Take Care of Her

When I decided to marry, it was a confusing time for me. I always swore I'd never marry, never be stuck with a man for the rest of my life. But then came Aiden. He was everything I wanted and more. He was funny and attentive. He took care of me, which was something I wasn't used to. Though I had my anxieties, when he brought up marriage, we discussed them, and he agreed with me completely. That relaxed me some. So when he proposed the following month, I said yes. We've known each other for five years, married for two. I never thought I'd have to do this, but today I took off my ring and gave it back. Let me explain; I had woken like normal, showered, dressed, and skipped breakfast. All normal. I soon decided to take a trip downtown to see if I could find a gift for my brother's birthday. I guess that was my mistake - I should have just ordered it online like everything else. Imagine my surprise when I walk by this cute little restaurant and see Aiden. I figured he had taken his lunch early, so I started walking to him to see him and maybe have lunch with him. He left before I was awake this morning for work, so it's always nice to have these surprise lunches with him. Before I could even move to enter the building, a beautiful blonde woman walked up to him, gave him a big kiss, and then sat down in front of him. I felt my heart pounding in my ears, felt my chest tightening, and the anger surging through me. Quickly grabbing my phone, I took a few pictures and started home. When I got home, I immediately went into the kitchen and started breaking plates against the floor. It helped me have a level head, and then I texted Aiden. 'Please come home, there's something we need to discuss.' He responded right away, saying he'd be right there. I sat on the couch waiting patiently for him, my mind numb. "Jenn? Hon?" I hear Aiden's voice in the entryway. I don't respond, but he eventually finds me in the living room when he turns the corner, "There you are, what's going on?" I take a deep breath as Aiden sits down in front of me. "When I agreed to marry you, I only had one thing I needed from you. The truth. I didn't care how bad it was; you had to be honest with me. So let's see if you are." Aiden goes to talk, but I hold up my hand, "Do you want to be with me?" "Of course!" He exclaims loudly, confusion written all over his face. "Do you want to be with someone else?" "Absolutely not, Jenn, what is this about?" Aiden stands from the couch, starting to pace. I remain seated. "Do you still want to be married?" He stops to stare at me, eyes wide. "Jenn, I really don't know what this is about, of course I want to be married still." I laughed loudly, tossing my phone at him with the pictures of him and his mistress on it. "I guess I should have asked who you wanted to be married to," I stand and walk over to him; he's staring at my phone in shock. "It's not what you think-" "I think it looks like you lied to me. That was the one thing I told you I would never forgive! I didn't care how bad it was, I wouldn't get mad if you told me the truth!" I yell, turning my back to him, and I run my hand through my hair. "I swear-" "Don't!" I yell, whirling around at him, "You will not continue to lie to me. I saw you kiss her; you can't deny it now!" I laugh again, walking up to him, my heart is ripping in half, and I don't know what to do. "You are nothing but a worthless coward! How could you humiliate me like this? To not even hide your mistress, flaunt her around as though she were your wife. You are a pig!" My head suddenly flings to the side, and I crumple to the ground. I gasp in shock. He just smacked me. Placing my hand on the side of my face, I look up at him, his eyes are wide and his mouth hanging open in shock. Standing up, I back away from him, "Jenn, I'm sorry I didn't mean it," Aiden says quietly, starting to walk towards me. I move further back. "Come near me or touch me again, and I'll call Justin." I spit out at him, and he stops dead in his tracks and holds up his hands in surrender. "I'm going to leave, I'll come back in a couple of hours when we've calmed down, and then we can talk through this." He says, starting to back away from me. I watch him frozen until he's out of sight, and I hear the front door open and close. I remove my hand from my face and flinch; he must have hit me harder than I thought. I walk to the couch and grab my phone. I text Jan, my twin sister. 'SOS' I then run up to our bedroom, grab my bag and suitcase from the closet, and start to toss my stuff into them. I pause when I hear my phone. 'Where are you?' 'Home' Is my quick reply before I start shoving my clothing and bathroom stuff into my bags. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later before my bedroom door burst open. "Jenn?!" I turn and glare at her; my beautiful twin sister has red hair we share, hers cut short, sky blue eyes (I got brown), and a beautiful smile. We are petite in size, so she looks absolutely ridiculous standing there, five months pregnant, huffing out of breath. "Janett! You are pregnant, you live at least half an hour away, how fast were you driving?" I scold her, taking in her huffing appearance. She waves her hand around in a careless manner. "I was on my way home when I got the text. I was pretty close by. What's going on?" After taking a break to breathe, my sister finally looks around my hurricane of a room and my half-packed bags. "I have to go, and I need you to take me either to our parents' or your place." She stares at my bags with confusion on her face. "Jenn, I know when you get angry, you can make quick, rash decisions. Maybe we should take a seat and talk it out?" I huff in annoyance and go back into my bathroom to grab more of my things. "He lied to me, cheated on me, and hit me," I holler at her from the bathroom, emerging with my arms full, "What more do you want to discuss?" She looks closer at my face, and her mouth drops open. She hurries to where I'm at and touches my cheek. "He hit you?" She whispers, eyes glistening with unshed tears. I smack her hand away and go to zip up my bags. "I'm fine, I just need to go," I tell her, swinging my bag over my shoulder and taking the handle of my suitcase. We head downstairs. I wait patiently for my sister to waddle her way through the house and to her car. She unlocks the car, and I throw my stuff in the trunk. Once I sit in the passenger seat, I pull down the small mirror, and my cheek is completely red, and my eye is starting to turn purple. I didn't think he hit me that hard, must be the stupid fair skin. When Jan got in and started to drive away, I felt like I could finally breathe.