Deceptive Vows: The Wife's Agony

Fifty times. That's how often Noel had called me in the past hour, and it coincidentally matched the number of times I had rejected his calls, hitting the red button each time. A part of me was withering away as I pushed him away, but a larger part was already dead inside. Numbness had taken over, leaving me void of any emotions. The shock had been so overwhelming that I couldn't react in the way a normal person would under these circumstances.

Leaning my head against the car window, I pressed my forehead to the cool glass, offering a brief reprieve to my fevered skin. Suffering from an illness with a temperature of 102 degrees, it was a miracle I still had some level of consciousness. I couldn't bring myself to tell Noel the truth; facing him felt like tearing my own heart out. How had this day gone from perfection to the worst nightmare of my life?

I, Ariyah Miller, was now married to Zacchaeus Winston, the man who was supposed to marry my sister just hours ago. The thought made me sick, and all I wanted was for someone to wake me from this surreal nightmare. Any moment, I expected Olianna to come into my room, calling for me and shaking me awake to make her favorite chocolate chip pancakes.

But it didn't happen. She didn't come. No one woke me up. Olianna had abandoned me, leaving me to face the dire consequences of her actions. In the car, I couldn't even bear to look at Zacchaeus, afraid of the hatred I might see in his eyes. I had sacrificed my happiness willingly for my family, but Zacchaeus? He had been coerced into it; I had overheard the arguments, his parents trying to convince him. In the end, his father had resorted to threats of disinheritance. I didn't need to look at him to sense the resentment.

The car halted outside the imposing Winston Mansion, a place I had visited with my family but never seen so foreboding. It was cloaked in darkness, and as I gazed out, I realized this reception was specifically tailored for me. If the day had gone as planned with Olianna, there would have been lights, celebration, and an air of festivity. Instead, I brought gloom and perpetual doom. The gates opened, allowing the car inside, and I felt the watchman's stare following me as we entered. As soon as the car stopped, Zacchaeus jumped out, slamming the door behind him.

A migraine intensified, coupled with my burning fever, further deteriorating my condition. I tried to move, but my body felt too weak to respond. The driver noticed and opened my door with a concerned expression on his face.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

I shook my head, a sharp pain shooting through it as I did so. Gripping my temple, I laid my head back on the seat. Everything started to spin around me, my eyes beginning to water. I distinctly heard the driver calling for someone before it all faded to black.

...

"Will she be fine?" he asked and even in the state of near unconsciousness that I was in, I scoffed. He didn't care, the carefree tone of his voice made that obvious. He'd left me in the car and now was putting on act for God knows who.

"Well I've written down the required medicines and a nurse will arrive shortly to stay with her as you requested. I'm sure that when she wakes up, the temperature will be considerably lower. There's no need to worry, Mr. Winston."

A doctor, I assumed and tuned them out. Couldn't he just let me be? I'd prefer to be in this state forever than to wake up and have to face reality. A reality in which I was Zacchaeus's wife, a reality in which my sister had left me to be fed to the sharks, a reality in which my parents literally sacrificed me on the altar. Worst of all, a reality in which there was no Noel.

A pain shot through my chest at the thought of his name. Noel, Noel, Noel. Would he ever find out about what happened to me? What would he think? Would he hate me? I loved him so much, could he be able to see that? The questions made my head hurt and I felt the migraine come back with a vengeance. My head felt like it was being crushed with the weight of a thousand boulders and I couldn't hold it in any longer. A low scream left my mouth and immediately I felt someone rush into the room.

Zacchaeus hovered above me protectively and I shivered inwardly at the size of him. He towered above me as I lay on the bed, his features masked by the lack of light in the room. I couldn't see the expression on his face; was he angry, annoyed, worried?

"What's wrong Ariyah?" he asked softly and knelt beside the bed. He was near enough for me to smell his cologne, an expensive one at that. Noel didn't smell like that, not like rich people. He had his own wonderfully warm scent. I quickly pushed the thought out of my head.

"My head..." I managed to choke out in between the spasms of pain that were now rocking my entire body.

"Here, take this. The doctor said it'd make the pain go away."

Zacchaeus made me sit upright and noticed how disabled the pain had made me. He made me open my mouth and placed some pills inside it and then placed a glass of water near my mouth, forcing me to drink. The simple act of kindness was all it took for my inner guilt to come back and haunt me.

Voluntarily or not, I had taken a place in Zacchaeus's life that was never meant for me. I had invaded his world without permission and he had to bear the brunt of that. My sister, my own flesh and blood had ruined his life because of her selfishness. He did not deserve what he'd gotten.

After laying me down carefully on the bed Zacchaeus walked out of the room, switching off the bedside lamp as he left. The last thought that crossed my mind before the sleeping pills began to take effect was how unusual it was for someone to be so fond of the dark. Not a single light illuminated his way as he walked out so easily into the darkness. Is that how he perceived his life to be now? Full of darkness, was there no room for light in his life anymore?