Liberation [completed]

The Envelope

"We need to talk," Mia says hurriedly and looks at me worriedly and I think, a little confused.

We just finished cleaning up after dinner and I was nursing a glass of whisky in my hand and ready to do anything with her that entailed my hands or lips on her or her being as close to me as possible. It was the first Monday after my trip and I had stayed home while Mia had gone to work. I picked her up from work and we went for a run around central park. Picking her up from work will definitely be the best time of my day. I loved watching her grinning face walking towards me. I knew in that moment that I was the reason for that smile on her face and it was always the reassurance I needed.

Especially today, after the weekend we had. Mia was still physically close to me. She was still very eager to spend time with me, but it always felt like she was distracted, thinking about something else. I tried asking her about it but she always shut down when I did. I knew better by now than to ask her. Now that she said this, I knew it had to be about what was bothering her.

"Of course, living room?" I ask her as I take her hand in mine and guide her to the living room.

When we get there, I sit down on the sofa and try to pull Mia down with me but she resists and stays standing. She pulls out of my grip and walks to the other end of the sofa. Her face looks troubled and she racks her hand through her hair.

"Mia, whatever it is...you know I'll try my very best to fix it or help you fix it. You have me remember?" I try to remind her.

"It's not....I'm angry at you" She practically blurts then she looks at me and I realise, I had reacted before I could process her words. I felt my jaw hanging open and my eyes must have given me away.

"I'm angry at you but I still love, I still want you, I still need you." She says and begins pacing, "And that makes me confused cause, how can I be angry at you and still love you so so much? So I realised, that I'm not angry at you, what I'm actually feeling is hurt and......betrayal."

Betrayal? From me?

I had not even looked at another woman since her. How could she feel that way?

I look up at her just in time to see the torn look cross her face. I had seen that look. "It's been bothering me Asher, even though I know and it probably is true that you had a valid reason for doing what you did." She hiccups through that sentence and I can only sit on the sofa and wreck my brain for what I possibly could have done this weekend or in London.

I had been in meetings all day and when I got back to the hotel, in the small gaps of our time difference I spoke to Mia then spent the nights with potential clients or board members over dinner. I never went to a club or even approached a woman, I turned them all away before anything got out of hand. Everyone was surprised by my behaviour, they had heard that I found someone but they couldn't believe it until they saw it. So how could she say this to me now. I had done nothing wrong.

"I was in your office one night, and it was messy. So I started sorting the stuff out for you" She begins before I can protest and I shut up mouth realising this could have nothing to do with another woman.

My office had been cleared, well half of the piles on my table were gone and sorted in various drawers. I had, had a hard time finding where everything was and I may have snapped at Martha but she had told me Mia had done it and I felt my anger fade off.

"And I came across a brown envelope, it was already half open, but the envelope didn't have any company stamp, it just had the address on it. So I took out the-"

I already knew what she was talking about. The envelope that had all her details. I barely remember when I had gotten it. That felt like ages ago. That was before Mia started opening up to me. I realise she had finished what she was talking about and I begin to speak defensively she had to know that I never read anything in that envelope.