My Wife, My Man?

Chapter Six

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." Albert Einstein

"Do you need help with anything, ma'am?" The smile came from a young worker with dark skin.

Perli returned a smile. Glancing at the young worker's tag, she noted her name: Thuli. She then diverted her gaze back at the young woman's face; the name was befitting for the beautiful face.

"No, thank you, Thuli," she responded to the pending question, shaking her head. "I am just scanning for now; I'll call you when I need help."

"No problem, ma'am." Thuli wiggled her head, a faint smile appearing on her face. She turned around and walked away, but not without giving Perli a quizzical glance.

A sigh of relief escaped from Perli's mouth. She was delighted that no one had managed to recognize who she was. Who would, anyway? And who was she? She had only been married to Jack for two weeks. The rumours about their marriage seemed to quieten for the past few days. Gossip and trends did, after all, die out as soon as they rose, and she couldn't be happier than having no attention to herself.

"Wow," a soft, almost silent whistle accompanied her amazement at the sight of the beautiful clothes. In her entire life, she had never pictured herself coming to such a shop, the type where one could only admire its expensive items from afar but never have the money to buy them. She ran her fingers against the material of bright blue denim. It felt rich, of good quality.

She slowly whistled again.

Ma would have slapped me for whistling; the thought bubbled up in her mind and resulted in a grin on her face. Her mom always thought it was a rather unladylike thing to whistle. She smiled at the beautiful yet painful memories of her mother. Her heart still ached over the loss.

Pushing the thought of her mother away, she sighed and walked between the piles of clothing that hung around the shop. Her eyes wandered about like a child lost in a toy factory. It must have been the fifth shop that she had been to since her arrival at Longbeach Mall; however, she had yet to buy a thing. Of course, she desired all that her eyes saw, but the thought of having to spend his money bothered her.

But he did give her his card after all! And one item of clothing wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? The questions were attempts to convince herself to buy something. What would he say if she came home empty-handed?

"Definitely taking this one," she spoke to herself, unable to pass a pair of black pants that simply shouted her name. After all, she needed a pair of new pants. Running her fingers over the various sizes of the displayed pants, she searched for her size. When she couldn't find it, she scanned for the lady who had requested to help her earlier. She met her with a smile and waved to indicate her need for assistance.

"How can I help you, ma'am?" Thuli asked as she approached her.

"Do you have this in medium size? Like size thirty-two?" Perli inquired, pulling out the pair of pants she was referring to.

"Yes, we do," there was a cheer in Thuli's voice as she replied, "You didn't see your size in this range?"

Perli shook her head.

"Okay, let me search for it in the storeroom."

Perli nodded and watched Thuli disappear to the other end of the shop. Amused, she shook her head at how enthusiastic the young worker appeared to be towards her job. Thuli must have been the first cheerful person she met since she began shopping — more like window shopping — in the mall.