My Wife, My Man?

Chapter Forty-five

"Being loved is life's second greatest blessing; loving is the greatest." Jack Hyles

Perli [8:30 am]: Hey Mister Onel! Looking forward to seeing you in a few hours! I promise to stuff you with as much food as possible when you get back because I am sure you didn't eat much there. So, you better make space! See you at the airport. :-*

Jack happily read through the words on the device that he had drawn up to his face. A smile curved the corners of his lips. He read through her message again, and when he had found humour in her words, he puffed a little laugh.

"That smile," David, who had been quietly standing next to him as they waited to board the plane, teased him with raised brows and a low hum. "It must be nice being married, huh?" His grin was like a half-moon and showed off his perfect teeth.

Jack expressed amusement with elevated brows. "You have no idea," the words rang out of his mouth over a chuckle, his eyes creased at the corners to show that even they were smiling. "It makes me look forward to going home every time."

David's sigh was depressive. "Oh, well, I liked it here, wish we could have stayed longer, but..."

"Don't you even think you can have me change my mind, forget it!" There was firmness in his tone that was accompanied by a rather playful look on his face.

"No worries, I had my share of fun here, besides I can always come back..." He winked playfully at him.

Jack smiled, not having anything to add to what he had just said. "By the way," he decided to divert the conversation to something else, his face being washed over with a look of seriousness. "Did you tell Natalia which hotel it was that we were at?"

David's nod was an unsure one. "She told me your dad had sent something for you, did you get it? She insisted on giving it to you herself..." he trailed off, studying the frown that slowly masked Jack's face. "Why... Did something happen?"

"Nothing," Jack replied in an almost cold tone that discouraged any further questions. "Nothing," he repeated, in a much lighter tone as if to make a joke. He needed to have a chat with his dad as soon as he got home.

He then smiled at David. "I am surprised to see you're still sober after all that partying last night."

A chuckle rang out of David's mouth. "I am not a heavy drinker, remember? I am not like you."

"I will take that as a compliment."

"It's not." David's smile was playful.

An announcement rang through the intercom requesting the passengers of the flight heading to Johannesburg to board the plane. Their flight was early afternoon. At that time, the sky was almost cloudless, leaving a beautiful spherical image of the earth as the sun torched the heavens with its hot rays. That, along with the already expected heat of the summer, made the temperature rise to unforgiving degrees and left many — if not all, who dared to step outside any shelter drenched in an ocean of sweat.

He slept most of his flight back to Gauteng, shutting himself to the darkness that lay behind his eyelids and drifting away to a land of obscure dreams. He slept for what felt like a long time — well, at least he would like to think he did — not because he was beaten down by exhaustion, but to avoid the thoughts that raced through his mind when he was awake.

He thought of Natalia's words that rang through his ears like an annoying song left on repeat.

Initially, he hadn't put much thought into her words, knowing her state of drunkenness had been the simple result of her nonsensical talking. However, it was as he watched her drift off to sleep in the comfort of his bed, that his mind recollected the memories of the past months and bore truth to her words.