Side Effects To Marriage May Include

Chapter 12: One Mississippi, Two Mississippi

< light's up and they know who you are, do you know who you are? >

-Harry Styles.

Aria's PoV:

For the last few days I've been dodging Nickolas like the Black Plague back in 1820 Europe.

He thinks he can fucking go wherever he likes and then come back like nothing's changed.
He's wrong.
Besides, the incident that took place 3 days ago was enough for me take extreme measures.

I've been giving him the cold shoulder, never instigating anything and barely having proper communication with him.

Last night he hadn't come home, and my best guess is that he's staying at his girlfriend/ mistress's place.

I just hate the situation we're forced under.

My phone rings and take a guess who's calling? Yep, satan incarnated himself.

I watch the ringing die away, not bothering to pick up the phone and answer.
Then, when he realizes that I'm not so keen on the thought of answering his calls, he does the second best thing.
He leaves a message.

'Stop ignoring me.
Anyways, the company's annual party is this Friday at 6 and we need to attend.
Just wanted to give you a heads up '

Well today's Wednesday, meaning I only have 2 days to shop for this event for my debut as Mrs. Velez.

I call Luna so we can go shopping.

•••

"So how's life with Mr. Velez?" She pops up the question as soon as she sees me.

She came by at my house, or more correctly Nickolas's house after half an hour of our call.

"Fan-fucking-tastic. Now can we get going?" Sarcasm seeps through my tone.

She revives the engine into life and pulls to the road.

After a few seconds of silence, she breaks it down "Well, at least he's not a serial killer, right?"
She picks up the joke from where we left off a few weeks back.

No wonder she was studying to become a doctor. The girl had a memory made out of steel.
"On second thoughts, a serial killer might've been better " my shoulders shrug displaying my disappointment.

"Wow. That bad, huh?" She asks rhetorically and I wanted to tell her
You have no idea, girl.

We make our way to the closest mall in town looking for some of the stores that sell fancy clothing.

I try on some puffy gowns, and I feel like an old fluffy duster in them.

Out of nowhere, Luna pulls me by to the body-hugging-dresses section and picks out a ton load of dresses for me to try on.

I go through them one by one, not feeling satisfied the least about the way I look.

She takes all of the dresses I already tried on away and hands me a black one.
"I think this is the one " she stated hurriedly, afraid that the dress might evaporate into thin air.

I try it on and immediately fall in love with it. It's not too simple nor too glittery. Perfectly perfect for the party.
Plus, you can never go wrong with black.

Once I got the dress, it felt like a load has been lifted off of my shoulders.
All I needed now was the right heels and some shiny jewelry to compliment my look.

•••

Shopping with Luna today was tiring, but if finding the right outfit means to spend five hours shopping at the mall, then so be it.
As Beyonće once famously said 'Pretty Hurts', my own input is that it's time consuming as well.

I got home by the time for dinner, withstanding the fact that I skipped lunch today, I wasn't feeling that hungry.

Ok, my ulterior motives may have been that I don't eat a lot today so I can fit easily in my dress in two days.
Given the fact that in the last two weeks I've barely set foot in a gym, I say this step was now much necessary and welcomed.

I open the front door to be met with an empty house. No sign of him here. Not one hundred percent sure if it's for the better or worse.

After hanging the dress onto a metallic hanger in the closet, setting aside the heels and jewelry, I take a quick shower washing off the stickiness from my body.

Getting into an empty bed is the worst part about this whole situation.
Especially, when the bed is made for two, and the sheets on his side still linger on with his masculine cologne.

I sigh and close my eyes thinking about the life I'm living, the life I was thrown into.

In the last week so much has happened that it is difficult for me to keep track of what is going on.

I married a stranger.
Our companies merged.
He's not sleeping at home.
We're not on speaking terms.
We have a party to attend as a couple in two days.
And hell I still have no idea where he goes to when he's not here.
It couldn't have been the company because we're on a wedding break.

The questions and different possibilities which have various outcomes, all weigh down on my shoulders, eating away at me, and I knew I wasn't going to drift off to sleep easily.

One Mississippi, tow Mississippi..
And I'm still tossing and turning in my sleep.

•••

A/N:

Who likes to par-tayyyyy!!!!

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