WHY MARRY?

NINE

For the next few days Aiden and Jade went about their lives, as they usually did. Less interaction and less speaking and less conversation. Jade found that when they spoke less, they fought less so she avoided interacting with him. Since speaking to her father, she felt a lot more better. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted of her shoulder. She didn't have to lie any more. At least to her father she didn't. She was getting sick and tired of pretending to be, something she's not. Lying like that for over year made her feel guilty and she wished this marriage would no longer be based on lies but alas, she had no choice. Her father had wanted to call of them merging and get them divorced but she felt there was no use. If he did, it would mean the past year she spent dealing with Aiden's mistreatment would go to waste.

In the Mornings, she would make his breakfast as usual; sometimes he would eat, and sometimes he wouldn't. It didn't matter to her no more; and she was going to argue with him anymore when it only ended up upsetting her. Why upset herself when she can just avoid a fight.

Today was one of the days where he didn't eat his breakfast. Whenever he didn't have breakfast, he would usually take an apple or some other fruit from the basket and be off. She understood that he was a busy man sometimes he wouldn't be able to eat her cooking; but he could at least appreciate it, she thought. He picked up a pear from the fruit basket and was out the door before she knew it.

It was her birthday that day; she didn't expect him to notice anyways but it would've been nice if he would have. Just out of decency. She soon forgot about Aiden, as birthday wishes from loved ones started flooding in, through texts, phone calls and video calls. She had also received gifts through post, that day. One was from Laurie who couldn't celebrate with her that year because she was on holiday with her boyfriend. One from her dad and one from aunt on her mum's side of the family who she would visit occasionally. She felt loved, even if if her husband didn't make her an effort to make her feel loved.

She took out her laptop and began her work for the day as usual. When she was done, she did some cleaning around the house. She was never allowed in Aiden's room unless she had to clean. Usually, he would only allow her to go to his room when he was around but this time, she didn't want to wait to clean his room; so without his permission, she entered his room and began cleaning. She lifted his pillow to change the case when she discovered something under his bed. It was a picture. She knew it was wrong to touch his things without his consent, but she was to curious to ignore it.

She turned the photo over to see a picture of Aiden and another woman posing in the same picture. The woman was standing too close to him to be his friend; she seemed more like an ex-girlfriend and it didn't settle right with Jade. She could feel jealousy rising in the pit of her stomach. It made her feel worse because the woman was indeed beautiful and she had the love that she's been longing for. She placed the picture just as she had found it and continued cleaning the room; when she was done, she left without a trace of her being there behind. Her day, which had started out so wonderfully, had turned bitter by afternoon. She could only blame herself for going in that room.

Instead of dwelling on what she had seen in Aiden's room she decided to do some baking to keep her mind of off the picture of the stunning lady she had seen standing next to her husband. She went down to the kitchen and put on an apron. She started mixing and whisking the ingredients for a red velvet cake. She then glazed the cake and put it on a stand in the middle of the kitchen Island. By the time she was done decorating, she was exhausted. She made her way into the living room to rest a little.

When Aiden walked through the doors of their home; he didn't expect to see Jade laying on the couch asleep. Her head was lying on the arm of the chair and her dark, black locks were sprawled over the couch like a woman out of magazine.He couldn't hide the fact that his wife was beautiful. He approached her slowly and tapped her gently. She suddenly woke up and was shocked to see Aiden so up and close in her face.

"Oh hi you're back" she stated as she began to get up to leave. His face was too close for her liking.

"Wait!" she heard him say, which stopped her in her tracks. When she turned around, he was holding some red roses.

"Happy Birthday!" he smiled.

"Thank you" she briefly replied. She had no idea he knew when her birthday was and even more surprising than that, he brought her flowers. He began to leave. "I made some cake would you like to try a piece" , she offered.

"No, I'm okay" he replied and went to his room. She sighed as she went to kitchen to clean the dishes from the cake making. As upset as she was about finding that picture under his pillow; she was glad that he even remembered her birthday. The thought of him knowing her birthday hadn't even crossed her mind in the slightest. Yet she was grateful that at the end of the day, he remembered.