ROSALINE
I didn’t say anything as I was being pulled out of the hall with my heart sinking to my stomach. I was still recovering from the kiss, and my lower body tingled with thirst for more.
And Gerald’s presence wasn’t exactly helping. We reached the hallway, and I pulled my hand out of his grip, panting to catch my breath. “Wait! Can you walk any faster?”
Gerald retreated and grabbed my wrist again, pulling me once more. “You’d catch your breath when you’re in the car, and I sure as hell hope you have an explanation for whatever this was!”
“Whatever this was?” I echoed, tilting my head and my eyes bored into it. Immediately, I was hit by the memories of the toe-coiling kiss, and it made me weak in the knee. I gulped hard, swallowing my want and doing whatever it took to stop my gaze from falling to his red lips, now redder from the little tint from my lipstick. “If there’s anyone explaining here, it should be you!”
Gerald ruffled his hair as he huffed, nothing but sheer frustration crossing his eyes, and it, for some reason, made me simmer. “This is not the right place for this discussion!”
I yanked away from his grip, my other hand pushing his chest with low force. I bit my lower lips before the words pushed out of my mouth forcefully. “It is not the right place to be kissing me either!”
“You think I wanted to do that?
“What does that even mean!?” I yelled at him. “Did I fucking ask you to almost swallow my face in the face of almost five hundred people!?”
I heard his low huff again, this one came with a disappointed edge, and Gerald gave me space. He walked away, then came back, prancing the little space. “I saved my reputation!” His index finger softly bumped my chest. “Your reputation and our sham marriage with that kiss, Rosaline. Can you not see?”
Why did he make it sound like such a chore? For a change, I’d like to hear him say he kissed me because he wanted to. The inconsiderate lump at the back of my throat materialized into a roadblock but for words this time.
My eyes stung, announcing the beckoning of shameful tears, and I quickly shot my head up, blinking it back. “Do you want me to thank you for that?”
“Actually, no! Save the apologies for the next hundred times you do something out of character, and I have to clean up your mess like this,” He angrily voices, punching his open palm. “Come on, Rosaline. Like I said, this is not a good place for this discussion.”
Why had I thought that kiss was meant to mean anything? I was a fool once again. “Then go to whatever you think a good place is and have a fun discussion with yourself. It’s not like you ever need anyone to change your mind, Gerald,” I retorted, disgusted by everything he had to say. “I’d find my way home!”
“Get over yourself, Rosaline, and get into the car,” He ordered. “I don’t believe we have to constantly yell at each other to attain the bare minimum level of understanding!”
Gerald was being rational, and I knew it, but a part of me couldn’t accept it. A part of me was so bummed that his actions were shaped by the need to swerve public opinion, not that he felt an iota of affection towards me. I stared into those icy, cruel eyes, trying to find a tint of earnestness in them, but I only found anger and confusion. His eyes perfectly mirrored everything I felt on the inside.
My stomach suddenly felt lumpy, and I sucked my teeth, brushing past Gerald only to be pulled back by him in the spur of the moment, and I staggered, trying to find my footing.
His hands rested on my shoulders. “Where are you going?”
“None of your business,” I shrugged him off. “We’re out of sight now. We don’t have to pretend anymore.”
“Rosaline…”
“WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE!?” The question flew out of my mouth and took a piece of me with it. The loudness of my voice punched an echo through the air in the narrow hallway. “Leave me alone, Gerald.”
He crossed my way when I tried to move, and I looked up at the extremely livid man, feeling goosebumps clog my skin as my eyes met his. “Why…?”
“What?” I muttered. “Why what!?”
“Why are you the one getting mad when a lady that should be my wife made an entrance at an event with another man!? Why are you the one acting up when all I’d done was be quiet and try to salvage the ruins you caused? You came here with another man, Rosa! You are my wife! My fucking wife!”
Was that what this was about? My coming here with Harry? I released my breath, and my hands instinctively clasped. I seemed to be shrinking before his tall, imposing frame.
“I…” My voice faded into nothing, and I swelled with a mix of emotions, confusion being the most prominent.
I watched his Adam apple bob as he retreated, that look of regret that I recognized so well crossing his expression.
“Forget it. Get into the car, let’s go.” Gerald turned and headed for the door.
“Wait!” I pulled him back and stepped to his front, blocking the passage with my little body. I might have missed the timing by a bit because there was barely any space left between us. “What exactly are you mad at?”
Gerald said nothing as he looked down at me. It’d be a lie if I said I hadn’t noticed the lusciousness behind those eyes and how it made my stomach kick. My fingers quivered, and I itched to lean a bit closer, just close enough to feel his breath on mine.
“Tell me what you’re mad about…” I asked in a whisper, and his eyes rolled back. I wasn’t dreaming about it.
“God, Rosa…” His deep, husky voice reached my ears, and I spasmed against the door, welcoming a rush to my lower abdomen. “You’re… way too close. It’s killing me.”
“I-”
The door was suddenly opened by some other guest, and we jolted apart, thrown back into consciousness, reaching for the door at the same time. Every single part of me felt hot, and I wondered if I had as much effect on him.
Whatever that discussion was, I wanted to get back to it. I had to.
*
I sat by my bed with eyes so swollen you’d think I slammed it on the door. After last night, sleep had become a myth. Gerald didn’t talk to me about what happened, and we let the tension stifle us. He dropped me home after the party and drove again without an explanation.
I couldn’t ask for the same thing I could give him. I rubbed either side of my head and sighed, my elbow resting on my thighs. It was exhausting withholding all these pressures.
Footfalls shuffled in the hallway, and I immediately reached for my door, pulling it open. It wasn’t until I was outside right before Gerald I realized how unkempt I looked in the tacky pajamas and a bird’s nest for hair. Meanwhile, he looked as though he was preparing to walk the runway, very handsome, and breathtaking – literally.
I couldn’t breathe around this man. I ruffled my hair.
“Good-”
“Looks-”
I chortled. “You go first…”
“No, you were saying something,” he responded, never taking his eyes off me, and I felt that pressure in my lower half again, climbing all the way to the top.
“Yeah, I was saying good morning,” I rolled my eyes. “Did…. you sleep well?”
He threw me a skeptical gaze, looking like it was a question he didn’t expect. If only he knew how confused my actions made me, too. Gerald folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall. “Ah, that’s new, wife. You greet me with daggers in your eyes. What begs this… pleasant countenance?”
“Take what you get, douche!”
He clicked his tongue, winking. “Now that’s more like it! Be the witch you crave to be.” I fumed, my feet tapping against the tiled floor as I scanned him, waiting for a response. Gerald heaved an exasperated sigh. “I barely had any sleep-”
“Oh! Me too!” I cut in. “About last night…”
“… I was busy with some files,” he completed, and I heard whatever self-respect I had for myself crashed to the floor, hard and cold. My brows pinched together, and I stared at him with a creased forehead. “About last night?”
“Hm?” I patted my burning cheeks, red with embarrassment, and pretended to be oblivious to whatever he was asking. “What about last night?”
“You just said-”
“You must have heard wrong,” I waved dismissively. “I didn’t say…” The blaring doorbell caused my words to sink back in. Finally, I had a reasonable excuse to get out of immense pressure. “I’d get it.”
I rushed to the door, and Gerald followed, his ever-so-skeptical look intact. I could practically feel his eyes lasering into my skin as my fingers wove around the doorknob, but before I opened, I clicked on the security camera. It displayed an image of Mrs. Thorne at the door. I rolled my eyes, feeling a sudden blankness dawn over me.
It wasn’t new that I was aware of the reason she was here. I looked back at Gerald as though I sought a sense of preparedness from him before opening the door and taking a deep breath. I let chaos in, literally. She barged in and brushed me; her icy demeanor had elevated.
Mrs. Thorne looked around the house, sighting her son, who walked nearer and greeted her, but it seemed like I was the sole focus. “You!” She spat. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Have you seen the news!?”
She attacked me, pointing at me, and I backed away from her while she continued to yell out of her mind. “My phone is blowing up because there’s news of my daughter-in-law attending an elite party with a man who is not my son! Did you know about this, Gerald? Because no matter how much I go through that footage, I can’t seem to wrap my head around your awareness and why you let it happen!? The company is going to take hits for this! You know we are in the limelight, always have been.”
“No, that’s not- ” I was dumbfounded and struggled to make words, tiredly slouching against the couch. My brain couldn’t seem to wrap around her sudden output, though it wasn’t unexpected. I stuttered and staggered backward until I was saved by his voice.
“Mother,” Gerald called out gently, stepping in front and blocking my view of the enraged woman. “You know that is not what happened! It was just as I explained to everyone else!”
“Oh, please!” She snapped, cocking her head in my direction. “Is this what it has come to? Are you making pointless lies to save her from correction? If only you know how much damage her little rendezvous has caused us-”
“And I will take responsibility,” he cut in again, glancing at me briefly. “Rosaline had no wrong in this. I should have gone with her in the first place. This is not Rosaline’s fault at all. Did you come all the way here to yell at me, sweet mother?”
I just leaned against the wall, watching things play out in silence. I’d rather say nothing than engage in a brawl with her.
“When have you ever been one to attend such an event? Cut the lies and take responsibility just as you’d said,” she ordered, slipping her back off her shoulder and fishing out a thin piece of paper. “This interview is scheduled for this week. Contact them and have it on any day you want, but it must happen!”
“What interview?” Gerald asked, mirroring my thoughts.
“A couple’s interview. Make it count for the public,” Mrs. Thorne threw me a deadpanned glare that ran shivers down my backbone. “Try to go with your husband this time.”