Nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN.
It was already Friday and Adele was excited because Jamal was coming home the next day, which was Saturday. Throughout the week, she had been counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds left for his return and now that it was just a matter of hours before she saw him, she had no idea how to react. However, she was still sad about everything that was going on.
Jamal hardly called her and even when she called, she was forwarded to his secretary who seemed to enjoy telling her that her husband was busy and couldn’t talk to her. They had spoken roughly two times that week and she missed him dearly.
She hated the fact that she was beginning to get too attracted to him. She hated the fact that she had feelings for him and cared so much about him because she knew it was one sided.
One thing she had never understood was why he accepted to marry her when it was evident that he did not like her one bit. That was a question she had always wanted to ask him, but she didn’t have the courage to do so. She also knew that even if she posed the question, Jamal would never give her an answer that would clear her doubts.
She was stuck in a marriage with so many secrets and she didn’t even know how to go about uncovering those secrets.
After work that day, which was Friday, she managed to escape from her driver and immediately turned off her phone. She wanted to walk for a while before going back home. She walked all the way to the bus station which was about an hour walk and when she got there, it was already nightfall.
When she got home, it was already nine pm and everyone was shocked to see her returning home at that time. She had turned off her phone so no one would try to reach her. She wanted to have some time alone with her thoughts out of that house or her work place.
“Adele!” A familiar voice called as she stepped on the first stair of the staircase. She recognized the voice to be that of Aliya’s and out of respect, she withdrew her step and turned to face her.
“Good evening mother.” She greeted but the scornful look on the woman’s face made her understand that her greeting was not needed.
“Why are you home so late?” Aliya asked, fuming in anger with both hands resting on her waist.
“What do you care?” Adele wanted to ask, but instead she said…
“Something came up.”
“Or, someone came up. You went to see your lover, didn’t you? You went to see another man, right?”
“No mother, I did not.” Adele calmly denied, but Aliya was not convinced at all.
“I knew it!” She began scolding dramatically and clapping her hands. “She has another man. She is cheating on my son!”
“Mum I’m not…” Adele began to protest but Aliya cut her off.
“Don’t you dare try to deny it. I know what girls like you are capable of doing. Oh my goodness, my poor son. He thinks he is married to a normal girl, but indeed he’s married to a whore!” She ranted.
When Adele couldn’t take it any more, she just shook her head and began ascending the staircase, leaving her mother-in-law to ride on with her one man display of agony.
Aliya’s words rang in Adele’s mind as she made her way to her bedroom. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Her mother-in-law had no idea what was going on between her and Jamal to reign such accusations on her. If someone was to be blamed for infidelity between her and Jamal, then It had to be Jamal because he was always doing fishy things.
He was hardly at home and never spent time with Adele. One could think he had another family somewhere who had all his time and attention.
She was seriously irritated by the accusation that had rained on her, but she knew it was better for her to stay quiet and not fight Aliya back. She was after all, her his husband’s mother and she(Adele) had to respect her no matter what.
When she opened the door to their bedroom, her soul almost left her body when she spotted Jamal lying on the bed.
“Jamal!” She called in shock and smiled, almost rushing into the bedroom. “You are back.”
Jamal, who had been home since noon and had been waiting for her for ages, sat upright on the bed and cast her an intense gaze.
His countenance was blank and Adele could not tell if at that moment, he was happy or angry and it frustrated her a great deal.
“Is everything alright?” She asked concerned, with her smile fading.
“I was told by your driver that you somehow managed to escape from him after work.” He deciphered and Adele guiltily bit her lips and took a step backwards.
She knew how much Jamal hated it when she did that, but she needed to do it.
“He was right.”
“And why did you do that?” She asked, creasing his left brow.
“I had a lot on my mind and I needed a walk to clear my thoughts.”
“A walk?” He asked and Adele nodded quietly. “Did you walk all the way home?”
“No! Of course not.” Adele denied. ” Don’t be ridiculous, I took a bus home.”
“Oh… I’m being ridiculous now, huh?” He asked and Adele could see that he was offended by her words.
“I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. I was just stressing on the fact that there’s no way I could have walked all the way home. I’m sorry.”
A long moment of silence followed her apology. She and Jamal looked at each other, not saying a word. Adele had nothing else to say, but for Jamal, he still had a warning to pass, so he broke the silence.
“So, you escaped from your designated driver, walked all the way to the bus stop and took a bus home. Am I accurate enough?” He asked in a quiet, deadly voice. A voice which Adele did not like because she knew a warning would follow.
“Yes, you are right.” She agreed, swallowing the needles piercing her throat. She could feel tears burning in her eyes.
She had missed that man the entire week and looked forward to his return home, but there he was, reprimanding her the moment she walked into the bedroom after four days of not seeing each other.
“This will not happen again.” He warned and stepped down from the bed.
A huge tear rolled down Adele’s cheeks as she watched her mean husband make his way to the door. When he got there, he turned to face her once more.
“I won’t be joining the others for dinner, so I need you to serve me dinner in my study room.” He passed the instruction and left before Adele could protest. She instantly slumped on the bed and covered her face with her palms, releasing the tears that she had been holding back since the moment her mother-in-law called her a whore.
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Adele had planned to prepare Jamal a delicious meal when he returned home and she did that, despite the fact that he had scolded her about something he did not know about.
When she was done, she set the meal on a tray and went up to his study to serve him. She got into the office and noticed he was on a call, so she did her best to be as quiet as possible. She diligently served the meal on the office table, trying hard not to think about the amount of money he kept called over the phone. Hundreds of Millions, billions. Money which she had never seen in her entire life, but he spoke about them like they were nothing to him.
Well… he was Jamal King Dominick. Money was nothing to him.
She finished setting the table and turned to leave but…
“Adele.” Jamal’s call stopped her.
“Yes, Jamal.” She replied and turned to look at him.
“Mr. Jonas, how about we talk more about this tomorrow? I have something important to do right now… great, good night.” Then he ended the call and placed his phone on the table, his gaze not leaving Adele. “What do you think you are doing?”
“Leaving.” Adele responded coldly.
“Don’t you miss me, Adele?” He asked and Adele was completely taken aback.
His bipolar nature had kicked in.
Adele didn’t answer him. She just stood on her spot and looked at him like he had lost his mind.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I did miss you. I’ve been eating dinner for three nights now without you. I’m going to die if I clock four. So, join me, unless you want me to die and you become a widow.”
Adele, who was already tired of the drama that night had to offer her, walked over to the VIP table and sat before him. She was hungry by the way and she wanted to eat with him, but he had already ruined her mood and nothing seemed nice to her.
She was extremely mad at him.