(Doreen)
It was the third day. The third day of being married to Leo Smith, the second of the two sons of London's biggest food products production business brand.
Rosie had insisted on leaving after spending some hours with me, neglecting my suggestion of her waiting until after the rain pouring slightly outside. I was left all alone in the huge mansion again.
Leo wasn't back yet and the kitchen workers had signed out for the day, resulting in complete silence of the clatter of pots and pans that usually gave a bit of life to the Smith's mansion. I hated the silence that immersed me whenever I had to be all by myself here.
My thoughts were beginning to run wild, and all of a sudden, the swoosh noise from the blades of the ceiling fan above me as it cut through space to blow air became too loud. I can't wait for Leo to be back, I thought to myself as I stood up to turn off the fan.
I stood there, turning the controller of the ceiling fan backwards, click after click, to make the fan stop rotating, and then I heard the door swing open behind me.
Deep in those uncomfortable thoughts that had occupied my mind, not too comfortable with the space and the silence it harboured, barely having my two legs carry my weight and thinking I might have become tipsy from the wine earlier, the sudden opening of the door was such a break into my feelings at the moment, causing me to shudder so hard.
My turning to see what caused the noise, as my mind didn't process it was the door opening as soon as it happened, was more like a jump than a graceful turn. It was Leo. I panicked for nothing. I let out a huge sigh of relief and rubbed my palms together awkwardly.
"Hi, Leo", I said, shooting him a weak smile, my heart still in my mouth from the jump scare he had caused me. Silence. More awkward silence.
Leo closed the door slowly and began to walk towards me. "What have you been up to? You don't look too happy to see me", he replied, smiling dryly and searching the space with his eyes.
Oh, Leo. I am happy to see you. You have no idea, I am very happy to see that I am no longer alone in this eerily quiet mansion, I thought to myself. Why did I think that in my head, I should tell him?
"Welcome back. I'm fine" were the words I replied to him with instead. Words are failing me again. I have this not-too-good attitude of not saying the words I actually want to say, just because I fear they won't just come out the way I want them to.
Perhaps I'm just that woman who prefers to express herself with very few words to save time. In addition, it's been just three days of getting married to an absolute stranger, just for the benefits it brought. I'm still learning to be comfortable with him and my new living space.
I watched his eyes fall on the two wine glasses I had wine in with Rosie. His face formed a sour expression as he walked towards the table with the wine glasses I had forgotten to remind one of the kitchen workers to take out.
Actually, I hadn't gotten used to having domestic workers around to do almost everything. In fact, I had watched one bow after informing me it was their clock-out time and then leave while making a mental note to take the glasses away myself later.
Leo had gotten to the table now, and picking up one of the wine glasses, he brought it up to his eye level and looked at it intensely, examining its content. From where I stood, I could see the dark liquid remnant of Wine de Beau move from one part of the glass bottom to another.
Dropping the glass back on the table, he turned back to me sharply, "Who is he?", this coldness in his voice.
"What?" I asked. I had meant to ask "Who?" or maybe, say something that made more sense in response to his absurd question and the mood in which he asked.
He started to walk back to where I stood. His eyes were steady and on me. His white blonde hair stood. Thin lines formed in his forehead and his chest rose and fell slowly as he walked towards me to close the little distance left between us.
The mood didn't feel right. I should say something right now. Tell him how I had no idea of whatever he talked about in his question, how the glasses were used by me and Rosie and how uncomfortable my stomach felt now. I should say something, but my being chose silence.
As he approached me with his face close up on mine, I didn't see the need to take any step backwards until his muscular hands grabbed my neck. My right foot took the first backward step I had delayed taking earlier as I struggled to breathe.
My mouth was opened to allow every air I could manage to take in. My hands were trying to free his hands from my neck to little avail. "You let a man into my house and even had wine in tall glasses with him", came his voice again to my ears. This time, void of any emotion but anger and bitterness.
His grip on my neck tightened. My throat hurt so bad. My stomach began to feel weird and in an instant, a generous amount of Wine de Beau came flying out of my mouth to his body. His hand came off my neck almost immediately and I felt alive again.
In the next few seconds that followed, I didn't care about anything around me at all. I coughed severally, rubbing my throat and breathing heavily.
When I felt a bit better and everything started to become meaningful to me again, Leo stood in front of me, his head bent to his crisp white long sleeves, now terribly stained with the wine I had unintentionally thrown on him.
My shoes were strewn on the floor between us, and I was leaning on the solid wall with the fan controller poking my neck. It was then I realized I had, in a desperate bid to escape, moved away from him as far as I could after he released me, giving the space between us now.
"This is not happening. Doreen. Damn!", he said the last word with so much weight on his voice and a quick angry swing of his right hand.
I watched him walk out of the living room and after a moment, heard him climb up the stairs leading to the room area.
"Damn!", I heard him say again, from a distance, and again, I flinched.
Leo thought I let a man into his house? Does he think I cheated on him with another man? Would he send me divorce papers because of these? Many different thoughts raced through my mind at the same time.
With my throat still hurting slightly and my mind not even sure of how best to handle this, I found myself running up the stairs after Leo. He can do anything but a divorce.