Temptations

42. GREEN MONSTER

ELLIE

The day had passed in a blur. Half the day, my thoughts were converged on the woman I had seen my husband with earlier. I was in no way jealous. Why would I? It's not like he was my real husband. Then what was this nagging feeling in my chest?

Ignoring everything altogether, I was sitting across from Drake in his office, working on a meeting when I got a text from Nathan that he was waiting for me in the parking lot.

"Husband dearest?" Drake inquired.

"Yeah, he is leaving." I replied, staring at the text. "I can leave late if you want."

"No, you won't. It's quite late." He said and watched the clock as it struck 7. "By the way, I saw Alicia today." He added when I was about to stand up.

"You know her?" I asked, scrunching my nose.

"She was in school with us but to be honest, I am not really a big fan of hers." He replied and seeing my confusion, he added, "Nothing personal. It's just that she didn't like when Nathan hung out with other people including me. She was possessive about him."

"Then how come they never dated?" I asked.

"Um… well… Nathan did ask her out once." He said and my mouth opened in surprise.

"That was way before Sabrina came to the picture."

"Then? Did they?" I asked with curiosity. If Nathan asked her out then that means he was interested in her romantically. No doubt he was laughing like a puppy with her.

"No, she declined his proposal." He said and my eyes widened as I imagined someone turning Mr. Byers down. "Nathan wasn't always smoking hot. He used to have thick glasses and he weighed over 200 pounds back then." Drake informed.

It was difficult to digest this new piece of information. Although it shouldn't concern me who Nathan dated or who he didn't, yet I couldn't keep my mind off that topic.

"Um... Well, who cares if they dated or not." I said.

"Right." He smiled.

"I… I should leave now." I said, lost in the thoughts.

My heels made noise against the marbles floor as I made my way downstairs. When I reached the parking lot, I was faced with an unfamiliar sight. Instead of Nathan waiting for me alone, he was standing outside the car with Alicia, both of them laughing at something she was saying.

My stomach flipped at the sight and I felt uncomfortable all of sudden. What was this weird feeling I had whenever I see them together?

"Hi." I pasted a fake smile on my face as I walked over to them.

"Hi, we were waiting for you." Alicia said and I stared at her in confusion.

"Um…" I trailed off. "We?"

"I asked Alicia to stay with us. Why should she stay in a hotel when we have dozens of empty rooms in our house?" Nathan said.

"Y… yeah." I said, feeling uneasy. I didn't want to stay in the same house as hers, specially after knowing her history with Nathan. But what can I say? It's not my house.

"Let's go now. It's cold." Nathan sat down in the driving seat.

Alicia was ahead of me so she took long strides and slid into the passenger seat. "Oh, sorry." She said when she saw me staring towards her blankly. "Would you like to sit here?"

I exchanged a glance with Nathan who had an indifferent look on his face. "It's okay. I'll sit in the back." I said and sat down in the back seat.

The whole drive, they kept talking to each other and Alicia didn't stay quiet for even one second. She made sure to give Nathan a reminder of all the wonderful times they have had together. By the end of the drive, my head was about to burst. Therefore, as soon as the car stopped, I walked out of it and rushed into the house.