The Mysterious Revenge Wife

"Get in," Fred urged the woman who didn't seem to have plans on getting inside her car. It had gotten colder these days, and the woman was obviously trembling from the cold.

When Rebecca was safe inside, Fred quickly turned on the heater inside the car. He noticed that Rebecca was distracted by something outside, so he looked in the direction she was looking but saw no one.

"Are you alright?" Fred asked. Now that he had a closer look, Rebecca looked more rattled than cold.

'She's scared.' That made Fred curious. Yet another thing he found surprisingly amusing was the woman who looked as cold as ice.

"Rebecca, are you alright?" Fred couldn't help it. He reached out and caressed the woman's cheek. 'Scared and cold,' Fred changed his assessment. Rebecca might be good at hiding things, but Fred had observed the woman for quite some time to understand if the woman was hiding something from him and herself.

Rebecca looked at her then, dazed but at least a little more herself. "I'm fine," she said in a breath of relief. "What— What are you doing here?"

"You weren't answering my call." Fred pointed at the phone Rebecca held tightly in her hand.

"Oh! I was busy."

"How did you know where to find me?"

Fred heard a suspicious glint in Rebecca's voice, but he just shrugged and asked instead, "Do you have work tomorrow?"

It wasn't the right time for him and Rebecca to discuss such things. 'There's time,' Fred told himself for the nth time.

"N–No," Rebecca shook her head. "But I have to attend an event in the evening."

"I see. Make sure to call me when you're out this late," Fred said, his voice firm but gentle.

He heard Rebecca chuckle. "Why?" Fred was surprised to hear a hint of bitterness in her voice when she continued to ask, "Are you going to come for me if I call you?"

"Call me, and we'll see," Fred answered. He didn't dare give Rebecca an outright answer, fearing that she would dismiss him as a liar. Fred didn't lie.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Fred asked to change the subject.

"No, not yet," Rebecca answered.

"Good!" Fred was right there to reach out and buckle Rebecca's seatbelt. "Let's go somewhere else."

Fred parked the car when they reached the bar. With no words said, Rebecca followed him after he opened the door for her. The blinding colorful lights and upbeat music immediately welcomed them as soon as they entered.

Protective as always, Fred wrapped his arm on Rebecca's shoulder, took her to his side, and fended her off against the already intoxicated guests.

Seeing how stiff Rebecca somehow became, he leaned against her ear and asked, "Is this your first time?"

Before she could even respond, Fred spoke again and answered his question himself. "Well, I guess not. I just remembered we met at the bar last month."

Rebecca had once come to the bar with her roommate in college. However, Benson, who was her boyfriend at that time, never liked crowded places, so she stopped going. If she weren't stressed enough to seek an escape, she wouldn't have gone to the bar last month and met the man.

...

The music was invigorating. It was the kind of music that persuaded people to be the wildest people they could be, to forget that they were nothing but a body made for dancing to the music.

"You sure know a lot of places!" Rebecca shouted at the man to make herself heard.

"Fred!" The man behind the counter greeted the man.

'Is that his name?' Rebecca thought while she watched as Fred greeted the bartender. Fred smiled, shook the other man's hand, and exchanged a joke that made them laugh out loud.

"So, who's the girl?" The man asked Fred.

Fred, however, winked teasingly at Rebecca and answered the man with, "Can you give us two drinks?"

The man nodded with a grin and poured two drinks as Fred requested.

"Put it in my tab, yeah?" Fred said as he took the drinks and gave one to Rebecca. "You can drink, right?"

Rebecca nodded.

"So why did you bring me here?" Rebecca asked when the bartender left them to serve another customer.

Fred shrugged. "I thought you might need to relieve the pressure off you a bit."

"Why made you think that?" Rebecca asked.

Fred stared at Rebecca and simply answered, "Your post."

It took a while for Rebecca to understand what Fred meant. When she did, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong the month Rebecca divorced Benson. Not only did Benson leave Rebecca, but she also got into a fight with Mary about the divorce, and Raynor had a fight with some gangster kids. Out of frustration, she blocked all her friends and posted a short article about it. Seeing that Fred knew about Rebecca's post must mean he was the only one who read her post.

"There's nothing wrong with getting stressed now and then," Fred said. "You know the best way to relieve the pressure?" Rebecca frowned and waited for Fred to answer, "Alcohol and sex."

Rebecca doubted that, but ten minutes later, she found herself in the middle of the dance floor dancing to the song's rhythm.

Fred watched as Rebecca flung her arms upward and swayed her hips to match the music booming inside the bar. He wondered if Rebecca was even aware of what she was doing right now. Fred excused himself a few minutes ago from Rebecca to use the men's bathroom only to find out that the woman had disappeared. He searched for Rebecca, of course, and was relieved that she was only dancing with the bunch of people in the middle of the dance floor.

Fred streamed through the crowd to reach Rebecca, quickly grabbing her arms to face him.

"Hey!" Rebecca laughed in surprise, joy, and probably drunkenness as she wrapped her hands around his neck. "I've been looking for you!"

Fred should have been annoyed and shouted at Rebecca for leaving their seat without telling him, but all the annoyance he felt disappeared when Rebecca suddenly tiptoed and kissed him on his lips.

It gave Fred pleasure to kiss Rebecca wherever and whenever he could, but the growing doubt that the woman might not know who she was kissing dampened that pleasure. So he forced himself to break the kiss and asked Rebecca, "Do you know who I am?"