My Adulterous Wife

Chapter 03 : Memories

~Chapter Three~

Memories

The soft rumbling and rough crackling of thunder was loud enough to be heard in the distance, but my focus was somewhere else.

'I want to die. I want to die. I want to escape, disappear.'

These thoughts went through my mind as I repeatedly let the shard of glass slide down my forearm, my sight blurring before me, my heart's ache throbbing excruciatingly against my chest, my mind blacking out, the slashes across my arms numbing me, my soul, my spirit.

He's done it. He's proven and shown me who I was.

I was disgusted with myself. To the point that my existence was something not to be proud of, but something to be utterly ashamed of.

I wanted to die. I didn't deserve to be living. To still be under the roof of his great-grandmother's home, to still have this opportunity to be in close proximity to his presence that I was undeserving of.

Tears silently rolled down my cheeks, and I suppressed my sobs, worried that I might wake the sleeping figure sprawled on our marital bed. As I watched him sleep in his peaceful slumber, flashbacks of the night we first met and snippets of how we ended up together crossed my mind.

●●●

"Miss Riddhima Malhotra?"

The girl in the midst of four more girls surrounding her on their 'exclusive for socialites' table looked up as her name was announced.

"What do you want?" she snapped, a little annoyed that the bartender came over to disturb the fun little session she was having with her female companions.

"This drink is compliments of that gentleman at the far end of the bar," the male bartender that was now also serving as a waiter explained.

The young lady annoyingly turned around to see this "gentleman" who probably thought that one single drink would help him get her into bed with him. It was always the same scene. Partying out somewhere, finding a nice spot in the bar or club, having a hot guy who had to be in the same social circle as you hit on you, you hit it off right away, sparks are seen in between drunkenness and you end up in a hotel for a quick one-night stand. And the next week, when you cross each other's paths in broad daylight in a state of sobriety, you pretend like nothing intimate between you ever happened.

This was the usual lifestyle of this young, elegant, radiant beauty who would've, on any other day, be eager to get this meeting with the perfect, rich stranger over with, but today was different. She wanted something different. After all, she wasn't getting any younger. And the same scene over and over again since she was eighteen was quite tiresome.

Directing an annoyed look toward the generous man who was "wasting his time," as Riddhima thought, she found herself immediately turning her exhausted look into a smile at the unexpected sight of the one man she wouldn't mind receiving drinks from the entire night until he took her home.

Looking back at the waiter, Riddhima then took the drink from the tray he still held before her and said a polite "Thank you" before he turned and left. Her gaze was now at the man making his way toward their table, while Riddhima was already excusing herself from her group of jealous admirers who she knew were only desperate to be friends with her to climb the social ladder in their circle faster.

"From the reaction I saw from you, you weren't quite pleased to receive my drink," the man, who had the same striking features on his flawless face as the young lady herself, said quietly, a little smile forming on the corner of his lips, amusement gleaming in his eyes.