The Re-search

Chapter 1

"Hey, I'm going to the gym, do you need anything?" I asked Nella, who was seated at the vanity in her office, her hands skillfully curling the wig she'd just installed.

"I'm okay," she said dismissively, not even glancing at me.

I took a few steps closer to her, my eyes searching hers through the mirror she was looking into. "You sure?"

"I said I'm fine, Hasani." she said, getting irritated. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to be honest about whatever is bothering you. I ask you a genuine question and you treat it like a burden to answer?"

"Maybe I am burdened by your question. It's not like you can actually get me what I really want."

I sighed as I realised what she was saying. "Nella, this again?"

She smirked and  nodded once, her eyes hardening as she took another section of hair and wrapped it around the curling rod in her hand.

"Who's burdened by whose words now?" she asked, completely avoiding eye contact.

I got flashes from when things were much better between us and wondered just how we got here. Something in the way she talked to me lately always made me feel like I was failing at being a husband.

"So you just don't think it's burdensome to dump such a responsibility on me, with everything else I have going on?"

"What else do you have going on? Huh? Are you the one being attacked everyday? Are you the one who's sometimes unable to make it out of bed because people keep harassing you about things you can't control?" she said the words in the most bitter way, clearly not caring about the impact they'd have on me.

"Maybe not." I said. "But I'm stressed out of my mind daily because my wife keeps harassing me about things I can't control."

"Okay." she snapped, slamming the curling rod down onto the table with enough  force to damage it. "You can go to the gym. We're done here."

"Of course you'd dismiss me." I said.

"Hasani! What do you want me to say to you?!" she shouted now. Nella was growing agitated, no longer passive aggressive, just aggressive. Voice rising. Hands in fists. Face in a scowl that made me wonder who was even sitting in front of me.

"I want you to take a step back before you say things that make me look like the bad guy here, when I'm affected by the negativity, too." I answered her question, pulling an ottoman close and taking an uncomfortable seat. "I've never once agreed with those hate comments and yet you treat me like I'm the orchestrator of all of it."

"Because you encourage it." Nella said with a shake of her head.

"I encourage it? I encourage it?" I was beginning to lose my temper.