Episode1 _Anniversary Shattered.
Selene’s POV
I was standing in the kitchen, checking and fixing things that neither need checking nor fixing. Four years. Four years ago Darius and I had sworn to love each other endlessly, even though that promise isn’t being fulfilled.
I wanted tonight to matter. I wanted him to recollect as to why we fell in love, why we chose each other. Perhaps, perhaps, a bit of warmness might return to our cold and dying bond.
The candles were burning with a gentle full moon glow on the neatly prepared dishes. I had prepared his favorite food, which was beef wellington and roasted vegetables and even baked a small chocolate cake. I did not think he would pick up the details but I wanted him to. I wished he would notice that I still cared.
I glanced at the clock. Seven forty-five. At seven he should have been at the den. I attempted to convince myself that he was at work or that there was horrible traffic, or that there must be some reason. But the knot in my stomach would not be unloosened.
The opening of the front door straightened me up, and Darius, my mate walked into the living room.
“Hi, I said, a bit too cheerful. “Welcome home baby! Happy anniversary.”
Darius’s coat hung on the rack. He threw off his shoes without looking at me. “Hey, yeah… the anniversary.”
I gulp, and attempted not to show the disappointment. “Dinner’s ready. I… I made your favorite.”
He shrugged. “Thanks,” he said, and that was it. No warmth. No smile. Just a cold, detached nod and a half hearted thanks.
I filled his glass and mine. “Sit. Let’s eat.”
He settled into the opposite chair with a lack of enthusiasm, and I noticed he was picking at his food, then he dropped his spoon and paid full attention to his phone.
“What happened? Don’t you like the food? Is it too salty? But I have made it in the way you like it.” I told him, sad enough he was not so excited as I should have liked him to be.
“It is a busy day,” he said, looking at his phone. “There is nothing wrong with the food. It’s fine, stop worrying.”
I had to make myself continue talking, so as to close the distance widening between us. “I attempted to make it all right to-night. I reasoned... maybe we might have a moment together, like we used to. Oh, I picked some movies, also I got a board game you like, we can play them, and I also-“
He did not look up but he rudely cut me off. “I’m tired, Selene. Can we just eat, and go to bed. It’s just another day. I have work tomorrow, I do not desire to be fatigued in business gatherings.”
I felt a spark of irritation. Tired? Normal day!
“Tired?” I said it again, and then rather harshly. “You’re home now. Tonight we should spend time together. Another day! Darius it is our anniversary, you know, for f***s sake! Can you just drop your phone and have some fun this moment?”
Darius at last turned to me, and I was saddened at the coldness of his gray eyes. “Selene, we do not need to celebrate. You turn a mountain out of a molehill. It’s just… another day.”
I put my fork down. I was a little shaky. “Stop saying…. It’s just another day, Darius, it’s our anniversary. Our mating bond. Don’t you care?”
“I care,” he said, though the words were not in keeping with the tone. “I just… I have other things to think about.”
My chest tightened. “Other things? Like what?”
He shrugged, avoiding my gaze. “Work.”
I was no longer able to restrain the frustration. “Always work. When was the last time we spent some time together, Darius?“
He rubbed his neck absently, and that is when I noticed it, a hickey, half covered by his collar. My stomach lurched. “What’s that?” I questioned with a trembling voice.
He stood up. “Uh… nothing. Just… gym injury.“
I narrowed my eyes. “A gym injury? On your neck? Don’t lie to me.”
He shook his head and would not look in his eyes. “I’m not lying. It’s nothing.”
I felt the anger rising. I needed answers and I was not going to allow him to brush me off. “Darius. Look at me. What is that?”
At last he gazed at me, face closed. “Selene, don’t start. I’m tired. Can we not do this tonight?”
“No,” I said firmly, standing up. “We are doing this tonight. I need to know the truth.”
Darius sighed and pinched his bridge of his nose. “It’s nothing, okay? Just… a misunderstanding.“
And so he walked off and left me to myself.
But I wasn’t satisfied. I couldn’t be. I looked at his cell phone that buzzed. My heart pounded. I shouldn’t, I told myself. I was invading his privacy. But there was something within me screaming that I must have a look.
I took his phone and opened it. A new message from a contact called Lila.
“Three hearts? Why did he save her number with three heart emojis?” I mumbled under my breath and I tapped the conversation, reading the text she just sent him.
The words were like a physical blow to me.
“Babe, tomorrow is our baby’s first ultrasound… please be early. Love you.”
I froze. I had such shaking in my hands that I nearly dropped the phone. I read the message a second time, and then I could not believe it.
My chest tightened, my stomach got turned. Lila… our baby? Ultrasound?
Love you?
I couldn’t breathe. The world seemed to tilt. It was all a lie, everything I had thought of my mating bond, about Darius, about us, everything. My brain was numb as I gazed at the screen.
“Lila… is pregnant?
With Darius’s child?”