Damien helped her make a decision.
He walked right pass her like she was a real statue. A monument and nothing more.
Swallowing her pain, she went after him. At some point they would have to settle their differences. They couldn’t continue like this. They were two adults and they had to come into some sort of arrangement at least.
Damien headed to the room. Céline followed but stayed by the door watching him as he took out a bag from the closet. He started picking out his clothes from the neat pile of clothes folded in the cupboards and threw them into the bag.
Maybe he was also packing for the honeymoon, Céline thought. Maybe there was a way of solving this problem of theirs all she had to do was start a conversation. Asking him about the honeymoon might be a good place to start their conversation.
Damien wasn’t looking like his usual self but he wasn’t completely angry either. It was a perfect time.
“Errrmm when are we leaving?” Céline asked in a small voice.
Damien stopped what he was doing for a split second and raised his head from the bag to stare at Céline. His brows joined together as he stared deeply at her as if just realizing another human was in the room with him.
He straightened himself up and fisted his hands as if struggling with something internally.
Céline could not understand. Was he angry, was he yet to make up his mind?
“Olivia helped me pack my bags already…” She chirped awkwardly trying to fill the empty aura that lingered above them.
Damien moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something. He shook his head and resumed with his packing.
“We are not going anywhere. We are staying right here.”
Céline felt her heart drop to her stomach. Did she just hear him right?
“Why?” Céline asked. Her voice was starting to tremble but she swallowed her pain and bit her lips.
“Why can’t we go for honeymoon?”
“Only couples that love each other go for such things. You and I know very well that love doesn’t exist here…” He shoved shoes angrily into a new bag, throwing them in like they had offended him. “There is no point going for it!”
Céline felt like her world had collapsed. The house she was trying to hard to save was finally burning in her own eyes and she was helpless.
“Damien, I love you… I truly-”
“Don’t you dare say those words to me Céline! You do not love me!” Damien barked.
He face palmed himself and tried to breathe slowly to calm himself.
Céline felt the room start to spin as her hands got sweaty and her whole body started to shake. Even her lips trembled and she had to keep biting it to keep it from moving as she considered what to say next but Damien beat her to it.
“Look, I have already settled this.” He said adding more shirts into a different bag.
“I have gotten an account opened for you. There is a hundred million dollars in it.” He dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a small piece of paper. He then threw it on the floor towards her direction.
“That’s the account officer’s number and password. I have already granted you access to it.” He zipped up his bag and went into the bathroom.
Céline stared at the paper with utter confusion. Her heart was clamoring in her stomach.
A hundred million dollars?
For what? What would she do with so much money? Even the mess she had placed herself in with John only required twenty million dollars to clear up and that was not even up to half the money Damien is throwing at her.
Her hands shook as she bent down to pick up the paper. True to Damien’s words, there was a phone number and a password on the paper. Her shaking fingers traced the paper and only a single word left her lips as Damien returned to the room. “Why?”
He raised his head back up, leaving what he was doing and their eyes met. Her sea blue eyes filled with pain and his brown ones filled with anger.
“You dare to ask me why?” He questioned, his voice echoing in the walls of the room.
Céline’s mouth refused to open. Even if it did open, she didn’t know what to say. How did people answer questions like that? What could she say?
“Isn’t what you want? Or is it too small for you?”
He asked and Céline’s heart squeezed into a flat ball that hit every corner of her stomach.
Oh my God! He knew!
“Baby I-”
“I don’t want to hear your voice.” Damien raised his hand silencing her. His eyes were bloodshot and his pain came up to the surface.
“I don’t want to see you, Céline… It hurts too much…” He breathed out a long sigh.
Céline felt her heart break at that moment. It broke into tiny pieces and she felt like she would die at any moment. She saw the love he had for her and he saw the pain she had caused him. He was this way because of her.
“I am moving out to the next room. You will have to remain here. My mother expects us to go for a honeymoon but I can’t bring myself to go anywhere with someone like you!”
The words were like salts being sprinkled on the wounds that had formed on the tiny pieces of what was left of Céline’s heart. Each syllable hurt more than the last one before it.
“The money is for you to keep your phone switched off and your mouth closed, if I hear any of these outside, I will throw you to the police where criminals like you belong,” he said before rolling his bag out of the room.
Céline was blinded by her own tears. A ringing was consistent in her head and she was shaking with pain as the door closed leaving her alone in the room.
Damien knew she married him for money!
He knew and he now thought of her as a gold digger. He opened an account with a hundred million for her. What was she going to do with that much money?
Why couldn’t he see that she didn’t need his money, she wanted him. She loved him.
She collapse to the floor and fresh tears spilled unto her face like a waterfall.
How would she go explaining to him that she never meant it in that manner? How would it even sound?
She remained like that on the floor till she fell asleep.
*
A knock on the door woke her up. Hope flooded her insides, thinking it was Damien. She quickly opened the door but was disappointed to meet the Sarah, Damien’s maid.
“Hi!” Sarah greeted her awkwardly.
Céline was sure she looked like a sick duck, so she didn’t even blame the woman from giving her such a look.
“Hey, Sarah… What are you doing here?”
Last time she checked with Mrs Culhane, all the maids were supposed to be on break for two weeks, since Céline and Damien were not supposed to be around.
“Oh he didn’t tell- well, sir asked me to come cook for him as per usual…” She stuttered scratching the back of her neck. She seemed uncomfortable to say her next words and Céline couldn’t help but wonder what it could be.
First she was shocked that Damien had to send for Sarah when he didn’t want people to know that they never left for their honeymoon. There was no way someone was not going to notice Sarah going in and out of the house.
“I made some soup- I thought to ask maybe you’ll want some…” She stammered.
“No, I am fine. I don’t need anything.” Céline responded.
She could have been making their meals for the next two weeks but he brought in Sarah to do that for him. Was that how low she had sunk? She could no longer do the smallest things for her husband?@
“Oh okay ma’am…” She looked unconvincingly at Céline but shook her head accepting it anyway.
“If you don’t need anything, I’ll be on my way now.”
“Sure, take care.” Céline said watching Sarah leave.
Damien was really serious about this. This was not just a mood swing. He was serious about it. He planned to put her completely aside.
She would just have to see how far he could go, there had to be a limit. She would have to find a way to talk to him. He loved her still. She saw it in his eyes. She could still win his trust back.
Minutes of trying to start a conversation with Damien turned into days. Days turned into a week and seeing Damien became as difficult as seeing a pin dropped in a mud. They were in the same house but he became a shadow she could never catch no matter how hard she tried.