Calm down

Ezra had reasoned many things in order not to get stuck in a moral conundrum over the years.

He had sexual needs that his wife was not providing for, it was the truth.

At the same time, Daphne did not even initiate conversations with him, so most of the time he did not even feel like he was married, there were even times he forgot about his marriage altogether.

Honestly though, could you even call it a marriage? It was more of a legal partnership, and until this very day, he thought that was how the rest of his life with Daphne would go.

Was he supposed to be completely celibate? As a married man?

"Daphne, you need to see things from my side as well. I work a lot, I am always busy and we have been married for eight years. Years where you never allowed me to touch you."

Still stubborn, Daphne responded,

"I never refused your touch."

"That…" Ezra was receiving shock after shock in this conversation.

"Does that mean that you would have been willing for us to have a relationship?"

Although Daphne wanted to keep the upper hand in the situation so that she would not be manipulated in a direction she did not want, she had reached a point where she could not lie.

"…The first two years, probably not."

"Wait, so you have been willing for six years? SIX YEARS? You do realize whatever I started with Theresa was less than four years ago, right? There was plenty of time in between. How was I supposed to know you had changed your mind if you never spoke to me?"

Ezra was fuming. Was he supposed to take her seriously right now? She was behaving like it was his fault for not initiating when indeed she did not want a relationship with him in the beginning and then he was supposed to magically know when it was okay to initiate things without even as much as a hint from her?

As some venomous words were about to escape his mouth, he paused.

'Calm down, calm down, calm down.' He kept repeating in his mind.

'This can be considered an invitation, can't it? A hammer to the head kind of invitation, but one nonetheless. I should not make things worse as, if I do, she will only become more adamant about divorce.'

As Ezra was starting to analyze their situation, he suddenly completely regained his calm, much to Daphne's surprise.

While Daphne was trying to figure out what prompted his change in emotions, she heard Ezra say,

"I will fire Theresa and I will try my best to become the type of husband you desire, but I expect the same enthusiasm from you."

Daphne was shocked to realize how willing to compromise Ezra was. She knew she was a difficult person, and in this conversation, she definitely had not made things easy for him.

Daphne looked into Ezra's eyes to see if he was insincere, or to see if he was only saying this in order to hurt her at a later date, since she undoubtedly hurt his pride with the comment where she said she did not want him.

Unexpectedly, she saw his eyes blazing with enthusiasm and lust. The blatant emotions that he was not concealing made a shiver run through Daphne. Her body started to sport goosebumps and she started feeling hot, all over.