Fifteen.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
Days passed and neither Adele nor Jamal addressed the issue they had. Jamal kept late nights as usual and Adele chose to pretend like he did not exist.
Their marriage was a catastrophe.
It was the weekend and as usual, everyone was at home, relaxing. Jamal on the other hand was in his study room, working as usual. Danielle had even come to visit and she was seated in the living room with Shannelle. Adele made sure to stay on the third floor of the house all day. The last thing she wanted was to go downstairs and meet Shannelle and Danielle who never missed the chance to taunt her.
Her strained relationship with her husband had reached their ears and she knew they were waiting for the slightest chance to finish her off.
That afternoon, Adele was randomly walking past Jamal’s study room in the corridor when she noticed that her dear husband was not there alone. Instead, He was in the company of Danielle.
Initially, Adele thought of just ignoring them both and continuing her way, but after a second thought, she felt
curious to know what those two were actually doing behind her back.
Slowly, carefully, she stepped closer to the door to listen to what they were saying and she was shocked with what she heard.
“Jamal…” Danielle called in a calm seductive tone. “You know how much I have always loved you! Don’t you know how heartbroken I feel seeing you married to someone who doesn’t care about you? Look, you don’t have to divorce her now… You can just take me as a second wife and we’ll deal with her later!” Said Danielle with a face full of tears, acting like a freaking powerless heroine who the whole world was bullying.
Adele laughed in mockery realising how disrespectful they were towards her. She always thought Danielle only used hidden means and kept her pride while trying to
seduce him, but it turned out that she had no face at
all!
She was the daughter of a wealthy family, but she acted like a slut!
She then hugged him, and rubbed her wet face
against his chest.
What pained Adele the most was that Jamal simply stood there silent and doing nothing.
He didn’t warn her to stop, he didn’t push her away. He simply let her have her way with him despite the fact that he was a married man.
Adele hated deceitful people the most, and she hated those who disrespected her even more.
At that moment, both her husband and his secret lover were being deceitful and disrespectful to her.
After few moments of watching them, Adele felt so disgusted with the scenario, so she barged into the
bedroom with her hands crossed above her chest and an eternal frown masked on her face.
“Mr. Jamal King Dominic! How do you expect me to sleep on the same bed with you later after witnessing all this? I hate sharing my things with others.” She spoke out confidently and they both turned to look at her in terror.
She did not intend to make a dramatic entrance, but things went that direction and they both turned pale because they knew what they were doing
was wrong.
Jamal instantly pushed Danielle away as he kept staring at Adele.
She felt very disgusted with his stare. She understood the fact that they were not a loving couple, but she expected him to have at least respected her existence in his life.
“How dare you talk with him that way?” Danielle, who
had lawyer genes apparently, immediately retorted with
more tears, causing Adele to chuckle in mockery.
“How I address my husband is none of your business, Danielle!” Adele replied sternly as she walked towards Jamal with nothing in her heart but pure disappointment.
When she finally got close to him, she looked at the portion of his shirt that had been wet by Danielle’s tears and scoffed.
“I had a lot of respect for you Jamal but now, I think I have lost all that respect . I know you can be mean and cold and snobbish, but I had no idea you could do such. To think you always act so prideful! Is this how lowly you act behind my back?”
“You misunderstood.” He finally said. “I rejected
her, and I have no intention of following her
fantasies.” He continued and when Adele heard his words, something broke inside of her.
Her heart hurt after finally hearing his voice. It was inevitable to feel hurt and be affected by what he had just done. After all, no matter how much they both hated it, they were still married.
“Is this how you reject a woman, Jamal? By letting her cry in your arms?” She asked in total disbelief. Her voice, which was initially strong, became very weak and shaky.
No matter how hard she tried to act strong like none of that affected her, she was still surprised and hurt with what she had seen and she could not hide it.
The man standing before her became even paler and he looked like he had nothing to say to her.
She hated the fact that she was married to such a person and she hated how silent and calm he was in situations where he needed to talk.
In the end, when Adele finally realized that he wasn’t going to answer her question, she quietly walked out of the office room with a heavy heart. Tears stinging her eyelids.
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Adele made sure not to see or talk to Jamal the entire day. Even during dinner, she had avoided every possible eye contact or conversation with him and she was sure his family had noticed. She was mad at him.
She was extremely mad at him for what he did with Danielle earlier.
Immediately after dinner, she left straight for his bedroom to change into her pajamas and go spend the night in her bedroom.
“Adele.” She heard Jamal call as she changed her clothes in the closet. She ignored his call and speedily took off her clothes to wear her pajamas. When she was done, she stepped out only to find Jamal waiting for her by the door. “Adele.” He called yet again and Adele stopped walking, but did not look at him.
“Everyone knows we are not on good terms, does that sound healthy to you?” He asked calmly and Adele looked at him in total disbelief.
“You had a girl in your arms this afternoon in your study. Does that sound healthy to you?” She fired back and Jamal heaved out a heavy sigh.
“You misunderstood.” He repeated the same statement he had made in the office room. “Adele, you are my wife and you are the only woman in my life. I do not have plans of marrying a second wife, nor do I have plans of divorcing you to marry another woman. What you saw back there was nothing. I rejected whatever proposal she brought up, you just did not hear that part! God Adele, stop all this already.” He lamented.
“But you let her hug you! She even cried in your arms!”
“Is that jealousy I smell?” He asked in the calmest tone with an amused look on his face and Adele snorted.
“Jealousy my ass! I’m just furious because you mingle with other women but get all wild and nonsensically possessive when you see me with a man. What is wrong with you?” She asked purely frustrated and Jamal just silently shook his head.
“You’ve had a rough day. You should go to bed now.”
“Yes, I will! Good night!” She said and marched towards the door to leave the bedroom but when she got there and tried to open it up, she noticed it had been keyed.
“What the!” She exclaimed, creaking the door knob countless times.
“It’s locked.” Jamal announced and she turned to look at him with a deadly look on.
“Why did you lock the door?”
“Because I knew you would try to do exactly what you are doing right now.” He said, walking towards her. When they were just a few inches away from each other, he gently stroked her hair with a tiny smile plastered on his lips. “I know you are mad and you have every right to be. However, I’m not doing all this to hurt you. There are a lot of things I need to take care of right now to secure both of us an even brighter future. Bear with me.”
“I want to know the things you have to take care of.”
“I can’t tell you.” He denied and kissed her forehead. “Now go to bed. If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll spend the night in my office. Just don’t leave our bedroom. It’s important that you stay here. Good night, Adele.”
Adele stood glued to the spot as he opened the door and exited the bedroom.
Like magic, all the anger she felt in her heart had disappeared.
Her fingers brushed over the spot on her forehead he had just kissed and she smiled foolishly. A tingly feeling spread through her stomach and she giggled joyfully as she made her way to the bed.
Her day ended well after all.