Not more than strangers✔️

08| g o o d b y e

"And if the sky should ever die.
We'd make our own light,
You and I."
~John Mark Green

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A/N: Some sexual content ahead.
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   Self hate was one thing.

   And stress was another. He couldn't believe things were falling apart and they had barely started their lives together. Sometimes he wished she didn't have a price on her head, she wasn't some fucking object. But her people call it culture and he thought he had escaped it, just for things to come back and bite his ass.

   "Pierce slow down." Her voice shook, almost like she was afraid to talk. She stumbled after him, barely keeping up with his large strides.

    They got to their home as he banged the door shut behind them. Funmi rubbed her wrists, her eyes not leaving his heaving figure. When he turned to face her, she expected the worst and was absolutely horrified by his expression. His lips curled back, his eyes shut tightly and brows furrowed.

    Pierce rubbed his temples as he tried to calm the volcano ready to explode. He took deep breaths, his face becoming hot despite the weather. He didn't say anything for a while making her blow out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

    "Funmi?" His voice was calm- unusually calm. Her attention zeroed in on him, maybe he hadn't actually let it go so easily. His grey eyes were a shade darker, he looked so collected but the emotion in his irises gave him away.

   "I want us- I want you to start from the beginning. Why did you eavesdrop?" Pierce asked. He hated nose pokers more than anything but this also affected Funmi. She felt the need to know but she should've waited for him to speak to her about it later.

   She also wanted to take decisions on her own, make suggestions that they'd both later conclude on. She didn't want to be stripped of her choices but seeing Pierce seethe with anger almost makes her want to throw her values out the window. "I-" she swallowed thickly, her lip trembling.

   "Spit it out." The edge in his voice scares her. He always wanted to keep her oblivious to things like this. Funmi knew she was wrong but her curiosity got the best of her. She bit the inside of her cheek, looking everywhere else but at him.

    "I heard my uncle yelling. I just wanted to know why." Her voice is quiet and apologetic. What use was sorry in this kind of situation? "I was just worried about you. I didn't want what happened last time to repeat itself."

   "And clearly, it did." He scoffs. "Why did you come into the room even though you knew it was a discussion between two men?" His voice raised a bit making Funmi back away. She hated the way he made reference to their difference in gender so pronounced.

   But she knew better, even back home you would be beaten severely when caught eavesdropping on elders conversation. "I'm sorry, I just-"

   "You just what?"

   She backed away as he came closer. She didn't want to believe he'd do anything to her. But the way he neared her made her want to run so so far. What would he do to her if he actually got her cornered?

   Funmi thought the worst as her back hit the wall in their living room. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to take decisions too! It's not fair to you and you're always so stressed and I wanted to help."