Sarah’s POV
“Hello Mum, how are you doing?” I asked, genuinely wanting to think about anyone else but myself. My current situation in my marriage was weighing me down. Being in a loveless marriage or at least where the love was one-sided was a pain in the ass. I had to struggle every day to be noticed by my husband.
Granted our marriage had been a contract marriage – an agreement between his father and my grandfather -, with no promise of love but yet I found myself yearning for my husband to notice me. Richard had always been my crush right from high school but he had just never noticed me, always been too cool from day 1 to notice the nerdy girl in the corner. Even though I was more girlish now with curves and a D-sized cup, he still didn’t see me. I guess it was once a nerd, always a nerd.
“Sarah?”
Mum’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I sighed. “I’m sorry Mum, what were you saying?”
“Are you okay? You sound worried.” Sometimes her ability to read me even from far away was scary but that was one of the many things I loved about her. Lucia Williams was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy, a disciplinarian with an air of sweetness and a tender heart.
“Honestly, no.” Then I proceeded to tell her about how things were. Starting from our wedding night when I thought he would at least touch me and I had been bursting at the seams with nerves. I didn’t have to be so worried, he didn’t even spend the night at home.
I heard a long sigh on the other end and then another before letting out a sigh of my own. I was honestly getting tired of being stuck in this unfavorable arrangement. Going into it in the place had seemed pleasant because I had feelings for Richard and thought with time, he would feel something for me as well. Perhaps I had been binging too much on those romcoms on N*****x. But was it such a big ask for my husband to love me?
“Have you tried seducing him?” she asked and I frowned. Seducing him? Even though I was no longer the shy little nerd I was in high school, I still wasn’t the girly woman either. The only thing that had changed had been my big circle glasses that always slept on my nose and now I tried to apply makeup once in a while.
“Don’t answer that, you wouldn’t know what to do.” She sighed again and I could picture her frown. “All right, here’s what you’ll do.” I listened closely as she instructed me on what to do to save my marriage while I gobbled it up. I know this much desperation was bad but I couldn’t help it. Perhaps if I could choose who to love then I wouldn’t care what he did.
“I’ll leave the house now. Will call you when I get to the store.”
Some fifteen minutes later, I got out of the car and told Desmond, the driver where to pack the car. Walking into the store, I speed-dialed Mum and waited for her to answer the call while I eyed the different aisles of lingerie and underwear. One of the shop attendants walked up to me with her boobs on display and a bright smile on her face. “Welcome to Sexy Secrets. What can I help you with today?” she asked and I gave a nervous smile.
“I would like to get something sexy,” I told her and she nodded, an air of confidence about her. “Could you help me?”
“You can call me Laura, follow me.”
I followed Laura through the different aisles and by the time I was headed for the dressing room, I had a handful of see-through things that seemed like they wouldn’t cover anything but I guess that was the whole point.
“I will be out here if you need anything.” She announced just as Mum was calling me back.
Thank God.
“Hey Mum, I was just headed for the dressing room.”
****
I cleaned the edge of the plate and sat down in one of the chairs exhausted from being on my feet all day. After successfully emptying most of the aisles in Sexy Secrets, Mum brought up the idea that I should cook Richard a nice meal. I had done it once before but after he didn’t even so much as look at it, I stopped and left the cooking to Rafael, the Italian chef he hired way before I showed up in his life.
I rubbed my sweaty palms as the clock made a sound, my nerves suddenly getting the best of me. The worst thing that could happen now was that he wouldn’t show up or he would show up and he wouldn’t eat. Frankly, I wasn’t too hopeful and that was because if it hadn’t worked the first time I tried it, why would it work now?
Because now, you brought in the big guns, you are wearing sexy lingerie. What man can resist that?
Mum’s voice rang in my mind and I hoped she was right about this like every other thing in my life she had given me advice on. I got up and walked to the stairs deciding to go and get changed into the lingerie.
Our room or at least my room since he never bothered to sleep in it was a master bedroom with a queen-sized bed and two standard pillows with throw pillows scattered everywhere. My wardrobe was a walk-in closet filled with every designer brand of shoes, clothes, bags, wristwatches and so on that money could buy. Sadly, all that money couldn’t get me my husband’s love. If only I could trade my Louboutins for a fraction of his love, I would in a heartbeat. I never asked for any of them anyway.
The sound of a car coming up the driveway reached my ears and I raced to the door of my room excitedly, fumbling with the lingerie. It was showtime.
Sarah’s POVAs I made my way downstairs to meet Richard, my nerves got the best of me like a teenager going on her first date. I never thought any man would see me like this ever but here I was about to stand in front of my husband like this. I wondered what he would see as I made my way into the living room where I could hear footsteps. I wondered what he would think of me, how he would react, and what the outcome of this whole thing would be. Would things go south or would he find this whole thing endearing and pull me closer? “Welcome home honey, I made dinner,” I said, walking into the living room, my heart in my throat. Would he kick me out of his life because of this?“Good evening, Mrs. Williams, I’m here to return the keys of the car.” I shrieked at the same Desmond swore and covered his eyes, his cheeks red from embarrassment. “Why are you here? Where is Richard?” I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I pulled the robe closer to my body, irritated that my e
Sarah’s POVI walked into the kitchen the next morning and did a takeback when I saw Richard rummaging in the freezer for something. “What are you doing?” He jumped which caused him to hit his head on the freezer top and then glared at me while rubbing his head. “What are you doing?” he threw my question back at me and it was my time to glare at him. “Where were you last night?” I asked, shocked at how strong my voice came out when I was a bundle of nerves on the inside. I had never said more than two words at a time to Richard before and now I didn’t even know if he’d hit me for being so gutsy. “You didn’t come home last night.” He eyed me for a while and then hissed, turning his attention back to the freezer which seemed more attractive than me at that moment. The nerve of this man. Had it been any other day, I would have let it slide and walked away to go and cry in my room or the bathroom but not today. After last night, I was tired of being so silent and not speaking up for my
Sarah’s POV“What did you say?” I asked staring at the man sitting across from me. Too many things had happened today and I was still trying to make sense of them. This, whatever this was, I couldn’t take it and I had taken so much already. I glared at a drunk Richard, hugging another woman’s waist in our living room, and crossed my hands over my chest. “We are going to bed and you are going to get out of the way.” He made a move to push me out of the way and staggered, falling sideways. I stretched my hand out to help him but he pushed my hand away. “Don’t touch me,” he glared at me and I took a step back feeling like I had been slapped.I stepped to the side and watched as he led the woman whom he had brought home, whose name I still didn’t know up the stairs. I blinked back tears and stood there for a few minutes trying to get rid of the huge lump in my throat. Never in my life had I felt so hurt and insulted. I had never loved anyone else in my entire life and Joshua Jones in th
Sarah’s POVIt's been one week. One week since I told Susan off and three days since I set my eyes on Richard. E would stay away from home before but this was worse. Then he would pop back in after a day or two but now he had been gone for seven days and I had no doubt this was some kind of revenge for the way I spoke to his girlfriend. But what did he expect me to do? She had been very rude to me, had he been expecting me to just take it all quietly and do everything she said? I was his wife, not a slave she had hired on a payroll. Somehow, a part of me wished I could take back everything I did – and said – while another part of me wishes she could have spoken up for herself sooner. I rolled on my side and slipped out of bed. The day had just begun but I didn’t feel like doing anything. There was nothing to do and most of the time, I spent my time playing on my phone, scrolling through Twitter, checking emails and playing music. I watched a movie or two sometimes but I didn’t like u