The darker side of marriage

Chapter 1

*Flash back*

"Ellie! Ellie!"

"What?" I mumbled in my sleep deprived state turning in my sleep to see my handsome boyfriend of 3 years Shane grinning at me adorably.

"You have to wake up and come down!"

"Why?"

"Errr ummm Dania is coming to see you. she said its urgent and she wants to meet you for 2 minutes but its absolutely necessary that she meets you."

I groaned and got out of bed. I pulled on my coat and trudged downstairs. Shane had access to my small one bedroom apartment as I had given him an extra key. Even though we had been dating for three years we still didn't want to move in together. We needed our space. Sure we had slept over at each other's place but never for days on end. Maybe 3 days at the most.

I went downstairs hoping all was well with Dania, she had been having a rough time of late at work and in her personal life as well.

I reached the lobby of the apartment building and gasped.

There were at least a 100 candles in the centre in the shape of a heart. The heart was filled with rose petals and standing beside the heart with a goofy smile on his face was Shane.

"Happy valentine's day babe."

"Oh my God Shane" i said my voice breaking.

"Hope you like your surprise"

"I love it!"

I walked up to him and hugged him tight. "I love you"

"This is just the beginning I have a lot more planned."

I smiled and hugged him tighter.

"I love you too babe" he whispered in my ears.

*Flashback ends*

The phone rang shaking Elisabeth out of her reverie.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

Elisabeth bit back a sigh, she didn't need him to tell her it was him. She could recognize his voice in her sleep.

"Tell me."

"what do you want to do tonight?"

"Umm ..."

"Do we need to go out? I am exhausted."

But its OUR tradition she wanted to yell. We have been doing this for years!

"No we don't. We can stay in."

"Thanks Ellie."

"I'll see you in the evening." she hung up.

Shane and she had been married for three years now. They dated for four years before. She had known him for seven years now and somewhere down the line the romance had just sizzled out of their life. It was Valentine's day today and each year they tried to outdo the other as to who would give a better surprise.

Suddenly she had an inspiration. She smiled and stood up.

"I am going to leave early" she told Dania her best friend and business partner. Both the girls had graduated from their designing class and had opened a small boutique that was doing quiet well now.

"Sure thing Ellie."

"Will you close up?"

"Yup. Plans for tonight?"

"I am making some" I said smiling.

Her first stop was Victoria's Secret. She stepped in and an attendant rushed to her. The shop was a chaos with men and women alike. the men were doing last minute shopping for gifts and women trying to be ready for.

"I mean you can't go wrong with lingerie right?" A nervous looking man asked an attendant.

Elisabeth smiled to herself and told the attendant what she wanted. Within minutes she was out of the shop. Next she stopped at a Walmart and bought all that she needed. She was going to cook dinner herself.

She reached home and went straight to the kitchen. Gracie her help arrived at 4:00 p.m sharp. Elisabeth glanced at the clock and decided she had two hours to get things started.

"Gracie can you change the sheets? I have kept the ones I want on the bed."

"Yes ma'am."

Elisabeth hurried up and put the cake she was making in the oven to bake and busied herself with the icing. She was going for a red velvet cake which was Shane's favorite. She decided to make red icing instead of the traditional white vanilla icing. Her oven chimed in some time and she let the cake cool a bit and then started icing it. She started icing red roses on it and put on some silver sprinkles. She added I love You in white icing and happy with her work put it in the refrigerator. She took the chicken she had set aside for marination and put it in the oven. She put the timer on. She had decided to go with grilled prawns as appetizers and spicy lemon chicken roast with garlic bread as the main course. The cake would be the dessert.

She glanced at the clock ad decided she could still go get her hair done and get back in time to surprise Shane. Gracie went about cleaning the house and Elisabeth asked her to lock the house when she was done.

She called her stylist who managed to squeeze her in between two clients and got her eyebrows shaped and her cut and styled. Elisabeth smiled in satisfaction as she looked at herself in the mirror. She tipped the stylist generously and went home. She lit up the candles in the living room, raspberry scented ones that Shane loved so much.

She went up and to her bedroom to get changed. She opened the door and gasped at what she saw.

A/N: Yes I am going to leave it here :p Please comment and vote if you like. I am trying my hand at something different here hope you guys like it.