Chapter 8 THE CONFRONTATION

IRIS' POV

I watched in frustration as Julian strutted around the house casually. It was a Saturday

and it was quite unusual that he was not out of the house yet.

It had been months and I had avoided him and practically everybody in the house. I felt like an unwelcome guest. The help barely acknowledged my presence and the twins pretended like I didn't exist, when they were not at school and Julian spent so much time at work and then got home extremely late, so I never got to see him.

The reality of my terrible life dawned on me every morning when I woke up and then

every night before I went to sleep. I could feel the depression slowly taking over me. I

had been so careful about choosing a life partner so I could have a perfect life, and then I ended up here. Every day I wish I could turn back the hands of time and then listen to that little voice in my head that warned me not to marry Julian.

Now that I think about it, it happened so fast. I thought I was in love with him and

that he was in love with me, but it had all been a lie and I fell for it. One thing I could

not figure out though, was why he had married me in the first place.

I sat at the little table in the kitchen while I ate a sandwich and scrolled through

social media. I was glad that I could go back to using my old accounts. The first couple

of months after I had gotten married, was filled with plenty of blogs posting about the wedding, so many tags, hateful comments from envious girls, and lovey dovely

comments from the ones that were happy for me. I wish they could see what this sham

of a marriage looks like on the inside.

Julian walked into the kitchen and froze when he saw me sitting there. He

had not expected me to be there alone. The house had too many people in it that I was

trying to avoid and Agatha, the cook, was out on an errand so I decided to take advantage of the solitude in the kitchen.

Julian stood, staring at me for a long time, I noticed he was checking me out and he

had that heated look on his face. It was the first time that I had seen that look in his eyes in a long time, eyes filled with desire. It gave me an odd satisfaction at the fact that I did that to him. I was pleased but my face remained indifferent. I didn't want him to know that I cared one bit about how he felt about me.

"Sorry, I had not expected to see anybody here." He cleared his throat and muttered. I turned away from him without giving him a response and he turned around to leave,

forgetting the reason, he had entered the kitchen in the first place.

I was infuriated and I had so much that I wanted to get off my chest. I spent the entire

night thinking about all the reasons for his change and it infuriated me that I came up

with nothing. The best thing to do was to let it go, but I knew myself. I could not let it go because I was a very confrontational person. I had to say it, or it would keep eating

me up. I decided right at that moment that I was going to confront him about it the

next time I saw him.

My moment of solitude ended when Agatha walked into the kitchen carrying a couple

of bags. I rushed to her side automatically to help her. I took some bags from her hand

and then dropped them on the table.

"Thank you very much, madam." She said politely.

"That's alright. Why didn't the driver help you carry these in?" I asked, annoyance

laced in my voice. Who in their right mind would let an elderly lady carry heavy bags by herself?

"Oh, Caleb had other things to attend to. Don't worry about it, ma'am. I can always

handle it."

I smiled softly at her. "I don't doubt you can, but allow someone to help

you next time. And please, call me Iris. There is no need to be formal."

She returned my smile, but hers was filled with more warmth. There was something

about her that immediately made me feel comfortable around her. She reminded me a bit of my late grandmother from my father's side.

"Iris. Okay, if that is what you prefer. Can I get you something?" She asked.

"No, no. I was just leaving." I told her. She simply nodded, the smile still on her face.

"You are very pretty; no wonder Julian had his eyes on you. We all thought he'd never

get married after he lost his wife."

The very mention of his name soured my mood, but I didn't let it show. Her statement

raised questions in my mind, but I didn't ask her any of them, I knew she wouldn't

know the answers. Only one person knew, and I fully intended to ask him.

"Thank you very much, Agatha," I responded and then left the kitchen to go up to my room. I would watch a movie and try to relax, till I had worked up enough courage to go and talk to Julian.

I laid in bed with my laptop open and Netflix playing, but I couldn't concentrate as

anxiety kept building up in my chest.

I couldn't take it anymore, I stormed out of my room and then went across the room

and stormed into his room. He was just in front of the door when I opened it.

He had a scary look on his face that stopped everything I was going to say from coming

from my mouth. I think I even forgot them.

We stood staring at each other, the atmosphere had turned heated, and it didn't even

occur to me how close our faces were to each other till his gaze dropped to my lips. Suddenly, it didn't feel like the last couple of months had happened, it felt like we

were in that ballroom and seeing each other for the first time and there was so much electricity between us.