Even though I was not a good cook, my mac and cheese earned me a lot of praise from whoever I had made it for. And not to mention, Viviana liked it the most.
As 'Pretty Woman' blasted through the speaker, I took out the bottle of wine and kept it in the tub of ice.
I knew that the first thing she would do after getting here was to open the bottle and drink straight from it telling me about the stories of Portuguese sitting on the floor.
I was very excited to see her after a month of being away from each other. She was the only person to whom I could open up about anything.
And that reminded me how I still had not told her anything about the events of last night.
Halfway through cooking, when the doorbell rang, I hurried out of the kitchen to open the door. She must be here already.
I passed by the living room as 'Pretty Woman' continued to play in the background, at the same time checking Aiden, who was fast asleep in his cradle.
But when I did open the door, the smile on my face dropped, seeing him on my porch, the last person on earth I expected in the evening.
All of a sudden, everything around me froze. I did not know what to do or what not to do. My body got static, eyes stuck on the man standing in front of me.
He did not take his eyes off of mine either. After seeing him in the very morning, here he was back again in the evening.
What did he want?
"Don't you invite your guests inside?"
He broke the silence between the two of us. Even before I could say something, he walked past me entering inside.
It made me turn around and follow after him. His eyes looked around, scanning the living room.
I stormed inside to turn off the speaker, tossing the remote. God knows where. I had not realized that he was looking at me.
"I was not the one expected."
He chuckled. Mentally, I asked why he was there.
"Wait...is it for Cole?"
He asked, narrowing his eyes, and that made me deny it right away, shaking my head negatively.
"No!"
"So it is true?"
"What is true?"
I implored, not knowing what he was talking about. He paused for a second before letting it out, making me skip a breath.
"That he has a mistress."
He could see in my eyes that I had not expected him to know about that piece of information.
But then I did not help my case either. Which wife would deny straightaway if she was expecting her husband?
"I always thought it to be a hoax."
He said. I could see that even he did not think it to be true. It made me wonder how many more knew about the situation unknown to us.
Were Cole's parents aware, too? And chose not to believe it...
"Then why are you with him?"
He questioned like it was the most obvious thing to ask. It made me feel insecure in front of the person I was not ready to.
"Why are you here?"
So I found myself turning the question back on him. I was not going to let him walk all over me as he had done in the morning.
I crossed my arms against my chest to appear that I was not shaken by his presence or those unexpected questions that he threw at my face.
"I thought you were not pathetic to put yourself through that."
He pressed. A hint of smirk reflected over his face.
"Anyone else but you. Janet."
The moment he called out my name made me shiver. What kind of stupid game was he trying to play?
"What do you want, Arthur?"
I decided to hold onto my question. He shook his head as if I had asked something very silly.
"Straight to business huh?"
I did not say anything and waited for him to respond to me.
"I like this attitude, but you disappointed me."
He said. I could not understand where he was trying to get at.
"No response from you about the case."
And it hit me right away. Of course, he was here for that. But I had already made up my mind on not wanting to do it.
"Sawyer told me you would get straight on it. But I got nothing. So here I am trying to find out what happened?"
As he resumed talking, I had not expected him to show up like this way so fast demanding a response from me.
What did he think about how cases worked?
It could sometimes take a month before I give a response on a case that I had already accepted to find out a layout to deal with it.
"Was I not clear to you in the morning?"
He asked, taking a few steps closer to me, making me recede backwards and hitting Aiden's cradle. And that made him wake up, breaking his sleep.
Before he could start wailing his lungs out, I picked his little self up and hugged him to my chest, trying to calm him down.
"It is alright, baby! Mama is right here."
I whispered at the same time rocking him in my arms. When he did not cry, I sighed in relief.
Moving my gaze back to the man in the room, I found him staring at us, the baby and then me.
The ringing cell phone pulled us both out from eyeing each other. It was his and he answered the call right away.
"I will be there Shasha. Give me some time. "
He spoke out as if getting impatient, hanging up the call later. But it made me wonder how they were still together.
"I will see you there."
He turned his attention back to me. I was going to tell him that I would not accept the case but he opened his mouth before me.
"I want you to not disappoint me again and get started on it right away."
Disappoint him? I did not care about him in the first place...
Before I could say that out loud, he turned around to leave not giving a second time. Then stopping by the door, he looked again.
"And Janet I expect you to do better."
He said as if he was concerned about my state. What the hell did he mean by that?
Like the flash of light, he was gone right after that making me question everything.
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