It is so rare for him to call me, and in those rare occasions, it's always because he is forced to do so because he either wants or needs something or, needs me to do something for him.
I went into his office and got the documents he was referring to. I then went back to my room to change and deliver it to him.
All throughout this marriage, I tried my best to understand him, his anger and his need for revenge. I even agreed to his stupid conditions and be mum about everything as I don't want to cause any trouble either to him or his family, or even to my own family. I decided that I will suffer and atone for whatever sin my family has committed to his.
I tried everything I can to show him and make him see that I actually care about him, that's it's not just for show and family duty that I agreed to this marriage, but he would always shut me out and built high walls around himself. Even in his most vulnerable state, when he gets sick, he never lets his guard down around me at all.
It was already 12: 30 PM when I reached his office downtown. The receptionist who has been working for them for quite some time now is already familiar with me despite me having almost zero presence in his life at work. She let me in with a smile. I know that his office is on the 7th floor of this building, I've been to this building a few times before but he has never shown me his working space at all, so this would be the first, the idea put smile to my face as the thought of seeing him in his element excited me. When I went out of the elevator it was the table of his younger secretary and assistant that will greet you. But the desk was empty, his secretary wasn't there.
'He must be on his lunch,' I thought. As I walked closer to the desk which was beside the entrance to my husband's office door, I saw something familiar sitting atop his secretary's swivel chair. It was the bento I made for my husband, sitting there, opened and half eaten.
"What the hell," I muttered.
I wondered why it was there but forced the thought at the back of my mind, I am not here to investigate.
'It's nothing. It might just be the same container with the same contents, maybe his wife or girlfriend prepared it for him earlier this morning, too,' I tried to tell myself.
I knocked on the glass door to my husband's office but nobody answered.
"I'm coming in," I said and barged into his office, it was unlocked, the lights were off and my husband was not there. I looked around, there was nothing special about it, just the typical office of a young CEO. Minimalistic design, hardly any color other than white, black or grey, and no pictures at all, not on his walls or even his table, just paintings.
'What am I expecting?' I asked. I took a deep sigh and dropped the documents he asked for on his table with a loud thud.
And then a thought entered her mind. I was still quite bothered by the bento I saw outside. I opened Picturegram on my phone and searched for his secretary's profile page. I immediately found it, it was a public account and it was filled with pictures of him and his dog and pictures of bentos handmade by his "girlfriend". As I skimmed through his profile page, I learned that those bentos were the very same ones I made for my husband every day for work. I felt my heart ripping in two at the moment, I could not take it.
"If you don't want it, please have the decency to tell that to my face!" I yelled at my husband's empty chair. "You coward!"
In the meantime, the secretary is now making his way back from the comfort room after removing and washing the ketchup stain off his tie. On the rare occasions that his boss was not around, he would secretly eat the food from the bentos that was given to him at his work station. He's been living alone for the last three years and he is not good with cooking, preparing breakfast for himself every morning is quite a drag so sometimes he goes to work without having to take one, or sometimes he takes it while making his way to work. Just as he was about to reach his desk, he saw a woman come out of his boss office, this alarmed him but upon recognizing who she was, he greeted her with a smile.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Sugimoto."
"Hello," I said with a smile. "There's no need to be so formal with me. I hope you don't mind me sneaking into my husband's office to drop the documents he was asking for."
"Not at all, thank you so much for bringing them. Boss needs it later. He's currently out having lunch with the CEO of CK Group," he said with a smile.
"Of course. Are you married?" I asked his secretary curiously.
"Pardon?" he asked me, confused.
"I was asking if you have settled down yourself?" she repeated.
"Ah. No, ma'am," he answered.
"Then, are you in a romantic relationship with anyone at the moment?" I asked.
I can see that he was uncomfortable with the question but I needed to know.
"As it happens, I have been single for quite a while now. I only have nothing but work as my main focus right now, serving your husband in his work," he said it like I was conducting a job interview on him.
"Thank you, for always supporting him," I said. "The documents are on his table. I'll see you around, Secretary Fujiwara," with that I left with a heavy heart.
"Be careful on your way back," Secretary Fujiwara said. He then went back to his chair, got the bentos out and went back to eating it, after all, his boss will not be back in 15 more minutes.
'So my husband is not eating the food that I make him almost every day to work, huh?' she scoffed to herself. 'And his secretary eats him on his behalf, a single man, who boasts about the lunch boxes I made on his Picturegram account tagging them as the handmade lunch boxes by his "girlfriend".
"Damn you! I even learned how to cook for you and always make sure to give you the best piece," she said fighting the tears back as she went inside the empty elevator.
The next morning I cooked him breakfast like usual, like what any obedient and caring wife would do. I was undecided whether to prepare him bentos or not, but ultimately decided to prepare him one, only this time it contained only rice, no viand. We carried on with our usual routine, the husband gave it to his secretary who was dismayed to see that it was only rice, he nevertheless took a photo of it and it became the most commented photo in his account, his friends started teasing him about it. Secretary Fujiwara lied that he and his girlfriend were in a fight, hence this.
That night, I waited for him to come home in the living room before retreating back to my room. I did something that I've never done before. I asked my husband how the food I made for him for lunch was.
He replied dryly that, "It was okay, I guess".
I flashed him the biggest and fakest smile I could muster, and replied, "I'm so happy then."
That night I cried my eyes out some more and asked myself when I'll stop allowing myself to get hurt like this. I have always had the urge to go back home and just call this marriage off, tell my parents about how I'm suffering in the hands of the person I love and married, but I could never do it. However, tonight, that desire has just doubled.
The next day I slept in for the first time and woke up late at around 8 AM. I could not care less what he thinks of me now, he can prepare his own breakfast and lunch from now on, we're having takeout for dinner, too. I wanted to go home to my parents for the day but my eyes were still puffy from crying last night.
"You just watch out, Ryo. Things are about to change around here," I said it but it was addressed more to myself than to my good-for-nothing husband.
***