The Truth Hurts

I opened my eyes hearing the shower running, turned around and noticed that Clara was not in the bed, it was so unusual, normally I wake up before her, I checked the time, the digital clock showed 5:45am, I pulled off my duvet, got up, stretched my body, felt my muscles relaxing and looked around the room… my room was black, white and grey, while designing this pent house I thought to keep our natures, me and my wifey,  in mind specially our bedroom, which was decorated in such a manner that will represent us, black as me, showing authority, power and strength, white as hers, simple with purity and innocence and grey,  balancing both our personalities.   The room was rectangular and it had glass wall size L shaped windows in the left, a king sized bed in the center with black wall at the back and a white abstract painting, and grey headboard and bedroom bench, a big LED smart tv facing the bed. The rest of the accessories were mainly in white color, a floor length lamp, a cozy table chair set, a two row floor length shelf .. everything was from Lou Vou, the best in town.    I drew open the curtains and looked at the Manhattan city, that never failed to amaze me, the beauty of skyscrapers, the lake view and the sun sets. The clouds that were changing their color from dark to light,  and the sun was peaking from the other corner making everything more visible, everything was in itself mesmerizing.. I kind of liked that moment, the start of a new day brought new hopes and new challenges..   Just then, the bathroom door opened and here she came in a white floral dress, light matching jewelry and some laces one heels.. I eyed her questioningly, she was looking nice, specially those heels had me there, but why so much effort.!!   She never dresses up at this hour of the day… my subconscious reminded me. Yes, it was so unlike her, normally she just stayed in her pj’s all day long and she always wore what made her comfortable and I didn’t have any issues with that, I liked her the way she was and I never liked those girls who spend hours and hours in make up… I have liked adored her, simple and carefree but she has changed now or we have changed, I think time has changed us…   My mind was still thinking about her and our time together when I realized that she was going out of the room, she didn’t even tell me where she was going and that disturbed me but me being me I tried to act cool with it,  it has been this way for some time, we have become two different people living together but it was not like this, we were madly in love with each other… don’t know why it happened.. why the love died after marriage.. what went wrong… where we went wrong.. I didn’t know why I was thinking all of this today.. I think her running shower woke me up and gave me 15 mints to notice things that I normally I didn't… I have become a machine, after I left my father’s business, all I could think about was work, money, and business… people call me a workaholic.   I have spent last 5 years in making AIDEN CONTRUCTIONS, I have earned the name and fame that I wanted, and this year I was likely to win the businessman of the year award, finally getting close to the things that I challenged him when leaving his house and company… my hard work will finally pay off…   My alarm started buzzing ending my trail of thoughts and reminding me about my day’s routine.. I went to the bathroom and quickly took a shower and changed into my dress pants and shirt. I styled my hair and used my favorite cologne and I was done, ready for the day, it was 6:30 am and I knew that Martha must have made my breakfast by now… I set on the wooden table and Martha served me my black coffee, toast and omelet.. checking my emails and I started eating.   I used the same space for dining area and lounge area, separating them with decorative plants but the dining area was nearer to the terrace so that we can soak the morning sun as much as we can.. the terrace had a small rooftop garden and a small pool and a couch set decorated in the center to enjoy our time together, by looking at the terrace I remembered how we used to spend our nights enjoying music, dancing and on drinks.. it seemed a mere memory now..   Clara again crossed my mind. … no idea why but today I was missing our time… and thought to plan a vacation for us, once i finished with my current projects.   “Martha..” I called her thinking that she might know about Clara. But later decided against it.   Are you nuts Aiden, why would she tell the maid and not you…   “Yes, sir.” Martha was old an woman, her wrinkles were enough to tell her age but she was best in her work. I could rely on her more than anyone, she was my mother’s favorite and came to us after our marriage…   “How have you been doing?” sounding silly to my own ears, I asked.   “I’m good sir, thank you.” She said startled at first, cleaned my table and vanished.   There was something seriously wrong with me today. shaking everything off my head even Clara, I called John and asked him to get the car ready, my chauffer c*m body guard, he had to leave army because he got an injury in his right foot and has been working as a body guard for 15 years, and he was with me from the very start.   I got up from my chair, went in my room to get my coat and tie, wore them and went out to start the day..   On the way to my office, I checked my emails, Marry my personal assistant, notified me about the final meeting with our client, I called and told her to inform the project management team to get the work done, I wanted to see everything before our client.. I wanted this project under my name, this was huge, I couldn’t afford a single negligence.   After reaching the office, the first thing I did was a meeting with the project team, I checked and rechecked the mall designs making sure that there was no flaw anywhere, discussing all the pros and cons all over again, from the proposals to the budgeting, after an hour Mike said,   “I am actually seeing this one, in our hand, don’t you worry boss.” Pointing towards the proposal folder and smiling.   “Yes, we will get it.” Sarah said, the rest confirmed with smiles and assurances.   They had my trust and I knew that they had worked day and night for this, I smiled encouraging them, and gave them a half an hour break, and got myself busy with other tasks, at 10’o clock called Marry and asked her  for the coffee, while drinking it I thought of her, I dialed her but she didn’t receive my call, that bothered me again but the meetings and the work got me busy and her thoughts were out of my mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Yayyyyyy!!!! we got it boss," Sarah said with a big bright smile. "Didn't I tell you.." Mike came and shook my hand I was beyond happy, I wanted to share this news with Clara, I announced a celebration party at my place and excused myself. while I was in the parking lot i got a call from Miley, she was my best friend"s fiancee.. "Hey! Mr. work comes first," did I mention that she was annoying as f*ck. "What's up with you.? did your boyfriend run away?" opening the car door I said. "Not gonna happen sweetheart, he's wrapped around my fingers." she laughed and I thought what was it with her that Adam actually likes, rude i know but she was irritating and I couldn't  help it. "I don't wanna be rude but do you wanna talk about something important because I need to be somewhere and I'm getting late." still clutching the car door. I said. "Actually there is, I don"t know how to say this but today I saw your wife  at the Blue Lagoon Cafe. You  might know about it but the thing that disturbed me was, she was looking very scared and upset." WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT....  didn't know what she said after that, I just hung up the call and froze right there...