My Wife, My Man?

Chapter Four

"I love you, not only for what you are but for what I am when I am with you." Roy Croft

"Yes... Hmm, no... Wait... It's not like that." Perli felt wrestled to a corner like a kid. She hated the familiar feeling that bubbled up in her system. The situation could have been avoided in the first place if she only told her. She would have avoided having to explain herself to the ears that wouldn't listen.

"...Really, trust me!" She felt desperate to make her understand. There was no hope of begging for understanding from a person who continuously yelled over the phone.

"I thought we were friends!"

Perli sighed, "It's not like that Liz."

A puff of sarcasm echoed from the other end of the phone. "Oh, really?!"

With a groan, Perli gave up. There was no use in repetitively stating her apologies. Of course, she acknowledged her guilt. Which friend in the world gets married without telling the other? This was the matter which upset her older friend. Hence, Liz didn't want to listen to her; after all, she was simply as, if not more, hot-headed than she was. At each utterance, Perli mentally counted the words of disappointment that left Liz's mouth. She listened in silence, allowing her breathing to be the only audible response. Liz was the type to talk a lot when beaten up by anger.

Perli's brief role as a listener slowly began to drift her thoughts to what she had been avoiding for days now. Her husband. She sighed and buried her feet further into the warm sand. Sitting there, with the ocean in front of her and the beach house at her back, various thoughts ran through her mind like a marathon.

Jack.

He hadn't disturbed her since the day of that argument and, even if she didn't want to put much thought into it, it unsettled her. After he had gotten her the necessary medication for her head that day, he left her alone. He appeared to have left the entire house to her; however, she was aware of his presence, because during the nights she would hear echoes of his voice bouncing from his room. She didn't know what to think about this; did he finally give up on trying to win her heart? She hoped so, that would have made the separation, in what they were trying to call a marriage, easier.

But did she want a divorce? She had never been a lady to fancy the idea of a divorce; it was against all that she believed in. Yet, she held no place for him in her heart; she just wanted to... The certainty of what she truly wanted had already vanished.

"Jaki? Jaki, are you still there?" The faint voice ringing from her phone dragged her back to reality. She had forgotten about her conversation with Liz, again.

"Yes, sorry," she replied in a soft voice. She played with the sand on her feet. It must have been more than an hour that she had been sitting there.

"Agh! I am so disappointed in you right now!" Liz's voice echoed disappointment with a hint of sadness. "You have no idea! I still can't believe you didn't tell me! I had to find out on TV that you married some rich business owner, Jaki! What kind of friend are you?"

Perli heaved yet another sigh. "I'm-I'm sorry Liz. My uncle and Jack planned everything so fast, that I didn't even have a say in anything," there was an element of sadness in her voice which she failed to hide.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Liz paused with the question hanging as if she was thinking things over. "Oh, no Perli! Don't tell me you were forced to marry that Jack guy?"

"Heck no!" Perli faked a laugh. "I want-ed to-to marry him." She hated the fact that she had to lie.

"That wasn't too convincing..." Liz sounded suspicious.