CHAPTER 2

I had come home excited to surprise my husband, but guess who got surprised instead? Me!

I stood there, seeing her naked in my bed, lying on her side, one leg lying parallel to my bed, the other bent towards her stomach, her face pressing on my pillow. I could see half of her face, with her eyes closed, as she enjoyed what was rightfully mine. Something I was not willing to share with anybody else. Something I wanted for myself. Something that was supposed to belong to me and me alone, traditionally, legally, and in other ways I could think of. Behind her lies the husband I could not wait to see, driving himself into her fast and hard. And now that I was close, I could hear the sound of his own groans. He kept his face on her neck and rammed into her with his left hand on her breast. And the devil did not even have the decency to remove his wedding ring. The very same ring which was a symbol of our vows. One of them being faithful to each other till death do us part.

The whole scene playing in front of me hit me by surprise, and for a moment I could not feel any part of my body. I stood there, my feet glued to the floor, and with each and every second, I could feel my strength being drained out of me and air out of my lungs. The hold I had on my handbag loosened, and the bag fell to the floor with a loud thud. The sound travelled throughout the room, bringing the two cold-blooded traitors to planet Earth. At the speed of light, they both sat up straight, fumbled, and tugged on the bedcover so that they could cover themselves while keeping their eyes locked on me. My husband's were wide open. If I were not feeling like a zombie, I would have been scared that they were going to drop on the bed.

"Niara?" he murmured, after a few seconds of staring at each other. My name sounded more like a question coming from his lips. He looked shocked to see me, and I am sure if he had some kind of superpower to make people disappear, he would use it on me right now. He certainly had not expected to see me, just as I certainly had not expected to see him having sex with the help in our fucking marital bed. I was supposed to be at my mother's house; he was supposed to be on a plane, coming home from his business trip.

Plane my foot and business trip my ass. He was home all along, fucking our maid!

I felt my chest tightening as if my ribcage were constricting. It surprised me that my heart was not squeezed right out of my chest or pierced by my ribcage right then and there.

Why do they call it heartbreak? What I was feeling breaking at that moment was not my heart alone. Each and every other part of my body felt like it was breaking before my heart did.

The moment I saw panic crossing my husband's eyes and he moved to get off the bed, I turned away and made my way out as fast as I could, banging the door in the process. I could hear him growl my name out, but that only fueled up my energy to get away from him. I made my way into the garage with the intention of driving myself out of this hell hole, and then I remembered I had no car keys on me. Getting a cab would take some time, and by the time the cab was to come, he would have already gotten to me. Going back to get the keys would only result in running into him, which was something I did not want. I did not want to see his face, not for a single second; it would have made me want to vomit right in his face because, at the moment, he disgusted me. I did not even want to breathe the same air as his. That would have only suffocated me.

How could he touch another woman when he promised all of himself to me? Worst of all, he even brought her to our matrimonial bed. Who does that?

I made it to the back door, then to the basement, and locked myself in. I had to hide here, at least for now. I went down the stairs and stuffed myself in the corner, letting my butt land on the cold floor before bringing my knees up to my chest, and then that is when I let it all out. I burst into tears, crying my heart out, trying to relieve myself of the pain lodged in my heart, trying to stop myself from crushing.

***

I had spent the whole night in the basement but it felt like a lifetime. I did not want to get out. Getting out meant that I had to face the reality of my world. So I just wanted to stay in the dark and pretend there was no other world out there besides the bubble I was in. But I had to get out. I felt dehydrated. I had cried my eyes out for far too long, so much there were no more tears coming out. My throat had run dry and was getting sore. I needed to get out of here to get some water if I did not want to be found dead on this cold floor.

I pushed myself to my feet and literally dragged myself out of the basement and got inside. I got into the kitchen and found Maria sitting on the kitchen chair like she owned the damn place as she helped herself to a bowl of cereal. A sage of anger spread through and I wanted to pluck my acrylic nails right into her eyeballs that were gawking at me. But before I could do anything that I would have deemed to be stupid later on, I felt the back of my neck tightening and a dull ache moved from my spine up to my neck. I immediately held my neck tight with my hand and closed my eyes, focusing on the darkness before the feeling spread to my head and caused one of those terrible headaches I am so familiar with.

"Oh my gawd, you are back now? I thought you were running away for good so that I can finally be free in this house," she blurted out, her voice irritating more than squirrels fighting for nuts. And I wondered if it had always been that irritating or if I can no longer stand it because I now know that he was a conniving bitch.

Though I was looking down with my eyes closed, I knew she had stood up. I felt her legs on the floor and the three footsteps she took towards me were so loud and I wondered why she was tramping on the floor.

"You know everything was going on smoothly, till you walked through that door and ruined it all. But I guess now that you know there is no need for hotel appointments, fake business meetings...," She kept on talking, her words blending in my hand, making me even angrier with each passing second. The tightness in my neck increased and the dull ache grew sharper. I felt my jaws tighten and I didn't know how, but my lower canines dug into my gums. I could feel like I was getting too big for my body.

"Shut up!" I had meant to scream, but a loud roar came out of my mouth, startling me too. If I was not feeling the vibration in my stomach, I would not believe it was me who had made that sound but instead, I had a lion in my house.

The tight feeling had subsided and I could feel like my body was getting freed. Maria was now on her feet, looking at me like she was watching a horror movie. The bowl she was holding a few moments ago was in pieces, scattered on the floor.

I kept staring at her and she took steps backward, before tripping on her own legs turning, and running away. I was confused. What the hell had just happened?