King and Yara

Chapter 12 (King): I Didn't Want To Love You

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

*** TRIGGER WARNING FOR DRUG ADDICTION AND OVERDOSE DISCUSSION ***

"I hate talking about Runi."

From the sadness in my voice, she could probably tell. In fact, I think that might have been the first time she'd ever heard me refer to my first wife by name. I'd always said the children's mother or my wife when mentioning her to Yara, and even that wasn't often.

"And I hate talking about her because I loved her and she loved me before it all went to hell."

Yara was quietly listening, obviously able to tell that this wasn't easy for me so she was going to let me get this out in my own way and at my own pace.

"She was sweet, goodhearted, incredibly caring and for the first time in my life, I was ready to settle down when I met her. Knew she was the woman for me and I thought she felt I was the man for her."

You're all I want, Henry.

"And for the first six months of our marriage, things were perfect. Runi had quit her job because she hated it, and she said she was going to look for something new to do, maybe start school. I told her to do whatever she wanted, take some time to think about what really interested her, and she was excited to have options."

I have all of these possibilities in front of me because of you, Henry.

"What became painfully obvious was that she didn't like the potential as much as she liked the reality of the money. She'd been raised with enough, but not a lot so she was spending a ton of money. At the same time, I was involved with a couple of business deals that Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kingston needed to attend. Runi never told me just how nervous they made her. I hired a stylist for her, makeup and hair artists, and unknown to me, her stylist gave her a little pick me up that first night, to help her calm her nerves, give her a little boost of confidence. I noticed she was a bit more animated than usual at those events, but I just thought she was trying to be there for me. When I talked to her about it, she said she was just trying to have fun and be a good wife."

Yara was still listening, her face showing me she was intent on my shitty story that was about to go downhill quick.

"She started shopping more and more, stopped talking about school, and when I didn't have any corporate events, she wanted to go out and show off her new dress, her new shoes, her new jewelry, her new whatever at all the best restaurants or clubs. Eventually, going out on Friday and Saturday nights wasn't enough, and we began going out during the week once or twice, then three or four times, until finally we were out every single night. I hated it; I wanted to come home from work and relax in our home, but going out made her happy, and she wasn't working so Runi said she was pretty lonely when I got home and wanted to go out and be around people. So she said. But I found out later she wasn't so lonely. Her stylist was giving her pills and names of guys looking for a good time. She'd meet up with them during the day while I was at work."

"That's horrible," Yara said. I couldn't argue with that so I just continued."

She wasn't happy when she got pregnant with Louise around our first anniversary, but it freaked her out and she came to me crying, saying she'd taken a few pills here and there, and she was worried the pills she'd taken before she knew she was pregnant had hurt the baby. So after that, we stayed home, she stayed off the pills and we had Louise, grateful as hell she was healthy."

"That was lucky," Yara said, her face angry.

"And for a while, we were a happy little family. But she didn't breastfeed because she wanted to go out again and not be tied down. I didn't want to but I hired a nanny and I went out with Runi to make sure she stayed away from drugs. All I wanted was the girl I fell in love with, but it was becoming clear she was gone. I suggested rehab, therapy, marriage counseling...but then the Runi I fell in love with would surface for a while and things would be good."