CHAPTER ONE
CELINE POV
“Fresh tomatoes and some green vegetables please.”
That's the only groceries I needed to stock up for the weekend. I glanced at my watch as I walked briskly across the open park to my car. By the time I got home I only had two hours to prepare dinner for Oliver before he got back from work .
Friday’s nights were for hanging out and we-time before we got married but a year into our marriage things have changed greatly and it has gotten worse ever since my mother-in-law decided to come live with us. And it was worse knowing that she wasn’t leaving anytime soon given the fact that she sees me as a gold digger and hasn't produced a child for Oliver.
The only potentially interesting part of the evening is that I’ll be left alone while Oliver and his Mom gossip and watch their favorite TV show with whomever she decides to bring with her this time. The first time Oliver brought up the idea that his Mom was coming to stay with us for some months, we argued for three days before I finally agreed to consider it.
“Thank you,” Oliver had said with his brows narrowed and his lips in a thin line.
Oliver arrived home and I busied myself dishing the food so he could eat when he came down after a shower. I was already used to being ignored around my home and being alone. It was quite lonely but it was nothing that I couldn’t get used to. I find it easy to work around the house without the constant nagging of Oliver and his Mom.
While they both talk incessantly and complain about the food, as they did with every single thing I make. I’ll use the time to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes, my home may be a bit messy emotionally but I’ll rather have a clean kitchen to compensate for it. Oliver’s Mom had once yelled at me for being too neat and it makes her uncomfortable.
“You’re making me uncomfortable with your constant cleaning, do you always have to show off how good you’re at cleaning?” She asked one day.
“I’m sorry,I didn’t mean to,I just don’t like piling dirty dishes over the night when I could clean it before going to bed”. I explained even though she wasn’t listening to me.
Although I’ve had less confidence in my matrimonial home since home I’ve always felt a twinge of adolescent insecurity whenever Oliver Mom was around. It could be because the woman hated me. Thank goodness she had never come out and openly told me “ I hate you” but the subtext was clear.
I know Oliver was devoted to things that concerns his Mom. He was a Mommy boy and listen to her without even thinking of discussing with me, at first we had agreed that she would be with us for just three months but his Mom told him she would like to spend the remaining part of the year with us and he agreed without even consulting with me or telling me about the situation.
I love Oliver and I don’t want any of our incessant arguments and fights, one faithful morning after another round of confrontation from the previous night, I crawled up to bed with him and woke him up in the middle of night. I’d read it in a book about how couples settled their fights in the night before the break of the following morning and I thought it was the right thing to do.
“Baby, I’m sorry for the previous night. I'm tired of our incessant arguments and fights, let’s fix us Oliver” I started with the hope of having a normal conversation with my husband.
“You woke me up in the middle of the night for this?”,
He spurned angrily with his eyes glaring at me.
“I’m worried abo- about us and I can’t sleep” I replied sulking and trying so hard not to cry
“Go back to bed and if you’re not happy with me anymore, you’re always free to leave.” He turned his back and covered himself with the duvet.
His words pierced my heart and I felt the remains were shattered as a result of the heartbreak, it felt like my heart was removed from my body and smashed to pieces while I was watching.
I’ve never doubted Oliver's love for me all through our relationship but within the past year it has been like he has developed a new nature, coupled with the fact that his Mom and Sister were both in the same boat and thinks I’m just a gold digger and I don’t deserve to be with him.
“You this barren b***h! Nothing good could come out of you”, Oliver's sister, Gina, openly confronted me one Saturday afternoon.
“I’m not ba- barren and I know I’m capable of having a child” I replied shakily with tears already forming in my eyes. The sad part of it was that Oliver was present and could hear his sisters cruel word but he wasn’t man enough to restrain his sister from humiliating me.
“You’re gonna have to leave this house and sign a divorce letter” She added, sounding so convinced and her words full of arrogance. “For as long as I know, you’re quite useless to my brother.”
“You can’t do that,” I replied to her trying to put up a fight , but the battle had already been won before it even started.
“We shall see.” She walked out, meanwhile Oliver had been sitting there not uttering a word or trying to stop her. I looked at him in total disbelief waiting for an explanation but he didn’t seem to care.
Later that evening there was a dinner party has Oliver was hosting some of his friends, I prepared the foods and decorated the house as I didn’t want him to feel bad about it, I purposely asked his sister to lend me a hand so as to speed up the process as I wanted everything to be ready before Oliver comes back from work with his friends.
“You have no right to ask me to help you b***h”, she said rudely. “Cleaning and cooking is the only thing you’re useful for, so do it without complaining.”
She spit on my face and cussed along the way to her room. I knew telling Oliver about it wouldn’t change anything but get me more insults, so I continued with what I was doing.
Luckily I finished everything before Oliver came home and I saw the happy look on his face when he saw the decorations and foods, his sister already told him that she wanted to surprise him and did all the work while I was sleeping .
“Is that true Celine?”, he asked angrily
“No, she’s lying” I replied innocently but that seemed like a wrong answer as strong hands landed on my face.
“How dare you call my sister a liar?” Oliver eyes bloodshot.
He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me on the floor all the way to the bedroom. I didn’t have the strength to fight back, my arms and legs were too weak to do anything on their own , I felt lost and tired.
I don’t deserve this. No one deserves this.
