They walked through a path with tall trees until they got to an open spot.
"Why are we in the middle of nowhere?" he asked her in confusion.
"Are you scared Mr. Legend?" she asked in a teasing manner. He rolled his eyes at her and followed her.
She was beginning to rub off herself on him, if not since when did he start rolling his eyes?
They got to an open space and the place was illuminated with lights. The view was beautiful, it looked natural.
There was a table and two chairs.
She pulled out a chair for him to seat.
"Isn't is supposed to be me pulling out the chair for you?" he asked her but sat anyways.
"Let me treat you tonight" she smiled at him and sat on the opposite chair.
Dinner was amazing, they had found interesting memories to share, they had laughed, made a toast to stupid things that got them laughing, and had enjoyed their pasta.
"Thank you for tonight" he smiled at her as they walked towards where the car had been packed.
He had loved every bit of the night.
The place was quiet and he could not help but wonder how she had pulled it off.
The wine was cold, the food was hot, everything was in place, yet no one had come to their table, it was as if they were alone in the world. Strange but he loved it.
"Alisha, the keys" Leonardo stretched his hand towards her when they got to the car.
"Nope, I am driving Mister"
"Let's not fight, we just had a lovely night, pass me the keys, I am driving"
"No" she wanted to have a fun ride yet again but he was not ready to have her hands on the steering wheel again, while he sat and watched her put them both in danger.
He gave her a look that warned her to not argue further, the look frightened her. She gave him the keys and without waiting for him to get the door for her, she entered and sat with her seatbelt on.
The ride back to the island was silent. Alisha looked out of the window, and even when Leonardo put on the radio and one of her favorite song was playing, she mentally shut it out of her ears and head.
When he drove through the gate and parked the car, she opened the door, not wanting him to get the door for her, and she went straight to their room.
By the time Leonardo got to the room, she was already in the bathroom.
She had her shower, changed into her pajamas, and climbed up the bed.
As Leonardo had his shower, he thought about the wonderful evening they had just had, and how things rapidly turned sour.
Could he ever go two days without having a fight with her?
He asked himself.
"Alisha" he called her in a low voice after he had worn something comfortable he could sleep in.
She didn't respond to him, she didn't even pretend she was asleep either.
She had her eyes open and her back to him while he sat on the bed.
He touched her shoulder and she flared up, "don't you dare touch me"
He took his hand off her, he had never heard her talk to him that way before. She was hurt, he felt guilty.
"Alisha, I'm so sorry" he pleaded with her, but she kept mute and stayed that way.
He gave up trying to make peace with her and slept off.
Leonardo heard sobbing from his sleep. He woke up and discovered Alisha was crying beside him.
He touched her but she shook his hand off.
"What is wrong?" he asked, she was still not talking to him.
He didn't know what to do, this feeling was strange to him.
She went silent, the sobbing stopped and he went back to sleep, she fell asleep later while wishing she had her old uncomplicated life, where she worked at the bar, and came home to a sleeping Chloe, and she would be asleep when Chloe went to work in the morning.
How they cooked together and talked about how their week went on Saturday afternoons. She missed the simple uncomplicated life.
Then everything changed when Chloe's mom was diagnosed with cancer, and she had to stand in for her at the office, and then Anna got sick right after Chloe's mom was buried, and she had to get married to this scorn bag so she could raise money for Anna's surgery.
She had put in an effort to make tonight's dinner special, different from what he was used to.
Away from the fancy restaurant and people, servers, waiters and waitresses, air conditioned rooms to a natural outdoor dinner, and he had thrown all that to the mould by not trusting her driving skills.
Ti him it was just not letting her drive them back to the Island, but to her, it was him telling her she was incapable, irresponsible, stupid and a burden. She felt choked.
The next morning, she got up before he did and went out for a run. She needed to sweat out the anger she was still feeling. When she got back to the room,
Leonardo was out, and she was glad, she had plans of ignoring him all day.
She had her bath and went down to breakfast; Amelia was in the kitchen eating, she said she got up late and others had already had something to eat, and that the men were out.
Alisha joined her at the table, soon the other women came, and they made plans of how they were going to get dressed and prepared for the grand dinner for the next day evening.
Alisha flowed with the conversation, deciding her anger towards Leonardo was not going to make her have a bad day.
After breakfast, she decided to take a look at some top rated bakery in the environs so she could get inspiration for her own bakery she was planning to build.
By the time Alisha returned to the island that evening, she was tired, hungry and sleepy. She had her bath and waited for Leonardo to get back from wherever he was so they could go down from dinner.
A knock came on the door, Alisha thought Leonardo had forgotten his key to the room, glad she could have dinner soon she rushed to open the door. She met Martha smiling at her.
"Hi Martha," Alisha smiled at her hiding her disappointment.
"Hope you've had dinner?
The men are held up in a meeting and would eat there, I'm sure your husband must have sent you a text or something.
I just wanted to inform you that we would be out without the men to have breakfast and get ready for the grand dinner. See you in the morning by 8"
"Thank you Martha, see you tomorrow."
"Good night"
Alisha closed the door and laid on the bed, she was going to sleep on an empty stomach, and not only that, other men had called to inform their wives that they would be back late, and probably made sure they had eaten, but her asshole husband didn't care.
Contemplating if she should head out to grab dinner or sleep on an empty stomach, she decided to head out.
Alisha got back later that night to find Leonardo pacing around the room.
"Where the hell are you coming from Alisha? You have been out all morning"
She ignored him and changed into something comfortable for the night.
"Answer me Alisha, when I talk to you, I want a response.
So start taking"
"Don't you fucking boss me around" she pointed her finger at him, he was red with anger, this woman was driving him crazy.
Who did she think she was to talk back at him? No one talked to him the way they liked or else he punished them terribly.
"Don't push me Alisha, you would not like what you would see" he cautioned her
"I dare you Leonardo Legend, I dare you to do whatever you can do"
"Alisha"
"Leonardo, I am tired and I need to sleep, scream all you want to when you are done you can have the couch or the floor, but I am not sharing this bed with you tonight."
He was surprised by her outburst. Who was she to send him to sleep on the couch?
How could she suggest the floor to him?
He was Leonardo legend. When could anyone, not to mention a woman, talk to him that way.
He went to the toilet to ease himself, but the time he returned back to the room, she was already sleeping diagonally on the bed. She was damn serious about not sharing the bed with him.
He decided he was going to respond to some emails, and then roll her over properly and sleep on the bed, but as he got busy on the couch, he slept off.
True to the words of his wife, he spent the night on the couch.
Alisha had a wild smile on her face when she saw Leonardo sleeping uncomfortably on the couch.
He deserved it.
She went to get ready for the day's outing. Getting into a short dress with sunflower partner, she slid on a low sandals and packed her hair in ponytail.
She was applying lip gloss on her lips when Leonardo woke up.
He was feeling sore from the poor position he had slept, he could not believe he had passed the night on the couch.
He ignored her and went to the bathroom. He was not ready to have any conversation with her, he had a meeting to attend, and besides she owed him an apology for how she had spoken to him the previous night.
Alisha finished up and picked up her purse, she was not going to say a word to him until he apologized to her.
She left the room and went to meet the women downstairs.
Leonardo was talking to himself as he prepared for the meeting. "How could she talk to me like that?" "She is going to apologize to me, and I will delay accepting her apology" "I cannot take such disrespect from her"
"How could she point her finger at me?" "How could she send me to the couch to sleep?"
I'm very sure she would be having a dance of victory that I had slept on the couch, if only she knew I had fallen asleep on the couch by mistake and had no intention of doing what she had asked.
"I'm so tired of this contract marriage already, how could grandpa Alexandra subject me to such bondage?"
When he was done dressing and looked at the mirror, he realized he had worn his shirt wrongly, how he was able to button it was beyond him, he had also made a mess of knotting and redoing his necktie over and over again.
He looked miserable. This woman was not even his real wife, well she was his legal wife, but she wasn't even a wife in his heart, so why was he feeling and looking miserable just because he had a fight with her?
"Leonardo you look terrible" Henry chuckled as he joined the table at the meeting room.
"I know" he agreed
"Care for some coffee?" Patrick asked him concerned
"Extra strong please"
"Wife trouble?" Mr. Camelo asked, he was obviously used to this as he was the oldest in marriage among them.
Leonardo nodded hoping he wasn't going to be pushed to explain the reason for the fight.
"The only advice I will give you is, don't wait for her to apologize and make peace as soon as you can, else she will make you life a living hell, women have all the advantage over us" Mr. Camelo advised and they moved to business mode.
"There is no way I am apologizing to Alisha" Leonardo decide firmly in his head.