Falling For My Contract Husband

My in-laws' house

Sabelo asks one of the maids to show me his room. He needed to fetch something from the venue. She introduces herself as Rosemary and she asks me to follow her. We head to the second floor and she stops at one of the doors in a long hallway. I thanked her and let myself in. The room looks beautiful but masculine. Everything is either blue or black. He must like blue, because his office has dark blue walls, chairs and a couch. I saw a blue nightdress on top of the bed. Definitely his favourite colour. I took it and headed to the en-suite. It looks completely different. It's like 2 different people decorated here, like in his office space. Here the walls and tiles are white. Glossy white. Even the cabinets are white. There's a big white tub, a shower with tiny white tiles. Both the tub and shower cubicles look big. Big enough for 2 or 3 people.

The wedding gown doesn't give me a problem. I'm able to take it off by myself. I take a bath. For the third time today. I'm in and out of the bath in 20 minutes. I realised as I finished the bathtub that I should've taken a shower. When I walked back into the bedroom, Sabelo was still not there. I didn't know which side I was supposed to sleep on, so I chose the one closest to the bathroom. I drink a lot of tea during the day, so I have to constantly use the bathroom. I must have closed my eyes for 2 seconds when someone roughly shook me. It's Sabelo.

"You're not sleeping on my bed." He shows me a duvet cover and 2 thick blankets. I'm too tired and upset to talk. I don't want to end up crying, especially in front of Sabelo. I take the blankets, lay them on the floor. I take one of the pillows and cover and I sleep on the floor.

When I open my eyes, the whole room is bright. And without looking at the watch, I knew it was late. I let out a choking scream when I saw the time. It's 12:18. I try to count the hours I've slept. I stop at 10 hours. I've been sleeping for over 10 hours. I'm still exhausted but I woke up. I fold the blankets and the duvet cover and put them in the closet as soon as I locate it. I took a long bath. I heard this helps especially when exhausted. It helps a little. I do the walk of shame downstairs. I found everyone at the dining table. It's lunch time and I just woke up. I looked at Sabelo sitting down looking all fresh like he hadn't gone to bed late. He smiles and opens a chair for me. I thanked him and greeted everyone once I'd taken a seat. No one says a word about me waking up at noon. My mother and grandmother would faint if they got wind of this. After a delicious meal, my mother-in-law told me to go back to bed. I'm still exhausted. I don't even try to argue. I excuse myself and head upstairs. This time I slept on the couch, taking the thrower and pillow from the closet. Much to my embarrassment, I slept the whole afternoon. I wash my face and brush my teeth before heading down for dinner. I find everyone here, including Mlungisi, who looks as tired as I am. While Sabelo looks fresh. But apparently, businessmen don't sleep for 8 hours like us, the poor folks. My stomach grumbles when I smell something delicious.

"Please try to hurry Miranda." My mother-in-law calls from the table. This embarrasses me.

"You don't have to be embarrassed." She tells me in a soothing voice. I gave her an awkward smile. After another delicious meal, my mother-in-law told me to go to bed. Sabelo joins me this time. I go change in the bathroom. Tonight I decided to sleep on the couch. And I noticed that Sabelo was already in bed and the clothes he was wearing were on the floor. I pick them, fold them and put them in the laundry basket and I get under the covers. But sleep doesn't come easy like this afternoon. I guess I overslept. I toss and turn for some time.

"Be still, Simingaye," Sabelo commanded from the bed. And like the submissive wife I know I'm not. I do as he says.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but this time I opened my eyes at 6am. According to the contract, I have to be on the breakfast table by 7am. It's a family tradition to eat breakfast and supper when they are together. I'm taking a shower when Sabelo walks in and tells me to hurry he needs to use the shower. I turn off the tap and grab a towel to dry off. He gets in as soon as I'm out. I look for something to wear on my side of the closet. I decided to wear a white knee-length dress with green headwrap and green pumps. I waited for Sabelo so we could head to the breakfast table together. When he's done, I follow him. The maid starts serving breakfast as soon as we are done.

"I have an important call to make in the next hour," Sabelo announced during breakfast. This means I shouldn't disturb him even if I'm dying. Part of the rules. Meaning his business is more important than my life. Some guys we marry for money.

"I'll keep Simi company. I was hoping you'd take some time off." His mom tells him, sounding disappointed.

"You know I can't do that at the moment mom. I'll take some time off when we go on our honeymoon." He tells her, kisses her forehead. As if as an afterthought, he kissed mine too.

"You have a wife now, Sabelo. You should kiss her forehead first, not mine." His mom reprimands in a soft tone. Sabelo doesn't say anything, he just heads upstairs.

"I'll take these." I started tidying up.

"You don't have to do this," Mlungisi tells me.

"I know but I want to," I told him. My mother-in-law helps me. She offers to dry the dishes if I wash them. We headed to the state of the art kitchen with a glass white cabinet with pure gold handles, a granite top with stainless steel appliances. It looks like something out of a magazine. After washing the dishes, we move to the sitting room. This house is beautiful, every room seems more beautiful than the others.