Unwanted Matrimony

Chapter3

Tiara’s POV

I sat in my therapist’s office as I stared blankly, the message from last night still stuck in my head, causing me to sigh.

“Hello, darling,” Dr Anita said as she sat down.

“Hi”, I replied and tucked my legs under myself.

“How are we doing today”, she queried with a smile.

“I’m not sure. I feel overwhelmed with every kind of emotion, I guess”, I fretted with a shrug, pulling my sleeve over my palms. “I think I’m beginning to relapse again”.

“What do you think triggered your current relapse?” Anita asked, putting on her glasses as she got ready to jot.

“Nathan”, I stated, and fell into my chair.

“And what’s with Nathan?” Anita asked .

“This is the longest I have broken up with him. Whenever he initiates a breakup, we get back together two to three days after. I just feel like maybe I should have tried to- I don’t know, Anita”, I said and rubbed my palm over my face defeatedly. “Maybe I should have tried to be better? To change?”

“You shouldn’t change the way you are because of a man, Tiara”, Anita stated, like I didn’t already know.

But this man in question was meant to be my husband in the next two months.

“He has been sending messages, most of which are derogatory. Sometimes, he says nice things like how he’s utterly sorry, and he wishes he didn’t break up with me, or he wished he had broken up in a better way than the way he did”, I detailed and took a pause to sigh. “But when he sends the demeaning messages, it hurts me more than it should, he says awful things like how he wished he never met me and how unworthy I was of his time or how his new girlfriend is far better than I ever was, and maybe I should learn how to be a perfect girlfriend from her, and sometimes he speaks about my size.

“Have you tried replying to him ever since these message shenanigans began?” Anita queried as she wrote in her book.

“I don’t know what to say”, I replied with a shrug.

“Of course, you know what to say. Your mind is just messing with you about not knowing what to say”, she stated and suddenly stared down. “You’re bleeding, Tiara. You seem agitated”.

Anita stood up to get her first aid box and sat next to me as she took my hand tending to it.

“I’ve told you several times, and I’ll say it again. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about something, let me know, and we will talk about something else”, she said, worriedly as she rested her hand on my knee, stopping my leg from bouncing excessively. “Nathan’s case is off limits until you’re ready to talk about it. Let’s talk about your communication skills with other people and how your week has been”.

“Well, the highlight of my week was the fight I had with my dad where I got angry and hurt after he made a statement. I thought he meant, and I lashed out at him. Am I humorless? Because my dad said I am, or maybe I’m too serious with life”, I summarized, staring at Anita while she smiled.

“Everyone has different levels of humor, darling”, Anita replied, shrugging. “It’s not a bad thing to have less humor than others, but it’s kind of a bad thing to be humorless. Humor is an attribute that helps us relate easily with others”.

We branched into other aspects of the discussion before calling it a day.

“Okay, I’ll try to be less serious, and I’ll try to be patient with people”, I responded as I gathered my things.

I bid her goodbye and left, ready to go about my daily activities.

****

“I’m so proud of you, honey”, my manager, Rosalie, said, excited as she hugged me.

“Thank you”, I giggled.

“This is a bold step you’ve taken”, she cheered. “I’m sure that Riffraff would be shocked when he sees you back on the media platforms”.

This caused another sigh to fall out of my lips.

I stopped modeling and influencing a year after Nathan and I began dating because he said he wasn’t comfortable with it. Rosalie had begged me to think things through before giving up everything for him, but I was too blinded by love.

“I’m so glad you called me back. Working with you was always easy and fun”, Rosalie stated. “Let’s grab lunch together”.

“Thank you for accepting my offer after how I acted the last time”, I said gratefully.

“It’s fine, darling. It happens to the best of us when we are in love”, she said, and hugged me. “He’s stupid if he thinks losing someone like you is a win because you are one of the greatest women out there”.

“Thank you, Ro”, I appreciated it and hugged her back. “When did you become so flattering?”.

“I’m not flattering you. I meant everything I said”, she responded, putting on a serious face.

We parked the car and walked into the restaurant to get lunch.

Everyone in the restaurant kept smiling at me like they knew something good had happened to me, while I smiled back.

Ro and I went to take a seat at the table offered to us, the waiter drawing out my chair and Rosalie’s chair.

“Thank you”, I said, gratefully with a smile.

Our food was brought and placed carefully on our table.

“They surprisingly have very good customer service here”, I whispered to Rosalie.

“They do”, Rosalie replied, her mouth already stuffed with food.

“You must be hungry”, I said, laughing as I picked up my fork.

“I’m starving”, Rosalie said as she gulped water.

Halfway into my meal, a bouquet of tulips was dropped on my thighs.

“Congratulations”, a middle-aged man cheered next to me with a smile on his face.

“Thank you”, I replied with a smile, looking at Rosalie to see if she had any idea what this was.

Everyone in the restaurant suddenly started applauding with smiles on their faces. A banner with a large written Welcome back & Congratulations suddenly dropped.

“It’s good to have you back, Tiaraoluwa”, Mr. Ahn stated with a large smile on his face as he pulled me in for a hug. “We’ve all missed you”.

“Oh My God!” I exclaimed so loudly, I’m sure it was heard two streets away. But-Thank you so much, this means a lot to me. “But I-I-how did you all know I wanted to return to modeling?”

“Rosalie, messaged me yesterday, talking about how you want to return to the modeling industry and everything. I thought about it, I'd got so much too loose if I let you go to another industry”, Mr. Ahn clarified and patted my head as he used to when I was younger, causing both of us to laugh.

“Thank you so much. I appreciate you all for taking a part of your time to celebrate and welcome me”, I announced as I smiled through tears. “Thank you, Rosalie…thank you so much”.

We all dined, some old colleague coming over to ask how I was doing.

Mr Ahn requested that Rosalie and I stay back after the event because he had something important to speak to us about.