Chapter three
1288 Words
Naya's POV.
I sat in front of him with my arms crossed, my whole body burning with anger.
I stared at his face, that same face from the bar, that same face from the picture that had turned my life upside down and all I could think was how unfair it was to me that he looked so calm like he hadn't even done a single thing.
Like this was nothing to him. And my life wasn’t falling apart only because of him.
“Is this how you go around claiming other women who aren't yours? Do you have any idea what you have done ?” I lashed out. I was so angry, and I just couldn't be controlled.
“That intimate picture is everywhere and people think I am having an affair. They think I am some kind of joke.”
He didn't respond. Instead, he just did what he had been doing—staring at me. And it made me more angry, my skin was even itching because of the silence.
I needed him to just say something and how to suggest what to do that could clear my name up.
“At least say something. Stop staring at me like that.” I said, and I was still met with silence. And the anger I felt inside of me overwhelmed my body.
“I will sue you,” I blurted out. “I'm serious about it. I'm a married woman. I won't let you destroy my beautiful marriage because you wanted to play games.”
That was when he laughed out but it wasn't loud. His laugh was low like I had told the funniest joke he had heard throughout the day and it hit me hard.
“What’s so funny?” I demanded. And he leaned back slightly on his chair, finally speaking.
“Beautiful Marriage?”
“Yes,” I said stubbornly. “My beautiful marriage.”
“Which one?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Are you talking about the marriage where your husband asked for a divorce the moment his grandfather died? Or the one where you begged him to stay?” he asked calmly and my eyes widened at him.
“The one where you agreed to an open marriage so that you wouldn't lose him?” he continued. “Or the one where he brought his pregnant mistress into your home on your wedding anniversary?”
I stared at him like he had just spoken my secrets out loud to the world.
“Don’t act surprised, you told me every single details Nay”
“Nay?- I chulked out. Not only does he know my secret, he even shortened my name like we have known each other forever. And at that moment, something hit me hard.
The alcohol. The loose tongue. The blurred memories. The parts of the night I couldn't fully remember.
I had told a stranger my deepest pain. I haven’t even finished processing that when he threw another shocker on me.
“We had a deal, remember?”
“What deal?” I asked, frowning at him.
And then the memories came back. Not in words, but in flashes.
I remembered how low and steady his voice was. I sat on the bar stool with tears in my eyes, while his hand rested on the counter close to mine but he didn't touch me. Instead he listened attentively to me.
I remembered leaning closer to him. My heart was broken into tiny unfixable pieces, and I also remembered him saying something about revenge.
He told me I didn't have to beg to be chosen. He also said that, sometimes the only way to make someone feel your value was to show them what they were losing.
And he offered himself as a weapon but not in the dirty way but a very dangerous way.
He offered to be a fake lover to me. And we would be seen together in the public presence, also a man by my side who would make my husband feel small, threatened, and replaced.
It was just going to be a performance and a game. A way to hit Derek where it hurts.
“That was the alcohol talking.” I finally spoke.
“Was it?”
“Yes. I was drunk and emotional. I didn't mean any of it.”
“If you are sure then you have to say it.”
“Say what?” I asked.
“Tell me you don't want it. Tell me you don't want to fight back and I'll walk away.”
My mouth parted open and the words were right there. I was supposed to say I don't want it but the words didn't come out.
Because at that moment, Derek's face flashed in my mind. His indifference and his pregnant mistress in our matrimonial home. The way he had forgotten about our wedding anniversary and how all of his wrong doings made me feel so small.
I felt invisible and replaceable. I balled my hands into fists. Maybe this was my chance. Not to cheat on him, not even to fall in love with another man. It was just to take my power back as a wife and to make Derek see me.
To make him feel what I felt and to make him jealous. To also make him afraid of losing me and I hated myself for thinking that, but I also hated the idea of just sitting down and doing nothing even more.
The world will surely judge me and the humiliation I was going to receive would be very wild. But if it made Derek want me again, wasn't that worth it?
I lifted up my eyes to the stranger seated in front of me. “What if I don't back out?” I asked.
“Then you understand what this means?” he said.
“I just want my marriage to work. That's all.”
“It's funny how revenge and love somehow look the same.”
I ignored him saying that to me and I moved into the next topic. What was actually most important to me. “So what? You'll just pretend to be with me.”
“Not pretend,” he corrected. “Perform.”
“Explain.” I said as my chest tightened.
“I will be your perfect revenge. Your doting lover, a walking talking humiliation to your husband.”
“But remember, darling,” he added, his eyes locking onto mine. “When we start this performance, there is no walking away until the final curtains cut”
The way he said darling sent a strange chill through me and my pulse raced. I hesitated at first because my instinct told me to run away.
But my heart was stupid, desperate, and bruised. It wanted to stay.
“I agree.” I said, and he slid a document across the table.
“What's this?” I asked.
“An agreement.”
“To what?”
“To the performance,” he replied. “To discretion. To boundaries. To understand what we are and what we are not.”
My hands shook as I picked up the document. I barely read it because I was too tired. I was just too hurt and too desperate so I signed it just like that.
My name on a paper and my future tied to a stranger. I slid it back to him and he took it, and kept it aside like it was nothing. Like he hadn't just changed my life.
“So….now what?”
“We are going to start with the performance.” he said and I hesitated.
- Writer
