Chapter 140

Chapter 9

You know it's never fifty-fifty in a marriage. It's always seventy-thirty, or sixty-forty. Someone falls in love first. Someone puts someone else up on a pedestal. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly; someone else sails along for the ride.

Jodi Picoult, Mercy

‘Google’s a fucker!’ She decided, throwing her phone on the other side of the room with as much force as possible.

Hoping that the thing would break into a thousand pieces, like the way her heart was breaking.

Because it hadn’t just told her that the gorgeous Chloe Wilson was in Mauritius, but it also told her a hell lot more that she was better off not knowing!

Once she had opened an article, it was so easy to just click on the follow up links of related articles about the actress and equally horrifying to read Oliver’s name being mentioned in every single one of them as her lover, to watch the photographs of their half-naked, entwined bodies on the beaches of Hawaii, kissing, surfing and dinning together with the caption of #love’s_in_the_air, on Chloe’s official Instagram account.

‘And now he’s headed back to her again!’ She tried wiping the tears away, angry at herself most of all, for being affected by his double timing, dubious life style at all!

Really? What had she expected? That he would respect a marriage that was going to be in name only? Of course , not! As the hot shot billionaire, the bastard must think himself as some kind of God who can play with people’s lives as he wishes and while Chloe Wilson may comply to play the mistress on the side, while Oliver marries Mia, she was not going to be played.

The next day went in a kind of blur where she tried to keep busy at any cost, to stop herself from pondering on the mess her life had been made into.

Despite her ill health, she went to work and sat listening to a CEO of an insurance company with a wide mouth where spit spurted out of his mouth whenever he spoke and before lunch she was feeling sick again, so, saying no to Nicole’s offer of lunch, she took a taxi home.

She had barely settled into the taxi outside her office when her phone started to ring, she was startled to see Oliver’s name on it. For a moment she considered not picking up but that, she knew, would do nothing to help her situation.

“hello.”

“Hey, how are you feeling today?” His voice sounded overtly cheerful and she felt another pang on her chest.

Why of course, he was happy, winning and dining with his gorgeous lover in Mauritius.

While, she sat here sick and alone about to get married to him in less than 24hours. She wanted to punch the bastard on his face.

“Fine!” But her curt reply did nothing to drown his go-happy mood.

“Listen, I am sending my lawyer to your place to sign some papers, say in half an hour. Will that be okay?”

“Fine!” She snapped again and this time it made him laugh.

“Mad at me are you? Well, serves me right for leaving you alone before our wedding day but believe me darling when I say, that I had no choice but to make this trip…..but I promise I am going to make it up to you, when I return.” His voice had once again taken that melodious husky tone with that subtle intimacy, that had often turned her breathless but now all it did was to make her more sick with her mind picturing him naked in bed with Chloe Wilson while he whispered sweet nothings, to her in that same voice.

She hung up on him immediately and wished that she didn’t feel like the pig in a slaughterhouse, living the last few hours of her life.

But those last few hours, turned to be some of the longest, of her life. Oliver kept calling,throughout the rest of the day but she didn’t pick up. The Lawyer showed up on time, and she signed the documents required for a court wedding and a few other forms before spending the rest of the day in front of the tv, miserable and hollow eyed.

She wondered what her mother would say and how her brothers would react if she were to call them now and tell them that she was getting married today?

No doubt, they would be angry, furious even but beyond that they would be concerned and would want to know the reason behind this hurry and that’s where the real quandary lay.

She could not tell them, the reason for going along with this sham, she could not throw them into the same vortex of chaos that she is now living in!

And most of all, she knew that if her family found out her reasons to marry Oliver, they would not let her do it but rather let him re-open the court case again even if it means wreaking all their lives, instead.

So, it was better that they know nothing- that they remain unaware about their daughter getting married and besides, this was going to be no real marriage, considering the playboy lifestyle that Oliver lives – sooner or later he’s going to want a divorce and it would be over before she would realize and her family would never need find out about this little secret.

But that doesn’t mean holding out and sticking to these rational thoughts were easy. No! on the contrary, her heart was bursting with pain, the loneliness eating away her sanity as she lay down on her bed, looking at nothing in particular.

Tonight, as a soon to be bride she wanted her mother here with her more than ever. Wanted her assurances and love that everything was going to work out just fine. But alas, like many things in life, this was not meant to be!

She woke with a start, at around 5 AM, the next morning but instead to try to get back to sleep, she got up and went to make herself a cup of black coffee. She picked up the morning papers from her front gate and had barely sat down in the drawing room, sipping her coffee and reading the papers when the door bell started to ring furiously.

With a huff, Mia had to abandon her coffee and went to open the door, where Oliver stood in a crumpled business suit, that had seen better days and dark bags underneath his eyes.

“Why the hell weren’t you picking up my calls?” And the moment she opened the door, he started shouting at her.

“I called a fucking hundred times! But you couldn’t pick up and let me know that you are fine? couldn’t you have fucking replied to one of the thousands messages that I sent you?”

“Oh I am so sorry, that I didn’t pick up your calls yesterday and you weren’t able to shout at me to your heart’s content. I am sure it must have been inconvenient for you to come all the way here from Mauritius to do the honors of shouting at me.” She snapped viciously, making him shut up.

“You have absolutely no idea, how panicked I was when I called you and you weren’t picking up. I thought you were sick again and perhaps fainted somewhere. I called at your studio and then your friend Nicole and no one had any idea where you had gone. I called you, nearly a hundred times throughout the day and when you still didn’t pick up I flew down here in the earliest flight.” Those dark black eyes were roaming all over her like a laser scanner. “you are alright, aren’t you?”

“Yea, fine!” after listening to that long explanation, she was herself subdued a bit, while her heart fluttered inside without a reason as she looked at him.

“Move aside now, I need to use your bathroom to have shower and a shave.” He nudged her forward to enter into the drawing room where he dumped his red suitcase at the edge of the sofa.

“Why don’t you have that shower and shave at you house, instead of forcing your unwanted presence in here?”

“Because….” He paused for a moment, looking at her angry stance before continuing. “I am not letting you out of my sight again! Ever!”

And with that he strode away into the bathroom and she heard the sound of running water, a moment later.

2 hours later, they left the flat together under the bright sunshine and a pleasant wintry morning for the marriage registration office. The market was buzzing again with lively shoppers and shopkeepers alike and Mia stood there for a long time, taking it all in because she knew – when she would see this place again, nothing would be same anymore.

They drove in silence, for there were so many things to be said, yet none of those things were coherent enough to make any sense, so they said nothing at all and took the vows in a dingy little room, that overlooked the river.

A signature at the bottom of the page and there…it was all done.

The registrar pronounced them as husband and wife.

Oh, so, easy, so –easy it seemed but it was the hardest thing Mia had ever done!