Four and a half years ago, I had sworn that I never wanted to see this man's face again, but here I was now making dinner for him.
He was sitting at the table and chairs I had set in my kitchen as a dining set, while I was serving the meal I had prepared into plates.
I noticed him gazing at me with some kind of mischievous glint in his eyes as I placed the food in front of him.
"This tastes otherworldly" he moaned in delight and continued eating.
"I can't believe I never got the chance to taste your food before" I didn't answer him.
He was behaving differently from the person he was before I left him.
In comparison, the earlier Ace Romano I knew was cold, emotionless, and stoic, unlike this version in front of me who seemed cooler, warmer, soaked in his usual charm of course.
His calmness and unusual patience were just making me more anxious.
He never complimented me. Sometimes, I felt like I was invisible to him.
It wasn't fun having him here in the same room with me right now.
What was even more nerve-wracking was the fact that he wasn't saying anything about this. He was quiet as though nothing happened.
"What if he knows about Nora and wants to take her back?" a small voice whispered to me. I shook it off.
I wouldn't let him. He can't just waltz back in and steal my child away from me, over my dead body.
I noticed his eye shifting towards the door down the hall.
Though I locked it, my heart was still racing.
"That's the only locked door here. What's behind it?" My breath hitched, and my hands began trembling. That was Nora's room!
"I-It's a spare room" my voice shook as I spoke.
He eyed me skeptically.
"Do I make you nervous, love?" I heard him say from across the kitchen.
"No!" I replied and placed a glass cup and a jug of water on the table beside his plate.
He smirked and grabbed my wrist immediately.
He drew his finger tauntingly along my hand until he reached my pulse point and lightly pressed it.
"Then why is your heart beating so fast?"
Lost for words, I jerked my wrist out of his grip and returned to the cooking area to clean it... Actually to put space in between us. His being close to me right now made me feel weird and immature.
"Why are you here, Ace?"
"Is it a sin for a husband to come and visit his wife after not having seen her for a while?" I couldn't answer. He placed the glass he had drank from back on the table.
"Why are you here?" He retorted. "I don't remember ever breaking up with you"
I gulped.
"Or have you forgotten that our marriage is more than an agreement, it's a deal, a compensation in fact" he was becoming more forceful in tone.
"Your father couldn't pay all the money he took from us remember, and as compensation, he agreed to give us your hand in marriage while we canceled off all his debts". "We were kind enough to treat you well and with respect, we never insulted you, hit, or maltreated you in any way.
But you decided to run away and leave our reputation before the public in question as to what we did to make the daughter-in-law of the Romano family run away without a trace"
"You didn't leave me with a choice. I couldn't bear to stay in that house, being changed like a doll every day.
I wasn't allowed to continue my job or my career, nor was I allowed to move as freely as possible. I had turned to the toy that you could control, and I couldn't live like that"
"Why on earth would I allow you to work when I can give you more than your job could? And as my wife, you can't just move as you like, what if you get attacked?"
"Exactly what I mean! Being your wife comes with too many responsibilities and rules I can't live by.
Aside from that, neither you nor your family were ready to accept me. Is that the kind of family you expect me to spend the rest of my life in?"
He shifted in an annoyed manner.
"What do you mean by I didn't accept you, what did I not do as a husband?"
"Everything!" She snapped. "You didn't do anything a husband is supposed to do. I was just there in your life for the sake of being there"
"I gave you luxury, gave you a comfortable life..."
"That's all this means to you; money. What about security, companionship, trust, love, or even loyalty? Or do you think I didn't know that you were cheating?"
I think I saw shock cross over his lovely face for a moment, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared.
"Look, love..." He stood up and was moving towards me, but I held my hand out indicating for him to stop.
"Don't! You were cheating on me with your secretary, spending nights with her and claiming to have been working, going on supposed 'business trips' only to be in fancy hotels drinking wine, shoving your tongue down her throat, and what else"
My throat burned now as I recalled how I had seen them naked in bed together once. Tears were on the brink but I fought hard against them not to allow them to have their way.
"It wasn't deliberate, it was in a state of vulnerability"
"What? Do you want to tell me that the multiple lipstick stains, the hickies, and the thongs inside your suit pockets were mistakes? Mistakes committed repeatedly aren't mistakes, Ace"
He fell silent. My heart cracked at that moment.
I had honestly expected him to give me an explanation, that all the things I said weren't what happened, and to make me think that running away was wrong, pointless, and foolish.
But he didn't say anything, not even an apology.
I clenched my teeth, swallowing back a sob.
"I don't know how or why, but I loved you back then" I confessed. "And even though I knew that you didn't love me back, I tried my hardest to meet your expectations as a wife, being submissive and obedient, hoping that you would appreciate my efforts, but I was just being foolish" I sniffed.
"You want to know why I ran away and left the reputation of the Romano family in question before the public as to what they were doing to their daughter-in-law?
Well, you see, a week before I left, I wanted to surprise you with something I had personally made. Dumb ole me thought you would like it even if it was a teensy bit.
I took a 2-day flight just to see you, only to come and meet you naked in bed with your girlfriend"
I paused for a reaction but got even more annoyed seeing how calm and neutral he was. He didn't even look sober for what he did, he didn't value me enough to understand how much what he did hurt me.
"If you were in my shoes, would you have been able to stay under the same roof, pretending like you didn't just witness rejection by someone so dear to you?"
"I didn't reject you!" "Sleeping with another woman while you have a wife is outright rejection, Ace. You don't have to say it directly first" I yelled in anger mixed with grief. Why on earth was he making this harder?
I took a deep breath to calm myself.
I didn't like this, I didn't like how I was venting out to him, I was losing control of myself and it was all because of him.
"You chose to be with her over me, fine. That was your decision. I respected that and decided to give you space, so I left. Why can't you do the same now?"
He chuckled and took a step closer... and another... and another until he was towering over me like a giant to a rat.
He brought his hand to my face, took the strand of hair that fell across my face, and hooked it behind my ear in an arousing manner.
For some reason, I didn't have the strength to push him back. That action felt so... soothing.
"You want me to give you space and let you be? You mean like what you did?".
His lips twitched upward into a mischievous grin.
"I didn't tell you to give me space or let me be. I didn't want you to leave me and run away. You decided to do that all on your own. And as for giving you space and letting you be, I've been generous enough to have left you for these four years"
He cupped her cheek with one hand and rubbed her lips sensually with his thumb while staring at it lustfully.
"I've stayed too long without you, and now I want my wife back. I don't care what I'll have to do to achieve that, but I'm taking you back with me no matter what!" he promised and dipped his head down.
Before I could even finish processing all he was saying, his lips connected with mine.
So moist, so sweet, so perfect against mine.
He sucked on my upper lip, then on the lower one, nibbling on it as he did so.
Finally, he released it, leaving both of us in a state of breathlessness.
I was flushed, unable to say anything. The shock from seeing him again, recalling why I had to leave him, breaking down in front of him... kissing him...
I moved back instinctively.
"You need to leave" I demanded harshly.
A confused expression came over his face.
"Yes, you need to leave. One kiss isn't going to change my mind, Ace. I'm never coming back into your life and you have to accept that"
He grinned devilishly, making my treacherous heart behave like it had flown to the moon and back that very moment.
"Never say never, love!" he warned, and with that went to the door.
"Close the door on your way out" I added maintaining a stony face.
"I've warned you, love. I'm not going back without you. I'll do anything if it means that I'll get to have you back"
He smiled. "Goodnight, sweetheart!" he wished and closed the door.
I moved to the door and could hear him whistle. It kept receding as he walked further down the hallway.
I locked the door and fell to the ground with my back against the door.
This night had been filled with too much drama and had left me exhausted mentally.
I thought I had forgotten about him, but seeing him again after so long just aroused all my feelings again. Feelings I had buried just so I could live the life I was living now.
What I couldn't understand was why he wanted me back so much.
I'm not his type of girl. That woman he had been sleeping with was better suited for him than I was, so why was he even wasting his time?