Chapter 15
It was bedtime, and Melvin's mother urged Charlotte to retire to bed early. Charlotte returned to the room she would be sharing with Melvin after saying good night to her mother-in-law and Mia. On the balcony was seated Melvin with a glass of red wine; he had returned a few minutes after they started dinner but headed to the room instead of joining them.
Charlotte wondered what was going on in his mind; he seemed lost in thought because he did not notice her presence. Charlotte watched him for a while; he had his glass of wine in his hand and had not sipped from it.
While she watched him, Charlotte had a lot going on in her mind; she had been there for about two minutes and he still hadn't noticed her.
A lot must be going on with him. She thought. But what could they be?
She thought of the possible reasons why he was acting this way but shrugged off those weird thoughts and headed to the room. She sat carefully on the couch and picked up her phone with her left hand to scroll through. There were a few messages from Bella to answer. Most of the messages were to tell her what was going on at work; one was to ask her if she had placed a call to Mr. Joel yet.
Charlotte made a note on her phone to remind herself to stop by the house and get the business card after she visits the hospital tomorrow. Melvin walked a few minutes later.
"I will sleep on the couch," he said but Charlotte did not answer; she wasn't going to object.
Melvin picked up a pillow and blanket and moved closer to the couch, indicating that he needed Charlotte to leave his space. Charlotte took a deep breath before standing up. She sat on the bed and began to scroll through her phone one more time. With the awkwardness between them, she could not press her phone for long. The silence between them wasn't helping matters either. Charlotte lay down to sleep while Melvin continued to go through his phone. Would things not have felt this awkward if they had recently shared a room on one or two occasions? She wondered. Or if they were on good talking terms.
They had not shared a room in a while. The last time they did was their first night as married couples; Charlotte could still remember how long, awkward, and boring that night was; she had wished not to experience such a night again.
She sighed. It seems she will be experiencing such a night again but this time she won't be sharing a bed with him.
**
Charlotte was woken up by the unbearable pain she felt in her arm; she had slept on it forgetting she was hurt there. The pain was so much that she resolved to take pain relief drugs. She stood up to get a cup of water for the drug but realized that the water dispenser wasn't dispensing water. She decided to get some water from the kitchen. As she walked to the door, she noticed Melvin was not on the couch.
He must feel very uncomfortable on the couch. She thought.
He wasn't used to sleeping on the couch. Charlotte wondered where he had gone to at this time of the night.
He might be in the living room or on the balcony. She thought. Or maybe he slept in one of the empty rooms.
She headed downstairs with her drugs to get water from the kitchen. Charlotte saw Melvin speaking to Damien, one of his uncles. She did not remember seeing him walk into the house during their dinner; she wondered when he got there. They did not notice her because they were so deep in their conversation.
Charlotte could hear Uncle Damien say good things about her; he praised her virtues. But all these good words were met with nothing but Melvin's indifferent attitude; he doesn't see her in that light. All he talked about was how he had been checking the surveillance videos at home and also in the office to know what her underlying intentions were; he was certain she was up to something and he did not waste time saying it.
"I am certain she is up to something and I will find that out," he said.
"But you haven't found anything against her yet," Uncle Damien answered.
"I might not have found something yet but I will soon"
"Don't you think you might be wrong about her?"
"I can't be wrong about her, uncle. You should not be deceived by her innocent face. I will ask that you do not believe whatever she says or does. She has an interior motive and I will find that out." Hearing these, Charlotte's heart yielded nothing but disappointment; it brought nothing but tears to her eyes.
She had always known that Melvin didn't trust her; she had seen him in his study room, on one or two occasions going through the documents she had worked on. She has also overheard him scold the General Manager for trusting her with important documents, despite knowing that she has been doing pretty well at the company.
She had taken all these in with no complaint. But hearing him speak ill of her in front of his family, she couldn't take it; she felt hurt. She headed back to the room quickly; if she continued to listen to them, she might break down completely in tears and they would notice her. The pain she felt in her heart, overshadowed the one she felt in her arm. She got to the room and sat on the bed.
Did she make the wrong choice accepting to marry him? She wondered.
She began to reflect on her past, to the time when she was first chosen for sponsorship by his father. There was an agreement attached to the sponsorship, which was to help his son after she graduated. She had not taken her time to think about it and had agreed hastily.
With the way things had been between them and with what she had heard from his conversation with his uncle, Charlotte regretted ever making a decision.
Would things have been better if she had agreed to help him by working in the company and not marrying him?
Not only are they bound by this marriage, but Charlotte's life is constricted and everything seems complicated.
She wondered if things would have been different if she had just rejected his offer instead and tried to see herself through school without his help.
Would she have finished school, got a job at a good company, and also excelled? She thought.
The possibility that she might already be in love with him despite his indifferent attitude towards her, made her vulnerable; she could not utter words against his indifferent attitude towards her. Charlotte wondered how long she would be able to go on with this. She can't divorce him because his late father doesn't want that; she is not willing to let go yet.
She sighed. Would he continue to treat her this way and would she be able to keep up with him; love or no love?