Marriage of convenience

Chapter 25

When Adrian asked me what exactly was going on, I thought that I was dead. But when the shop owner startled us by welcoming someone, that someone being Ray, I realized that I was not exactly dead, but buried alive.

"Uh, Ray, what are you doing here?" I squeaked, desperately wishing that this were all a dream.

"It's about time I spoke to you, Ray," Adrian sneered. "What is it with you and Angela being cousins, huh? As far as I know, she has no cousins that I don't know of, and what is it with you living together with her? Aren't you supposed to be family friends?"

"Adrian, stop!" I exclaimed. This was just going out of control. "Ray, it's actually-" I tried to explain, but he cut me off.

"I heard most of the conversation," Ray spoke finally, walking towards us in small, cautious steps. 

"That's good, because I don't have to repeat myself. You better give me some explanation, Ray. Who are you exactly?" 

Ray sighed, sitting down in front of us and gesturing us to do the same. Reaching out and taking my hands in his, he took a deep breath and said, "I am her husband, Adrian. We're married."

His words echoed in my head and for a moment, my heart stopped beating and the world stopped spinning. His words kept playing in a loop inside my head and I didn't know what to do. My hands were tightly held in his and I could hear my heart beating again, this time louder than ever. It was so loud, as if to tell me that I was in the reality and this was not some kind of a dream.

"You are her what?" Adrian gaped at us and Ray didn't hesitate to say it once more.

"I am her husband and she is my wife, Adrian. We are married. Believe it or not."

"But," he looked at me with disbelief evident in his eyes. "Tell me that it is not true, Angela! You can't be married! Not to him!" He half yelled.

"I am, Adrian," I felt the words tumbling out of my mouth involuntarily. I didn't want to tell him, yet as the secret was now in the open, and as Ray was already admitting it, I might as well have joined in.

"But he has a girlfriend, Angela! How can you marry someone who does not even love you, but is also in love with some other girl?" Adrian resorted to full blown yelling and I couldn't help process the reality of the situation. Adrian was actually standing up to the injustice done to me, but I didn't understand why that made me feel uneasy. Wasn't I already used to the fact that he didn't love me, but someone else? Didn't I already know about all this in the first few days of my marriage? Didn't I prepare myself to part ways with him when the time came? Yet, why did my heart feel this way? "I knew that there was something really wrong with you when you suddenly left me like that! Who would go away leaving everything behind, and that too without telling a word, just because they have gotten an admission in a university?"

"It's okay, Adrian. Calm down," I tried saying, but he was in no mood to listen to me. He was in a shock and he wouldn't stop until he vented out all his frustration. 

"How am I supposed to calm down, Angela? Do you know what you got yourself into? You had such bright future, such a beautiful life! What went so wrong that you had to marry him and keep it a secret, and that too from me? You could have done so much better, Angela! Heck, if you thought that no one would marry you, I was here! If you, even for a second, thought that you were ugly, let me tell you, I have always found you beautiful, right from the beginning. I would any day be ready to marry you! Who is a better match to me if not a best friend and a soulmate?"

"Adrian, I am glad that you think about me that way, but-"

"But, what? Was it because of the money? Did he offer you a huge sum? Were you in a debt? If money was the problem, you could have talked to me about it and we could have settled the issue in some way, Angela!" Adrian sounded desperate and my heart hurt for him.