CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Once again, Adele and Jamal did not utter a word to each other after such an intense talk. They both kept their distances and engrossed themselves in their individual work and even at the dinning, not a word was said.
They finally went to bed without talking about the issue. The night was a miserable one for both of them. No one shook from their spots on the bed and they both kept staring at the walls in front of them till their alarms went off.
It was six am in the morning and it was time for both of them to wake up and prepare for work, even though they had gotten no sleep at all.
Jamal was the first to step down from the bed, while Adele quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be fast asleep. Jamal, who knew she was pretending, walked over to her side of the bed.
“Adele.” He called, but Adele did not bulge. “I know you are awake. I forgot to prepare my outfit for work last night, I need you to help me sort that out by the time I’m done bathing. Please.” His request made Adele pop her eyes open in shock.
“No, you do not!” She contradicted in horror. She knew nothing about sorting a man’s outfit for work, let alone a man as complicated as Jamal.
Jamal was stunned by her sudden outburst. He stood still and gazed at her with furrowed brows.
“Excuse me?” He asked calmly and Adele calmly sat upright on the bed. She exhaled heavily and pushed the chunk of hair covering her face behind her ear and looked up at him.
“What I meant to say was, you don’t need me to prepare your outfit. I’m pretty sure you can do that yourself.”
“Well I can’t and like I said, I’m late and I won’t have time to do that. So I need you to help me, my dear wife. It’s part of your duties, you know.” He explained and Adele clicked her tongue as she rolled her eyes and looked the other way.
Duty.
She hated the fact that he was bringing up the issue of duties when in fact he never fulfilled any of his husband duties.
“You have fifteen minutes to do that.” He said and disappeared into the bathroom. Adele grudgingly crawled out of bed and put on a pair of flip flops. She could feel her hair was a classic mess so she walked to her mirror stand where she struggled to brush it with her fingers and wrapped it up in a messy ponytail before walking into Jamal’s walk-in closet which was filled with suits and tuxedos of all kinds that were perfectly ironed and organized.
As she looked around to choose what he would wear, memories of what had happened the previous day flooded her mind. He was a completely different person yesterday and his possessiveness freaked her to the core.
He had caused a big scene in the middle of the road, before her colleagues and she had no idea what she was going to tell them at work when they would ask her why she was with him.
She didn’t like how possessive he had acted, but a part of her felt happy to know that he considered her his wife. When he held her close and called her his, her heart skipped five beats in a second. The look in his eyes made her understand that he meant his words.
She was his wife and for some odd reason, her stomach fluttered at the reality.
She was indeed married to the most complicated man in the world.
She finally settled for a navy blue Armani tuxedo and an immaculate white shirt. She took it out and placed it on the couch beside the closet outline and went ahead to pick his tie.
As she put the tie and trouser belt together with the other clothes on the couch, Jamal walked into the closet with just a towel tied around his waist. Adele’s breath hitched once she looked up and saw his almost naked state. She instantly tore her gaze from his body and plastered on the clothes she was trying to organize. Her heart began racing in her chest as she swallowed dryly.
As Jamal walked further into the closet, she felt like the walls of the closet were closing in on them. The room suddenly felt very tight and she was finding it hard to breathe .
Where did all the oxygen go?
She quickly cleared her throat and stood upright, making sure not to look at Jamal who was standing before the mirror looking at her.
“I’ve gotten everything ready, I’m sure I can leave now.”
“You can leave or stay, Adele, it all depends on you. Thank you for picking out my outfit.” Jamal spoke in his normal nonchalant tone.
“You are welcome.”Adele responded as she swallowed the needles in her throat and bolted out of the closet, leaving Jamal who chuckled and let loose the towel tied around his waist.
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Adele bit her lips hard when she stepped into her office and met her superior sitting on her chair. She closed the door behind her and walked over to the table, with her superior’s eyes not leaving hers.
What they all witnessed the day before left everyone in total confusion. No one knew what to think about the situation, so he decided to talk to Adele to find out for himself.
“Good morning Mr. Frank.” Adele greeted politely even though she was aware of the fact that the greeting was the last thing Mr. Frank was interested in getting from her that morning.
The man quietly rose from the chair and walked over to Adele without uttering a word.
“Mr. Frank.” Adele called.
“I knew there was something fishy about you Adele, but I had no idea it was something this big. Jamal King Dominic!” He called the name like it was the scariest thing in the world. “How the hell are you connected to that man?” Mr. Frank inquired and Adele breathed out heavily as she prepared to tell him the lie she had formulated in her head that morning.
When she had asked Jamal what she should tell her superior once he asked about what happened the day before, he had told her to say anything but the fact that they were married, so he cooked up a lie.
“He’s a distant relative. We sort of grew up together and are quite used to each other.” She explained and Frank looked at her in total disbelief. “Frank, seriously my relationship with Jamal should be of no concern to you…”
“Of course it is. Henry left immediately after his encounter with Jamal that afternoon and this morning, the company received a whopping sum of one million dollars from Jamal King for damages and with orders to hire another editor. I mean… this is something that only happens in the movies Adele. I have no idea what is going on between…”
“It’s nothing that should get you worked up. Jamal is a man who likes to take responsibility for his actions and I’m happy that he has compensated for the damages caused. Just forget that ever happened and let’s move on from here.” She explained with all seriousness and Mr. Frank understood it was time for him to back off.
He cleared his throat and took several steps away from Adele. He wanted to know more, but he knew better than to push things so he turned on his heels and left the office.
Adele let out a heavy breath though her mouth as she touched her wedding ring.
Jamal had no idea how difficult it was for her to not tell everyone that they were married. As the days went by, things only got more complicated and she hated it.