Together but Separate

Chapter 10: Unacceptable

Nicko Ferragni

"Nicko, are you listening?"

I lifted my head up when I heard my name. I saw Aunt Jaynie, my mom's younger sister, looking at me, wondering.

"What?" I absentmindedly asked.

"They are asking about what you think of the new feature of the rear view mirror that we will be putting on our next collection."

Oh. I did not know what to say because I was not listening. What happened two days ago kept bothering me that was why I kept losing my focus.

Since that morning Kate and I fought, my mind was in chaos. She was so good in making me upset that's why I bursted in anger in front of her. I was so mad at her at that moment because she thought lowly about what she did. She was so insensitive about the whole thing. When she mentioned about the annulment, my anger intensified. I hated it when she would always mention about annulment and use it as a resort when things were not working like how she wanted.

My suspicion about her was right after all. She thought of our marriage and problems lowly. She wanted an annulment? Fine! I will give it to her since she asked for it.

I admit that what I said to her was below the belt. I greatly upset her and offended her that's why she wanted an annulment. Maybe this was for the good. I did not want to stay married with someone who always thought of annulment. It was very displeasing to hear. Imagine, she dared mentioning about annulment in just less than a month duration of our marriage!

I cleared my throat and faced everyone. They were all looking at me, waiting for my reply. These people respected me a lot, and one wrong answer could change that. I should not make it obvious that I was not paying attention.

"I am not completely satisfied with the proposed change. I need more ideas the next time we meet," I told them and looked at my phone. "I have another stuff to attend to. You are all dismissed."

They all nodded and started leaving the room except for my Aunt Jaynie. I fixed my things and stood up from my chair.

"See you later, auntie."

I was about to leave when she called me, "Nicko." I faced her and she added, "What is bothering you?"

Even though I did not want to admit that something was bothering me because I did not want to talk about it, I knew Aunt Jaynie would not believe me if I told her that nothing was bothering me. She knew me well enough to know if I was fine or not.

I grew up seeing her and spending time with her. She was my mom's only sister, and they were very close. My mom would tell her almost everything about me.

Aunt Jaynie had been working in the company that I inherited from my grandparents, my mom and Aunt Jaynie's parents. When my grandparents died, the company was supposed to be given to her since my mom had no interest in running it. But Aunt Jaynie refused to handle the company as CEO because she said that it would be very stressful and too heavy for her, so she agreed to pass it on to my dad. Since my dad also inherited his family's business, he decided to merge both his and my mom's family businesses. Aunt Jaynie had been helping us out, and she was a member of the board of directors. Although she did not want to take over her parents' business solely, she still wanted to be part of it and protect her parents' legacy.

"It's about my marriage," I told her honestly. Besides, she was my dear aunt. I knew she would not judge me.

Worry crossed over her face. "What's going on with your marriage this time?"

Even though I had not told her about the reason of why I got married, I knew that she was aware already. My mom usually would not keep a secret from her.