“What did you say?” Dawson asked as he stood in front of the up-to-down mirror, adjusting his tie.
“Nothing.” Carolyn cut him off before exiting the room.
Since her outburst with Phoebe, Carolyn had been giving Dawson silent treatment around the house. She had ignored his side jokes, she had stopped the things she usually helped him with, like knotting his tie, adjusting his shirt or placing his wristwatch on his wrist.
If what Phoebe said was the truth that Dawson hadn’t moved on from her, then it was better for Carolyn to give him the space to do his thing. She could not deny the truth that her marriage with Dawson was arranged, so if he was in love with someone else, she had better not stop him from doing his thing.
Carolyn rested on the kitchen countertop as she waited for the coffee maker. She had developed feelings for Dawson, and she thought he had to buy it. She was wrong. She thought as she stared into nothing in the kitchen. She thought that as the time went by, their arranged marriage would turn into a love story, but she was just expecting too much, and now she was disappointed.
“Babe?” Dawson’s brow furrowed in confusion as he walked into the kitchen. He observed something was wrong, he noticed the sudden change in his wife’s behavior, but he didn’t know what it was because she had been avoiding him like a plague.
Snapping out of her thoughts, she remembered the coffee maker and turned it off before grabbing her coffee. Trying to ignore Dawson, she tried to get out of the kitchen, but Dawson’s frame had blocked the door.
He knew she would avoid him like she had been doing for the past week, so he decided to stand in front of the kitchen door, just to stop her from leaving him.
“What’s going on with you?” His eyes lingered on Carolyn’s face as he asked her.
“Nothing.” She gave him a short reply. “Excuse me.”
“Babe, why are you acting this way? Are you feeling sick?” confusion etched on his face as he searched her eyes for answers. He couldn’t tell what was wrong with her, and he was trying to make her talk to him about it.
“I am not sick. I’m fine and healthy.” She replied, gritting her teeth. All she did was to have her coffee in peace.
“Then why this attitude? Why are you treating me like that? If I do something to you, let me know, so I can make up for it.” He moved away from the door, coming closer to where she stood beside the coffee maker in the kitchen.
“I can’t tolerate the change any longer,” he added.
“I’m just trying to give you space. I’m giving you a chance to pursue your love?” Carolyn blurted out, avoiding eye contact with him.
Confusion gnawed at Dawson as he heard her words. Space? Pursue love? He wondered.
“What do you mean?” Confusion laced in his voice as he voiced out his thoughts.
“I met Phoebe, and she told me….”
“You met Phoebe?” Dawson’s eyes widened in shock at her words. “How did you meet her?” He inquired. He had never for once thought that Phoebe was the cause of the sudden change in Carolyn’s behavior.
“She is Vanessa’s colleague.” She confessed. “She told me you…”
“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear any of it. I can’t believe you believed what a stranger told you.” He said to her.
“A stranger? Is she really a stranger to you because she said otherwise?” Tears welled up in Carolyn’s voice as she poured out her heart.
“Whatever she said is not my business, and it shouldn’t be yours either. Why did you talk to Phoebe in the first place? What exactly do you want to hear from my ex-girlfriend?
“I never wanted to be around her, but she came with Vanessa to lunch,” Carolyn replied sheepishly.
“Vanessa watches the people she rolls with,” Dawson said under his breath. “Babe,” he took her hands in his.” I can’t believe you changed because of Phoebe’s words. I don’t know what she had told you, but I know it was a lie. She is just trying to get to you because you have what she lost.” He fixed his gaze on her as he clarified the misunderstanding.
“Phoebe is no one to me. I don’t give a fuck about her or whatever she has told you. You are all I care about and that will never change. I love you and I will never stop loving you.” His unwavering gaze lingered on her, causing the tears to drop on her cheeks.
Regret settled on her as she listened to his heartfelt confession. She shouldn’t have believed Phoebe’s words. She shouldn’t have doubted her husband, she should have spoken to him about it instead of ignoring him.
His hands moved to her face, as he wiped the drops of tears away. “I hope there won’t be a next time, but if something like this ever happens again, please talk to me about it. It hurts me when you pretend not to see me.” He said before placing a kiss on her forehead.
“I’m sorry.” Carolyn mustered the courage to talk. “I should have spoken to you about it.”
He patted her back as he pulled her into a tight hug. Seconds morphed into minutes as they stood like that in each other’s arms.
Pulling away from the embrace, he held her shoulders with both hands as his eyes glued on hers, “I wouldn’t tell you what to do, but if Phoebe won’t stop feeding you nonsense, you should stay away from her. Also, you should warn Vanessa, Phoebe might not be a good influence on her.”
“I understand you.” She said, nodding her head in response.
Suddenly, a wave of nausea crashed over her, rising up like bile in her throat. An unsteady movement roared in her stomach, sending a jolt of panic through her. She hadn’t taken any food that morning, so the cause of the stomach upset was unknown to her.
Before Darryl could ask her about it, she spun on her heel, her legs weak and shaky, and ran towards the safety of the kitchen sink.
Gripping the edge of the counter, she bent over, squeezing her eyes shut as the room spun wildly around her, before letting out everything in her gut.
“We should get you to the hospital.” Dawson said as he gave her a glass of water.