The Driven

Chapter 30

Thea

When Thea noticed Jamal was still in the house when she woke up in the morning, she felt good. What needed to be said was better delivered in the house, the office was going to put too much strain on her already strained mind.

She made herself tea and joined her husband in the terrace. He was reading a business magazine and was frowning over its content. He smiled briefly when he noticed her then he stood to help her with the seat.

"Thea, I'm sorry for yesterday, but it's not going to happen again. I already told them not to call while I'm away and your dad seems to agree too."

"We need to talk," she said instead of accepting the apology. Jamal put down the magazine and she continued. "I'm leaving you."

She watched him closely and he didn't seem surprised. "I'm glad you're not surprised. This is probably what you've wanted but I was gullible for not picking up on it earlier. We are not a family, never been one and will never be one. You did everything in your power to make sure it never happened and I'm setting you free while moving on with my life."

He looked distressed. "Thea, I'm sorry."

"You should be. You wasted some of the good years of my life because I was trying to love you. I was ready to do everything to get your attention and I can admit I've done some extreme shit... embarrassing even, none of this caught your attention of course. I don't really want to dwell on the psychological effect this marriage has had on me."

"I've done some fucked up shit and even I know this is the worse one yet. You deserved better than me, Thea and I didn't know how to tell you without hurting your feelings."

His generic excuses annoyed her. "Jamal, I'm a big girl that has been rejected more times than I can count. I would have handled you showing disinterest with couth, you didn't have to enable me by acting like you wanted me too."

"Your dad told me how you couldn't stop talking about me and I asked you out to make him happy."

"My dad told you? I thought the date happened because you liked me too."

"Not really. You were practically a child."

Now he was insulting her intelligence. "I wasn't."

"To me you were. I've never had a romantic relationship, it's not something I do nor ever want. My childhood was extremely damaging to my mental health and I swore off relationships a long time ago."

He felt so adamant about not getting committed yet he'd proposed. "How did we get this far then?"

"Honestly, it spiraled out of control. One day we were on our first date trying to please your dad and before I knew it, I was proposing. I only wanted to make him happy and he was every time I took you out."

"I didn't know he was interfering."

"Subtly at first. I really didn't notice how much he was planting things in my head until we were married and I couldn't stand to make love to you on our first night."

Thea was floored and she remained silent. She had put things together a while ago and figured nothing happened on their wedding night.

"I spoke with some friends and they said you'd cheat if things got out of control, and I wanted you too."

"This is insane." What she really wanted to say was that he was insane.