Chapter 14: His Friend

It had been three days since Sarah was admitted to the hospital. She passed out because of low blood sugar. Thank god Henry had arrived on time, otherwise, god knows what would happen to her. I visited her yesterday, and she was doing well. The doctor had advised her to rest for a few days, but she was too stubborn to obey him. Ugh, Sarah!

I entered the kitchen, and Jessica was preparing pancakes for breakfast. "Did you sleep well?" she asked once she noticed me entering. I forced a smile and wanted to tell her badly that my sleep had vanished since the day I married Henry.

"How is your mom?" I asked. Her mother was suffering from heart disease.

"She's doing well." She gave me her quick smile, trying to hide her sad eyes.

I knew heart disease was incurable. It took time, money, and lots of blessings. My father was also suffering from heart disease, he always had chest pain. I used to scold him for not taking his medicine on time, but now, I don't know if he was taking his medicine on time or not.

I had lots of dreams before I married Henry. I had made up my mind when I started working at Robinson Fashion House that I would never let my dad work in that small company. After paying his debt I would make him resign. And then we would live a peaceful and happy life. I also had decided that I would marry a man who would take care of my family.

But after I married Henry, my life changed completely. He never allowed me to visit my parents. He didn't care about them. He had even warned me at the time of marriage that if I didn't marry him, he would ruin their lives.

I hate him from the bottom of my deep heart. Henry was not a human, a monster in the human flesh. Women might be crazy about his looks and charm. But he was nothing to me.

"Alice, are you listening to me?" Sarah waved her hand in front of my eyes and made me look at her.

"Yeah." I rubbed my forehead. "What were you talking about?"

"I asked you to answer the door." She jerked her chin towards the door. "The doorbell rang twice."

"Who's coming?" I said and headed to the door. I did not know who was coming in early in the morning, but it might be Henry. He hadn't shown up at the house since that day.

I opened the door and found three men standing there. Henry, his father, and an unknown man with brown, curly hair.

"Hey, Alice." His father extended his arms to hug me. I hugged him back. He was the most positive and loving man I'd ever met. After a complete week, I got a chance to meet him. To be honest, I was missing him.

"How're you?" I asked and looked at him.

"Great!" He smiled. "And you?"

"Good." I smiled back and glanced at my husband, who stood with arms crossed in front of his chest with a dark scowl on his face.

"Hey, Alice. It's Paul." The curly-haired man said and hugged me, taking me by surprise, and making me gasp. "Nice to meet you."

How could a stranger hug me like that? He seemed too friendly.

Henry frowned and quickly pulled me away from Paul. "Let's have breakfast first." He placed his arm around my waist as trying to show his fake and horrible love. He was an excellent actor whenever his father was around us, he always acted like a sweet husband in front of him.

"Jessica, how is your mother?" Mr. Robinson asked when we entered the dining room.

"She is doing good," Jessica said and put a tray of food on the table. I took a seat next to Henry and his father in the head chair, and Paul across from us, staring directly at Jessica.

"Hey, Jessica," Paul chirped, and gave her a wink, and made her blush hard. She quickly put down cookies and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Paul will stay here for two days," Daniel, Henry's father, announced while sipping his coffee.

Suddenly, Henry choked out his food and coughed hard. I rubbed his back and offered him a glass of water. I knew he wouldn't appreciate my gesture, but I had to put a good wife act in front of his father and friend.

"Are you alright?" I asked softly.

He nodded curtly and slammed the glass on the table before bursting out, "What is this, Dad? I don't want him in my house for two days."

"Whether you want it or not, I promised him, so it's my time to fulfill it. I will not listen to No!"

"But, Dad…"

"No buts…Henry, you've always been like that. You let no one close to you. Paul is here to help you."

"I don't want anyone's damn help!" He gritted out and pushed his chair back and stood up and stalked off the room, leaving his breakfast half-eaten.

*****

I was in the house's backyard enjoying the sights of the beautiful garden. The fragrance of the rose was pure and sweet. The moist and cold grasses embraced touched my bare skin, giving a tingly sensation. The wheeze of wind, chirp of birds, and rustling leave soothing against my ears. I looked at the sky that was pestled red and orange with the glowing sun.

This garden was the only thing I truly loved in this house.

"Hey." I heard a masculine voice behind me.

I looked at Paul and smiled at him. "Hey…"

He took a seat beside me. "The garden is so beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I love this garden. What are you doing here?"

"I came out to look at it. I used to come here when I was a boy. There are so many memories hiding here."

"Are you and Henry friends?"

"Yeah, we both have been friends since childhood." He sighed heavily. "Henry loves roses, so I gave him that rose garden."

"Oh, you did this garden," I asked with surprise and he nodded. "This garden is wonderful. This is one of the best gardens I have ever seen."

He ran his hand through his hair and gave me his charming smile. "I feel glad to hear that."

"Ok, tell me about yourself?"

"I'm an oncologist. I treat cancer patients day and night." He broke into a laugh. "I'm also a personal doctor of Mr. Robinson. I live in Australia and own my own hospital there."

"You have your hospital there? That's great. Your parents live there too?"

For a moment, he seemed lost in his thoughts, but after a moment, he said, "I don't have parents."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." He let out a long sigh of despair. "And I have no one in place of my parents who care for me. I was orphaned." He looked at his palms. "Mr. Robinson adopted me when I was fourteen. Then I met Henry, and we became best buddies."

I squeezed his hand gently, comforting him. "You're the lucky one who met Mr. Daniel Robinson. He is the kindest."

"Yeah." He smiled. "Ok, forget this sad topic. Tell me something about you and Henry. I mean, when, where, and how did you two meet?"

I didn't know what to say. I worked for Henry Robinson, caused his girlfriend brain injury, and took her place. That was our story. Should I tell him? Of course not, Henry would kill me.

"Actually…" Before I could speak further, a voice interrupted us.

"I need to talk to my wife. Can I have her for a few minutes?" Henry asked as his gaze pierced into me.

"Of course." Paul laughed.

"In our room…" Henry looked at me.

Our room? Since when?

"But why?" I asked.

"I'll be waiting for you," he said bluntly and walked off.

"I'll be right back, Paul," I said, and walked into the house. I was confused because Henry had never let me into his room. I still remembered he warned me to never come into his room so why today he wanted me to be there.

I knocked on the door when I approached his room.

"Come in." His crisp voice came out, and I pushed the door open and stepped inside. It was the first time I was in his room. His room was dark and cold like him, painted in cream color laced with a black stripe design gracefully, the king-sized bed in the middle, walking close, study table, and a big black couch just below a window. The room was large as a theatre. And that jerk had offered me a small storeroom.

He was working on his laptop and didn't acknowledge my presence. I cleared my throat to catch his attention.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I moved into the room like a creeping snail.

"Yeah." His eyes didn't break the focus as he was working on his laptop.

After a few moments, he shut down his laptop, giving me his full attention. He stood up and thrust his hands into his pocket, stepping towards me. "Didn't you feel cozy with him?" Sarcasm crept into his voice. Him? Did he refer to Paul? He narrowed his eyes on me. "And I don't like this idea of being you with him."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Are you feeling jealous?"

He clenched his jaw. "And why would I be feeling jealous, sweetheart?" He stepped closer to me, getting in my face. "Listen, I don't want you near him because I damn care about him. He is a nice and innocent guy. Who knows when you will seduce him?"

"And why will I seduce him?" I fired back as anger burst out in me. I wanted to scream at him and shake him. Why did he always look down on me?

"You're poor," he spat.

"Yes, I'm poor, but I'm not you, Mr. Henry Robinson. I'm not cold hearted, cruel, vicious, and arrogant. You always think of yourself, but have you ever thought of me once? How I feel when you disrespect me and humiliate me in front of the public! You don't even know how badly you've been treating me."

And the next thing he did to me as he slammed me against the wall and wrapped his hand around my neck in warning. "You would not tell me who I am and what kind of person I am because…" He tightened his grip. "I'm a terrible person even far away from your imagination, Alice!"

"So, you asked me here to tell me not to seduce your friend!" I coughed and yanked him away from my neck.

"No…" He brought my face closer to his, staring into my eyes. "I asked you here because I want you to stay with me in my room for a night."

I shot my eyes at him, surprised. "I won't agree—" he didn't give me time to finish my sentence and cut me off.

"I'm not asking you, darling." He gritted out and let go of me with a jerk. "Now, get out."

*****

I was in my husband's room, curling on the couch, and watching a beautiful view of the garden at night. The icy waves of wind chilled across my face, and I could feel the fragrance of roses wafting my nose. Other than peeking outside the window, I had nothing to do in his room.

Henry was working on his laptop and didn't acknowledge my presence as usual. He wanted me in his room because of Paul. Paul did not know about our real relationship, our hateful relationship. So before he took the wrong idea, Henry called me into his room and forced me to stay here. I was going to sleep on this couch and tolerate back pain the entire night.

When I heard the shuffling of clothes, I turned my head to find Henry unbuttoning his shirt, revealing his tanned, flawless, and muscular physique. I wanted to tear my eyes away from him, but I could not. His chest muscle was thick and hard as bricks and his stomach was flat and taunt. He was a model, it was obvious, he had the body of a Greek God. I averted my gaze not to drool over him like a puppy. He stepped up to me. Seeing him shirtless, something erupting in my belly. And it was sexual excitement.

"Alice…" He came closer to me, half-naked. His closeness made me weak to my knees and now his face was a few inches off. I shut my eyes as I waited for his next step.

I jumped back when something slammed next to me. I popped my eyes open and looked at the closed window. "I don't like the polluted air in my room," he said and got back to his bed. I was crazy to think that he was going to kiss me. I was crazy to let myself melt into him. I was crazy to feel hurt by his every word.

I was about to lie down on the couch, but my phone buzzed. Frowning, I snatched my phone and glanced at the screen and it was my mother's. I quickly picked up.

"A-Alice, your dad…" Her voice cracked.