Eve’s POV.
I returned to the hotel suite after seeing Jason making out with his mistress. To be honest, it hurt to see him like that but it only showed that he doesn’t respect me at all. The girl even said she was his girlfriend, if he had a girlfriend then why did he choose to marry me? Is it because I’m not up to the standards that society has made? Rich people can be so annoying sometimes. But I wasn’t going to let myself be bothered. If I get affected by this now, I’ll be losing and I don’t want to lose. I may be young but I’m no pushover. I may be poor and slow like a snail but one great attribute of a snail is perseverance and I will stick to this until I conquer it.
Okay, maybe that’s a little bit too much to say. Conquer? It’s not a war.
Jason’s mom wants us to come home to stay with her and grandma Nini. She likes me and as Jada said; the key to a man’s heart is through his mother.
I don’t know when I fell asleep on the couch but I woke up to the sound of the door opening and the lights being switched on.
And there he stood with a smug smile on his face that I just wanted to slap away but I had to admit, he does look much better while smiling.
Maybe this is the first time I’m seeing him smile even if it’s not directed towards me. He didn’t seem to notice me as he did a victory dance round the living room until I cleared my throat.
“Oh.. ” He mumbled with his cheeks a shade of red probably from embarrassment.
“Why do you always fall asleep on the couch?” He asked coldly, maintaining his usual composure.
“None of your business.” I thought but I just looked at him and shrugged instead of answering.
The silence soon took over us and we just stayed there looking at each other until he looked away and cleared his throat.
“I accept your apology.” He said after a short while and it took me a while to understand what he meant.
“Thank you?”
“You didn’t need to.”
“Fine.”
All sorts of replies were going through my mind but I couldn’t find a way to answer him. Maybe because all my mind drifted to the half naked lady I met in his office with him.
Earlier, his mother stopped by with the file and I assumed it was late afternoon and he might have not had lunch and knowing Jason, I guessed I was right. And so I made him a small lunch and attached a sticky note because I wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t snap at him if he decided to talk down to me but when I got to his office there was no one at the secretary’s desk and so I walked towards the door to knock but the lewd noises I heard stopped me and until it died down, I didn’t knock or anything. I guessed all sorts of things as I stood outside that door. I knew Men had urges so he might have been relieving himself or he was probably watching porn. I knew he had an affair but I didn’t think it was a continuous thing and most of all, I didn’t think he would bring his mistress to his office and so I pushed the door open. Then I thought the least he would do was shoo me out or hide in embarrassment, i never really expected to see anybody there at all. And it broke my heart because I knew I wasn’t respected in this marriage that I had thrown myself into. Whenever I read books or watched movies, I always imagined myself as the main character that ends up with a charming prince but I ended up with someone not even close. Well, the devil is beautiful though.
“Eve!” Jason’s loud voice jolted me out of my thoughts.
“What?” I asked frowning.
“I was talking to you, why are you so slow?” He snapped and I looked away. Arrogant fool!
“Anyways, here..” he said, throwing a small box at me.
“What’s that?” I asked with curious eyes.
“Why don’t you find out?” He smirked.
I was curious but I wasn’t going to give in. And so, I threw the box back at him and he caught it immediately and threw me a confused look.
“You won’t even open it?” He asked, frowning.
“Why should I?” I raised my brows.
“It’s a token of my gratitude.” He mumbled but I heard it loud and clear.
“I don’t need it.” I said getting up from the couch where I sat.
“Your mother asked me to make you lunch, that’s why.” I lied.
“So you should thank her, not me.” I said walking towards my room. I could feel his piercing gaze on my back but I didn’t want to turn around so I walked faster and closed the door right behind me before sliding down the floor and resting my back on the door.
Would this marriage be any better soon?
After much thought, I got up from the floor and went to my bed. I laid on my back and faced the ceiling thinking about what I would be doing now before I got married to Jason.
The time was after eight so I’ll probably be on night shift at the bar. I walked four jobs, a waiter at the coffee shop in the morning, a salesperson at a mattress centre, a delivery girl in the evening, a cleaner at the bar at night and I had all sorts of friends. Apart from the men who tried to hit on me at the bar, I had people whom I respected and I didn’t even tell them before quitting my job. I missed the old lady who always wanted coffee even when I told her it could be bad for her health. I missed my manager at the mattress centre who let me sleep on some soft mattresses when the shift was over. I missed all these but this life is better now. I don’t have to work and I can do enough to keep me and my family sustained. How nice could that possibly be?
I don’t know when I drifted off to sleep but the sound of the alarm beeping was what woke me up early the next morning.
I said my morning prayer, got up from the bed, brushed my teeth and took my bath. I dressed up in jeans and a pink shirt while I packed my black curly hair in pigtails. I was going to walk out of this room and act like nothing happened yesterday. Yes, that’s exactly what I was going to do.
I opened the door of my room and was surprised to see a few hotel workers inside taking a few things out of Jason’s room out of the suite.
“What’s going on?” I asked in confusion the moment I saw Clinton.
“You’re going to Mr Coleman’s house.” Clinton said to me.
Huh? Going to Jason’s home?
“Why?” I asked.
“His mother wants you to return home.” Clinton explained and I could tell from his expression that that was all he knew so I didn’t want to bug him any further so I went back to my room and packed my bags.
Jason is really an asshole since he keeps moving me up and down.
“Are you packed?” I heard behind and I knew the owner of that voice like the back of my palm and so ignored him.
“Are you packed?” He repeated more sternly and I turned to face him with an angry look on my face.
“Maybe if you told me yesterday to pack, I would have packed earlier.” I snapped.
“I thought you knew.” He was puzzled by my reply.
“How would I know? Am I a witch?” I frowned, angry that he was trying to pin the blame on me.
“You brought me the file, didn’t you know what was inside?” He asked.
“No..” I mumbled.
“Maybe if you didn’t walk away last night, I would have gotten the chance to tell you.” He mumbled.
“Maybe if you weren’t fooling around yesterday, I would have known the contents of the file.” I wanted to say it was my comeback but I had no right to interfere with his personal life so I shot him a glare and returned back to my bags that I was packing. The best answer for a fool is silence as they say.
“When you’re done, the workers will bring your box down.” Jason said and left.
I hissed as soon as he left and tried to fix everything into my box. When I was done, I texted Max that I wasn’t going to be at the hotel again because I remember texting yesterday night before I slept that I wanted to talk to him and we should meet up at Subway fast food restaurant that we met the other day.
I gave my box to one of the hotel workers and that’s when I saw the small box that Jason gave me yesterday on the table.
“Was he going to abandon it here?” I wondered and went to take a look at it.
“Is that yours?” One of the workers asked and I didn’t know what to say.
“Mr Jason asked me to throw it away but it looked so new that’s why I kept it on the table in case he changes his mind.” She said, smiling at me.
“It’s mine.” I said, giving her a small smile as I opened my purse and kept the small box inside.
I walked out of the suite and took the elevator down to the parking lot where I began to look for Jason’s car but I couldn’t find him.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and I stopped ready to attack whoever was standing behind me with my purse.
“Eve..” the person standing behind me said and I swore that I had heard that voice before. I turned to face the person ready to smack them with my purse but it turned out to be Jade.
“Jade?” I mumbled.
“Sorry for scaring you.” He noticed my posture.
“I’ll be driving you to your new home.” He said and I shrugged.
“I thought I’ll never see you again.” I said as we walked towards the car.
“Me too, but here I am.” Jade laughed.
We got to the car and he entered the driver side while I got into the passengers side.
“You should sit at the back.” He urged me but I refused to listen.
“I feel like a rich man’s wife when I sit at the back.” I said with a shrug.
“You are a rich man’s wife.” He laughed and I couldn’t help but smile.
“So tell me all what you’ve been up to.” I said as he ignited the engine and drove out of the parking lot.
“Alot.” He said as he began to tell me all the kinds of stuff he had been doing and I couldn’t help but envy him.
“I miss working.” Was all I could think of from his narrative.
We soon arrived at the estate where Jason’s main house was and since we had run out of words to say we both enjoyed the scenery in silence. These houses sure did have class and I felt oddly strange being there but maybe it was because I haven’t been here except that day when I came to deliver something to Jason. My first encounter with the rude young man.
I didn’t know we had arrived at the house until Jade said we’d arrived. I got out of the car and I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful flowers that were grown all around and the fountain in the middle.
“This is beautiful.” I said, turning my head around like a child’s first time at an amusement park.
I was intrigued by everything around and I wanted to touch them but I held myself back and walked to the door and knocked on the door. The door opened and I saw a guard who bowed the moment he saw me.
“Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you ma’am.” He said and I felt weird.
“Ma’am.” I mumbled feeling odd.
Why were they addressing me like I’m a queen from the nineteenth century?
“Call me Eve.” I said quietly.
“No ma’am, we’ve been forbidden to call you by your name and only talk when asked a question, let me escort you to the living room where madam Mia awaits you.” The guard said I was starting to think I was probably shooting a commercial for a movie titled – The Queen returns home.
I followed behind me and we soon arrived at the living room that had a huge chandelier right in the middle just like the one at the suite only bigger.
“Eve, welcome home.” Someone said and I could tell it was Grandma Nini.
“Grandma.” I said I was going to give her a hug.
“I’ll take my leave, madams.” The guard said and I looked at him with a puzzled look.
“Let me show you around, Mia’s busy in the kitchen.” Grandma Nini said, dragging me along with her. She showed me the garden where she plants different kinds of flowers but we only admired it from the outside because now it was just for sightseeing and we’ll get to see the inside later.
Then she showed me the inside swimming pool where she said Jason liked to swim in and I told her I never knew that Jason could even swim and I couldn’t even swim at all.
And then she showed me the inside of the movie theatre and I could understand why Mia said she hadn’t been to a cinema before when we went out the other day. It was because they had most of the facilities inside the house.
She showed me to the gym and a shooting area and I wondered why they had a shooting area in the house but I came to the conclusion that they probably had a lot of space and everyone wanted to chip in their hobbies so I didn’t ask any questions regarding the shooting area.
“Let’s go to the dining room, the food should be ready now.” Grandma Nini said, dragging me back inside and straight to the dining area. Soon we were served with all kinds of delicacies most of which I had never seen before so I didn’t know their names.
“Eve, I didn’t know what you liked so I got you a little bit of everything.” Mia said as soon as she sat down opposite grandma Nini at the dinning. I was seated in the middle and the chair opposite me was empty and I guessed that’s where Jason would sit but I was proven wrong when I saw the maids adding extra plates to the other two sides of the table and I got confused.
The dinning was a six person table, with three chairs on each horizontal part.
I noticed that despite the beautiful aroma of the food, they didn’t eat and seemed to be waiting for someone.
I wondered if it was Jason they were waiting for and I thought he was being rude by keeping us waiting but who were the other two plates for or did Jason have other siblings too?
From what I gathered, Jason is the only son and child of the Coleman’s family so I couldn’t understand why they were adding other plates to the table. But then I also thought that it could be distant relatives. Jason never really talks about himself so I don’t know anything about him except that he’s a grumpy rude jerk.
Or was he inviting his side chick to this dinner? She did say that she was his girlfriend so it wouldn’t be weird if she came here or would it?
All sorts of thoughts ran through my head and I felt that if I added a thought to it, my head may explode and to my relief, I heard the big door opening and I could hear footsteps coming towards the dinning. One of the footsteps being Jason’s which I recognize and the other two sounding familiar too. Maybe my thoughts were beginning to overcloud my head.
Jason soon got to the dinning with two people that I least expected to see here.
My parents.
Not in a million years or in a lifetime did I think I would see them here, especially not on my first day in Jason’s real home.
I looked at Mia who could read the panic on my face.
“I invited them here.” She mouthed.
“Welcome to our humble home.” Mia smiled at my parents who looked at her and smiled too nodding their heads.
“Please sit, let’s eat and merry.” Mia said and my parents sat down. Mia opposite grandma Nini, my mother opposite me, my father opposite Jason and Jason right by my side. I looked at them and they looked very different from the last time I saw them. They looked clean and well fed, I guess they got what they wanted. They gave their daughter off to the wrong man and got riches in return. Well atleast, they looked happy and content. I hope they don’t ruin my night. I was beginning to look at my appetite even when my mouth was watering just a few minutes before they arrived.
“Serve the food.” Mia said to the maids who stood behind us waiting for order. I felt sick to my stomach and I wasn’t sure I could eat this food anymore but it would be disrespectful to Mia and grandma Nini who made this all possible so I had to stay. So their efforts would not be in vain.