JUST A LITTLE COMFORT

C H A P T E R N I N E

I clearly didn't process what happened that day at the airport. It seemed like I buried it down and pretended it never happened and now, for some reason, that day popped into my head. The day I get married. That was odd timing. I chopped it down to wanting to be looked at with 'love' by Aarav on our wedding day and Cole Angelo gave me that look of love that day at the airport. I just realised Cole could have been right. There was such a thing as LOVE and now I realised I really wanted that feeling again. I felt it for Cole. He felt it for me. Now I feel empty. I wanted to be seen again, the way Cole saw me. I wanted Aarav to fall in love with me and care about me the way Cole did.

We were in the car, going to his house... or rather, our new home. I kind of expected a little cute awkwardness but Aarav was talking on his phone to one of his friends, loudly.

"Thanks man!" He said, talking to some guy who was congratulating him because he wasn't at the wedding, "No, this was just for these people, I'm going to have a bigger, better reception for all you guys to attend!" He said. Was he saying that the ceremony and wedding my family put together was not good enough? I felt a little nauseous now. I loved my wedding. It wasn't flashy but it was fun and colourful. It was filled with warmth because everyone played a part in it and contributed something towards it. It was special. Also referring to my family as "these people" was just off. It felt a little cold.

"Yes... Yes... She's one gorgeous woman." He said, looking at me with a wink and putting his arm around me and pulling me a little aggressively close to him while he was still on the phone with that guy. I kind of expected the first touch from him to be a little gentle, but okay. Well at least there was awkwardness now. Not cute awkwardness but discomfort was definitely present.

We arrived at his house. It was huge. Compared to the tiny house at the village and the fact that the other two places I stayed at were apartments, this looked huge in comparison. I was welcomed in and was wowed by how beautiful the interior of their house was. It was so modern. I bet if Julia had a space this big to work with, she'd have probably done it up ten times better, but it was still very beautiful.

"You might be a little tired for a tour right now. Let me just show you, OUR room." Aarav said.I had chills when he said that. I smiled shyly. The room we were going to share was pretty. It had shades of beige and gold. It was simple but elegant. It lacked personality but of course we'd need to add to it.

My outfit was heavy, and my feet were killing me at this point. The jewellery was even heavier. I had my hair up in a bun, put together with Bobby pins.

"One of the fun parts after the wedding is for your husband to sit and find each pin in your hair on your wedding night." One of the married neighbour's teased me while my hair was getting done this morning.

"I'll be back... Why don't you get ready for bed? I left you some comfier clothes in the bathroom... And please take off all those pins in your hair... It was a nightmare pulling all that out with my first wife." he said so bluntly and left the room. My eyes went wide. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. What was his rush anyway? Where did we have to go? Couldn't he be a little gentler or more romantic? I sighed.

I sat at this beautiful dressing table and looked at myself in the mirror. I began removing my jewellery. My ears felt so much relief once those heavy earrings came off. Then I removed the heavy necklace and Bangles. I already felt so much better. I went to the bathroom to take off my makeup and remove my clothes. I felt my cheeks flushed at this point when I saw the 'clothes' hanging in the bathroom. It was a very raunchy looking nightie. He wanted me to wear this? Now? Didn't he want to talk or something first? I ended up putting it on and felt so incredibly shy. I've never seen my body in clothes this revealing. I've never even stared at myself in my underwear in a mirror before. I took off all the pins I could find in my hair and my hair dropping down felt so good.