MS REGINA JUNE

LACUNA

"Letting go of the illusion that it could have been different." - Anonymous.

                                                                          - CHAPTER 5-

(7 years later..)

Xeus' P.O.V.

"Do you, Xeus Allesio Knight take Hera Amelia Adams as your lawfully wedded wife?" Father Preston asks.

"I do." I answer with a stiff nod, hiding my happiness and my sheer excitement of how Hera is finally going to be mine, forever. 

"Do you, Hera Amelia Adams take Xeus Allesio Knight as your lawfully wedded husband?" Father Preston asks as he turns towards Hera.

To my  surprise, Hera isn't standing at the altar with a bouquet of white peonies, her favourite flowers in her hand neither is she wearing the elegant and sophisticated wedding gown chosen by her mother for our wedding, instead It's Hera wearing the same clothes she wore on the day she caught me in bed with Maya, Her round and soft cheeks aren't tinted with a rosy blush instead they're glowing red , her cheeks are pale with tears strained on them, her beautiful brown eyes aren't adorned with Kajal or an eye liner , instead they're hollow , hollow like a black hole, they're empty with no life in them, they're drained of all happiness, she looks like just like how she looked on that wretched day.

My beautiful bride who is supposed to be smiling with glee looks at me with utter disappointment and agony and says, "I don't, Father, I'd rather die than be the wife of a r****t and a cheater." 

Everyone in the church gasps at her words.

She then unbuckles her belt from its loop and takes it out in one swift motion, and looks at me with a wicked smile on her face, and says, "Now, I'm going to teach you how to be a good boy, Xeus." 

The sound of the belt hitting my collarbone rings in my ear as I cry out in pain. She doesn't stop and keeps hitting me, I cry and beg her to stop but she doesn't.

"Remember, the night you took away my dignity?" She asks with nothing but venom spiraling out of her mouth and hits on my groin. I let out a blood curdling scream and crouch down in fetus position.

"Remember, The night when you hit me just because I talked to one of your business partners out of respect on your birthday party? Remember, You told me how you own me and how you'll hit me everytime I'll make a conversation with another man?" she asks  as she wraps the belt around her knuckles and in one swift motion, she hits my ankle.

"I am sorry, Hera! Don't...please" I plead, she doesn't listen instead she laughs, her laugh is anything but humorous,its laced with sarcasm and anger.

"A simple sorry won't cut out the years of pain and torture you put me through, Mr. Knight, tonight I'll end you..." She says and takes out a silver knife out of her waistband and aims it towards my chest. 

"Tonight, I'll destroy you." She whispers in my ear and stabs me.

"NO!" I jolt  awake. My heart is thumping erratically against my chest, My body is sweating profusely, I don't even remember the last time I had a good slumber, My hair is probably disheveled and messy and I'm a hundred percent sure that I've been sleeping for more than twelve hours now, The last thing I remember is Hades, My older brother helping me out of the night club I was in and it was probably around 1 am in the morning.

I throw the covers off of me and look at the clock placed on my bedside table, It shows 4:30 pm. Great! I have done nothing the whole day instead of dreaming about my ex wife.

I open the bathroom door and lock it as I get inside and take off my clothes whilst getting in the shower, my head is pounding and Advil has never helped me calm my nerves after a wild night, instead a warm shower is something which has always been quite helpful.

The warm water cascades down my body as I start contemplating about the life I led about seven years ago, with Hera by my side. Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is her tear strained face, it haunts me and torments me, I regret putting her through all those years of pain, I hate myself for forcing her to be my wife, I regret stealing her innocence and then betraying her, I regret letting the beast in me destroy the life of a beautiful young girl who had her entire life ahead,instead of meeting someone she loved and getting engaged after a  three or four years of dating, she had to get married at the age of twenty to me, instead of having a normal life, she was forced to be the wife of a monster, instead of having a child out of love, she was forced to be the mother because of my temptation to have her, she didn't even have the chance to hand her innocence to someone by her will, instead of that, she had to hand it over to me, not by her will, I took it by force. The woman I loved was r***d by me. I ruined her, and now I've lost her.

The day of our divorce, I was frantic and I had made up my mind about begging her to not leave me and change my ways and spend my entire life proving it to her that I love her, but I was drugged , My morning coffee was drugged by none other than Maya, with the help of her half sister Donna, My former Assistant , they took my signature and signed off the parental rights along with some divorce alimony to Hera. 

When I regained my consciousness later that day, I realized it was too late, she had already left with our son, Turns out Maya did it all for revenge, revenge for I not marrying her, revenge for choosing Hera over her. I hired the best detectives to track down Hera, but nothing worked, it was like, she just vanished, her entire existence was just..obliterated.

It's been seven years, I have been living with my brother Hades and his wife Proserpine, I know that's a weird name , so she cut it short to Pine. She is a fierce and a very wise woman, I often turn to her when in need of advice. 

I have stopped sleeping around too, It's just that sometimes I drink only to drown out the thoughts of my ex wife.

I turn off the shower and grab a pair of sweatpants and a simple gray T- shirt and get dressed after drying off my body. I make my wake downstairs and greet Hades.

Pine is in the Kitchen trying to fix the plumbing issue, She studied electrical and mechanical engineering in college and prefers fixing things in her house on her own. 

I take my seat across my brother and reach out for the newspaper , the Business Times.

Hades clears his throat and places his glasses on the crook of his nose and looks at me and says, "You need to stop drinking, Xeus, It's not healthy. Hera isn't coming back and I'm not surprised that she won't, after all that you've put her through..." he trails off.

See, the thing about Hades is that he isn't afraid to speak his mind, he is quite straight forward and doesn't believe in sugar coating anything and he has a temper too, which only Pine can handle. Pine comes out of the kitchen with a glass of orange juice in her hand and sits next to  me and places her hand on my shoulder and looks at me with sympathy in her eyes.

"Xeus, Hades is right...you know...." She starts but I don't bother listening because my eyes are on a certain article on the newspaper.

Regina June, the founder of a well known printing company is revealing herself tonight. I have heard about her a couple of times and honestly, she seems to be a woman of principles, and is quite admirable in the sense that she doesn't and has never meddled her personal and professional life together.

"Zeus, are you even listening to me..Oh, I see, You're reading the article about Regina June, I can't wait to see her tonight..." Pine states excitedly. Pine is a book worm and has always taken a keen interest on the books published by JUPITER. 

I look at Hades only to find him staring at his wife rambling about the unknown lady C.E.O.with love and adoration in his eyes. That alone makes me envy their relationship and reminds me of the sins I've committed against Hera. A pang of guilt washes over me as I direct my attention towards my sister in law who's still busy fan-girling over Regina June, truth be told, even I can't wait to watch her interview.