OLIVIA
“Now that Adrian is gone and Cyril might be probably in the bedroom,
What are you going to do now? Did you have any plans to resolve the chaos? It’s just the two of us here. You have nothing to worry about.” Kate asked me shortly after Adrian’s departure.
That was the only time she ever said a word. She was scared that Cyril might do something nasty to her if she ever spoke. He would have every reason to believe that she was on my side.
“What am I going to do? How do you expect me to answer that question?
Did you witness everything that happened? You should be able to know my response. So I’m going to ask you. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Because right now, I can’t even think straight to save my life,” I facepalm and sit on the couch.
Kate went mute for a while as she pitied me. Slowly, she walked up to me and patted my shoulder. “If I were you, I would do everything possible to save my marriage.”
I lifted my head. “How on earth do I go about saving a marriage that doesn’t want to be saved? Can’t you see the way Cyril spoke to me in the presence of Rene? He adores her. He practically worships the ground she walks on,”
“Who cares about what Cyril thinks about Rene? I wasn’t even thinking about them. Wait a minute, I don’t want to believe that you want to give up your marriage because of a total stranger. Come on, you are too smart to harbor such a crap mentality,” Kate scolded me as though I were her kid sister.
I picked no offense in her scolding because I knew for sure she made sense. A few minutes after speaking to my head, I felt refreshed again. My senses were starting to come back to normal again.
I tossed off the couch.
“So you’re saying I should go upstairs and sort it out with Cyril?”
“Absolutely!”
Kate nodded in the affirmative.
I sighed.
I muttered some words of encouragement, assuring myself that I still stand a chance to make it right again.
“I would just leave while you, you go fix your home,” Kate stood up in an attempt to walk away
I stopped her immediately. “Wait! I don’t want you to leave. I still need you around. What if he tries to hit me?”
“Hit you?
I don’t see that happening.
Why would he want to hit you?
You did nothing to him,” Kate assured me.
“Did Cyril tell you this?” I quizzed her.
I was so desperate to find out how she got the information that Cyril wasn’t going to hurt me.
“You know what?
I think I should just stay back while you go do your thing!” Kate finally bowed to pressure after seeing how adamant I was not to let her leave.
With a soul filled with doubt, I sauntered to our matrimonial bedroom.
I was praying silently believing that Cyril wouldn’t do anything stupid to me. I’ve witnessed him in his fit of rage, and it wasn’t something to write home about.
“Olivia, you can do this,” I said to myself while standing at the doorway. I failed at every attempt to land a knock on the door. Somehow, I find myself retracting from knocking
“Do I need to do this? Perhaps, I should just let it slide until Cyril is calm. There’s no way he’s going to pay attention to me in such a situation,” I spoke to myself. That was my fear giving me a thousand reasons I should quit trying to make peace with Cyril.
Fortunately for me, the voice of Kate echoed in my head and instilled some sort of positivity inside of me.
I was able to overcome my fears.
I walked inside the room without knocking.
There, I met Cyril laughing over the phone. He was so engrossed in the telephone conversation that he didn’t even recognize my presence. At some point, I was starting to think that I’d suddenly become invisible.
I paid attention to the way he spoke on the phone. It didn’t sound like a business call. What kind of business conversation involves sweet name-calling?
“Cyril, we need to talk,” I interrupted his call and tucked my arms.
I was scared from the inside but my facial expressions reeked of bravery.
I already prepared my mind to flee should attempts start hitting me hard. This was one of the reasons I asked Kate to be on standby should an emergency arise.
“Are you even listening to me right now? I just said I want us to talk.
Get off the damn phone,” I repeated my utterances, this time with a loud voice.
Still, It wasn’t enough to get Cyril’s attention. He shunned me and pretended not to know that I was standing right in front of him.
I got fed up with him ignoring me and forcefully snatched the phone away from him. I was this close to smashing it against the wall. I just decided to control my rage.
“What did you just do?” Cyril roared like a wounded Lion. It was at that moment it became clear to me that I just invited chaos into my life. I was prepared to dance to the tune, too.
“I finally got your attention.
I thought I was an invisible being,”
I gnashed my teeth.
“I was speaking to a client over the phone about a giant deal but guess what? You just ruined everything. I guess you’re happy now?” Cyril yelled at me.
At the mention of the massive deal, I started to feel guilty that I just ruined what would have been a perfect opportunity for us.
Some parts of me want me to apologize immediately. However, my ego suggested otherwise, considering what it took me to show up here.
The doubt.
The fear and,
Their motivation from Kate played a huge and vital role in ensuring I spoke to Cyril. I wasn’t going to let that go away like that.