WEIGHTED 3

TYRONE ROBERTS ‘You have no fucking right to have me followed, Tyrone!’ my office door was slammed open, and a very angry looking Elize stormed in screaming. ‘If you don’t want to be followed, you should quit ditching your security details then. That way I won’t have to track you down.’ I said. ‘And I have every fucking right since I’m your husband if I must remind you.’ I concluded. ‘I’m more than capable of protecting myself, thank you very much! Besides, don’t you have things more important than my security to attend to.’ I sighed. She’ll never let go of that. ‘There’s nothing important than my wife. Don’t you think of Ethan, Elton and Arcadia? What would they do if anything happened to you?’ That seemed to get her. ‘You made a lot of enemies that last few years, not to mention mine. Please, I don’t want to lose you.’ I pleaded. ‘Huh, you don’t want to lose me? I bet it’s not me you worry about since you can easily replace me with one of your bed - warmers.’ her expression went from blank and expressionless to icy cold. ‘It’s not for you I’m agreeing, it’s for my kids, never for you!’ She stormed out of the office and to the door. ‘Come on, Claus! We’re going for a ride.’ I heard her saying to her bodyguard before the sound of her car’s engine roared to life. Elize wasn’t like that in our first years of marriage, she was indeed cold and distant, but never to her family, never to me. Until she one day caught my secretary trying to seduce me, at that time she was pregnant with our third child, my princess Arcadia who is a year old. No matter how much I tried to explain to her that I didn’t cheat on her, she never listened. She never even shared a decent conversation with me since then. The only time we talk would be if she’s angry, or we’re in front of people. I gave up trying to explain things to her since I knew she wouldn’t listen anyway. That day she almost left the house. She almost left me. I found her packing her clothes along with the children’s FLASHBACK… ‘Where is Elize?’ I asked one of our maids as soon as I entered the house. ‘She’s upstairs, sir.’ She answered. I went upstairs to our room to find her bags already packed and now was packing the kids.’ ‘What are you doing? I asked, dreading the answer. ‘Evacuating the room for that slut of yours.’ She replied coldly. I went to her side and grabbed her wrists, stopping her from what ever she was doing. ‘Don’t do this please.’ I begged her, She snatched her hands from me. ‘DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME WITH THOSE DIRTY HANDS!’ She shouted. ‘Please, just let me explain, I didn’t chea…’ ‘Oh, just knock it off already! I don’t want to hear anything, I’m taking my kids and going.’ She cut me off. ‘What about Ethan?’ I asked. She turned to me. ‘What about him, of course I’m taking him with me.’ She stated. ‘No, you’re not! He’s my son, you have rights only on Elton and our unborn child, not Ethan. Besides the moment you step out of this house, I’ll give it my all to snatch my children back from you, even if I have to use every last penny I have to do so.’ I threatened. Maybe this could change her mind. ‘You might be successful now, but what you have is barely a drop in the sea compared to what I own.’ I continued. She was about to speak, but was cut off by someone sobbing. ‘Mom, you’re leaving me?’ Our heads spun towards Ethan with a crying Elton in his arms. ‘I don’t want to leave Dada and Ethan.’ My heart broke at the sight of my boy sobbing and I knew that Ethan was barely keeping the tears in. I rushed to my boys. ‘No, your mom is not going anywhere.’ I assured them while wiping Elton’s tears. ‘Then, why were you arguing? And why is mom packing her bags?’ Damn Ethan just had to be so observant. ‘Mom is not going anywhere, those bags are full of stuff I no longer need, so I’m giving it to charity. Besides we weren’t arguing, we were just talking about some elders’ stuff.’ She explained smoothly with a genuine smile on her face. Their faces instantly brightened up. Why Don’t you go play downstairs, I’ll be there right after.’ She told them. They nodded their heads and went away. ‘So, you’ll be staying?’ I asked eagerly. Her once softened features turned stone cold, right there and then I knew my answer. ‘I’ll be staying but in a different room, that way you’ll be able to attend to your other business freely. I’m your wife in the name only after all, no strings attached, right?’ She smiled with fake sweetness. She used the words I told her the first time we met, and I proposed to her before we got close and started acting like a real married couple, before I fell for her. ‘What about the kids, what if they asked why we’re sleeping separately?’ I asked hopping this would change her mind. ‘You’ll find an excuse to tell them, after all you’re good with inventing excuses, aren’t you?’ She took her bags and stormed out of the room to the one next to the kids.’ END OF FLASHBACK…. I stood there watching her distancing herself from me further and further each passing day. Now we’re more like roommates that are obliged to stay under the same roof. I thought she would come around when Arcadia was born, but she proved me wrong. In the first few months of her birth, I barely got to see her since Elize would always tell me that she doesn’t want to see my face. She tried at first to send her to me with Claus, but Arcadia wouldn’t spend fifteen minutes away from her mother without crying, so I opted to visit them both when Elize was sleeping. I was obliged to watch another man help my wife deliver my child. All because of a small mistake I had no part in. Sometimes I pity her ex husband, for she spent 9 long years preparing for his punishment. She built herself and her business from scratch and without anyone’s help. For that I was very much proud of her, but sometimes I can’t help but think how she was before she got trampled on by her once most trusted people. I remember I asked her once before our son Elton was born if she’d ever thought about forgiving them since she had us then, and I still remember how she answered. ‘Never forgive what you can’t forget.’ She said that it was her life motto the moment she stepped out of her ex’s house, and I’m afraid that as long as she doesn’t let me explain to her what really tool place in my office that day, she wouldn’t let me in again. She wouldn’t forgive me, nor would she forget…