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2424 Words
“Wow!” I exclaimed, placing my hand on her heavily pregnant tummy. “You’re pregnant!”
“Yes, Hazel.” She grinned, her sky blue eyes were filled with intense joy.
I pulled her into a hug, not tight enough to squish her tummy, but a tight one.
“Hazel, is this really what has been making you so secretive recently? Because she’s coming back?” Tristan was clearly very pissed off for some reasons I didn’t understand. “So why did you suddenly return, Indy?”
“What do you mean?” I turned to him.
“Why the heck are you back?” He was almost yelling at her.
“I… uhm… I don’t—”
“Tristan, why are you being so mean?” I frowned at him.
“He’s clearly still the same.” She said with a coy smile, holding my shoulders. “Can I please stay with you?”
“Are you being serious right now?” He huffed and turned around, walking away like we weren’t even there.
“What the heck is wrong with him?” I wondered aloud.
“It’s Tristan.” She chuckled. “Please forget that for now. I really missed you.”
I paused to scan her from head to toe, admiring how she had become more beautiful due to her chubbiness, her dark blonde wasn’t shoulder-length anymore but very long and she looked more mature, despite looking so tired. “Where’s Ian?” If I remembered his name clearly. “And where are you heading to on your own?”
“Ian?” her smile washed away as she stared around, scratching her arm till she looked back at me with a smile I could tell was feigned. “Uhm… can we please go now? I’m so damn tired. I was heading to… um… to a… a*****e… but… I… I wanted to call you… can we just please go to your house?”
“Okay.” I replied unsurely.
She held her hand and we headed to where the car was previously parked while having different short and happy talks. I was surprised to see Tristan leaning against the car; I thought he would’ve left with it.
A frown returned to my face after remembering how he was smiling while thinking about Lucy and how he had left abruptly.
He opened the door to the passenger seat for me to get in then shut the door after I did. Not bothering to open the door for Indy, he turned around and got into the driver’s seat and started driving the car after she got in.
“Hazel, I hope you don’t mind if I stay with you for a while. Maybe till I give birth?” Indy asked.
Of course I didn’t have a problem with him but judging from Tristan’s actions, I could tell he didn’t want that.
“Tristan,”
He glared at me like he wanted to bury me alive then looked away.
There was absolute silence in the car for a few minutes till he finally spoke, “you want her to stay?”
“Yes.”
“Then she can.” He didn’t even spare a glance at me, just frowning really hard.
I realized he turned in a different direction from the way home. “Where are we going?” I asked, but he didn’t bother to reply to him. “Are you mad that the walk couldn’t continue?” Still no response.
“What’s wrong with you, Tristan? Are you mad that I didn’t let you know Indy’s coming back?” Still no response.
I decided to let him be till after a few more minutes. “Have you forgotten the promise you made to me?”
“What promise?” He glanced at me.
{Flashback}
I dropped my phone and was sprawled on the couch, watching a movie when Tristan appeared in front of me from nowhere I could explain.
“I want to make a promise to you.” He said, sounding very serious.
I sat up straight, confused. “What promise?”
He crouched in front of me and held my hands. “I promise you that I’ll always respond to your questions to me truthfully, no matter what state I’m in, whether or not I’m angry, sad.” He still looked super-serious.
“Okay…”
“It must seem random, but it’s important. I don’t want to break this promise because my silence has ruined many relationships for me. I promise not to ignore you, I’ll answer you no matter what and I promise to always try my best to make you happy. I won’t break this promise to you. It’s very important, okay?” He rose to his feet.
“Okay.” I smiled.
“Bye. I have to leave for work.” He pecked my cheek and left.
{End of Flashback}
He exhaled with a roll of his eyes. “Fine. I have to receive something from Rob first before heading home, and yes, I didn’t want the walk to be so short.”
“And why are you so mad at Indy?”
He glanced at her through the rear-view mirror and frowned again. “Can I tell you that later?”
“But—”
“Hazel.” He cut me off. “Later.”
“Okay.” I sighed.
The drive continued silently.
Tristan pulled over and received some files from Rob before driving us home.
I got out of the car and helped Indy out as well.
“Where have you been?”
“I was trying to stay away from home.” She chuckled.
“Why?”
“I promise to let you know everything very soon, but not now.”
“And why did you lie to me that Tristan was aware of me switching place as the bride? Do you know how much misunderstanding that caused?” Remembering that made my fists clench.
“I’m really sorry, I didn’t have any other option.”
Tristan scoffed, “it’s not a new thing for her to lie and create silly misunderstandings.”
“Tristan,”
He cut her off, “you can go in, I have to attend to something important, sweetheart.” He said to me with a smile and gave me a short kiss on the lips.
“Sweetheart?” She sounded confused.
“Does that bother you?” Why was he being so mean to her?
She shook her head with a small smile. “Can we just go in? My legs hurt.”
“Of course.” I replied and held her hand to lead her in.
The moment we got in, We were welcomed by Nikita’s shriek as she ran and pulled Indy into a hug. “Oh my f*****g gosh! You’re back. Finally!”
My jaw almost dropped from her wide smile.
“I missed you so much, Nikita.” Indy hugged her back.
“Wow.” Nikita pulled away from the hug, glancing at her from head to toe. “Why do you look so wretched?”
“Wretched?” I repeated but only earned a glare from her.
“You definitely didn’t receive advice from her, did you?” She asked with her usual sinister face.
“What?” Indy burst into laughter.
“I’m not making a frigging joke here.” That Nikita tone had returned.
My phone started ringing and I excused myself from their presence to answer the call, feeling so relieved to leave the Nikita atmosphere.
***
I didn’t know why but it felt like my guts were twisting, and I had been feeling the need to puke recently; I was feeling strange, but It was certainly because I wasn’t resting enough, so I decided to go to bed earlier than usual today and left for our bedroom after a goodbye chat with Indy.
Tristan was on the bed and typing away on his phone.
I walked past him but had to go back to confirm if my eyes weren’t deceiving me from what they glanced at on his phone screen.
“Tristan!” I exclaimed.
He flinched and quickly hid his phone behind a pillow. “H-Hazel… I thought you were downstairs with Indy.”
“Were you just staring at pictures of half-naked women?!” I barked.
“What?” He furrowed his eyebrows to pretend to be confused.
“Don’t lie to me. I saw you.” I could feel my heartbeat go weird from the feeling of uneasiness that started pounding in it.
“Okay, fine.” He admitted with a roll of his eyes. “Does it matter anyway? It’s not like I’m gonna have them in my bed.” He shrugged.
“Are you out of your mind?!” My blood temperate began to rise, my hands rolled into balls, and tears were forming at the corner of my eyes. “Wait… is that Lucy?”
“Lucy?”
“I know she’s also really curvy; I’ve seen her pictures on i********:. Are you really staring at sexy pictures of your ex-girlfriend?” I tried to reach for his phone but he held my hands.
“Were you stalking Lucy?”
“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how strong our relationship is, we’re married and it’s really not okay to stare at sexy pictures of your ex-girlfriend.” My entire blood was at the peak of its boiling point.
“Why would you assume I was checking Lucy’s photos?” He crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“You seem to be thinking of her recently. It’s not fair for you to keep doing these— thinking about her while smiling so much, checking out sexy photos of her because she’s so curvy and sexy and I’m not hot and good-looking enough to you—”
“Whoa whoa whoa. It’s okay. This has nothing to do with Lucy.” He pulled me to sit beside him. “I wasn’t checking out sexy photos of women for fun. I was only trying to buy these clothes because I can’t stop thinking of hot you looked last time you dressed like you dressed so sexily. It still hunts me.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?” I scoffed.
“You just have to trust me.”
“Then why did you hide your phone?”
“Because I was startled to see you and I didn’t want this reaction from you. Wait, I’ll show you.” He slipped his phone from underneath the pillow. “See? This is a online cloth store, I was just about to buy these ones.” He scrolled on his phone’s screen.
“You already purchased 50?!” I noticed the amount in the cart.
“Yes. It was supposed to be a surprise.” He scratched the back of his neck.
“Well… it still feels weird for you to be staring at these women.” I had to stop myself from cringing at the amount of skin these women were making my husband see.
“I didn’t know you’d be such a jealous wife.” He smirked, curling an arm around my waist.
“I wasn’t jealous.” I rolled my eyes.
“You obviously were. Of course, why wouldn’t you be jealous? I mean— Tristan Shane Hendrix is your husband.” He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I was going to take a shower.” I attempted to stand, but he pulled me back, maintaining a serious facial expression as he cupped my face.
“Listen, Hazel. Lucy is my past now, thanks to you; I’ve not been thinking of her lately, you’re the only person that’s always on my mind, I promise. I feel really overprotective of you and always want to be around you. Even when I think of Lucy and smile, it’s only because I feel really great that I’ve finally been able to let go of my feelings for her and start a new chapter of my life, a new chapter where it’s all about you, it’s all about us. Lucy means nothing to me anymore. Like you said, she’s probably happy and maybe married to him. You’re all I want to pay attention to now. I want to make our marriage unbreakable and nothing else.”
“Thank you so much for this Tristan. I love you so much.” The tears forming in my eyes rolled down as tears of joy.
“Also, you should never feel intimidated by anyone’s appearance. Your body is great. I love your curves more than anything, it’s just perfect for me.” He wiped my tears. “All of Lucy’s photos were and I’m certain are still very much edited to make her look curvy, her body can’t be compared with yours. You’re beautiful, everywhere, every time, and you have the best body I could ever have wished for, way better that Lucy’s body. I’d do anything just to stare at you forever. With those– those mesmerizing lips of yours…” he stared down at my lips like he was already lost in them, with his thumb brushing my lower lip.
“You know you don’t need permission to kiss me.” I chuckled.
“Yeah, right.” He chuckled and pressed his lips on mine for a soft kiss.
He shut his eyes and tilted his head like he was trying to taste my lips in different ways. His kiss was like medicine to me; it made me feel really calm and the weird feeling I had earlier completely washed away. The kiss traveled to my stomach to explode as butterflies. It remained gentle as he sucked on my bottom lip till he broke it with a final peck on my cheek before he pulled back and held my hands.
“I have a surprise for you, darling.” He said, smiling.
“Really? A surprise?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. What is it?”
“You’ll know it, very soon.” He rose from the bed. “I hope you’ll be astonished by my surprise. I really put my best into it.”
“I can’t wait to know what it is then.” I said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Me too. Weren’t you going to take a shower? I have to hurry up for work upstairs.” He said, grabbed his laptop from the table then left the room.
- Writer
