Chapter 128 You And I
When Scarlet reluctantly stepped foot inside the space ship, she found Esong in the control center, he was sitting in a chair with his arms folded and his eyes closed. Lately, she felt more at ease when he was sleeping than when he was awake. Since she could not tell what he was thinking, she was beginning to think that it would be better for her to move back to her family's house for a while. Until he sorted through his many complex thoughts anyway.
"Hey," she tapped him slowly, and he suddenly grabbed her wrist. Rather than react like a frightened little rabbit, she looked at him questioningly, a little bit bored even. "What's this now? If you are thinking that I was intending to do something to you, you are mistaken. I was simply trying to wake you up."
He did not reply, not even a peep of a word came out of his mouth. Instead, he stared at her with his dark eyes intensely until she started feeling the inevitable wave of discomfort.
"I am tired, and I have another busy day tomorrow" she said, "If you can wrap up whatever this is right now, I would love to get to bed. And by the way, I am not a glutton for punishment, sleeping next to a man that acts as cold as a fish every night is no longer working for me. It might be in both of our interests if I move back to parents house."
The grip he had on her wrist tightened and she winced slightly, not that it was painful but because she was angry with him. If he had something to say to her, why couldn't he just come out with it.
"You are different." he said suddenly.
She was slightly stunned but quickly she covered up her shock by replying, "And so are you, you don't see me making a big deal out of it."
"You are not her." he stated.
In her mind, she panicked a lot, wondering what had given her away? The story of her illness was iron clad, was it the songs and movies? But she would not give herself away easily, he could suspect all he wanted but he would never be able to prove it.
"As if you knew me back then." she said sarcastically. "How many times did we meet Esong? You always increased your pace and sped away when you saw me coming. You hardly said a single word to me, all you did was glare and tell me to get lost."
"Who are you?" he asked her.
"Your wife." she deadpanned. "Then and now, I am your wife." It was one fact that could not be changed unless one of them killed the other. In fact, she thought, maybe it was better for him to suspect that she was someone else, this way he would hate her less for Scarlet's discrepancies.
Suddenly the grip on her wrist loosened but the hold on her hand remained. "I am not giving you a divorce." he declared.
"I have not asked for one lately." she reminded him. "I know the law now dear husband, we are stuck together for life. Unless you intend to stab me in the back that is. Is this why you have been so standoffish lately? Did your grandmother tell you that I would play some kind of tricks on you and attempt to get a divorce?"
"Yes." he replied sharply. He did not even hesitate once or attempt to hide it. "She said trusting you would be a mistake. What do you think about her words, should I trust you Scarlet?"
"No offense to your grandmother but our marriage is something she should stay out of. You are a grown man who can make his own decisions, we were getting along perfectly well before she arrived here. Both of us are new at the trusting thing Esong, you are not the only one that has doubts. Do you know how many times your mere presence frightened the life out of me because I thought you would stab me in the back. And I mean it literally not figuratively, especially whenever you suddenly popped up when I was alone in the woods. But I chose to believe that the father of my child would not harm me, I mean you have had many chances to do it but you did not. You could have had me thrown in prison for ….you know...but you didn't because you considered what was best for your family and your son. That's why I believe in you, your decisions are always rational, you calculate and make a plan.
My parents, my sisters and my brothers also worry about me you know. My mother said she expected you to rip my head off the first night I slept here. If I was a coward I would not have shown up the following night but I did. Our families care about us but they don't dictate what our relationship should be. That's entirely up to us, you and I Esong, we decide what we want to be." She needed to drill it into him that a relationship was not a communal affair otherwise every decision of theirs would be influenced by the decisions of others. Such a relationship was doomed to fail.
"I am sorry." he suddenly uttered, bringing shock to her. When did the mighty general of the death thunder army start apologizing?
"You don't need to make that face." he told her.
"What face?" she pretended.
"That face, look I take the opinions of my grandparents very seriously. I just...." he stood up and sighed, "I …" he was struggling to explain himself and she could see the struggle in his body with how tense he was, and his eyes that were agonized.
"I know." she spared him the agony of explaining. "But you can't treat me this way again, it doesn't matter if we are simply lovers in this marriage, if you have something bothering you about me, say it. If you act like this again I will simply leave without a warning."
"Is that why you sung that song, goodbye my lover? Were you planning to leave me?"
She tilted her head back and she laughed, "No way, it's just a song I love, there was no special meaning attached to it. "Sweetie if you begin to see personal meanings in every song then you will never get to enjoy music."
"It just sounded so personal." he mumbled and shrugged.
"Well it was not, if I ever sing a song about you I will be sure to let you know." she assured him. "Now I am going to bed, and just so you know, if your mother ever shows up here and pokes holes into our relationship causing you to act like an asshole I will be the one to stab you. And I mean a physical stabbing, so don't get on my nerves."
He laughed and followed after her, "Scarlet," the tone of his voice changed, "I.."
"No." she slapped his hand that was snaking it's way around her waist stealthily. "I am punishing you for being an ass, you don't get to have me until I change my mind."
"Don't be hasty, let's discuss this first." he attempted to dissuade her, it was not as if he had enjoyed their last few nights either. He was just thinking about things, how was he supposed to know that she would be open to discussing them? The thing which had been bothering him for days had been easily handled by her, if he had known, he would have come to her sooner.
"No." she slapped stubborn hand away again.
"But it was not my fault." he whined.
"Hmph." she sneered, "Don't try to squirm your way out of this. Prepare yourself for a drought tonight buddy."