CHAPTER 13
NORA.
Ever since I returned home from the hospital, things changed, especially my outlook on the whole situation. I would sit alone in my room all day, staring at the wall, my mind gone to a faraway place, I made some decisions and one of them was to keep the baby. The decision didn’t come from the deepest part of my mind so I felt obligated to do so. It seemed like it wanted to stay anyway, wanted to live. And I decided that I would keep it, carry it, birth it when the time was due, and be a good mother to it but that won’t stop me from getting my revenge.
As soon as I made this decision, I became awash with a peace and bitterness I had known in quite a while. I felt more at tensed with myself, and I found I was able to breathe more and think more clearly. I did not tell anything to Dimitri, but he
must have seen me.
One morning, on waking up, I heard a knock on the door, and when I opened it, it was Dimitri.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” he said to me, all teeth as he smiled brightly at me.
There was something eerie about his demeanour. It was not supposed to be because there really was nothing off–putting or bizarre about him, but the fact that we had not exchanged smiles in a while made it look a bit weird.
“Good morning, Dimitri,” I said, regarding him carefully
“Trust you had a good night’s rest,” he said and walked into the room. He sat on the bed beside me. He was so close I could smell his shaving cream and deodorant.
I did, thanks,” I said to him, nodding. I looked away. I could not meet his eyes after our scene at the hospital. Since I got back home, we had talked to each other, but stiffly and only when necessary.
He looked away, too, and began to tap a rhythm on the bed.
“Well, what do you have to say?” I asked him.
“Ohh, well, we’re sort of having breakfast together,” he said, “as a pack, and I was wondering if you’d be interested. Of course, it would be fine if you weren’t, considering that you just returned from the clinic and all, but-”
Tll come,” I said.
“Ohh?” He asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be there,” I told him.
“We’re waiting then,” he said, and then stood up to leave.
Breakfast with the pack–just what I needed. I thought the company of other people would do me some mighty good. One of the merits of being in a pack is the familial spirit that tends to run through the members; each one treats you like a
brother or a sister.
When Dimitri was gone, I stood up, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and washed my face. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror for a while, gazing at my image, getting lost in myself. My hand instinctively went to my stomach and I rubbed it with gentleness, thinking about the baby that would come to alter my life, who would come to reshape my
existence.
When I snapped out of my navel gazing, I went to the dining room.
Only a select few members of the pack were around. I looked around, my eyes gliding from face to face and I realised that I
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don’t know most of them. They were all high ranking members of the pack, and they watched me with such awe as I tried to sit down, as if they were spellbound.
“Good morning, everyone, I said aloud as I took my seat next to Dmitri.
“Good morning,” they all responded, in varying degrees of pitch
Breakfast was served almost immediately and I helped myself to a generous serving. Since I came back from the hospital, it seemed like a cavern has opened up in my stomach. I got really hungry.
Halfway through the meal, a low murmur broke out in the dining room. The wolves were whispering to each other. Not having anyone to talk to, I turned to Dimitri, whom I exchanged a few sentences with.
I heard Collins chuckle..
“You know,” he said, a smile on his face, “Dimitri and Nora are sort of like an elderly couple. Like the kind that have been mates for a long while and don’t know what to do with each other anymore.”
I smiled and looked down at my food embarrassingly. A few people around the table laughed and some chuckled. It was obviously a joke, a lighthearted remark, But when I raised my head to look at Dimitri’s face, I saw that he was furious.
“Why would you say something like that, man?” Dimitri asked his brother.
“Relax, bro, it’s a joke,” Collins said, putting a forkful of food into his mouth..
“It’s fucking stupid,” Dimitri said. “Aren’t you a little grown for that type of nonsense?!?!”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at Dimitri who has a scowl on his face so deep it could burn a hole in one’s flesh. His voice had taken on a furious tone too.
“Dimitri, it was nothing but a joke, man,” Collins said, laughing a bit to defuse the tension. “But as you don’t seem to like it, I take it back. I’m sorry”
“Of course you’re sorry.” Dimitri said, getting to his feet. “That’s all I ever get sorry.”
And with that, he left the dining room.
Everyone looked surprised, as did 1. Dimitri wasn’t the kind of person to have such an outburst. I stood up almost immediately and followed him. He had gone into his study where he sat amongst a pile of old, dusty books, rifling the pages. of one of the books.
“That was childish and stupid, Dimitri, I chided him.
“Ohh, please,” he said without looking at me.
Anger rushed through me.
“You’re so fucking arrogant you could not even take a light hearted joke from your brother who was also trying to cheer you up.” I yelled.
Silence.
a while only for yo
“Really? Are you not going to say a word to me? Look at you, you haven’t spoken to me in to come into our bedroom this morning and now you want to keep mute on me?
He said nothing, just kept his eyes on the book.
I scoffed
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“Wow! Keep it up, Dimitri, Keep the silent treatment going. I didn’t get into this contract marriage for this? I am desperate to get back what fully belongs to me and I won’t let you treat me this way!”
Dimitri kept ignoring me and I watched him flip the page of the book in his hands.
“You won’t answer me?” I said, moving closer to him. “Come on, speak the fuck up.”
But just as I moved closer to him, he pulled me into himself and enveloped me in a hug. His scent grabbed me and I could hardly believe it.
“Shut up or I will be force to do so.” He whispered, his breath on my right ear.
I just stood there stiffly as he wrapped his hands around me, my mind unable to think straight. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
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