Bound by Tension
73

~IMOGEN~

"You still won't let me tell anyone you're here? This torture is killing me. Won't you at least tell Mom or Nikita?" Lila asked, finalizing her makeup.

"No, I'd let Mom and Nikita know today. Please don't let anyone know yet." I smiled at her. "By the way, you look very gorgeous."

"Thank you." She grinned.

"You're going to work? Aren't you late now?"

"No, I'm on leave again. I'm going over to my boyfriend's."

"Oh... I'd really love to see this man you and Nikita are so crazy about."

"Stupid Nikita. She keeps putting the blame on me when I've got nothing to do with her sleeping around with men." She rolled her eyes, rising from the vanity chair. I chuckled. "That's Nikita for you. I'll talk to her later today."

"Please do. Talk some sense into her head."

"I'll try to." I chuckled again. "I'm going to take a stroll for relaxation."

"You need it. Call me if there's any emergency, don't work too much, don't destroy the house, don't get too emotional, don't do anything stupid, eat well, sleep well." "Fine, I will, Mom." I said and she chuckled.

She hung her bag shoulder strap over her shoulder. "Bye." She waved.

"Bye." I waved too then she took her leave.

A few minutes after she left, I went to the kitchen to hunt for peanut butter since I was having a mad craving for it but there wasn't any peanut butter.

It was very frustrating to not have what I was craving for. I just had to wait till the craving ended, like I had been doing for the past few days.

"Gosh, this is so frustrating." I groaned, and decided to cook something.

I decided to make pancakes but everything I was doing was making me feel frustrated for no good reason.

After arranging the utensils I needed, I couldn't replace the flour. I was searching rigorously till I found it on the cupboard.

I tried to take the flour from the cupboard but it was too high and I had to stand on a stool. The stupid thing wasn't covered so the flour poured on my entire body. "No, no, no!" I whined, muttering cuss words to myself.

Jeez, I had to take another bath. I felt like crying over it.

Nevertheless, I left for the bathroom for another long bath.

My mind kept traveling to Hames, no matter how hard I tried not to. I was constantly remembering his touch, sweet words, but after remembering that he betrayed and deceived me, I became very infuriated, feeling the need to whack his head multiple times.

After my bath, I returned to the bedroom with a towel around me. Getting rid of the towel to wear new clothes, I flinched when the door opened.

Why was she back so soon? I quickly wrapped the towel around my body again. "Lila! Can't you respect my privacy?" I pivoted then my eyes locked with Hames'.

Jeez, he looked so terrible and sick.

I quickly frowned as he strolled in.

"Why are you here?"

He shut the door and locked it, shambling to me while I moved backwards.

Due to water on the sole of my feet, I slipped and almost fell butt-flat but he wrapped his arms around my waist to stop me from falling.

"Why are you here?!" I shouted this time, pushing him away and stood straight.

"I know you're mad at me."

"I'm beyond infuriated." I corrected.

"You just have to hear me out. I'm very sorry for not letting you know the truth the moment I found out. I was scared of losing you like what's happening." "Hames, please leave." My face puckered.

"I'm not leaving till you let me explain."

"I can't believe Lila told you I'm here."

"She didn't. You were seen a few streets away from here. Immediately after hearing the location you were spotted, I assumed you were here and ran down here."

"How am I supposed to believe that? I can't ever trust anything you say anymore."

"I'm your husband and you love me so you have to believe me." He took a step closer to me.

"Love you?" I scoffed. "That was until I found out how much of a sleazebag you are. Please tell me what you want from me? Why did you deceive me? Why are you playing with my emotions?" My eyes were starting to get wet.

"You lied, you said you love me but it's all a lie. You are about to be the father of two children. I hate you and especially myself for ever trusting to love such a devil!" I raised my voice at every word.

His face became blank and he shut his eyes.

"You lied you were traveling for business but you were instead having fun with your baby mama. All the sweet words, pretending to love me more than anyone else in the world, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, I'd rather die than cheat on you- They were all LIES! Leave now before I lose my temper completely!" I barked.

He re-opened his eyes, frowning this time. "You're trusting the words of that crazy thing over your own husband? That's very stupid." He sounded surprisingly angry this time.

"You have no right to raise your voice at me."

"Fine, I'm sorry, but you've got to hear me out! Hear me out! I didn't cheat on you. Before I even dreamt of falling in love with you, I was a Playboy, obviously, then had a crazy one-night stand with Samantha. We were both drunk and woke up the next morning, we didn't even have any idea of our identities.

"After paying her a huge sum of money, we parted ways."

"Then she came back to you crying she was pregnant with your child but you were already in love with me." I rolled my eyes.

He raked his hand through his hair frustratedly. "No, dude." Wait, did he just call me dude?

"So that's how you had Oliver. If that was it then I would have forgiven you but sleeping with her again after our marriage? How can you make the same mistake twice?"

"Let me complete my explanation, please-I have said it countless times that I didn't cheat on you. A few months ago, Samantha suddenly appeared from nowhere, claiming that she had been searching for me everywhere.

"She said I made her lose her virginity that day and she got pregnant then has a child for me. Believe me, I was more than scared to know that.

"She also knew that I was married to you, from the internet and she claimed that she only wanted money and nothing else."

"So what? Why didn't you let me know?"

"I wanted to let you know but I was very scared of losing you, you hadn't even fallen in love with me yet, and I didn't believe Oliver was my child because it seemed too untrue."

"Gradually, she started acting weird, demanding a lot of money and she cried that she wanted me to be present in their lives. It felt so crazy, I felt so stupid for not even conducting a DNA test so we went for the DNA test."

I pursed my lips. "How did she get pregnant again?" My voice was very gentle this time, it was due to extreme hurt.

"After the DNA test results were out, I wasn't available so she brought them to me and it confirmed that..." he seemed hesitant to say the next word, "...Oliver is my child."

I turned my face away, still pursing my lips. "And why didn't you let me know?" My eyes felt so heavy now, I didn't know whether or not to cry.

"I was scared, Imogen. I didn't want to lose you. You still hated me." He held my hands but I took it out of his grip.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Okay... I was late for business and was at a company. The chairman of the company hadn't arrived yet so I was waiting. The last thing I remember was having a glass of juice then the next morning I was on a bed, naked again.

"I didn't know what happened or where I was. There was no one, just a room with only a bed. As confused as I was, I cleaned up and left the unfamiliar place.

"About a month later, I received a call from an unknown number which turned out to be Samantha. She said she was pregnant again, claiming that I was the father.

"Of course I believed she was only joking. She was clearly obsessed with me and still is, so I ignored her.

"A few weeks later, I received a video from her of our sextape from that night and then images of her pregnancy test. She said she's madly in love with me and wants me, she doesn't care that I'm married."

"And you didn't think of letting me know at all,"

"I wanted to."

"So you've been spending time with her to play the role of a father and lover?"

"No. I can't even stand that woman. She simply wants fame and money. I didn't cheat on you, I remember nothing."

"She stopped pestering me for a while that I almost forgot she existed till she started sending crazy messages about how much she loves me and wants me at all cost, during our honeymoon. She made me pay her two million dollars then she agreed to stop pestering me and not ruin our marriage."

"The text messages you were receiving, I thought they were just prank messages from random people because there's no way she'd want to kill me, until Amanda pointed out that it could've been from her.

"I found out that the messages were actually from her, so I gave her a hundred thousand dollars to stop sending the messages. She said we needed to talk, but I ignored her."

"I had to go to Canada for business but she was there too so I decided to settle things finally. I wanted her to sign a contract. While working in Canada, my lawyer was preparing the contract, communicating with her on what she needed and for her to not come close to us, to not reveal anything to you, to stop pestering us, while I'll pay for the children's monthly fees."

"So you were going to keep it a secret from me forever?" That hurt me even more.

"No. I wanted to let you know immediately after returning from Canada but I didn't want to make you hurt and have emotional stress that might affect our baby, like you're doing right now."

"So you were going to wait till 6 months to tell me?"

"I was going to but I couldn't keep it in anymore. I felt so guilty like I was betraying you so I decided to let you know. I planned a nice romantic dinner and was going to tell you the entire truth in a way that you weren't going to be so hurt and to fix everything together but stupid Sam ruined everything.

"After preparing the contract for a whole month, I signed it and she was supposed to sign it then live in Canada, enjoy a good life and many more advantages but she appeared and said bullshit to you."

I gazed at him for a while, not knowing what words to say.

"And did you do a DNA test for the child in her womb?"

"Nope, we're... we're yet to do... that." He scratched the back of his neck.

I knew my expression was very stern and probably scared him.

He sighed. "I know you won't forgive me so easily but I hope you trust me. I regret not telling you the moment I found out but it still felt so unreal, like a drama I wasn't ready to believe." He smiled, "I was so damn worried about you but you look healthy and fine. Your bump is appearing. Please stay safe and take care of our little princess." Princess? "I love you." He kissed my forehead then took his leave.

***

~ LILA ~

I was about to ring the doorbell when the door opened and a familiar maid walked out. "Oh, hi." I smiled at her sheepishly.

"I'm so glad to see you again."

"Is Dash home?"

"Yes, he's in his room." She smiled at me. "Should I call him over for you?"

"You're going somewhere, right?"

"Yes."

"You can leave, I know the way to his room."

"Thank you!" She smiled. "Chloe should be in front of his room or in the living room, you can ask her to call him for you." "Okay, no problem."

I walked in, shutting the door behind me.

The beautiful smell of this house never missed a chance to amaze me, it was so refreshing.

I walked up the stairs.

Walking towards Dash's room, I began hearing strange sounds that weren't supposed to be heard from my boyfriend's room. My heart raced faster at every step I took toward his door.

I kicked the door open and my eardrums almost bursted from the irritating moans from the room.

The moaning stopped immediately then Dash raised his head to me. Below him was a redhead and they were absolutely naked.

I gasped, immediately running out of the room.

"Where are you going? Let her go." The woman said.

"Shit!" He cursed.

I started running down the stairs. Soon enough, I heard heavy footsteps running behind me.

"Wait!" He exclaimed.

I didn't listen but continued heading towards the door, trying my best not to cry.

The second I opened the door, he held my hand, forcefully turning me to him. He was in only his boxers which I would've considered hot if I hadn't been greeted with the sight of him being a butthole. "Let me go!" I snapped.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? You're cheating on me then you still ask what's wrong with me for leaving?"

"So what?" Oh my gosh, did he just ask that?

"So what?" I repeated.

"Yeah. You left for another country with another man for three months just after our relationship became official and you're expecting me to just smile and say 'wow, there she goes'. I'm not so crazy." "You are. I can't believe this is coming from you. You're such a bitch." I hollered. Wow, I just cussed.

"Be considerate and don't act out so fast. You'll regret this if you leave me this way."

I felt like jumping on him and yanking his hair out of his scalp.

"That explains why you didn't bother to call me, because you're busy fucking a mad redhead."

"I have a name, and it's Samantha." The redhead said, strolling down the stairs in only a towel. Samantha?!