The next day, I had an early shift so I had to leave early for the hospital I worked at. I thankfully arrived on time before the morning meeting started.

I made my way into the conference room, plopping down on my seat and getting involved in the conversation. Soon the meeting ended and I left the room, my phone rang again and I pulled it out to see the caller I.D was Antonio, I took a deep breath before I answered.

“Leia, why did you leave early without waking me up, because of you I overslept” he didn't hesitate to blame me and his voice held a bit of annoyance.

Earlier in our marriage I took care of him in all aspects. Clothes laid out, breakfast on time and a warm greeting every morning and I had continued with this routine to show him how much I loved him. The way he sounded now meant he expected me to do everything for him, he always took me for granted as if my acts of love had now become a job for me.

But I wasn't his help, I was his wife and I had every right to refuse.

“Since you're already late, the earlier you get ready the better” I replied in a bored tone.

“What am I going to wear?” He asked and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“It's a wolf meeting, nobody is going to be overdressed, so choose whatever”

"There's a shirt I'm looking for, I can't find it—” He complained.

There was a knock on my door and I looked up to see my colleague calling me over for some help. "I have to go, just find your clothes yourself."

Barely a moment later, Antonio's message pinged on the screen. <I found the shirt, it's rumpled amongst the rest, you haven't ironed them yet. I have to look decent infront of the pack elders>

Whilst I was walking with my colleague another message popped up, <You didn't even leave me breakfast?>.

I ignored the message and saw my colleague leading me to the department head.

“Leia, good news!” He cheered drumming on his desk. “After assessing your performance, the hospital wants to further your training and you're fully recovered now” he urged.

This wasn't the first time the HOD had spoken to me about something like this, but the initial plan had been to marry Antonio so I had declined earlier due to the pregnancy. But now building a family with him no longer appealed to me.

“I had thought about it sir, and I'll go," I replied with a newfound conviction.

"Wonderful!" He cheered then asked me to prepare everything and said he would notify me when the date was decided. His enthusiasm was infectious. The timing of this was perfect, this could be my ticket to a future I could finally design on my own terms.

Time flew by as I buried myself in work. Before I knew it, it was dark outside, but I still had a few more documents to take care of. Just as I settled in with another stack of papers, Antonio called.

"Why aren't you home yet, Where's dinner?" He asked and I began to wonder why I had been attracted to him. I now despised returning home to him, which was why I stayed in the office preparing documents until late.

"My colleague had something urgent to do, and had to switch shifts with me” I explained “Just order in" I shrugged though he couldn't see.

"Order?" Antonio sounded surprised.Back then, Food was never a problem, I ensured there was a meal available three times in a day.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No." Antonio hesitated before continuing, "Just take care of yourself"

"Thank you," I replied flatly. Antonio was silent for a moment, then he spoke “Leia, are you angry?"

The question came slow and caught meoff guard, and though it irked me, I was mostly disappointed. Was he truly this oblivious, or simply did not care about my feelings?

But I wouldn't let it bother me, it did not matter.

“Leia, you know it's not easy for Sophie to raise a child alone, the pack is giving her some distance and still considering her a rogue, I'm the only one on her side” he explained.

His words felt like slap, he conveniently forgot sometimes that, I too, only had him and it was especially hard on me because I was human.

"Of course, I understand. She must've been through a lot," I answered calmly.

"What's that supposed to mean, what is with your attitude?" He asked, seeming angry, one of his werewolf perks, one minute he was calm and one minute his wolf anger surfaced.

"I said I understand," I repeated in a curt tone, "Is that a problem?"

“Why are you talking to me like that?” He snapped and his eyes glowed amber.

"What do you want me to say?" I countered, frustration creeping in. Silence fell between us, heavy and suffocating.

"Do as you wish," he mumbled before leaving the house.

Wasn't it ironic, he once said I was annoying when I questioned him visiting Sophie and when I called to ask when he would be back from Sophie's. Now, I'm trying to understand him and he still gets frustrated.

With a sigh, I laid on the bed, I was exhausted from last night's shift and I wanted nothing more but to sleep.

I had barely caught enough sleep when my one began blaring loudly, with a groan I picked it up; it was my beloved husband.

"Leia," he sounded like he was in pain, "My—my stomach hurts." He groaned.

I mumbled a response, but I was too tired and fell back asleep. In a dream, I seemed to hear Antonio calling my name, but the sound was distant, so Ignored it.

A few hours later, I was awakened by the sound of the door opening and slowly opened my eyes. Antonio stood by the bed, his face held a mask of hurt.

"Leia, don't you care anymore, You used to be worried when I was sick and you would rush to make porridge and give me medicine." He complained and I only stared at him, when would he realise that those days were gone and what he was doing now was tearing put marriage.

Doing that for him was indeed the old me. I remembered it clearly. Once, Antonio had a stomach ache, so I asked for leave to bring him medicine at his office in the pack house. As luck had it, I got caught in the rain on my way there, leaving my hair soaked and me looking quite a mess. And when I arrived with the medicine, his colleagues laughed at my appearance and Adrian did not even try to scold them. To top it off, he told me never to come to the pack house again because, in his words, I was an embarrassment.

After reminiscing, I looked up at Antonio

"Are you feeling better?” I rubbed my eyes, "We might be out of medicine, maybe you can get some yourself."

Antonio was speechless, then his bipolar attitude showed again. He grabbed my arm tightly.

"Leia, how long are we going to keep fighting because of Sophie?” He asked, trying to gaslight me, “I told you, there's nothing between her and me!"

"Okay," I replied calmly, a stark contrast to his anger.

Antonik slammed the door in anger as he left the room, the silence that followed was liberating.

Days flew by and it was already the next week. After our last argument, Antonio hadn’t returned. I had thought to call but decided against it, when he decided to stop being petty he would return.

During that week, I had received a message from him saying he went on a business trip and even sent me his location. I replied with an ‘okay’ to which I laughed. How dumb did he think I was?

I scrolled through my Instagram on my way to work and saw Sophie’s post on my feed. She was apparently on vacation and seemed to be enjoying herself, she posted a picture with a man she had cropped out but his hand showed, it was Antonio; he was wearing his wedding ring. Sophie’s vacation location matched that of Antonio’.

I found it funny that Sophie was cosying up to him knowing he was married. There were a few times I wanted to confront her about it, But I couldn’t just waltz into wolf territory as a human, they were sensitive about us.

As I stared at the picture, I sighed looking at the matching ring on my finger and took it off, I placed it in my bag’s pocket and looked outside the window trying to distract myself from the disappointment I was feeling.

I stopped at the coffee shop before the hospital. I stepped into the café and the sweet smell of caffeine hit my nose making my stomach churn. I made my way over to the counter and ordered a cup of cappuccino. I grabbed the cup whispering a thank you, turning only to crash into someone.

“I’m so sorry” I apologised; thankfully I had caught the cup on time and hadn’t spilled it on him.

“It's okay” a deep voice replied and I looked up to see a huge man in front of me and I swallowed.

“I wasn’t paying attention…”

“It's okay” He walked away and I hurried to the hospital.

***

More days passed. I was currently sitting in my office, going through some files when I heard a knock on my door.

“Won’t you leave‘” One of the nurses said standing by the doorway.

“Of course” I shook my head and chuckled to myself as I packed my things. I had been so engrossed in work that I didn’t notice the time; I dreaded returning home to an empty bed knowing my husband was having fun with another woman.

I made my way out of the building when I noticed a familiar car parked outside. Antonio came down from the car.

“Why are you here?” I asked, exhausted.

“Did you forget that today is our anniversary?” He asked and I sighed.

“How was your business trip?” I asked instead and he frowned.

“Is that really important right now, you forgot our anniversary?” He repeated.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been very busy” I mumbled and we walked over to his car, surprisingly he held the door open for me.

Once we were inside the car, he began again “You used to care about this more than me, how could you forget?” He asked. He was the cause of his own paranoia; because he knew what he was doing was wrong but wanted me to be at fault for every little thing.

I had always been excited for our anniversary or his birthday, but it mattered so little now that it hadn’t crossed my mind all day.

I remembered when I threw him a surprise party for his birthday and he complained that I was making a big deal and embarrassing him, I had only wanted to do something nice for him. Sometimes it felt like Antonio was embarrassed I was his wife. The spark of festivity I had, died with my feelings for him.

“Let’s have dinner and celebrate” He smiled as he started the engine and began to drive.

“Leia, what’s wrong, are you upset?” He asked and I clenched my fist beneath my sleeve. He really needed to stop asking me that because I knew he didn’t care.

“No,” I replied rather calmly.

“No?” He suddenly irked and I sighed embracing myself for his rants.

“Why the attitude then, here I am, making an effort to pick you from work and take you to dinner, at least pretend to be grateful”

“I’m not angry Antonio” I simply murmured.

“Fine!” He groaned, increasing the speed of the car.

“I promise I won’t contact Sophie anymore” He said out of the blue and I turned to stare at him

“Okay?” He asked. Was he finally tired of her?

“Are you happy now?” He asked in an annoyed tone and my frown returned and I refused to answer him.

We sat in silence as he drove, and soon he arrived at a fancy looking restaurant. We came down from the car, and a valet took the keys while another waiter took us inside, it was empty and beautifully decorated, Antonio had really gone all out and I felt a light flutter in my chest.

One of the waiters walked up to me holding a gift but before I could open it, Antonio answered his phone.

“Fever, do you have medicine?” He asked, seeming worried.

“I can’t come right now, I have something to do”.

“What?" He sighed and then turned to me.

“Leia, Sophie’s son, has a fever, she needs me” He explained with a hint of awkwardness.

I forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat, “its okay”

He hesitated before saying “Wait for me, I’ll be back soon” with that he hurried out of the building.

I stared at the present in my hand and the cake on the table, raindrops hit the windows crying in my stead. I sat down and began to eat the cake.

Hours passed until it was late at night, I hailed a cab and went home, arriving at the house, and the harsh rain beat me.

Antonio didn’t return that night but the next morning.

“Jesse had a fever all night, it wouldn’t go down” He explained. Jesse was Sophie’s child.

“Is everything okay now, you could have still stayed. It must be hard for Sophie to take care of a sick child by herself” I expressed my concern

Antonio paused while he was taking off his coat, “Are you being serious?” He asked annoyedly, “I didn’t sleep last night, I’m really tired.” He sighed.

“You should rest, I’m going to work” I turned and reached for my handbag.

“Leia…” He grabbed my arm

“What is it?”

“I’ll make up for it at our next anniversary celebration, okay, don’t be mad?” He asked and I sighed.

“I’m not mad” a ghostly smile played on my lips. He looked at me trying to gauge my expression then pulled me into a hug springing me.

“There’s a festival at the pack house this weekend, it requires wolves to come with their mates or spouse, and we should go” He mumbled into my hair. The mate thing, not everyone easily found theirs and Antonio was one of them and I always wondered if it would be me or a random woman.

Antonio’s friends didn’t think too highly of me and I knew it had to do with the fact that I was human.

“I don’t know I may work overtime this weekend” I wasn’t ready to be judge and gawked at.

“Suit you” He hissed and pulled away. I stared at him once more before leaving.

…

I was cross checking some records while my phone beside me wouldn’t stop buzzing. I finally picked it up to see that I had been added to a group chat; Sophie and Antonio were also members. The messages buzzing were pictures from a party where a lot of them featured Sophie. I recognized some of the people in the picture, they were werewolves from Antonio’s pack, and I thought they hadn’t accepted Sophie?

In one of the pictures, Sophie was holding unto Antonio and pressed a kiss to his neck. I scrolled through the messages, pausing when I saw one that caught my attention.

<Sophie and Antonio have always been the perfect couple>I reread it and scrolled through, seeing some of the messages hyping and shipping them together. I knew Antonio was a respected member of his pack, due to his family lineage so most of the people were sucking up to him, promoting him and Sophie ship like he wasn’t already married.

Now that I was in the group, it would show that I had seen the message, it would be odd if I didn’t reply.

<A perfect match> I quickly typed adding a clapping emoji as well and hit the send button then I tossed my phone aside and focused on work.

The next time I picked up my phone, message notifications popped up on my screen and I opened it to see they were from Antonio.

<Leia, answer your phone>

<It’s not what it looks like>

<Where are you, I’m coming to find you> His text went on and on.