Married Without Love

Chapter 5

Hailey

Today is valentine's day. But to me, its just a black day. Not a day of everlasting love but a day of grave loss. Its my parents death anniversary. On this day, years ago, my parents died in a car crash when a drunk driver slammed into then when they were returning from their date.

Every year, instead of spending this day with a partner, I spend it with my brother. After my parents death, my relationship with him strengthened a great deal. He is my soul to rely on, my shoulder to cry on, the one to catch me when I fall. Due to my lack of friends, my brother became by best friend. I have trust issues stemming from too many betrayals and so now, I don't trust anyone a lot. But my brother is someone I can just open up to, someone who'll never judge me and always have my back. He's my support system. I just love him too much. As a brother. Now, don't get any ideas in your head. (😂😂😂)

Today, as I was about to leave the house, I found Mr John, the butler, taking bouquets of red roses upstairs, to Nathan's room I guess. From his many fans or one night stands no doubt. I shook my head and went to the garage to get my car and drive myself to go see my grandparents. I haven't seen them in a while now and I just hope they don't ask any questions about Nathan.

==========

As I entered my grandparents mansion, I was greeted with the scent of my grandmother's famous cookies. I rushed into the kitchen and hugged her from behind. She squeaked and then began to laugh, taking me in her warm embrace.

"Oh grammy, I missed you so much!"

"As did I, little one" she said sadly.

"What's all this commotion?" My grandfather's voice boomed as he stepped in the kitchen.

"Grandpa!" And I just threw myself into his arms. I swear, my inner child only comes out when I am with them. They are my family.

He chuckled and then put me down. "Oh young lady, how is it you still remembered us? I could've sworn you forgot all about us after you got married!" He pretended to be angry.

I rolled my eyes at his antics. "As if I could" I scoffed. "I was very busy that's it. No other reason."

"Now, now Matt" grammy chided, "she just got married and needs to spend more of her time with her husband. You remember when we were young and just married, we didn't even know the world around us existed."

I just smiled as they laughed, not wanting them to know the reality of my marriage.

"Speaking of which, where's Nathan? I thought he'd be coming with you today, you know, since..."
He didn't finish. Didn't have to. The room went quiet and sadness seeped in as my we remembered my parents. Wanting to break the silence and cheer them up a bit, I made an excuse for Nathan's absence,

"Nathan really wanted to come today, but got caught up when something came up last minute." I told them "but that just means more of these cookies for me!!"
I grabbed a plate full of baked cookies and tan out of the room before they could stop me.
..............
Aaron came after a while and we spent some quality time together as a family. All of us talking and just enjoying ourselves as we ate Grammy's cookies. They asked me about my married life and I told them lies. I hated to lie to them, but I didn't want them to worry about me. They seemed so happy that it made me forget all that was wrong. As long as they were happy, I would manage. Then, after lunch, Aaron and I left to spend the day alone.
................
Our first stop was our old house where we lived with our parents. It was a mansion by a lake and it was home. It was being taken care by a caretaker, who used to be the maid when we lived here.

Our parents were buried in the small plot behind, in the backyard of the house. We sat there, and spend time talking to their graves. Aaron and I told them everything about what was going on in our lives, we reminisced old memories and even shed a few tears. It was like they were here with us. God only knows how much I missed them.

We went inside and now Aaron and I were sitting alone on the couch. I dreaded the questions he was going to ask about my marriage. I never kept anything from him and he did the same. It was an unspoken promise we had to tell each other everything. But still I didn't want to tell him about Nathan. Every time we'd talk on the phone, I'd manage to get out of the topic without saying anything, but now there was nowhere to hide.

So I told him everything. From the contract to the whores. By the end, he was seething. He kicked a few chairs and if my husband were here, more than a few punches would have landed on his face. Aaron never wanted me to marry him anyway, but I had managed to convince him for the sake of our grandparents.

"That jerk, how dare he do that to you." He yelled. I had to place my hands on my ears "Does he have no morals? How can he cheat on you, then flaunt his whores infront of you!"

"Calm down, Ace!" I tried to calm him. Trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near my brother when he is angry. "You're making a big deal out of it.

"Honestly, it's just like living with someone else, except you're not friends with them. But it's not necessarily bad, we don't fight or anything. We just accepted that we have to live together, but don't want to be in a relationship."

As bad as that sounded, it was the truth, and I made my peace with it. That was my reality and I learnt to live with it. Better a stranger who doesn't care, than a false friend who's waiting to stab you in the back. It's safer this way, like this he won't be able to hurt me or betray me if I don't let him in.

Aaron sighed and gave up. He knew me well perhaps, even better than i knew myself. He let go of the topic but not before promising me to kill my dear husband is he ever hurt me and to call him if I ever needed anything.

We spend the rest of the day together, visiting the orphanage my parents had opened before they died. We watched the sunset at the hill where the four of us used to have our family picnics every Sunday and then had dinner at our favorite restaurant and went to the park they used to take us to when we were kids. It was late at night when he dropped me home. My car was already here. My chauffeur had brought it back from my grandparents place. I didn't bother to check if Nathan was home or no, or if he had dinner. I was way to exhausted for that. I changed into my comfort PJ's and fell into my bed and before I knew it I was asleep.
.................

This chapter is for AdelaideKnight.
Thanks a lot for reading and voting.