Leo’s real number. There were also a good number of messages from Leo that Jenna had ignored. She’d even blocked several other numbers he’d texted from after we got married. I noticed that from the date written there.
“I didn’t even try to learn the truth before acting foolishly.” I cursed myself for making a huge mistake.
I dropped the phone on the table and dug my hands into my hair. I shoved my hair backward and sighed, devastated. I wondered what Jenna thought of me now. What if I’d killed her before realizing the truth? I would not just have ended the life of an innocent child, but that of his innocent mother, too.
I gulped again.
I grabbed her phone again. I wanted to know who she’d been chatting and talking with, which made her smile. I wanted to see if it was indeed her best friend, Violet.
I typed and searched Violet. It brought out a few messages where the name was mentioned. I tapped on one of the messages. The number was saved as ‘V- my love.”
I slapped my forehead. How could I be so dumb?
I scrolled through the long chat, picking a few words here and there to read.
Sure, baby girl , read one of Violet’s messages to Jenna.
I almost choked. I was so shocked that my eyes and mouth were now opened widely. The revelation was something I never expected. How the fuck was this even true?
“This isn’t a dream, Feliks. It is really happening. “
Girls and their drama. I saw a few messages that almost made me chuckle, but I was too tense to do that.
I am sure you are having fun now since you got married and left me alone in the single world.
Go and find your husband, girlie.
They exchanged a few emojis and all that. There were some stickers, too. I scrolled to the last message. It had been sent the same day I’d tracked Jenna to the hospital.
Sure, love.
The message had really been meant for Violet; she’d texted it to Violet a minute after sending it to me.
I was so stupid! I’d gotten paranoid and violent for no reason.
I tapped the home button, then the phone app. I saw the time the hospital had called Jenna. It was about the same time she’d left the house, immediately after she sent Sure, love .
It was obvious that she hadn’t ignored me because of Leo. They never even talked about meeting up. I was now sweating even more. My palms had soaked Jenna’s phone with my sweat.
I realized that I would’ve ended the relationship I had with Jenna because of stupid anger issues I would have been able to control.
“So, she didn’t actually do anything wrong?” I asked myself. “Why didn’t I control my anger and hear from her first? Why did I act so rashly? Will she ever forgive me for this?”
I got to my feet immediately after that and dropped the phone back to the table. Where would I begin? Jenna had been innocent all along, and I’d made her go through pain for a week.
“I almost killed my wife,” I muttered. I tugged on my hair and exhaled loudly. “How could this happen? I could have trusted Jenna, but I didn’t. All of this is my fault. I am an idiot!”
Talking to myself wouldn’t help. It would not change anything. I kicked the chair hard, and it hit the wall with a great thud and fell over.
My foot vibrated with pain. I fell on my knees and groaned out as I dug further into my hair. I stared toward the phone again, and my heart sank.
A part of me felt good about the fact that she was innocent after all. I would’ve lost something so precious.
Thank goodness I decided to go through her phone.
I began to imagine everything that I wanted to do to Jenna. She was innocent. Imagine if I hadn’t realized this and had gone ahead with my plans.
I rose to my feet. I knew I’d made a grave mistake.
Could it be corrected?