Marriage of convenience

Chapter 50

"Did you just smile at Ray?" Ralph remarked as we passed him by. We were in the lobby and I was out to get lunch with my brother and a few others.

"Why? Am I starting a rumor again?" I asked rolling my eyes.

"I'm just asking. Don't be so snarky," he said opening the car door. "How are things between the both of you, by the way?"

I sighed, fastening my seatbelt. "I don't hate him anymore, if that's what you wanted to hear from me."

"Is it so hard to admit that you like him?" Ralph frowned. When I didn't say anything further, he continued, "I heard that you turned down Hunter. Got anything to say about it?" He asked and began driving.

"You must have heard everything already. What's the point?" I grunted.

"Then why is it so hard to admit it?" He yelled. "God, even I have never had such a frustrating relationship!"

"Is it wrong to have him grovel for a little longer? I suffered for so many years," I said nonchalantly.

"So did he," Ralph replied. "You know that divorces happen when both the parties consent to it, don't you? Always remember that you signed that stupid paper yourself. And to boot, you were just kids back then. I would hardly expect you idiots to understand marriage. Now that you have a little maturity in your heads, grow up and talk things out. Nothing you do to him now will make things alright in your past. Why are you making the both of yourselves miserable? For heaven's sake, just go out on a vacation, just the both of you. But come back once you have figured out what to do next with your relationship. It should either be make or break."

I sat there quietly unable to refute. What he said did make sense. I could admit to myself that I was being childish with my behavior towards Ray. I also understood that no matter how hard I try to hurt Ray now, it wasn't going to heal all that heartache. But what was I supposed to do?

I saw Ralph dialling to someone and I was immediately alerted.

"Whom are you calling?"

"My secretary," he said dismissively and I looked away visibly relaxing. "Book two tickets for Angela and Raymond for a getway for 2 days starting tomorrow. Your choice, but make it romantic, will you?" he said and hung up.

I looked at him with my jaw dropped.

"Were you serious about that?" I asked looking incredulous.

"Which part of my whole speech seemed like a joke to you?" he asked, finally parking the car. "You might want to do some shopping for tomorrow. My sister is finally going out on a fancy date!" he exclaimed, calmly walking into the restaurant, making me unable to yell at him or throw a tantrum.

"I am not going anywhere with him!" I hissed spitefully and sat down in front of him. The place was pretty crowded with office goers and was bustling with chatter and the clinking of china.

"Oh, you've booked it? Great. Have them emailed to me right now," he hung up his phone and looked at me with absolute delight. "The tickets are booked. You leave early tomorrow to some godforsaken island country I cannot seem to pronounce."

"Cancel it!" I hissed at him again, but he fiddled with his phone. It looked like my death glare wasn't really reaching him with all the casual atmosphere around. "I said that I'm not going! Cancel it immediately!"

My phone buzzed with an email from Ralph. The freaking plane tickets!

"Ralph! Are you even listening to me right now?" I yelled now.

"No, but you listen to me. The last time I did something for you was to get you away from Ray and our grandparents. Were you happy about what I did back then?" he asked.

I nodded. Yes, I was the most grateful to him for helping me out when I was almost on the verge of losing it. "Yes."

"Let me do something for you again. I'm sure this will make you happy too," he smiled holding my palm. "Just try to enjoy this vacation."

The kind look in his eyes made me say nothing further and I sighed in defeat. He knew how to persuade me. "Alright."

"Now that's settled. How about we go shopping after lunch? You gotta look good for your date," he squeaked like a little girl and I laughed.

Ralph was being such a sport, trying to keep the atmosphere cheerful and bright all the time, no matter where we went. It was a long time ago that we spent such quality time together and I was glad that this vacation planning got us this time for ourselves. Ever since we began expanding our companies, our schedules started getting so cramped up that we have never seen a time so peaceful where we could go out together and have some fun. It was almost as if we were back to our childhood where nothing really bothered us.

"Want to get some drinks?" he wiggled his eyesbrows and I laughed.

"I might not be able to make the flight tomorrow."

"I'll throw your sleepy ass in the plane. Don't worry," he ruffled my hair and walked me in to a nearby bar.

As we settled in, it was comfortable, soft music playing around with hushed murmurs.

"I always wondered how life would have been like if mom were alive," I mused as the alcohol began acting up. "Would I be good, or would I be bad? What do you think, Ralph?"

"I don't know about you, but I think I wouldn't have been here. Not an entrepreneur for sure," he smiled. "I wouldn't have turned out this ambitious if she were alive. I'd still be in my comfort zone, dreaming away."

"Me too," I muttered. "But maybe I could have led a normal life?" I asked thinking about my divorce.

"Do you regret it?" he asked.

"What?"

"Doing what you are doing right now. Living the way you are with all which is around you."

I thought about it. I did dream of a normal life where I would fall in love with someone and the other person would reciprocate my feelings and we'd have a family together. I indeed  imagined a whole lot of things which did not happen. Instead, my life was severely dysfunctional and it took a good amount of time and effort to put myself back together. But, I endured, persevered and in the end, I did it. So, did I regret being who I was today? Maybe not. In fact, I was proud of myself for achieving things I never thought could be possible.

"I don't regret it," I said. "But I am human after all, and I am bound to think how life would have been like if not for that one death."

"It did take shelter off our heads, but it sure taught us to always be independent," he smiled. "I believe it just made us mature at a very young age. Whatever it is, we didn't end up criminals and I think that is all that matters to me," he chuckled and I laughed.

But what Ralph said was completely true. There were many a times when darkest of thoughts clouded our heads in our time of hardships and struggle. It was very tempting to take that path. Committing one mistake wasn't all that hard, but my mother taught us better than to go down that rabbit hole. It was always hard work and talent that triumphed and same was the case for us.

"Let's make a toast," I said raising up my glass. "For not becoming criminals."

"For not becoming criminals," he laughed.

"And to good time from now and forever!" I yelled.

"Amen to that!" he clinked glasses with me.