My voice was calm. “Tell her she won’t be getting one.”
He approached before leaning on the bathroom frame, rubbing his temples.
I had yet to make direct eye contact with him, so I was sure he hadn’t known the extent of my tears.
“Do you have to make things so difficult? All they wanted was to have dinner and spend the afternoon with us. You stormed out—”
I turned so sharply, with such venom in my face that Gavin took a step backward.
“You think I was trying to put on a fucking show for you? I stormed out because you let her belittle and humiliate me. You let that woman say whatever she pleased to me and didn’t stand up for me once!”
“I did stand up for you!”
“Oh, you mean when you told her you were just giving me a quick hand after I cooked the fucking dinner for the last hour? Let’s not forget you laughed off her comment about it being my job to serve you. Worst part is you probably agree with her.”
I shouldered past. Gavin’s eyes narrowed, watching me go over to grab my laptop and planner. At this point, I was ready to sprint to the guest bedroom.
“God, you are so sensitive. She didn’t mean any harm. You are blowing this out of proportion.You always do this.You always take things too far, making everything some big fucking deal when it’s not. Just stop overreacting so we can—”
“Oh. So I’m overreacting? I’m taking things too far? I’m not the one who threw a damn tantrum because your wife of three years at the time simply asked when you think we’d be ready for a baby. You didn’t even support me for that, either. Instead, you threw me under the bus and let your mother’s words and father’s disapproving gaze reprimand me for something you weren’t ready for!”
“I didn’t want to disappoint her. She asked, and I panicked! What else do you want from me!?”
“I want a husband who will listen and understand his wife’s wants, concerns, and needs, not push them to the side and ignore them to please himself and his misogynistic parents,” I spat.
“How do you think I feel?” His voice rose, his tone sharper now. “I want a wife who will listen to her husband and put aside her businesses for a second so we can actually work on our marriage.”
I could only scoff.The nerve of this man.
“So it comes back to this then, huh? You’re still upset that I won’t sell my properties and be your perfect little housewife? That I won’t drop everything just to cater to your every need?”
His eyes darkened, his frustration cracking through. “Of course I am! You’ve put everything before our relationship.”
“But at least I try, Gavin!” My voice broke, my chest heaving. “You want me to compromise everything I’ve built just to fit into your narrow, selfish idea of what a wife should be.”
He pinched this bridge of his nose in anger. “Is it too much to ask you to be home and present every once in a while? For you to learn when you’ve taken on too much and learn to limit yourself?”
I looked at him with wide eyes.Has he absolutely lost his mind?
“Do you even hear how insane you sound?!”
“What’s more insane is that you don’t know how to listen to your husband!”
“And you don’t know how to take care of your wife.” I grabbed my phone, keys, and wallet before storming out of the room, shoving past him.
He followed. “Where are you going, Rosenna?”
“To get the hell away from you,” I seethed as I descended the stairs.
“Don’t be like that. We haven’t finished talking.”
“Oh no… you’ve said plenty.”
I slipped on my shoes, my eyes burning with tears. But before I could yank the door open and leave, Gavin muscled into my way, blocking the exit.
“Gavin, I’m going for a drive.Move.”
I thought he wouldn’t. But there must’ve been something in my eyes that said I meant business, because after a second’s hesitation, he reluctantly moved, and I ripped open the door and slipped away.
