The Marriage Conspiracy [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER NINE: THE COMPROMISE

“Jake, I’ve done it!” Rachel exclaimed enthusiastically as he entered the kitchen one morning nearly making him jump in surprise.

 Apparently, she had been waiting for him to announce her terrific news because her exclamation had followed when he had barely entered the room. The ‘it’ must be something pretty special since she had been avoiding him lately – at the point where he did not see her for a whole day. No matter how much he had cursed himself or tried to divert his mind he still missed her. But he still believed that they should not sleep together. And if that made her indifferent to him, he couldn’t be bothered.

And today she looked radiant.

“Hmm… let me guess. You’ve cooked me an Indian food?” he asked hopefully admiring the way her hair was falling across her face. They looked soft and his fingers itched to touch the long tresses and feel the texture. She grinned at him and shook her head in response to his guess.

“Hmm… you…you’ve finally decided which colour to paint the master bedroom of the penthouse?” he asked as he tried for another guess.

“Nope. You have one last chance.”

“Alright. At least give me a clue.”

“Okay. It’s something next to impossible.”

He sat on the nearby stool and sipped his iced tea pensively trying to look as serious as possible while he was having X-rated thoughts about her legs. By now, he was imagining them entangled around his naked body. “I know,” he said suddenly. “You’ve stolen Ash’s slippers!”

Ashton had a cute ‘tweety’ slippers while Jake had a bunny one that Aunt Susie had gifted to both of them on their thirteenth birthday. And Rachel had fallen instantly in love with Ash’s cute pair of slippers and had almost begged him to gift them to her. Jake had offered his to Rachel but the latter had wanted only tweety. And had been trying to snitch them from the adamant Ash even in their adulthood.

Laughing at his latest suggestion, he watched as Rachel shook her head again. “Nope, although I’m still working on that.”

Jake lifted his hand in defeat. “I give up. So are you going to tell me or not?”

“Okay, hold your breath. I’ve succeeded in getting a … tada divorce!” she cried dramatically ending the sentence with a theatrical note.

For a moment, Jake though he had heard wrong. He must have. It couldn’t be what he had thought it was.

“I’m sorry. For a second I thought I heard you say you’ve gotten a divorce.”

“Right! We’ll be getting a divorce soon, Jake.”

Shocked. Of course he was shocked. That explained why he wasn’t happy – yet. It didn’t however explain the sudden need he felt to strike his fists against something hard. And he also felt like scowling. So he did.

“What do you mean?” he asked trying to sound casual certain that there was a misunderstanding somewhere.

“Hey! You’re supposed to be dancing around,” she told him looking at him with a gleeful light in her eyes.

“Well, I’m not,” he muttered folding his arms forcefully and glared at her. “Explain yourself,” he barked quenching down the feelings that were threatening to overcome his senses.

She peeked at him curiously and finally said. “Well, your father and I had a little talk and he has agreed to sign the paper that stipulates that he had no objection whatsoever for our divorce. In fact, he had already…”

“What kind of talk?” he interrupted still not thrilled. He found it normal that he was not thrilled because there might be a catch after all.

“Well,” she pursed her lips in a thoughtful manner and replied. “A friendly one.”