Chapter 19: Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen.

In the evening, as Jennifer laid on her bed, her mind wandered  home. Wondering what Francis was doing at the moment, she suddenly remembered her wedding ring.

She took it from the top of drawer it had been since the day she got to Mark's house. She held it's circle, and studied the diamond stud on it. After about two minutes of looking at it, she dropped it on the drawer.

She sat looking at it, debating whether to put it on or not. To her surprise, she felt hesitant to put it on.

She heaved a heavy sigh and stood up. She had to leave the room, or even the house, to get some fresh air or to do anything that would keep her busy. While putting on her slippers, she wondered what Mark was doing, since the house was too silent.

Well, it was always silent.

She went out of her room and stood in the hallway, facing one of the doors she was 'ordered'  to never enter.

"Mark, where are you? I am bored." She said, walking towards the last door on the long corridor.

When she did not hear any response, she continued.

"Are you in the red door room? I am coming for you."

She heard a huge groan from the last door. She stared at the door, wondering how the deep brown colour she was looking at was related to red.

'And he calls himself an artist, the irony.'

She chuckled inwardly as she listened carefully for his movements. He closed a door, before walking to the one she was at.

'Probably a secret room.'

Jennifer thought.

'That would be amazing.'

The door opened to reveal a shirtless Mark with different shades of colour decorating his chest and neck in splatters or dots.

Jennifer stared at his stomach which was branched into a few abs, for a while, before going to his neck. She looked at the spot she had touched earlier and relished how soft that spot felt. She recalled how his breathing hitched for a second and if she wasn't being crazy, it was clear her touch affected him.

Jennifer realized she was going astray with her thoughts and shook her head.

"What happened?" Mark asked his arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, one, I was imagining things I am not meant to be imagining."

He raised a brow, she smiled sheepishly.

"Two, I am very bored."

"Did you not see the laptop I kept on the couch?"

"No."

"Go look, it is there."

She smiled widely.

"Wow. Thanks so much. You are so sweet."

"Don't," He paused, "call me sweet."

Jennifer could not resist the urge to roll her eyeballs. "Okay, you are so bitter."

He hit his forehead with his palm and shook his head.

"Just go, okay?" He shooed her away like she was a child.

"Not yet."

She gave a smile that smelt trouble.

"Did they really order you a wife?"

"They told you." He didn't seem surprised, his statement was more of a statement than a question.

It was as if he saw it coming. Well with the way their mouths kept running, Jennifer would have also seen it coming were she Mark.

"Of course they did. You do know they did it because they cared about you right?" Mark rolled his eyeballs at her.

"Jennifer just go." He made to go back into the room.

"They  were just trying to help..."

He interrupted her. "Yeah, right. By ordering a wife."

"They hope you talk to them soon. Tgey miss you a lot. You should try to forgive them."

"You can not tell me what to do." Mark replied her, his voice raising a bit.

"It is called advising."

"Just go."

"You should..."

"I said go!" He shouted, causing Jennifer to flinch. Her heart immediately felt like it was stabbed.

Her eyes fell and she walked away. No one, except her dad, who at just few times, has ever shouted at her. She felt a ball sort of stuck in her throat, threatening to turn into tears.

She walked to the living room and took the laptop and MiFi and started operating it.

She tried hard to keep the tears from coming, but they eventually came, blurring the sight of the screen in front of her. They actually came like they have always wanted to. So, for the first time since she stepped into this new place, she cried about her situation. It turned out she was actually hurt about the whole thing but she had managed to act brave since it had happened.

The tears came silently and that same way, she cleaned her face with both hands when they stopped.

In no time, her heart felt lighter and her eyes, less teary.

---------------------------

Mark felt guilt fall upon him as she walked away, hitting her blue jean trouser or rather, his sister's , with her right hand. It was still weird to him how all of his sister's clothes fitted Jennifer. And they fitted her better strangely.

Especially the oversized shirt she was putting on at the moment. He had given his sister the shirt and now it was on Jennifer who rocked it like a model, even though it was still oversized.

He held his forehead for sometime, wondering whether to approach her right away or not.

He did not know when his feet led him to the living room.

He saw her sitting by the laptop, looking quite normal.

"Jennifer..." He half whispered.

She turned to face him. There were traces of tears in her eyes. Mark immediately felt angry at himself for causing her pain in addition to the one she already had.

He walked closer.

"I am sorry. I overreacted. I shouldn't have shouted at you."

"It..." She cleared her voice which was about to sound like a broken record.

"It is okay. I am sorry for pestering or disturbing you."

Mark nodded, wondering what to do. Should he find something to say or he should just leave?

He then remembered Mike calling to tell him he had contacted the Private Investigator.

"Hmm... Jennifer, I have something to tell you."

She looked at him.

"Yes?"

"I went to see the sergeant today. For some reasons, he can not go on with investigations, so he proposed having a Private Investigator do the job. Is that okay by you?"

She smiled.

"Of course." She wondered why he asked her such a silly question. Maybe he didn't know how desperate how she was to go home to her husband and to her home of more than twenty years.

"Nice. The PI will come over next week to see you and ask some questions."

"No problem. It will be nice to have someone else in the house though." She gave him another smile, a part of her hoping she was not pushing any button.

He imagined what her lips would feel like as he watched them morph and stay still.

"Huh..." He immediately chastised himself, not having a woman in his life was proving to be a problem already. He groaned inwardly. He hated that Mike was almost always right. Mike had been joking about him falling in 'love' with her. Not that it would happen anyway.

"There is food in the microwave." He said as he saw he cue to leave when she faced the laptop on which she was using Google.

"Sure." She said her head bent over the laptop.

He nodded his head slowly and walked out, her laughter at something tingling his ear as he walked to his work room.