C.E.O'S Regret

SARAH'S POV

I have always waited for the day my marriage to Luke would be made official.

There was no doubt that he was head over heels for me, but I needed an assurance that he was mine forever.

The preparations for our white wedding was going on fine.

I just couldn't wait for the moment we would both exchange vows while declaring our love for each other.

A few days to the wedding date proper, I began to notice some strange behaviors from Luke.

He no longer paid attention to me like he usually did.

"I noticed you are suddenly cold towards me. Is there something that's bothering you?"

"I need to be left alone."

Luke's cold and deep baritone voice sent shivers down my spine, causing my heart to shatter into unamendable pieces.

He had never spoken to me in that manner, what changed?

I was still trying to understand what just happened when he turned to the door.

"The wedding day is fast approaching, I hope you are happy right now. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

He let out a loud hiss and walked out of the room.

My ears swirled with defeat.

Did I just hear him say that to me? What exactly was wrong with him?

Unfortunately, I couldn't place my hands on the answers to these numerous questions.

I just didn't understand why Luke's attitude changed all of a sudden.

I thought we both agreed to have the wedding. Why then was he suddenly acting like he was pushed to make the decision?

Could this be my life coming to an end in my own eyes?

***

The wedding day finally arrived. As usual, Luke kept a straight face as the events went on.

He said no word to me throughout the whole event. He mostly kept to himself or conversed with his friend, Amber.

The pastor arrived and placed the wedding rings on the altar.

"Mr Luke Chador and Miss Sarah Claire, are you both ready for this moment?"

I could hear Luke humming quietly. He gave no reply to the pastor's question.

I ignored him and stood up instead. "Yes, we do." I decided to speak on behalf of us two.

Luke shot me a death threatening glare as soon as my gaze fell on him. He turned his gaze back on the altar.

The pastor's eyes blinked with confusion. "Okay then, in that case, I invite you both to step up to the altar."

Luke was reluctant. He got up slowly and shook his head.

I ignored him still and did as the pastor said.

It took him several minutes before he finally mounted the altar.

I shot a quick glance at the pastor's face. I noticed the confusion and disappointment written all over.

He just chose to remain calm, I guess.

As soon as Luke mounted the altar, the pastor handed the rings to us.

"Repeat after me... I, Luke Chador, take you to be my lawfully wedded wife..."

He did the same for me too and finally, the vows were over. It was now time for the exchange of kisses.

Luke's mean face did a lot of things to me, including being scared to even bring my face closer.

I finally amassed the courage. I made the first move by placing one hand by his neck and drawing him close to myself.

I pulled my face close to some distance, while beautifying his lips with endless kisses.

At this point, I didn't care if he reciprocated or not.

All I wanted was for the wedding to be successful.

All my attention was focused on the crowd who clapped in excitement and cheered us on.

I could imagine how happy they all were to finally witness the wedding.

My parents were not left behind. They were the biggest support system anyone could ever wish for.

"Your new home is blessed. By the power vested on me, I declare you both husband and wife."

This was where the whole trouble began. Before the pastor could finish his proclamations, Luke walked out of the hall.

All eyes turned to me as everyone tried to contain the shock.

The pastor's mouth hung in confusion.

He turned his gaze on me. "What seems to be his problem? Did you both have a fight before coming here?"

"I'm so sorry about this. I will fix it, I promise."

I ran after him, managing to lift my heavy gown above my feet.

My chief bridesmaid ran after me, alongside Amber, Luke's best man.

"What's going on with you both?" Amber's voice tinged with worry.

He took a closer look at Luke and repeated the question.

Luke ignored him bluntly.

"Hey man, let's leave here. You can come to the house if you so wish." I knew he was referring to me.

He pulled Amber to the car and drove off immediately.

I could no longer think straight. I held my head in total confusion, while pacing about helplessly.

Keila, my bridesmaid, was also helpless. She could literally do nothing to make me feel better.

"Sarah, I think we should go in and inform the people what happened."

"How do you expect me to face that crowd? What am I supposed to tell them right now? That my husband left me immediately after we were wedded? Come on!"

My voice shook terribly. I was literally going crazy.

Keila placed a hand on my back, stroking it gently.

Her eyes clouded up with pity. "But we still need to go in and at least say something. The people are waiting."

"I definitely don't care about them. I just want to go home. You can go in and tell them yourself."

At this point, there was nothing else that could move me to change my mind.

Having to face those people would be suicidal. A lot of questions would definitely be thrown at me.

After some moments of brooding within herself, Keila finally gave in to my suggestion.

"Wait for me while I go sort things out with the people." She took some steps forward as she said those words.

"I'll be back shortly."

SARAH'S POV

Keila returned after a short while. We hopped into the car and headed home.

My head seemed to be spinning as long as the journey lasted.

This was certainly not what I had expected to happen on my special day.

I was supposed to be happy with the one man who made me feel loved, but the reverse seemed to be the case.

We finally arrived at the house. Luke was sorting out some files when we walked into the building.

The moment he saw us approaching his room, he shut the door aggressively, instantly preventing us from coming in.

This was definitely weird of him. Keila was just as confused as I was.

"Everything will be fine with him. He's probably not in a good mood right now."

Keila tried to reassure me with every soothing word she could think of.

I soon found myself smiling at the kind words she said to me.

In this time of distress when I felt like my head was beginning to fall off my neck, she stood by to make me feel better.

Amber arrived shortly. "Can I have a word with you?"

My mind swirled with different thoughts as he said those words to me.

Amber and I were not so close to the point of having a personal discussion with each other.

We have never even had the opportunity to know more about each other, talk more of engaging in a conversation.

I was worried and at the same time, expectant. I knew that whatever had prompted him to wish to have a talk with me would really be an important one.

"I'll be back shortly." I said to Keila as I went to join Amber.

He took me to a corner of the building. His eyes shone with concern.

For a while, he said no word to me, causing me to battle with the many thoughts in my head.

'Why is he quiet all of a sudden?' There was no point my mind didn't go to.

At some point, I finally broke the silence.

"You sent for me, and you are yet to say a word. I hope this is not a prank."

"Oh, come on! It's not a prank. You know what? Come with me."

Amber went ahead of me, going through different corners at the building's basement.

I couldn't help but go after him. Who knows what he was about to say to me?

He led me towards the personal room which Luke had made available for him in case he visited.

I stopped as we got to the entrance. I was unable to understand why he was taking me to his room.

My curiosity piqued.

"What's the meaning of this? Why are we in front of your door?" My voice was laced with anger.

I could no longer control my impatience.

Amber tried to calm my nerves, but it only worsened the case.

"Relax, Sarah! I just want to have a word with you and I don't want anyone, including Luke, to hear about it."

He sounded so convincing, I just had to go with his suggestion.

He held the door ajar as I walked in.

"Okay what do you have to say?" My eyes scanned his face with curiosity.

There was a medium sized chair lying around a corner of the room.

Amber pulled it close to himself and sat on it. He brought his gaze close to me, his face as serious as ever.

"I care so much about you, Sarah and I wouldn't like any harm to come to you. You are like family to me, it would be so cruel of me to watch you suffer when I can actually do something to help."

Now, this was where confusion took a better part of me. What was he actually trying to decipher?

"What's going on? You speak in parables."

"Alright, I'll break it down if that's what you want." He turned an awkward stare at me, making me feel uncomfortable. "I don't know how you would see this, it might make me bad as a friend but I just have to do it."

My eyes narrowed. He was still yet to hit the nail on the head.

"I have been meaning to tell you that Luke is not meant for you. Flee from him if you want to be happy."

For the first time in my life, I got visibly upset by someone. The speed at which I hissed and walked out of Amber's room was still a shock.

What insolence!

How would a man even say that about his best friend?! I sensed a lot of bitterness and greed in his voice.

How could I not have known?!

He has been acting suspicious lately, little did I know that it would come to this.

I hastened my pace as I headed to where Keila was.

Disappointment etched all over me when I met her absence.

Was I dreaming? I had just left her here a few minutes ago when Amber called me. Where could she have gone to?

"Keila, where are you?" My voice disbursed in an echo, yet, there was no response from anyone.

I gave up and went towards Luke's room.

Luckily for me, his door wasn't locked. I twisted the handle gently and strode into the room.

My eyes blinked with shock at what I saw as soon as I stepped in.

Keila looked so comfortable as she wrapped herself around Luke. They were so engrossed in their romance that they didn't even notice when I walked in.

"Luke?!" I yelled in a loud tone so that they both heard me.

Luke suddenly jumped out of Keila's arms, but instead of looking sorry, his face twinned with anger.

"What are you doing here woman?" He shot an aggressive glare at me.

As if that was not enough, Keila wrapped her hands seductively on Luke's shoulder.

I knew full well what she was trying to do, mock me!

"Keila, I trusted you."

SARAH'S POV

"Oh, spare me that crap, Sarah! You actually thought I was doing all these for nothing? You must be a dreamer to even think that."

Keila said that to my face. She sounded really mean that I began to regret ever putting all my trust in her.

Now, I was starting to look vulnerable. She knew basically everything about me!

Just when I thought I had seen it all, something even more shocking happened.

Luke shot a furious glare at me.

"Where are your manners, woman?! Weren't you supposed to knock before stepping into my room?" He put out his whole frustration on me. This was just the height of it!

What the hell was I still doing here?!

I couldn't stand the humiliation anymore. At that point, I already forgot what I came to pick in the room initially.

I said no single word to them as I dashed out of the building, heading to nowhere in particular.

I just needed to be out of their sight, to calm the anger I felt within me.

Every other person would think that I was going to step out and never return.

But that was far from it!

I couldn't just leave my marriage in that manner. To think that we were just newly married.

What is the whole world going to say about us? That we got married barely a few weeks ago, and now, we're separated?

I didn't want that for myself.

At the same time, I knew exactly what I had signed up for. I was equally up to the task.

I believed that Luke was only being influenced by his youthful exuberance. He would definitely fall back into place.

"Sarah! Where the hell are you?!" I heard someone yell my name.

Wait!

Did I just say someone? I knew for a fact that the person yelling my name all this while was Keila.

She had chosen to act this way to me since I had decided to return back to my vomit.

Luke was always on her side, whether or not she was right.

This made her suddenly change towards me. I literally turned into her maid overnight.

I couldn't believe that the person whom I once called 'best friend' was the same person treating me like trash.

Well, what more could I ever expect from life?

I chose to remain here, not because I enjoyed being smitten, but because I had no family.

There was obviously no where to go from here.

Keila finally got to where I was. She gripped my hair into her clenched hands, dragging me to the kitchen.

"Can't you get useful for once? Why do you always choose to remain so lazy and dumb?" She barked, still pulling my hair.

"Ouch! Please, you are hurting me!" I pleaded with her but all that fell on deaf ears.

She pulled even harder as we approached the kitchen. "Who cares about your pathetic feeling?! Get to work immediately!"

She finally let her grip out of my hair and pushed me into the kitchen.

"You have just thirty minutes to get the dishes done and get dinner ready as well."

She hissed noisily and walked out.

Did I just hear her right? My eyes traveled to the many dishes which scattered all over the sink.

They looked so much to be done in an hour, talk more of thirty minutes.

To think that she had also ordered me to get dinner ready within the same time frame.

How on earth was I supposed to achieve that?

Despite my many thoughts, I just knew I needed to get started already.

Keila would definitely unleash her anger on me if I failed to do all that she asked me to.

I flung into action instantly.

***

Luke returned after a few hours. It was already past evening.

He passed where I was without saying a word to me.

He literally acted like I never existed.

Just then, Keila came out to welcome him.

"Welcome home baby." She said and wrapped her hands over his neck.

Luke drew her close to himself as they exchanged kisses.

I never realized that I was still staring at them not until I felt a sharp tug on my face.

Luke was standing before me with a mean expression on his face.

"What are you still doing there, woman?! Go get me my dinner at once!"

His voice reverberated into my eardrums, causing an aftereffect of his slap.

Just as I was about to walk back into the house, his voice stopped me a second time.

"Hey! Before you get that done, I need you to step out and get the items in the booth of the car."

His face was expressionless as he made the order.

I didn't hesitate this time around.

I scampered out to where he parked his car. I flung the car's booth open and took everything I could lay hands on.

I felt a soft tap at my back just as I was about to return inside.

"Hey madam." A familiar voice called behind me. I turned back immediately and saw Noah staring at me.

He had a concerned look on his face, his hands clenched together.

"Please can I have a word with you?"

"Of course yes. Go ahead." I seemed to be interested to know what Noah was up to this time around.

He had been the one who always warned me about Keila each passing day. He always reminded me of the need to be careful around her.

Now, who knows what he was up to this time around?

"Please be fast about it."

Noah nodded his head. He looked backwards, as if searching for someone.

He immediately went on his knees. At this point, his face was already sweaty.

My curiosity piqued.

I knew Noah could be so dramatic, but I have never seen him act this way since I knew him.

"What's going on, Noah? Talk to me!"

"Promise you would not get upset madam."

I became even more confused as he said those words. Can he just hit the nail on the head already?!

I was running out of patience.