FORBIDDEN LOVE: My Sister's Husband

Chapter five

CHAPTER FIVE

AMARI’S POV:

I heard a loud noise and quickly rushed down the stairs, I thought Chris had laid his hands on my sister, ‘I was ready to go all out with him’. They had been arguing for a long time, to put it clearly Mia had been screaming for a long time although I couldn’t make out whatever she said as the house was a pretty big house. This would be the first time I had seen them argue.

Mia was standing over a broken glass and was threatening to break another, Chris was sitting calmly on the couch and staring into space. I walked over to my sister and asked her what was going on, I was calmer because it was clear Chris hadn’t touched her and it was Mia who broke the glass. Mia looked at me angrily as she left to the kitchen counter to drop the glass.

Chris followed her to the kitchen and begged her to calm down. I was surprised because this had never been the case with my parents, dad was always shouting and hitting mum at the same time, I was the one who had put a stop to this brutality. Mia looked like she was calm but soon stormed out of the kitchen and out of the house. Chris looked helpless and lost, I wonder what had caused their argument. I wanted to ask Chris what had happened but the thought of having a conversation with him for the first time and with this topic made me change my mind. I slowly went back upstairs to my room

“ So these people could argue? I thought Chris was perfect for her?” I thought to myself as I sat on my bed, isn’t there a marriage without fights out there?? All these thought made me more determined to never get married.

It was already 9am when I realized Naomi wouldn’t be coming in today, It was Saturday and Naomi didn’t work on the weekends. Chris always made us breakfast and dinner on these days, he’s a good cook I won’t lie. “ I’m shameless “, I thought to myself, I’ve been eating meals made by a man I say that I hated.

I quickly showered and prepared to go out as I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be getting any breakfast from Chris. The smell of scrambled eggs filled my nostrils as I got down the stairs, “ this wicked man made himself breakfast “, I thought to myself.

“ Amari! “ I heard Chris say my name as I opened to door to go leave the house, I slowly turned to look at him. “ Yea? “, I replied.

“ I made breakfast, “ he said. I’m sure he almost caught me smiling, I was happy I would be having a taste of Chris’ delicacy. I shamelessly nodded my head yes and followed him to the dining table, he had even dished out my food. ‘I need to hate you less’, I thought to myself, I owed him this much for the meals I ate almost every weekend.

I attacked my meal almost immediately I sat down, the scrambled eggs and pancakes looked too yummy to romance gently into my mouth. I didn’t touch the baked beans as I had always hated it since I was little. “ Thank you “, I said as I slowed down eating, Chris looked really surprised as this was the first time I ever thanked him for a meal. “ It’s no problem “, he replied.

After a few minutes, he said, “Your sister will be traveling on a business trip on Monday and will be back by next weekend”. I paused, this would be the third time Mia would be going on a business trip since I arrived 2months ago. Maybe he could see the surprise in my face because he continued as said, “ I asked her to quit the job, it stressed her too much, I can take care of all our bills by myself but Mia has refused and insists on working “.

I could see the look of frustration on his face, I wondered why Mia refused, she hadn’t been one to go after jobs, she would rather someone else worked and handed her their salary so it was a bit strange that she chose a job that made her work every time over staying home and relaxing like her husband suggested.

“ Are you okay?” I asked him, he didn’t eat much. “ Sure, thanks “ he replied. I didn’t feel as irritated as I thought I would after talking to a man, was I getting soft or Chris just wasn’t an enemy?

I grabbed my bag after I was done and was about to leave when I turned to Chris and told him he’d be fine. He thanked me and looked grateful, he must be having a tough time. In 61 days, Mia would be away for 21 days, was that even healthy for a relationship? Mum had never left dad since we were little, she had been present everyday of his life since they got married.

I had made mental plans of my activities for the day, Kayla was to meet me later at the library for our ‘mini bookclub meeting’. I didn’t want her over at my house because she had been drooling over Chris the first time she met him and hadn’t stopped talking about him since that day. How can you say you are in love with a married man and you are in love with your boyfriend too?, Kayla was the definition of ‘crazy’.

I sat at my favorite spot in the library, it was an isolated part that people hardly walked up to. I could see no one from there and no one could see me, people called it the “ dead zone” but I didn’t care, I wanted an even more ‘ dead zone ’. Med school was harder than I had anticipated, learning about the whole body wasn’t easy, the physiology, anatomy and biochemistry of the body were the same as no part of the body worked in isolation but they were different in a way. The blood vessels and muscles were endless but I had always liked a challenge and med school was the latest, I’m going to win the challenge, I never lose.

Someone pulled out my earpod from behind, it was Kayla, I hadn’t seen her walk over. “ Hey Mari “, she said. “You’re late”, I retorted. “ Sorry, Jay wanted me to meet up with him “, she said. Sure, it’s always about a man, “ an Adam “ I rolled my eyes.

We were to discuss the “ Kreb’s Cycle “ in biochemistry. Hopefully, we finish on time, I had other things to do and I’m sure Kayla does too, like running over to Jay’s apartment.

My watch beeped as it struck 5pm, I packed my stuff and started heading out of the library, Kayla had left 2hrs before. The librarian waved to me as I passed her desk, she always did. We had become friends very quickly, she always said she loved how I always came to the library to study.

No one was home when I arrived, I took a quick shower and changed into comfortable joggers and a tee, it was a bit cold outside. My phone rang and I picked to see the caller was Mia, she told me she had traveled for her business trip and hung up. I was puzzled because Chris had said her trip was due on Monday. I immediately thought of Chris, he would be so disappointed.

I opened my laptop to watch a movie Kayla had promised me I’d love on Netflix, I hadn’t watched movies in a while as school always occupied me. The movie wasn’t disappointing, I was glad I didn’t regret taking out time to watch it. It was already past 8pm when the movie ended and I was already feeling very hungry, I had just one meal today. I made my way to the kitchen as I thought of what to cook from Naomi’s recipes. I concluded on preparing curry sauce and white rice, I hoped I get it right.

I had brought out the ingredients and was about to put on the gas when Chris came into the kitchen, “ hey “, he said. “ Hi “, I replied, how was your day? “ I don’t even know, What are you doing?”, he asked. “ Making dinner “, I rolled my eyes as I replied, wasn’t it obvious? what would I be doing in the kitchen? I thought to myself. “ Can I join you?” he asked. I wanted to decline but he was a good cook and my dinner could easily go wrong without his help, I had assisted Naomi once when she prepared this same meal but I hadn’t attempted it myself.

Chris rolled his sleeve and washed his hands, I put on the gas and poured the already washed rice into the pot a s I placed it on the gas. “ She already left”, Chris suddenly said. I knew he was referring to Mia. “Yeah, she called “ I replied, I genuinely wondered how he was feeling, his facial expression left no clue. We cooked in silence for some time until he said, “ so, how has school been?”. “Fine, I guess”, I replied. Surprisingly, I found myself talking more than I normally would have. I told him about a few lecturers and some of my coursemates whom I hadn’t even ever spoken to before. We laughed a few times and he also told me about some of his work colleagues. Chris wasn’t a bad guy, I had concluded in my mind, that I was ready to take him off my list of males I hated.

Dinner was ready and we sat at the dining table to eat, we conversed as we ate. I hadn’t spoken this much to anyone at a stretch before. There was so much to talk about, the meal was perfect and I was glad I assisted in making this meal. We washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen after eating and headed to the sitting room, I didn’t run off to my room like I usually did. Chris excused himself for some minutes and soon came back with a bottle of wine and 2 glasses. He offered me one glass but I declined and told him that I hadn’t drunk alcohol before, he didn’t give up and encouraged me to trust him and try it.

“ God! I just had a conversation with a man for the first time and I let him convince me to take alcohol.” The first sip burned my throat and then my chest, I gasped for air. Chris laughed very loudly and I got upset, why was he laughing when I was just struggling with my life? He apologized and said it wasn’t always like that, “ the alcohol was welcoming me “, he had said. I took a few more sips and soon started enjoying the taste.

I emptied my glass more frequently than Chris did, he tried to stop me but the alcohol just wanted me to keep sipping. I said Chris how he met my sister and I heard the story for the first time. I had expected them to meet in a more romantic way but I didn’t know much about romance so I couldn’t judge. I felt my head start spinning, Chris looked like he had become two persons, whatever he said sounded very funny and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Chris forcefully took my glass from me and he I protested but he wouldn’t budge. I tried getting up but I fell back down and blacked out.

My head banged as I opened my eyes the next day, “ what happened? “ I said to myself aloud. I soon realized that I was in different joggers and tee. Oh no! I thought to myself as I panicked, why was I changed? how am I in my room? It suddenly hit me, the memories came running back. I recalled having a drink with Chris, the conversations we had weren’t clear but we had talked a lot, I remember feeling dizzy and blacking out. Wait, did he? did he change my clothes? I touched my lips, it suddenly hit me, I think he kissed me too, the memory was vague but I’m sure he did.

I was still trying to recollect the events of the previous night when I suddenly felt like throwing up. I rushed to the toilet seat and threw myself over it as I threw up a lot of liquid, I felt like I would throw up my intestine. I felt a little relieved as soon as I was done but my head still felt like it was going to split open, was this what ‘ hangover ‘ felt like? I felt disgusted with myself as the events of the previous night unfolded in my head, my sister’s husband had kissed me.

I made my way downstairs to the drug cabinet as my sister would call it. I took 2 tablets of aspirin from the bottle and made to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen. I had just swallowed it when Chris came into the kitchen smiling at me. “ Good morning Amari “, he said smiling even wildly. He continued asking how I was feeling and if my head ached. I looked at him in disbelief, annoyance and rage building up inside me. Was this man going to pretend like nothing happened? He had just cheated on his wife with her little sister and he wasn’t bothered about it?? men indeed are scum, they are blood-sucking demons! I

I barked at him to leave me alone as I pushed angrily passed him, he irritated me far more than he had ever done. Chris called after me with confusion all over his face. I banged my room door as I entered my room with so much force the whole house shook to its root. I buried my face in my pillow and cried bitterly, I had betrayed my sister, I let myself go for once and this happened, I shouldn’t have let Chris convince me to drink alcohol. Alcohol is never a good thing, how was I different from my dad now? I’m going to live with this guilt forever!