Redemption(Struggle #3) (5 page)

I looked around and
I could see glimpses of his persona everywhere. A guitar was lying in the corner, our laundry bag had some male shorts in it, and even a new slippers were present at the shoe rack.

“When
did this all happen, Chloe?” I gasped. It was still a surprise for me.

“That’s a long story, but recently he joined our college as a teacher. After you were gone, Martin came to my class one day. He was drunk and started cursing me. Terry was
nearby; he bashed him pretty hard. Thanks to him, the day was saved.” Her cheeks turned red.

“You are blushing like a sixteen
-year-old girl.” I said. I couldn’t really believe it. And a teacher? Are you having affair with a teacher?”

“Yes, what’s the big deal Eva?”

“And when did you end up in his bed?”

“Technically
, he ended up in my bed. But leave it alone. He is a real nice guy. And he is good at sex, too.” She blushed again.

Looking
at her smiling was definitely a good thing and calmed my heart, but her hook up with a teacher was out of my league.

“So that was your news
, then.” I kept calm; I had my share of news to tell her. Though I was still skeptical about her new relationship, I decided to keep mum. I would get plenty of opportunities to poke her about that.

“Yes
, indeed. Hey, where is your luggage? Don’t tell me you are moving in with Nathan already. He is such a lover boy, followed you to Canada. That’s romantic.”

“No, I’m actually married to him.”
I flashed my ring to her.

“What?” She jumped up from the couch. “Don’t kid me
, lady. Don’t try to pull a prank on me.”

“No I’m not. We got married few days
ago in the holy city of Vegas.” I giggled.

“That’s gross. But why in the world
did you get married?”

“I don’t know, maybe a hunch. We don’t even remember the thing, but we are married after all. We have a certificate to prove it.”

“But did you really want to marry him?”

“Why not?
I love him more than anything and we had our fair share of troubles already. Logically thinking, our relationship was heading that way. That crazy night just added some drama to the whole marriage thing.” I smiled. Deep down, I was happy that I got married to Nathan.

“Maybe you are right, but still...” She looked disappointed. “Have you told your mother?”

“Hell no, she’ll kill me when she finds out. That’s the only thing that’s complicated for me.” I looked down. Mother was such an emotional topic for me.

She was the reason
I went to Canada, bailing on my studies. “She doesn't even know about the scholarship. I am not sure myself what I’m going to do with the scholarship.”

Chloe moved closer to me. She touched my shoulder. “Well I’m still not sure about your marriage thing, but you better tell your mother this as soon as possible. It’s better that she
hear this from you.”

“But how am
I going to say it to her?” The thought also froze my courage to the depths of my heart.

“You have to
, dear. Otherwise, she will freak out and do things you might regret later.” Chloe was telling the truth. I didn’t want my mother to know about my marriage from anyone else. “Poor you, Eva. Anyways, leave it to the future. Tell me about your wedding first. How it went, what was Nathan’s reaction? I bet he was drunk when you got married.” She lightened up the mood for me.

“Yes
, he was at first. But then I think he liked it. He was kind of cool. He had this experience already, you know.”I giggled. “But speaking the truth, it's so amazing to be with the man you love.”

“And that’s why Terry is here.” She giggled.

“Don’t tell me you already love him.”

“I don’t know, but maybe yes.” Her cheeks turned red.
I couldn’t believe that girl at all. And then suddenly she punched me hard.

“Ouch,
that hurt, lady, what was it for?”

“Because you didn’t tell me the big news earlier. I’m so angry
at you.” She gave me a fake scowl.

“Even you didn’t tell me that you crawled into his bed.”
I punched back and giggled.

“Let’s celebrate then.”

“No, I have to go back before night. I got too much  groceries and I’ve to stuff it inside the refrigerator before it melts in the back seat of the car.”

“That can
wait. At least stay for dinner. I am sure your husband can dine without you for one night.”

“He
has been so busy for the last three days that he even eats dinner while he’s working.”

“I can guess why is he working hard.” She looked at me with serious look.

“And why so?”

“Because he is married now, and he needs more money for your shopping.” She giggled.

“That’s not fair. I haven’t asked him for a dime for my shopping. Actually, I was the one who sponsored the Vegas trip.” I didn’t like the way she interpreted things.

“Okay
, cool down. I didn’t mean to be harsh; I was just teasing you. Anyways, what would you like to have for dinner?” She stood up.

“Anything
I like.” I winked at her.

A
few hours later, after lots of chitchat, I was finally getting out of my dorm. I had packed a few of my bags with my clothes.
Nathan will kill me if he sees his car stuffed with so many bags.

When
I got back to the car, the back seat was complete wet. A quart of buttermilk had spilled out from my grocery bag.
Shit, when did this happen? Nathan is going to kill me for this.

Chapter 8

Eva

I drove back to Nathan’s apartment, but during the whole journey, two things occupied my mind; one was Chloe’s new boyfriend Terry and the second one was the back seat. Nathan cared about his car very much and I’d ruined it. Even the thought of telling him the news was giving me shivers.

I tried to open the door without a sound, but it opened with
the sound of latch. Still, I sneaked in. Though I doubted my own thoughts, I imagined Nathan to be sleeping because no lights were visible when I looked from parking the car. But I was wrong; light was coming out of his workroom. I peeked in his room. He was still sitting in the sleeveless t-shirt and shorts he was wearing from the morning and hitting his keyboard fiercely. He didn’t seem to be bothered about taking a shower, either. 

A rush
of anger filled my mind. “Nathan,” I shouted out of nowhere.

“What?” He was so shocked that he almost
fell out of his chair. He balanced himself somehow and then came running towards me. “What happened, babe. Why are you shouting?”

“Did you
take a shower or at least eat your dinner?”

He looked confused. “No
, I forgot.”

“What the heck Nathan. Are you a little kid? You should have done that
, right? I know work is important, but it’s not above your food or hygiene.”

“Calm down
, Eva. What really happened?”

“Did you have your dinner?”
I asked furiously; I even forgot I had asked him about the dinner already. He hadn’t even done a single thing I asked him to. The garbage bags were still lying down outside the kitchen and my papers were lying on the couch. He forgot both things I asked him for.

“No
, baby, I was so busy.”

“I don’t care
, Nathan, if you were so busy to forget your dinner as well. You didn’t even do a couple of things I asked you.” I felt letdown by him.
Why do I have to go through all this?

“
Oh, you are angry about the bags.” He glanced at the garbage bags. “Sorry for the bags, but I missed them. I’ll go now and throw them away,” he said in very low voice.

A nerve on my forehead started bouncing in anger
; he didn’t even remember about the courier.

“Nathan
, please. I don’t think it’s a good time to talk.” I walked away from him; I couldn’t bear him anymore. If I'd stayed there for a couple of minutes more, I would have lost my cool.

The work documents were so important
to  me.
I have to go by myself now and give it to my mother. Why couldn’t you understand, sweetheart, that I wanted to avoid my mom.
My heart was filled with so much anger that I went inside the bedroom and closed the door behind me. After getting married, this was the first time for me to get angry at him, but he really got on my nerves.

Nathan

“This is killing me.” I looked at the work I had done so far. I took a small break to grab a glass of water and while getting into the kitchen, I found garbage bags lying outside the kitchen.

Am
I supposed to throw them out?
I remembered Eva saying something about them. But then my cell buzzed; it was call from Lobo and I forgot about the garbage bags.

After meeting with Mason
, I decided to complete Lobo’s work ASAP. Hence, I buried myself in my computer. Programming wasn’t a difficult thing for me, but doing the User Testing and getting it agreed to by the testers was a complicated task. I had spent almost seventeen hours on the computer during the last three days and I somehow neglected Eva in the process. I felt very guilty about that, but to get on some work and get some money, I had to do it.

Being a husband meant more than just earning some money for me.
I felt obligated to take care of all wishes for Eva. I was happy when she told me she was going to meet Chloe. She had told me couple of things to do, but I completely forgot them. I didn’t even remember to eat my dinner. And bam, when she was back she just took out a lot of anger on me.

“Nathan
, please. I don’t think it’s a good time to talk,” she had said angrily and vanished inside the bedroom, banging the bedroom door behind. That was an unexpected outburst of emotions from her.
Why is she so angry about one bag of garbage?
I couldn’t understand her. Inside my mind, she reminded me of Samantha; Samantha used to get so angry at me when I didn’t bring her what she wanted.

My palms became sweaty just by the memory of her.
Hell, those were the worst days of my life. But I can’t let them control my current life; I have to do  damage control.

I decided to pour some wine in
a couple of glasses and calm her down. While walking beside the couch, I found a few papers were sitting there.
Hell, this is the real reason, then.
She had asked me to courier these to her office, and I forgot them.
And I forgot that I forgot to courier these. Now only God can save me.

Before moving further into the kitchen
, I picked up the papers. It was a report from Eva to her mother. I couldn’t guess why she wanted to courier it; wouldn’t she go to meet her mother? Or she wants to postpone the meeting as much as possible? What could be the reason? Anyways, I was a bit screwed in her eyes.
Gosh, if it wasn’t for the deadline. I will kill you Lobo, one day definitely.
Because of him, I had hurt my girl, when she has busted her ass for me since being here; she took good care of me. She didn’t complain about my attitude and presented everything I wanted. She prepared coffee for me even before I asked. She gave me my lunch on my working table; she didn’t even trouble me for not spending time with her. And what did I do in return? One thing she asked for and I forgot that.
I have to make it right somehow.

I knocked on the bedroom door.

“What is it?” Her tone had a hint of anger in it.

“Can
I come in?” I decided to be a gentleman.

“Why?”

“Want to talk to you.”

“But
I don’t want to.”

“Babe, please.”
I walked in. She was lying on the bed with her face buried in the pillow. She might have even cried. I went closer and twined my fingers through her silky hair. “Babe, wake up.”

She turned her head. Her eyes were red, an after
-crying effect maybe. “What do you want, Nathan.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Why didn’t you eat on time? I’m not cooking for you right now,” she said in a rush.

“I want to go out with you. Will you please come with me?”

“Eat what is in the house. I’m not going out with you anywhere.” She buried her head in the pillow again.

“I'
ll have to take you, then.” I changed into a hood and light blue jeans and lifted her in my hands.

“What are you doing
, Nathan? Put me down.” She punched me on my chest.

I
held her closer to my chest and brushed her juicy lips with mine. “Not a chance, baby. We’re going out.”

“But what about your work?”