HE IS MY HUSBAND!

BRIA

I was late. It took me more time than I had expected, and I hoped the devil had not returned before me or he would kill me for disappearing from there.

Would he be worried for me? Would he think that I escaped from his hold?

I shook those thoughts out of my head. When I returned, there was no sign of him. Where should I find him in that unknown place?

But the voice inside me told me that he would come back for me! He had never broken his word, he would not do it this time too!

I sat on the footpath, waiting for him and placed the knife he gave me beside me. About half an hour later, I sensed his presence around me, and I looked up to see him angry. The vein on his forehead popped out, waving red flags at me.

I didn't let him speak much and told him that I had found a place for us to stay. He must have sensed that something was not right and remained silent. After fifteen minutes of walking, I took him to the outskirts of the town and to a two-storey old building- a hotel.

"Wait here. I'll be back." I didn't give him a chance to open his mouth and walked to the receptionist.

Luckily, I found the address of this small hotel. Of course, it was not up to the devil's standards, but was good enough to spend a night or two, and also was budget-friendly. Thankfully the lady at the reception could understand a little bit of English.

As I approached her, I saw her short, petite form with curly white hair. She was busy reading some magazines with thick-rim glasses resting on her nose.

"ciao signora(hello madam)!" She looked up tiredly at my face. I pulled my best wide smile showing all of my thirty-two teeth though I felt everything but happy at that moment.

"Um, can I have a room for a night? per favore(please)!" I was told that many tourists stay here. So, it was obvious that the receptionist could understand English.

God bless Luca for teaching me some Italian words!

After reckoning me from up to down thrice, she tilted her head to look in the devil's way, who was busy surveying the area with his stone-sculpted face.

"È con te?"

"huh?"

"That Bello (handsome) man over there. He is with you?" She asked sceptically.

Shit! I didn't think about it.

I turned to look at him, and he gave me a hard stare.

The receptionist again scrutinised me from top to bottom through her glasses. "This is not a place for your fun, Signorina (young lady). Go away and don't waste my time." She shooed me with her hands.

"oh no no signora(madam). It's not like what you are thinking. Actually... he- um... he... is my husband! yeah. Right. Husband!" My fast tongue beat my mind before it could come up with some excuse.

She narrowed her eyes at me, seeing through my lie. "Are you sure?"

"Yes.. absolutely! He is the same man my father made me marry." I gave her another of my brilliant smile in the hope to convince her.

She again looked at the devil, and this time I saw him getting alarmed. If he found out about my lie, then he would probably dig up my grave right then and there. But now, there was no way back. It was already late in the night, and this was the only good place around here, which was under our budget. I had to take this chance.

"Where is your squillare(ring)? Wedding ring?" She took my hand in hers, inspecting it.

Oh... sweet potatoes!

What would I tell her now?

I reckoned my brain for some fake story, but my knight in shining armour came to save the day... correction... night.

"What's going on?" He directed the question at me, but its effect was seen somewhere else.

"Dio mio! Non è solo bello ma anche la sua voce è dannatamente sexy! (Oh my god! He is not only handsome but his voice is also damn sexy!)" The old lady squealed dreamily.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"I can't believe that a man like you is married to someone like her!" She commented as if it was the most unfortunate thing in the world.

How could she say that?

"Excuse me! What do you mean by someone like me?" I turned red in anger at her comment.

My eyes widened when the devil slipped his muscular arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his side. And if that was not enough to make my heart go haywire, I was blessed with another once-in-a-Millenium sight.

HE SMILED!

Was I dreaming, or was I already trapped in a limbo where my mind was imagining the things that I couldn't see alive?

It was not the kind of smile you get from any person. It was just a slight lift of the corners of his lips that would be a little lesser than Monalisa's painting. But it was there!

My mind tuned out their conversation as I kept staring at his face unbelievingly.

"Let's go to the room dear wife" I was not fully recovered from the shock but cringed when he stressed the last two words. I was in big trouble with him!

He didn't let go of me until he opened the door to our room, which was on the first floor. As soon as he pushed open the door, I freed myself from him and ran to seek refuge at the other end of the small room.

Before I knew it, I was backing against the wall, and the devil was right in front of my nose, suffocating me. I jumped in fright when he punched the wall behind me, leaving only a few inches between his hand and my face.

"IamsorryIleftanddisobeyedyoubutIwantedtohelpandIhadnochoiceotherthanlyingthatladythatyouaremyhusbandotherwiseshewouldn'thavegaveusthisroom" I lost my breath at the end of my short monologue.

His eyes were blazing fire. "How do you get the money?"

"Uh?" I blinked like a fool when he asked about money.

What a selfish pig!

He should have asked me if I was okay and unharmed. But all he cared was about money!

"Uhh... that's not your concern." I feigned arrogance and tried to walk past him, but he pulled me back, slamming my body again into the wall.

"Ouu... that hurts." I rubbed the back of my head.

"Miss Maxwell. I am asking you one last time. You know what I can do to you if you make me lose my patience. How. the. fuck. you. get. the. money?"

My temper shot through the roof at his rude behaviour. I pushed him hard, creating some safe distance between us. I needed it!

"You are an egotistic, selfish moron! You said I was no use to you so I decided to do something to help our situation. You told me that we need money to get a car. We needed money for a safe place to stay. We need money to feed ourselves. So I got the money! Instead of appreciating my efforts, you are acting like a douchebag with me." I screamed in anger.

He was livid at my outburst. Not only the vein in his forehead but those in his hands and neck popped out on the verge of getting burst.

He threw his damn goggles on the bed that was beside him. "Appreciate you? I was looking for you everywhere thinking you might be in a danger when you were busy in arranging money. I want to know how you arranged it when I, King couldn't. What did you do? Huh? Did you steal it or threw yourself at some rich bas-"

A loud sound of slap resonated in the closed room. My body was shaking in rage, but my mind went numb in a second. I felt a tingling sensation vibrating in my hand before reality hit me like a brick thrown into my face.

I FUCKING SLAPPED HIM!

*

*

*

There were one hundred and fifty-five tiles. Ninety of them were white, and the remaining were light blue coloured with leaf designs on twenty of them. The tap was leaking forty-seven drops per minute. This was the only thing left for me to do after five songs by One Direction, three songs by Tyler Swift and four songs by Alan Walker playing in my head.

It's been more than two hours since I locked myself in the bathroom after the ugly fight with the devil. And the worst part was even after trying to distract my mind, it always came back to the fact that I. fucking. slapped. him!

Though I was super mad at him, I was also worried about his wound. As far as I knew him, I was pretty sure he must be fuming in anger in a corner without treating the injury. I placed my ear to the door, but all I heard was silence.

How long I could lock myself in there? So I decided to be brave and opened the door without making any sound.

I peeked my head from behind the door. He was sprawled on the bed leisurely, resting his back on the headboard. His one hand was covering his eyes, and the injured one rested on his chest.

I was scared to death in that bathroom sitting on the cold floor, and here he was sleeping in a warm, soft bed!

I tiptoed to the side of the bed while making sure that he was asleep with a first-aid kit in my hand. There was not much in it, but whatever it had would do for the time being.

I pulled out some cotton and poured some alcohol rub on it to clean his wound. But there were two problems.

One- I had to remove the sleeve of his shirt to treat his wound.

Second- He was staring directly at me without any expression on his face.

I maintained a straight face and picked up the scissor to cut the sleeve of his shirt, but to my utter horror, with a swift motion, he pulled out his shirt over his head and was in front of me in all his muscular glory.

My mouth hung in shock, bringing me only embarrassment when he closed it with his hand.

I trained my eyes only on his wound, refraining from wandering on the prohibited territory. His wounds made me cringe. And I didn't even want to imagine how much they might have pained him.

I began cleaning them and expected him to at least hiss in pain, but he remained stoic without making any sound. I could feel the heat of his gaze on my face, which only hardened my task, yet I tried my best to not hurt him more.

As soon as I finished placing the bandage on his wounds, I dashed towards the bathroom without sparing him another glance and closed the door. I opened the tap and splashed some cold water on my face. I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

But the girl that stared back at me looked nothing like me!

Everything was wrong in my life. Every fucking thing. Every day of my life was wrong. People around me were wrong. How he treated me was wrong. How he controlled and manipulated my life was wrong.

Saving my enemy's life was wrong. Killing Matthew that night for the devil was wrong. Compromising my family's happiness was wrong. Hurting people around me was wrong. How my body reacted when he was around was wrong. Coming here with him was wrong. Whatever we had between us was wrong. How every ounce of me craved his closeness was wrong. How much I was terrified of him was wrong. How his darkness pulled me towards him was wrong.

What he made me feel was wrong.

And coming to the point where I was on the verge of falling for him was... worst!

*******************************

What do you think of upcoming events? Do let me know in the comments section.

Follow discord to get daily update notifications and much more!

https://discord.gg/meuNRGWf9A

Instagram @author_rutujap