Bound by Tension
50

"Is anything wrong? You aren't paying attention to the movie." "You're my maid. It's nothing."

"It doesn't seem like nothing to me. I'm your friend, right? You can share your problems with me too. As your 'personal' maid, I can give you advice regarding your personal life. I'm trustworthy, my old employers can testify to that." I didn't want to let her know but she could be of help to vent out my frustration at the moment. I didn't want to call Lila or Nikita.

"I might've offended Hames by not letting him know I appreciated his effort."

"Yesterday's romantic effort?" She widened her eyes.

"Yes." I said through gritted teeth, disliking her interruption. "He got angry then now, he has a stupid woman in our hotel room who is almost naked, she sat on his lap and he tagged her as personal business or whatever. I'm so pissed off right now. He said I shouldn't be jealous because I don't love him but it makes no sense. I don't have to love him back to be jealous."

I almost forgot I was talking to my maid till she chuckled. "I think he's right."

"What?" I glowered.

"I see it's a one-sided love marriage, cute! Anyway, you must definitely love someone if you're jealous of them being with someone else. If you don't, you won't care at all." She shrugged.

"He has no right to cheat on me."

"He must've been really angry. Did you apologize or let him know it was a joke?"

"He didn't let me,"

"You should give him a while to calm down then apologize and let him know how much you love him."

I didn't want to stress myself out by arguing against her last words so I returned my gaze to the screen. "I will, but I don't think I want to see that bitch or anything stupid right now so let's just watch tons of movies."

"If things still don't work out well for you, you can always pray to God for a way out, you know."

"Pray to God," I smirked. "You sound so much like my mother." Mia would've given me the same piece of advice.

I needed to cool the fire in me now then have a good talk with my so-called husband.

***

I yawned loudly, still feeling sleepy, rolling over the bed to reach for my phone.

1:30PM?!

I realized I was still in Faith's room so I screamed, "Faith!"

She ran out of the bathroom, drying her hand on her skirt. "Is there any problem?"

"Why didn't you wake me up?!"

"I'm so sorry for not waking you up. We both watched a lot of movies till it was past midnight and I thought you needed to sleep more."

I frowned at her for a while then sighed after noticing the worry on her face. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's not your fault. I'll have a bath. Please bring my clothes from my hotel room, I don't want to return there looking like a stinky mess." I yawned.

"Okay. You can use any of the unused towels in the bathroom." She smiled tiredly.

"No problem." I rolled out of bed and left for the bathroom.

After my morning rituals in the bathroom, I took a towel from a rack of towels with the label 'New', wrapped it around my body and returned to the bedroom.

Faith was sitting on the bed with my clothes beside her.

"Is Hames there?" I asked, checking out the clothes she had brought.

"Yes." She said, looking very distant and worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked but she simply shook her head. "I shared my problems with you, you cannot not do the same."

She hesitated before speaking, "A- a woman... was... in your hotel... room." She stuttered.

"What?!" I screamed, wore my underwear and maxi dress as fast as I could and stormed to mine and Hames' suite without wearing my slippers.

Lucie was in nothing but a towel that ended just above her knees, sitting on Hames' lap. His shirt was unbuttoned as well and they were almost kissing.

The fire of anger in me was fueled and every form of control left me.

I stormed to them, slapped Lucie across the face really hard then yanked her by her hair, pulling her away from Hames. "I won't permit useless sluts around my husband."

She began screaming but I ignored her and threw her out of the room.

"My--" I didn't let her utter more words but slammed the door in her face.

I returned to Hames who had risen to his feet and was buttoning his shirt. He had a scary stern face on.

"What was that for?" He replied indifferently, picking his phone from the bed.

"Mister, you're taking things too far from a mere jo-" I was interrupted by his phone that started to ring.

He answered the call and placed the phone on his ear. "Hello?"... Silence... "okay, I'll be there very soon. Don't leave yet." He picked his car key and wallet from the nightstand, keeping his phone in his pocket. "You have to hear me out first before you leave." I frowned, breathing angrily.

"I don't have time to listen to you." He replied crankily then left the room.

Gosh, I was dying from this anger.

***

It was nighttime but Hames hadn't returned. I had done my night skincare and haircare routine after a very long bath but Hames still wasn't here.

I was more than scared. I kept pacing around the room, glancing at my phone's screen at short intervals to check if there was a new message from Hames.

He wasn't answering my phone calls either. I hated this sort of treatment. I needed Hames back and not this grumpy CEO.

I heard a clinking sound from the other side of the door, drawing my attention to it. It was pushed open then Hames walked in, dragging his feet.

"Jeez, Hames. Where have you been?" I scuttled to him, trying to see if he looked drunk but he simply looked tired, not drunk.

"Why do you care?" He replied frigidly.

His voice was kinda scary but I frowned. "I was worried." I folded my arms across my chest.

"You don't have to be worried about me. I have other things to attend to in my life." He wanted to walk away but I stood in front of him.

"Why won't I be worried? Really, Hames. I don't like this attitude from you. You're being grumpy, heartless Mr. Hendrix. Also, bringing another woman into our hotel room and sleeping with her is breaching our marriage contract." I stated clearly. "Firstly, you're not supposed to let anyone know our marriage isn't perfect and secondly, neither of us is permitted to cheat on the other." My anger was rising again. "It's also against our wedding vows."

"You don't have to care about the contract or vows, right?" He flared his nose. "They are just a joke to you. Whether or not I sleep with other women shouldn't concern you either."

His words sent a pang across my heart. "It's not a joke to me. We're both stuck in this marriage, okay?"

"Why are you so jealous?"

"I'm not jealous." I retorted unsurely.

He exhaled, shaking his head with a roll of his eyes. "I need to have a bath. Stop pestering me."

"Why won't you accept my apology?" Frustration was an understatement to what I was feeling right now.

"Do you realize you're not apologizing at all? Why should you? I should be apologizing for wasting my time and constantly trying to make you love me back when it's clearly pointless." He walked away from me, grabbed his towel and clothes then left for the bathroom.

I couldn't take this at all. I was feeling really irked, it felt like I was losing my mind.

Slowly, I shambled to the bed and laid on it, watching the bathroom door, listening to the sound of water from in it.

After a few minutes, Hames returned in only his shorts and his towel over his neck. His shirtless body once again made sparks occur inside me. How could anyone look this hot? Was it even legal?

My eyes followed his every move as he dropped his towel carelessly, went to his wardrobe, did other random things, walked up to the bed and laid on it as well.

His gaze met mine but he immediately took it away, turning around so his back faced me. "Goodnight." He gruffed, covering his lower half with the same duvet.

Was this really how hard-to-get I was being to him? If yes, then it was fucking irritating!

This nonsense couldn't continue. If I lost Hames, I wasn't going to replace anyone better for me and I knew that. I was going to drop my anger and pride to set things right.

'I'm a woman, he's a man. He loves me so I had to use my brain and act like the woman here, whether or not it includes being seductive.' I needed my loving husband back.

I moved closer to him and held his shoulders from behind which caused him to flinch. I moved even closer till our bodies were only a few inches away.

"Hames," I called but there was no response from him. "I know I might act a little... stupid sometimes." Gosh, I couldn't believe I admitted that. "I'm sorry if I've hurt you really badly, that's obvious. I need you to know that I didn't mean what I said. There's no way I didn't appreciate your surprise, I loved it so much, and everything you do for me, for always making me feel like a special person." I slid my arm under his arms to hug him from behind, resting my head on his back and slowly rubbing his bare chest. "I don't like this side of you; aloof, cranky, scary... please be sweet again..."

He didn't say anything after a while.