THE CROWDED MARRIAGE

Chapter 27

Maeve Dominique Valencia
-present-

One thing I've realized in our marriage... there's no mistress.

Simula una pa lang ay inaasahan ko na baka magkaroon ng issue na mistress sa magiging marriage namin ni Ivory.

I am preparing myself for that. Heck, I was even forming a script before the wedding for that moment where everyone could criticize me and Ivory.

Ivory came from a five-year relationship. Hindi siya tatagal ng ganoon kung hindi importante sa kanya yung tao. Prangkang tao si Ivory at ayaw na ayaw niya rin yung nasasayang yung oras niya. Siya rin yung tipo ng tao na mabilis ma-bored at ayaw magbigay ng effort sa alam niyang wala naman epekto sa kaniya.

As a woman, I respect Filoah Anne. There's a bit of jealousy because she was that woman. A nice, pretty, smart, independent woman. Ivory is even lucky to have her.

So I was expecting before that Ivory would let her into our marriage.

But it never happened. Ivory and I were now celebrating our first wedding anniversary with no issues from a third party. Maybe the start wasn't good, but that was understandable. After all, our marriage is a force of our families... not because we naturally loved each other at first.

"Happy anniversary, red."

I returned from my reverie when I heard Ivory's calm voice. I gazed at him lovingly. I'm no longer afraid to show affection to him after saying what I truly feel about us.

"We didn't start on good terms," I started. "We didn't properly celebrate our actual wedding. It's November 15, our wedding anniversary, my birthday on November 19, and Christmas and New Year are almost there. I want to celebrate those special occasions with you, Ivory. I hope we can celebrate like this for a lifetime."

Ivory held my hand. "We will celebrate every occasion for a lifetime."

I rested my head on his shoulder as we looked into the sunset. We're here at the penthouse. We were both busy, but we found each other's time for this important day... and I requested to just celebrate it today.

We just feel like talking about random stuff—about us, the future, work, and everything else. We never had this deep connection in our marriage. So we are doing it right now. It feels so good.

Then we had our dinner date, which we both prepared earlier.

"My dad finally believes in me," I started to open up to him.

The more I am with Ivory, the more I understand the importance of communication. I want him to know what's happening in my life, not just about us... and I'm hoping that he will open up to me as well.

I want to take this slow. I want to open myself to him until I have the guts to open up about the past.

"Really? What happened? You seem to be happier," he immediately replied as he snaked his hands over my shoulder.

I leaned closer to him. We just had our dinner, and now we're sitting on the sofa while watching Netflix.

My eyes, which were looking at the screen on TV, went to Ivory. His eyes were fixated on the TV.

"He gave me a big project in our company," I muttered.

His eyes quickly went to mine. Since I was beneath him, he looked down on me as our eyes locked. We were so intimately close that we could hear each other's breaths. I can even smell his minty breath; it makes me want to kiss him.