Chapter 16 #2
"It's fine, Kara," I say, feeling completely dead inside. "Whatever the faults of my husband, I don't blame you for them. I appreciate you telling me that, and I can only hope that's the case."
"I promise you, Mrs. Akari, it is the case," Kara says.
"Of course," I say.
What I really wanna say is, Are you sure you weren't flirting with him?
But I don't know. I don't trust anyone, especially not a woman like this.
Women have a habit of smiling in your face and driving a blade straight through your back when you least expect it.
My husband is also very calculating, and I don't know.
Maybe he's not a liar, but he definitely isn't forthcoming.
And if this does turn out to be one of those situations where he's attracted to this woman, and that's why he chose her...
well, no woman is going to stay away from Daniel long enough.
Maybe out of principle they might know the right thing to do, but his wiles, his charm, his good looks, everybody falls to the wayside at some point.
So, no, I don't trust her. She can't even trust herself around my husband. I know she can't.
Suddenly, the garage door sounds.
My heart beats faster because, for all that is holy, and as much as I am angry, and as much as I am grieving and distressed over missing Daniel, I still love him.
I'm disappointed in him, absolutely gutted by his reaction and the way he treats me, but he is still my husband.
It's really hard to fall out of love with someone that you've loved for so long, even though it's clear they obviously don't feel about you the way you do about them.
I wish I could just turn my feelings off.
When he comes through the door, he's already dressed really nice in his formalwear.
"Good evening, Kara," he says, nodding and smiling warmly at her.
"Mr. Akari," Kara replies politely.
"Melody," he says, his tone instantly becoming stilted as he turns his eyes to me. He walks toward me, standing tall over me, and leans down to kiss me on my cheek very slowly.
"You look very nice," he says. He looks over at Kara, and she smiles and then looks at me as if proud of her handiwork.
"We're getting ready to leave in fifteen minutes," Daniel adds.
"Okay," I say, with absolutely no emotion.
"Kara, are you gonna stay?" he asks.
"Yes, sir. I'll stay the weekend," Kara replies.
Really? She's staying the weekend? What the fuck?
As we're doing the finishing touches on stuff, my makeup and whatever, my blue hair is glistening and feeling shinier than ever. I put a lot of effort into it. But as I look over toward the hallway, I happen to notice Daniel staring at Kara as she walks by. He is looking right at her ass.
The look on his face... he didn't realize I was looking at him, but it was lust. Pure, unadulterated lust. It was that stupid thing that men do, like when you smell something good and your eyes kinda fight to close for a second, like you're fighting to keep them open. He looked like he wanted her so bad.
Did he already have her? Everything I wanna ask, everything I have misgivings about, it's like I can't talk to him, and I can't talk to anyone.
The next thing I know, we are in the car being driven to the gala. Daniel looks over at me. I can tell from the left periphery of my face that he is just staring at me.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Are you gonna set your face like that the entire time for the event?" Daniel asks.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean," I tell him, sounding monotonous and purposely robotic.
"If you're going there with me as my wife and you're gonna represent me, I need you to fix your face," he says flatly. "I don't care if you hate me, but you need to act the part."
"Or else what?" I say to him, finally turning to look right at him.
I feel as if all my life has completely drained from me.
He just blinks at me. He swallows hard and then sets his jaw. Then, he puts a hand over my wrist delicately and starts to caress my skin softly.
"I'm sorry, Melody," he says quietly. "Things have just been so stressful lately, and I didn't mean to upset you. This is all very foreign to me, having to know how to deal with this and navigate everything else at once."
"How sad for you," I say.
Daniel sighs and looks away for a second, trying to change the subject.
"Tonight is a charity gala for the pediatric wing at the hospital," he says, turning back to me. "It's going to be a lovely evening. There are a lot of high-profile donors and important people you’ll get to meet, and you can finally get a front-row seat into what I actually do for work."
I just sit there. I feel like his words are echoing through one ear and flying straight out through the other.
"I'll play the part. I'll be your smiley little doll," I tell him.
"Good. Thank you. I appreciate that," he says, still looking at me for a beat before he turns to look out the window.
I look over at him, and then my eyes drift down to his lap. In times gone by, I would have reached over right now and started sucking his dick, trying to beat the time before we reached our destination. But now, I'm just afraid of touching him.
Not like it would even matter anyway. Now that I know what I know about him, that he goes to these porn sites and jerks off to these women he pays thousands of dollars to, maybe he doesn't even need me anymore. And that is yet another layer of hurt on top of what I'm already drowning under.
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