Ten
1465 Words
Rae turned to me, darting hard scowls at me, as if I had been the one who had thrown insults at her. "Ivan, who's this i***t?" she asked.
I knew I could easily ignore her question, but I felt a bit obliged to give her an answer. Frustrated, I ran my palm through my face, turned to Tanya, and sighed out loud.
"Why are you here? Thought I asked you to not come here ever again," I marked out.
She chuckled. That sinister chuckle. "Excuse me?" Her eyebrow corked at me. "Um, don't tell me you're trying to defend her. Dude, she's just your mistress. I'm the main woman here."
I shook my head. "You don't own that title anymore. I might not be in love with her, but it's not right for you to disrespect her."
"Really?" She scoffed. "Woah, you're really defending her? Defending a devil in disguise?"
"What's your problem?" Rae interfered. She stepped closer to her, frowning so much. "You can't just walk in here and insult me like I'm not a human. Even animals shouldn't be insulted this way. If you have a problem with Ivan, then why vent your frustration on me?"
Tanya was silent. It felt like Rae's words were having an effect on her, not until she burst out in laughter. She stepped close, and tapped my shoulder. Done laughing, she cleared her throat, and just smirked.
"Ivan, you're gullible. You don't think critically. You don't think about the future. To you, all that matters is now. Are you seriously gonna get married to this thing? I mean, look at her!" She ranted.
I rolled my eyes. "Tanya, please, mind your words. You don't even know her. She's a stranger, so stop being so rude."
"Exactly!" She retorted. Her facial expression turned gloom, and she shook her head as if she was rejecting something. Slowly, she raised her right hand, cupping it around my jaw. "A stranger. So, how can you get married to a stranger? See, honey, I have your best interest at hand. Don't do this cause your aunt wants you to. You can't keep letting that woman remote your brain. It isn't worth it."
"You're right." Unexpectedly, my aunt walked in. She wore a stern look. She put her hands in front of her, sauntering toward us. Gosh, I knew this wouldn't end well. She stood beside Tanya, staring up at her. "Nice to see you again, Tanya. Not surprised to know that once again, you're painting me as a bad person. Don’t even know what you want from me. Don't get why you wanna make my life miserable. What's the problem, huh?"
Tanya scoffed. "Rhonda the devil. You're back."
Okay, this was it. I had been silent for too long. But, when it came to my aunt, I had no choice but to speak.
"Tanya, that's enough." I gripped her wrist, which made her gasp and look at me. I shot her glares. "Don't come here and keep on disrespecting my aunt. Your attitude toward her is one of the reasons I don't wanna get back with you. She's like a mom to me, okay? Why can't you understand that?"
"A mom indeed." Once again, she scoffed. Tears covered her eyes. Violently, she pulled her hand from mine. "You're so foolish. She wants to get you married to a stranger, and you think she loves you? How can you not see what I'm seeing?"
"Because I know that not everyone is selfish like you," I gave her a swift and firm response. She dropped her jaw, and shook her head, but I ignored those. "You claim you love me? Wow, really? You love me, but you disrespect me? You love me, but you disrespect my family? You love me, but all you do is express your love on social media, pretend like we're the best couple, although we both know that we have so many unsolved issues?"
"That's not true." A tear left her eye.
"It is." I spoke with so much intensity. My eyes were squinted at her, my voice thick and rough. I was hurt. "After our breakup, I realized how much you were using me. You only wanted people to think you're in the best relationship. The only reason you're hurt is because your social media fans are expecting a video or photo of us. You really don't care about our future together. You're truly never worried—"
"That's enough!" She yelled at the top of her voice. She pointed her index finger at me, tears profusely leaving her eyes. "Don't question my love for you. It makes no sense, because my heart knows that I'm the only one who truly loves you. The rest of them are a bunch of idiots who want to benefit from your wealth."
I snorted. She just kept hurting me, at all times. "Fine. You've said all you wanna say. Now, I'd appreciate it if you left. I wanna finalize this marriage."
She laughed. The sly laughter. "Oh, great. Let's see how that's gonna happen. Let's see how you'll get married while I'm still around. I won't let you do this. I'll be an obstacle. I love you, so I won't make you ruin your life. If I'm to protect you till my last breath, I'll do it."
"Good," I remarked. Though my heart was burning in wrath and pain, I managed to smirk. "Let me see you do that."
She turned to my aunt. "As for you, Rhonda, keep being the bad girl you are. First, you made us separate, now you're gonna ruin him? Kudos to you. Kudos."
She glimpsed at Rae. Grumpily, she grabbed her bag from my table, turned around, and began storming toward the door. A few feets away from the door, she halted for some reason, and twirled around. She grunted, and walked back to us.
She stood in front of me, glaring so, so hard. Before I could say anything, her hand clashed against my cheek, which made my neck tilt sideways. Yes, she hit me. Hit me really hard. For a moment, I couldn't fathom what had just happened. I was so shocked. I knew she was very mean and disrespectful to me, but hitting me wasn't something I would have ever expected from her. How audacious she was.
I turned my neck back to her. I had a blank expression on my face. I was shocked. "You hit me?" I managed to speak.
She huffed. "I hope that knocked some sense into your head. Birdbrain."
With that, she turned around once again, walked out, and slammed the door behind her.
"Is that the woman you wanna spend the rest of your life with? Can you see for yourself?" My aunt lamented. Her eyes were moisturised with tears, and she sniffled. "I'm so sorry about this, my boy. Please, don't feel bad."
I was silent.
Ivan Kurt was my name. Many women were dying to be with me. I was rich and quite famous. In this world, Tanya was the only person who showed no respect to me. She was the woman I loved, but it felt like I was only wasting my emotions. She had not been so good to me as a girlfriend, but I had always managed to keep up with her attitude. But, this time around, she had gone as far as hitting me. I hadn't even seen any bit of remorse in her eyes, after she had done it.
Fine. This was it. I would definitely prove her wrong, and teach her a lesson.
"Aunt…" I swallowed hard, trying as much as possible to conceal the agony in my heart. "Tomorrow, Rae and I will go to the wedding store. I've made a final decision. I'll be getting married."
A tear left her eye. "Are you okay?"
I gave her a curt nod. "I'll get married on Saturday."
"Just in two days?" Her face wrinkled as if she was worried. She opened her mouth widely, and shook her head. "Please, don't do this because of Tanya. That's not—"
"This is what I want," I clarified. I glanced at Rae. "Get ready for the shopping. Wear something nice, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'll see you at home," I added. Grabbing my keys, I made my way to the door, making my way out of here.
I was so upset. I had been considering whether I not I should go on with this marriage. But, after the ugly scenario, I was going to get married, no matter what.
Tanya had forgotten who I was. It was time to stop being too soft. I would resume being the old Ivan; I would resume crawling in the darkness I used to dwell in.
***
- Writer
