Contract And Marriage

Bella

Maximus left me for a moment and stepped out of the room while I picked up my panties lying at the head of the bed. When he returned, he brought the clothes he had removed from me individually and handed them to me. I quickly dressed as soon as I received them because I felt embarrassed. How could I not be when he was watching me while he was also getting dressed?

It felt like we were really a married couple. “Let’s go and talk,” he said after getting dressed.

“Outside,” I quickly replied before walking towards the room’s open door, which he didn’t even close when he brought me inside his bedroom.

I felt Maximus following me until I sat down on the couch. I looked at him quickly when he sat beside me.

“What?” he asked, creasing his forehead.

“Sit over there,” I said, pointing to the couch opposite mine.

“Something already happened between us, and you’re still shy?” he asked again, making me feel embarrassed when he reminded me of what we just did.

“I feel awkward. What if you suddenly start calling me your wife again?” I admitted.

“Don’t you feel comfortable when I’m close to you?” Does that even need to be asked? Naturally! What sensible woman would feel at ease talking to a man right after having sex?

“You’d be pretty dense not to know that.” I scooted slightly away from him because my heart was pounding so hard. I didn’t know if it was because I felt awkward about what happened between us or because I wanted something to happen between us again.

“I want to sit next to you,” he said, scooting closer to me.

“And why? Don’t tell me you’re lusting after me?” He laughed, which puzzled me. Was there something funny in what I said? “Are you crazy?”

“Do you know what’s surprising?” I looked at her and saw the seriousness on his face. There was no hint of a smile, and it seemed like he was waiting for my response.

“That you’re lusting after me?” I bravely asked, hoping he would say yes.

“I only lust after one woman-”

“And that’s your wife?” I interrupted. He nodded before speaking again.

“The lust I felt for her before is just as intense as what I feel for you now.”

“That’s not enough reason to think I’m your wife. Remember, she already died. Don’t bring her back into my identity.”

“Where’s your husband?”

“In L. A.”

“Why are you here?”

“I escaped from him. He physically hurt me and my son.”

“Your son? Isn’t it supposed to be “our” son and not yours alone?”

“He never treated Chase as his son. He always hurt him. No father would hurt their child the way he did to mine.”

“And no husband would hurt their wife the way he did to you.”

“That’s different.”

“Maybe so.”

“Was your wife pregnant when she died? I mean, when she disappeared?” I asked, curious.

“I don’t know, but even if we went to Vegas for a business trip, we enjoyed our stay there as if it was our honeymoon.”

“I live in L. A.”

“Where her blood was last found scattered, but nobody was ever recovered.” I was speechless because I didn’t know what to say.

“What if I’m not really your wife?”

“Then tell me who you really are.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I don’t remember anything about myself.”

“What?” she asked in shock, his forehead furrowed. “How can you not remember?”

“I just woke up one day, and that man’s face was the first thing I saw, and he said he was my husband. I noticed I was pregnant, so I believed him.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“When was that?”

“My son will be turning three in months, so probably it was three years ago. I was five months pregnant when I woke up from the coma.”

“Fuck!” she said angrily.

“Why?”

“How about your friends?”

“I don’t remember them either, but they said my husband and I were indeed married.”

“Why did you need to escape from your husband to the point of going to another country?”

“I asked him for a divorce, but he refused. He said I wanted to leave him because I would go with another man, so I wanted to separate. But I don’t remember anything, so I don’t know if I really had another man.”

I looked into his eyes to see if he was turned off or disappointed by what I said about another man. But no, I didn’t see that. Instead, he seemed to be deep in thought.

“So you left L. A. without him knowing where you were going?”

“If he’s my husband, he would think I went to a relative, right?” I asked.

“How about your parents?”

“They said I’m an only child and that they’ve already passed away.”

“Why were you in a coma?”

“They said it was an accident. A car accident.” My heart pounded harder as I kept my eyes on him. I didn’t want to get close to any man because I was afraid he might follow me and my son here and think I really had another man and hurt us again.

But after what happened between me and Maximus, I wasn’t sure if I could avoid this, even though I knew that he might be thinking of his deceased wife every time we were together. As he mentioned earlier, he couldn’t dismiss me because when we talked, it felt like he was talking to his late wife since our voices were the same.

“Until now, you still don’t remember anything from your past? What your life was like before the accident?”

“None, but-”

“But what?” he asked before taking my hands and playing with the hem of my skirt.

“When I arrived here in the Philippines, I started seeing faces I didn’t recognize in my mind.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Over three months.”

“You’re not taking any medicine?”

“No.”

“Your husband didn’t give you any?”

“No. Why are you asking?”

“Maybe that’s the reason you don’t remember anything.”

“If he gave me any medicine, I would have known what it was for,” I confidently said to her.

“Why?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Because you’re a nurse.”

We both spoke at the same time. “Me? A nurse? But I’m the one being taken care of by my husband. He even handles my food-” I suddenly stopped. Could it be?

I looked into Maximus’ eyes, and it seemed he already knew why I stopped.