Chapter 7 Pride And Ego

Aria's POV

"You think throwing bitter words at me will make you feel better?" I half-yelled for him to hear.

No, I shouldn't be crying for him. With that thought, I wiped my tears and jerked up from my seat.

He paused in his tracks without turning around.

"The answer is no because that only makes you cruel. You're so desperate to hurt me because you're drowning in your own pain, and you want me to feel it too, huh?" I yelled louder this time, and he finally turned around.

His expression remained the same, and I couldn't stop the words that rolled out of my mouth.

"Stop pretending it's everyone else's fault that you're like this and deal with what you're feeling! I mean, Clara came to try and iron things out with you. What did you do? Unnecessarily rude, trying to appear arrogant when you're in fact the root of all your breakup. I might not know what happened between you two, but she mentioned you were cheating and when you thought she had cheated too, you flared up and that resulted in this. This is enough to shove some sense into your thick skull, Jameson!"

"You're crossing the line." He growled silently.

"No, you're!" I shouted, "I refuse to be your punching bag for bitter words. No amount of cruelty from you is going to fix whatever's broken inside you or try to break me because I never wanted this marriage either!" I yelled in exasperation, my heart pounding as tears sprang from my eyes.

"Can you please not make this union difficult? We'll be alone together for the next few weeks." I pleaded in a softer tone, my shoulders slumped.

"It was just a thank you and you said all those words to me. They really hurt me and made me cry." I added, tears blurring my vision but I was quick to wipe them off.

He didn't say anything. Continue to clench his jaw with his arms fisted tightly on the wheelchair armrest.

Our eyes locked together, I could see his eyes flickering with different emotions. I groaned softly, gripping my hair as I threw my head backward.

I did cross the line. But he frustrated me.

"I... I don't mean to say all that it's just...."

"Carbonara or Bolognese?" He interrupted, meeting my gaze. My brows furrowed in confusion.

"W-What..."

"Spaghetti."

My eyes twitched when I heard him, and my mouth formed a 'oh'.

"I-I'm actually a vegan." I explained, stuttering. He didn't say anything and only turned around and left. Was he planning to prepare food for us?

My gaze was on his back, my hand going to touch my chest and I realized how erratic my heartbeat was.

'He's actually a nice guy.' my subconscious said.

"But he usually appears as an @sshole." I responded.

I heaved a deep breath before going in his direction. I headed to the bathroom first to splash water on my face to get rid of the tears that streaked my face.

Afterwards, I went to the kitchen and saw him bringing out all the ingredients in the fridge for the meal. Thinking about eating soon makes me feel giddy.

"I wanna make myself useful. What can I do?" I asked him carefully, trying not to seem like an intruder.

The atmosphere was delicate, so I don't wanna ruin it by angering him. Then a thought crossed my mind.

How about I make him feel proud of how he is?

A knowing smile formed on my lips as I approached him. His wheelchair got him taller behind the countertop as he rolled his sleeve up, revealing his veiny arms.

"Onions." He instructed without looking at me, and I nodded immediately. Went to wash my hands and joined him.

He was slicing carrots and other vegetables, I don't want what he was preparing. The sound of a knife on the chopping board filled the room, but I wasn't a fan of silence.

"So... what are we preparing?" His hands halted, confusing me with his movement before he stared at me blankly.

I hope I hadn't asked anything wrong this time.

"Is there something on my face?"

"There's no 'we'. I'm the one cooking this meal." He emphasized. I pursued my lips before nodding slowly.

He can take the credit.

"Yeah sure." I smiled stiffly.

"There's no free lunch without opportunity cost." He said as he continued to slice the carrots.

"That is to say?" I urged.

"You'll take the couch and I'll take the bed once we arrive in Italy."

"What?" My eyes widened.

"I make the meals. You take the couch."

"Hey... uh.. I mean, we can both make the meals together."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Oops." I face-palmed. So he wasn't being nice?

I dropped my arms and gazed at him with a gentle gaze.

"It's gonna be a tiring work to figure out your personality." I muttered under my breath. He didn't say anything and continued with what he was doing.

I sighed deeply before dropping the knife, I'm giving out something so I don't have to help him. I took a seat and watched him do his thing.

"Jameson, can I say something? I promise I won't be crossing the line." I got no response so I took it as a yes.

"Let's establish our relationship." I noticed that his ear flicked when I said this.

"I get that you're the type of person that gets upset easily which is totally fine. While I'm a sweet soul with a beautiful smile, who will be your wife for the next few years before the divorce. So that's why...."

"Just get to it already." He interrupted tiredly.

"I was just about to say it." I whined rolling my eyes, "I just want us to always apologize to each other and tell ourselves whenever the other person does something we don't like. Just like what happened earlier." Immediately I was done, he scoffed softly before looking at me with a wry smile.

"Don't get this little nicety of me into your head. I do things however I want them to be done. So keep me away from your d@mn etiquettes." He gritted his teeth saying his last words.

I shot over the countertop and flicked his ear with my fingers. He couldn't react on time when I did this.

"For every cuss word, you get that and vice versa. Also, holding grudges is bad. I apologize for what I said earlier. I'll be at the cabin, so enjoy cooking our meals alone, hubby." I winked at him, pushed the chair backward and left.

I've to learn how not to argue with him. He'll surely wanna have the last say, but deep down, I'm sure that he will find sense in what I said. He was just been clouded by his pride and ego.