My Mother in Law

Trouble II

A pair of livid eyes urge me to answer his question; where have I been?

"I told you," I stutter "I was out with a friend."

"Oh yes of course you were." He states with a sarcasm laced voice, pushing himself off the wall to come and stand right in front of me.

What the hell is up with him? Why the sudden concern?

"Look," I sigh "I just lost track of time and by--"

"Oh lost track of time did you? And I'm here worried sick whole you just lost track of time. Probably too much of a diversion." He deadpans.

I try to ignore the fact that he just admitted his concern for me in the strangest of forms. Instead I focus on the fact that I am a free woman and this guy who claims he's my husband is trying to control me life. Hell nah.

"What is your deal?" I ask, annoyed.

"My deal?" He repeats "My deal is that you just showed up past midnight, giggling on the phone like a schoolgirl about something that didn't stop because of your marriage. You think this is completely normal and expected?"

By now his nostrils are flared, eyes dark and his voice rapidly increasing. I refuse to be treated this way and frankly speaking, too exhausted to start a fight right now. So I just roll my eyes at him, tell him to get a life and swivel around to head to my bedroom.

I don't make it further than two steps when I feel his hand wrap around my upper arm in an iron grip, forcing me to turn around and look at him.

"Answer my damn question." He grits out.

I harshly yank my arm from him. "No. I don't. I don't think it's normal. I don't think you and I are normal, in fact, I know we're not. But if you think you're going to cage me here like an animal and make me feel like the dirt you step on, let me stop you right there. You ignore my very being and I'm not even complaining, but the last thing I'll let you do is control me. Your bipolar ass can find someone else to boss. I'm a free woman and technically, I'm not even married to you. You can't eliminate the positives of a relationship but still enforce the negatives. Not fucking happening!"

I practically screamed the last three words and now as we stood facing each other, my chest heaving and his eyes cold, I really did question his motives. Why was he acting this way?

"As long as you're under my roof, you abide by my rules. You will not come home later that nine pm and no more running around with that violent idiot you call a friend."

I shoved at his chest in warning "Don't you ever bad moth Gale again. He has been and will always be more of a brother to me and if you can't get that into your thick skull then I don't give a-"

"Going into defensive mode huh?" He snickers.

I've had enough of this. I'm not taking anymore of it so I charge towards him and poke an angry finger into his chest.

"You were the one who suggested we get married. The one who was all like 'I'm losing my mother.' The one who said I should move in."

I glare at him, challenging him to deny or oppose. An angry tear slides down my cheek; the feeling of being unwanted overpowering until it's suffocating me. The familiar burn is at my throat and before the dam breaks, I wheel around and walk away.

When his hand holds my arm this time, I'm far less patient. "Let go of me." I mutter lowly through gritted teeth.

His face paints a panicked look. "I didn't really mean that. I was just worried that you-"

I stopped listening to what he was saying and instead focused on his eyes. While his face earlier held a panicked look, his eyes now reflect a different emotion;
one that made me feel humiliated, one that I'm much too familiar with, one that finally breaks me:
Pity.

"LET FUCKING GO OF ME!"

Even I was shocked by my out burst. As he lets go of me, I feel the burn of a yet-to-form bruise on the area his fingers abandoned. I didn't spare him a second glance as I made my way across the hall and straight into the comfort of my bed. I then proceeded to let the tears of humiliation flow freely until the crack of dawn.
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I can't believe what happened at work today!

Gale saw the hand print bruise on my arm and guessed it was caused by Zachary. Let's just say, I better keep these two away from each other for the next week, if not forever. They don't need a reason to further despise each other.

But now, as I lay in my bed with the soft rain, after works of the previous blowing winds and rain, facing the ceiling and trying to sleep, I remember the past hectic week. Ever since the fight, Zachary's been trying to make it up to me. But I haven't made it easy.

When he asks how my day was, I just scoff at him and walk away. He makes every effort to interact with me but after the fourth day, he simply gives up. We don't talk, laugh and barely meet. I've even been skipping lunch. We're either at work or alone, him in his office and me in my room.

It occurs to me that I'm not getting any sleep soon and as I glance at my phone, realising it's almost two a.m., I decide to work a bit so I can snag some few early hours of sleep in the morning.

As I sit up and grab my laptop, I'm overcome by extreme thirst so I exit my room, as quiet as I can and make my way to the kitchen.

Uncapping a water bottle, I roam around a bit, determined to finish it. I've had some stomach pain and Google says it may be due to lack of water.

As I pass by Zachary's office, I realise the lights are off which means he is in bed. I glance at his room across but quickly shake away the feeling of checking on him. This lasts a little less than two minutes before I decide to just take a peek. His room door is left ajar.

I pop my head through slightly, but can't see a thing. So I push my luck, or rather the door, and take a second sweep with my eyes. It's only after I've called his name a couple of times and checked that his car keys, phone, watch and wallet aren't in their place that it dawns on me...

He's not here.

At almost three a.m.

Since the morning.

I start to panick and holler his name around the flat.

"Zachary!"

No answer.

"Zach," still no answer "Are you upstairs?"

Maybe he's in the balcony. "I'm coming up."

I make my way towards the balcony but halt in my steps when I hear the unmistakable sound of someone stumbling on the floor. It sounded like it was from the living room, and was confirmed when I heard the elevator doors shut with a quiet ding.

I make it to the living room but freeze when I see the silhouette of a hunched figure leaning on the kitchen island through the dim lighting.

With shaking hand hands, I turn on my phone flash light and aim it towards the figure. As I take in the sight in front of me, I loudly gasp with wide eyes and drop my phone in complete shock and horror.
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Anyone guess who that was??
I seem to be in love with cliff hangers😋😋

Anyway vote and comment and stay tuned for the next chapter