His Selfishness Fated My Wish

Chapter Five: I Am Not That Type Of Girl

Laura avoided so much trouble that night. She later attached herself to the end of the bed. Andra and Howe settled their differences. Andra is stubborn, and a non-conformist, in so many ways she looks just like her mother while Laura takes the traits of her father.

Mr. Cliff always praises her for having a character good for business but Howe always says the opposite.

Howe is the opposite, calm, not calculative, knows little about economics, is a conformist, loyal, tenacious and hardworking. Howe's parents were having their 30th wedding anniversary. Only close knits were invited through mails excluding Andra.

Howe's parents had called her ghetto a couple of times, so this made her hate them. Howe's mother, Cordelia, appreciated the mutual hatred.

Howe's company Macc&Miss was responsible for the large production of sports gear for the country's athletes. They have had to deal with controversies, rumors, and accusations of aiding and abetting fencing athletes to install a device that will record false strikes and in return, they aid them in winning through cheating.

Although they have debunked the rumors, they lost the trust of various organizations who depend on them for the purchase of sports gear.

This affected the company's growth because demands were reduced significantly. Lately, the news of a new manager gave the company as well as the public a ray of hope.

Laura woke up to sunlight peeking through the window despite the obstruction of the curtains. She yawned inaudibly and reached for her phone. She felt a little pain in her thumb and remembered last night, she cut herself while shaving.

She looked around, but there was no sign of Richard, "He must have gone for jogs," she thought. Well, she prepped her face and left for a walk. When she came back after that she met Richard already fitted on one side of the bed, "Make me food" he said.

"I can't cook"

"Not even fried egg and bread," he asks with his palms spread out like someone asking for something.

"I will prepare that"

Richard spoke so loudly like he was talking to someone far away from him. Laura went into the kitchen looking confused because she hadn't done that in a while but she was happy he wanted to eat her food.

Growing up, mummy Amarya as they fondly call her did all the cooking. When she left, her father hired a chef. Amarya hates chefs, she believes that domestic workers should do other work in the house besides cooking because to her it's a substantive ritual reserved for the mother in the family.

Laura had always wondered why she put so much effort into something as ordinary as cooking, "She is Italian, I think that explains it"

Laura browsed through YouTube tutorials in search of fried egg preparations. She found a video she liked and followed the instructions.

"It's getting to be an hour, I need my food, I won't eat outside today," he yelled into the kitchen, stood speechless for some time, and went back to the dining table pressing his phone.

After a while, she served the fried egg, butter, and tea. It came out good but Richard complained of salt, he ate a little and tossed the rest.

Laura felt bad, she just wanted to be that wife whose husband adores despite anything, but she felt it was fake irritation because she ate all and didn't see the faults.

She told Richard she didn't notice any problem with the food while eating it, "Of course you won't, no matter how shitty a food is, it can be eaten by whoever prepared it but the same can't be said for someone else." Richard said storming out of the house on bare chest and a polo he angrily yanked off the wardrobe.

She cleared the dining room and thought about "the garden of Eden", a popular spot in the area full of flowery plants purposefully designed into sections, each section with a table and chair and a scented candle on one end. It maintained privacy yet was beautiful such that someone in one section didn't know what was going on in the next.

She was bored and felt that was one part of the hotel she hadn't visited.

"I was thinking we could go to the Garden of Eden together"

"After you made such a horrible meal," he answered, trying to remove his Birkenstock sandals after he made a fruitless attempt to walk away.

“Well, remember you made me uncomfortable last night. I havent said anything about that but I still remember”.

Richard smirked.

"I am sorry for that but I will have to go alone,"

"Maybe when you behave properly, you buy that freedom"

"I dont need your freedom, I already have it. By the way, I thought you said I do my own business you do yours"

"I can change my mind anytime, you have no right to question it, what did you say you studied in school again?"

"You can't remember?" she asked, mouth agape.

"That information is not weighty enough for me to bear that in mind,"

"Economics"

"Great, there's work to do after our honeymoon. Our company needs all the help it can get from the best brains out there, otherwise, the purpose of this marriage is defeated. I don't want us getting carried away which explains why I don't entertain certain gestures."

"Gestures such as,"

"You want me to spell it out for you? You are officially dumb, D U M B". Richard proclaimed, grabbing a glass of wine.

“I am very sure I am not the dumb person in our midst but whoever it is must be going through a lot”

“What do you mean” Richard asked with eyes fixated on Laura.

"You want me to spell it out for you? You are officially dumb, D U M B". Laura returned his words at him.

Howe and Andra quarreled again after the celebration because Andra caught Howe staring at her sister's picture a little too much. Although he explained it meant nothing, Andra wasn't convinced.

Andra is confident but quite insecure when it comes to relationships because growing up, the men attracted to her always ended up falling in love with Laura because she has this motherly feel and not as uptight as Andra.

Laura and Richard were still arguing about the company and how to spend their leisure time when someone knocked loudly on the door which was unusual. They kept quiet for a second knock, but this time it wasn't a knock, it was a bang.

"Who's there?" Richard asked, with his eyes bulging out of their sockets while grabbing a bottle of wine he just emptied.