Living with My Ruthless Ex-Husband (ENGLISH)

CHAPTER 5

GARRIE

I WAS woken up by the sound of the loud banging of the keyboards. I slowly opened my eyes to see what was going on. I lifted my head and leaned both of my elbows on the bed to support my body before I turned my face to where the sound was coming from.

I saw Lucas sitting on the couch in front of his laptop. He kept on smashing the keyboard that created a sound, loud enough to wake me up from my sleep. He lifted his gaze from the monitor then looked at my direction. I almost burst into laughter when I saw him frowning while looking at me. From the look of it, I thought he didn’t get any sleep last night. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s not used to sleeping on the couch. I reached for my phone that was over the bedside table and looked at the time. It was only 7:00 in the mo`rning.

“Good morning,” I teased him. He was obviously in the bad mood.

I suppressed my smile so he wouldn’t notice that I was enjoying his discomfort. I forgot what happened last night for a while. I decided not to be affected by that. We’re not together anymore. He could be with anyone he wanted to be.

“Don’t start with me, Garrie,” he said, still frowning while looking at me.

“What did I do?” I asked him innocently.

“You know what you did, Garrie,” he said grumpily.

“I’m not the one who insists that I should take the bed, remember?” I teased him even more.

I bit my lips to suppress my laugh when I saw the dark circles under his eyes. He clearly didn’t sleep a wink last night. There was a pack of cigarettes beside him, but I didn’t see any ashtrays or cigarettes butts around him. He saw me looking at his cigarettes, that’s why he quickly got it and put it in his jacket that was over the single couch beside him.

“Get up. “Let’s have some breakfast downstairs before I bring you home,” he said.

“Why don’t we just grab some breakfast along the way?” I asked him.

“‘Can’t wait to ditch me?” he said. He was clearly annoyed by what I suggested.

“It’s nothing like that, okay? I’m thinking that maybe you’re busy and we can save more time if we just grab food along the way,” I explained. “I don’t want to be more inconvenient to you. Besides, you don’t have to bring me home. I could just take a jeep or bus from here,” I insisted.

“We haven’t settled everything about our setup. We need to finish everything today before I bring you home so you can get your things,” he said ruggedly.

“Wait! No one says about leaving today.” I was confused.

“I already told you that I have a lot of things to do and that I need to go back to Manila as soon as possible.”

“No one asked you to wait for me.” I was also starting to get annoyed. I didn’t like him bossing me around like he used to.

“Garrie, will you please stop being stubborn and just do what I asked you to do?” He couldn’t help himself but shout because of frustration.

“Like what I did when we were still together? No, thanks,” I scowled at him. “I would rather stay here in the province than going back to the way I was before. Now, if you don’t want to stay here for a couple of days, it’s up to you. But I will be the one to decide when I’m going to leave this place.” I was out of breath when I finally finished talking.

He was dumbfounded by my sudden outburst. I knew he’s not expecting to hear that from me but he’s constant arrogance and bossiness reminded me of how I lived my life when we were still together.

“I just need to make sure that you will be coming with me. Nana Grace will arrive next week and I need to settle all my schedules before that because she requested our presence for the whole week. I need to finish all my work before she arrives,” he calmly explained.

“I will go with you, okay? I just need time to settle my things here and I need to let Inang Mercy know about it,” I said before letting out a loud sigh. “Those people have been nothing but good to me. I can’t just leave them without explaining everything. Besides, I still have a lot of pending pots to make. I need to finish that before I leave,” I explained.

“So, you make pots? ‘Didn’t know you have a talent in pottery.” His wry face was now gone and was replaced with a proud face.

I suddenly felt awkward. I was not used to him praising me. Of course, he didn’t know. He didn’t even pay attention to my likings when I was his wife.

“I-I’m going to take a shower now,” I said trying to avoid the topic.

I walked briskly to the bathroom and immediately locked it the moment I closed the door. I didn’t why I suddenly felt nervous with his praise and his gaze. He brought back unwanted memories by simply complimenting me. I let myself catch my breath for a while before taking a shower. I was about to take off my clothes when I suddenly remembered that I have nothing to wear. I didn’t have any plans on spending the night here so I didn’t bring anything with me.

I decided to wash my face instead and brush my teeth using the toothbrush that the hotel provided for the room. I checked myself in the mirror one last time before heading out of the bathroom. I walked past him and walked directly towards the table where my bag was.

“I thought you’re going to take a shower?” he asked me.

“I didn’t bring any clothes with me. I’ll just take a shower when I get home,” I answered without even looking at his direction.

“Look at the cabinet. There are some clothes for you there. Get it and take a shower,” he said without even lifting his head from his computer.

I looked at him with a frown. I was wondering if I heard him right.

Did I hear him right?

I walked towards the only cabinet that was in there and slowly opened it. There were a couple of clothes on top of the drawer divider that was neatly folded. I picked it up and checked it. There’s a pair of underwear, a shirt, and jeans. I looked at him confusedly before speaking.

“Where and when did you get it?” I curiously asked him.

“I had someone buy it. Stop asking too many questions and just take a shower. We’ll be leaving in an hour. We’re going to grab some food along the way like you said,” he said dismissing the topic.

I was planning to ask more questions but I decided to zip my mouth when I saw him glaring at me.

‘Okay, fine,’ I said to myself then I rolled my eyes at him. I brought the clothes inside the bathroom. I didn’t have any plans on displaying myself in front of my ex-husband.

***************

AFTER an hour, we left the hotel and headed our way back home. We stopped at a small cafeteria to have our breakfast. It wasn’t as luxurious as what he used to go to and eat but it was the most decent café around the area.

I ordered a Chicksilog, derived from the word Chicken, Sinangag, and Itlog. It’s a combination of fried chicken, fried rice, and egg. On the other hand, Lucas ordered Tapsilog, it’s a combination of fried Tapa—a cured beef meat similar to beef jerky—fried rice, and egg. Those were popular breakfast meals in the Philippines. He ordered two brewed coffees. He didn’t bother asking me what’s my coffee, but I guess he knew that I like my coffee black.

We started eating when he suddenly opened up the topic of our supposed setup when we go back to his house.

“As I said, I won’t be sharing a room with you,” I insisted.

“How can I explain to Nana why we are not sharing a bed?” he asked me.

“Well, it’s your idea. You should be the one to think about it,” I said, shrugging my shoulder.

“Fine! I’ll see what I can do. You can stay in my room, in that way at least Nana will still think that we are staying in the same room. I’ll just sleep in my office,” he said.

“That will do,” I was satisfied with his proposition.

We continued eating together, silently. He kept on checking his phone while eating like he always did. I always hate it when he kept on thinking about his job while eating.

“Your empire won’t collapse if you leave it for thirty minutes, you know,” I uttered without looking at him.

I could feel his gaze towards me as if he couldn’t believe what’s coming out of my mouth. I tried to ignore it but he didn’t stop staring at me. I decided to lift my head and look at him.

“What?” I asked him.

“What did you say?” he asked as if he was making sure if he heard me right.

“I said, stop looking at your phone and eat properly. Your company won’t lose money if you let it be for just thirty minutes to eat,” I bravely told him.

I always dreamed of saying this to his face the last time that we were still together but I was afraid that I might agitate him and wouldn’t like to hear my opinion. But now, I didn’t really care about what he thinks of me. These past three years, I learned that you won’t gain anything if you don’t speak for yourself.

He tried to open his mouth and was about to say something but he decided not to. He let out a loud sigh before placing his phone back in his pocket and continued eating without interruption. I somehow felt victory with that conversation.

There were a few moments that I would catch him giving me a glimpse but quickly shifted his gaze whenever I try to look at him.

“How’s the food?” I asked him trying to make a conversation with him.

I just realized that this was our first decent meal after the annulment.

“It’s surprisingly good,” he said while nodding his head.

“See? You can appreciate the food when you are paying even more attention to it.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” he said while looking directly at him.

I could sense something in his gaze. I suddenly felt uncomfortable. His intense gaze was sending thousands of volts throughout my body. It felt like we’re the only people in that area and that the world belongs to us. I couldn’t help but go back to the memories of how happy we were before. How we enjoyed a simple breakfast without thinking of anybody other than us. How we consistently tell each other how we love one another, and how we were looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together.

I felt a sudden pain in my heart whenever I thought about all those things and how hurtful the experience was. I hate it that he could do so much with me by just giving me an intense gaze. That was how he always affected me. I was unable to cope with his gaze that’s why I decided to nod my head down and look at my plate then continue eating my food.

I heard him let out a loud sigh before grabbing his utensils and continued eating his food.

“How have you been?” I heard him asked.

“I’m fine. I’m doing good with Inang Mercy’s shop. I learned a lot from her,” I answered without lifting my head.

I remained my gaze on my plate to avoid looking at his mesmerizing eyes.

“I see. Are you happy?” he asked.

I was stunned for a moment. I suddenly forgot how to answer his question.