The Unwanted Marriage

Chapter 11: Misunderstood

Aimee’s POV

‘Until when will you endure this?’ Clinton’s voice keeps echoing in my mind while my eyes are pierced to my husband, staring back at me. Beside him is a girl I am familiar with. I saw her a couple of times during social gatherings but we never cross paths. My eyes drop on her hand, hooking to my husband’s arm.

“Oops,” she mouthed. I couldn’t hear her clearly since she’s meters away from me. But based on her expression, she is far from being sorry. Her hands, instead of slipping out from my husband, clutches even more. My chest tightens and my hands started to shiver. I took a deep breath and places my hands on my back before I curled my palms into a ball. I can feel my nails dig into my palm. I let them go before I can draw my own blood.

Clyver’s eyes are all in me. The surprised expression is plastered on his face while the girl beside him is smiling at me—as if I didn’t notice the red lipstick on my husband’s collar which is obviously from her. Without thinking clearly, I walk towards them in a calm manner. None of them moves from their place and let me get near them. It’s a totally wrong move from them. The moment I reach their place, I raised my hand up in the air. Clyver’s attempt to stop it fails. My palm landed on her left cheek, leaving a red satisfying mark from my hand.

“What the—”

I didn’t let her finish and let my other hand do the same. Another slap on her right cheek and she threw a glare on me. Clyver stands between us. I clasped my hands to stop them from quivering. I held my chin up high and straightened my back while displaying a strong façade in front of them.

“Aimee, stop. We should talk about this in our house.” Clyver tried to reach for my hand. I let him hold my wrist but my eyes are glued to his girl of the day.

“We could have talked about everything if you didn’t leave the house to seek pleasure from someone else,” I answered without removing my eyes from the girl.

“Ha! Then maybe you don’t please him enough so he’s looking for other wom—”

“Enough, Erica!” Clyver’s voice thundered. He faced the girl named Erica and she move a step back. Fortunately, I am too numb to feel nor hear his frustration; he didn’t scare nor make me flinch. I gently remove Clyver’s hands from mine. I easily caught his attention. He tried to have a grasp of me but I don’t think I will let myself be held again by someone who touches anyone and almost everyone who wears bras and panties.

“Cheap products are most probably to entice consumers. A man is a rational being. Hence, if he is driven by his emotions and his lustful desires, then he is no man. And a woman who attracts those kinds of beings are considered cheap… a low grade, and most likely…” I eyed her from head to toe, scrutinizing her through the bones.” … a giveaway.”

Her jaw gritted and her chest started rising up and down. “What did you say?!” She was about to reach for me to pull my hair but, Clyver caught her hands to stop her. “Let me go, Cly! Who is she to tell me I’m cheap when she’s the one who married you for money? F*cking hypocrite b*tch!”

I don’t want to waste my time arguing with her. So rather than talking back, I turn my back instead. Clyver called me but I didn’t stop and pretend I didn’t hear him.

“I told you to stop, Erica! You’re pissing me off!”

“She was the one who slapped me, Cly!”

Their voices faded as I walked away from where they are. Every step I take feels heavy, and my heart is knocking through my ribcage in a slow yet hard manner. I place my palm on my chest and gently massage them. I heard a footstep approaching so I composes myself and fixed my stance.

“Aimee!” he called. I didn’t turn to face him and I have no plans of stopping. He catches up to me and caught my wrist, forcing me to face him.

“What is it, Cly?” I sarcastically answered, mocking how his girls call him. I peek behind him, searching for his girl. “She didn’t chase you?” I shot a brow up.

“Aimee, not in front of my parents,” he said, almost pleadingly.

I hissed. “Your audacity is beyond unbelievable.” I harshly remove his hold and jog towards the mansion.

He didn’t try to chase after me. I wipe the tear that escaped from my eye before entering the mansion. A pair of eyes welcomed me. I stopped in my step when Mrs. Finnson see me. I smiled at her, hiding what I truly feel by sniffing.

“I had some fresh air from the outside, m-mom,” I explained. The old lady doesn’t believe my obvious lie but she smiled back at me.

“Thank you, Aimee.” I was caught off guard by what she said. I don’t know what she is grateful for but the unexplainable sudden heaviness of my heart made me feel discomfort.

“For what, mom?”

“For staying with him.” My forced smile slowly vanished on my face. I am aware she wanted our marriage to work and it is not a secret to me that she knows what Clyver is doing. I couldn’t explain what I feel from what she said. It sounds like a manipulation for me. Once again, I forced a smile before letting her face my back.

I went straight to my room and shut the door. I heard a car engine rushing towards the front gate. In no doubt, it’s Clyver. It’s ironic how I already memorized the sounds of his car and his footstep, but I still didn’t learn about his behavior. Indeed, no matter how good of a wife you are, if he doesn’t want to be a husband to you, he won’t exert any effort to be part of your life. I thought three months were too short to give up in this marriage. But now I realize it has been three months full of disrespect.

“CLYVER!”

My brows furrowed and I turn my gaze to the currently closed door when I heard Mr. Finnson’s voice doomed from calling his son. I slowly opened the door and went near the stairs to hear what they are arguing about.

“Where have you been? Your wife was looking for you!” Mr. Finnson continued.

“I only went out to—”

“To what? To entertain a harlot?!” I craned my neck to take a peek at what’s going on downstairs. Clyver is standing in front of his parents. He looked annoyed listening to his father’s sermon. “Until when will you act like this?! Building a family is the only thing you can be proud of, but here you are! Continuously messing it up!”

“If you know I’ll act this way, then you should have let her marry Clinton. That’s the original plan, right?!” Clyver’s voice slightly raised. My hand flew on my mouth when I saw Mr. Finnson’s fist land at Clyver’s jaw. He was a bit startled but he managed to face his father with a smirk flashed on his lips. “Not because I’m your second son, you will treat me as the second option when your firstborn refused to obey your original plan!”

This time, Mr. Finnson’s face was grim. “I never treated you like that! You are the one perceiving yourself as the second. I’m doing this for you!”

“NO, YOU’RE NOT!” I took a step backward upon hearing Clyver’s breakdown. He’s always annoyed by the presence of his father but I never saw him raise his voice to him. In my view, I can clearly see his chest rising up and down. When he calmed a bit, he continued. “You’re doing this for yourself! You don’t want others to talk about your second son being a failure so you keep painting me as someone that I’m not.”

He turns his back to his parents. Mrs. Finnson tried to run after him but her husband stopped him. “He's old enough. Let him. We didn’t raise him like that. It was his decision to be the kind of man he is today.” I heard him utter in a low and furious voice.

“Welcome to the family.” I flinch as the warm breath of someone crushed at the back of my neck.

I faced him. “Clinton—” I almost fell to my feet when I saw him a few inches away from me, making my eyes crossed. Fortunately, his swift enough to catch me by his arm.

“Careful,” he whispered in my ear. I can smell his luxurious perfume, sticking into his nice suit.

I heard the sound of someone’s steps taking the stairs. It was too late when I realize my position with Clinton.

“What are you two doing here?”

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Unedited. Expect typo, spelling, and grammatical errors.

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The Unwanted Marriage

by: Joanne Cristel

©2021

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