24

"Hey darling," she called out to her husband tenderly.
Ethan tried to force out a grin. "What is it?" He voiced out, in as much as he tried to talk to her in a nice tone, the question still came out with an angry tone.
Agnes looked at him in surprise, she wondered why he talked to her like that but she immediately dismissed the thought from her mind, concluding that he was just stressed out.
"It seems like today has been quite exhausting for you, so I will ask the maids to bring your food up here."
"You do not have to worry about me, I can manage on my own," Ethan dropped and stopped up.
"Seems like you have forgotten that I am now your wife and my duty is to take care of you," she reminded.
Ethan tried to control his anger, this woman was really getting on his nerves.
"I am going to sleep Whitney, I feel so tired," Ethan announced, wanting to dismiss her so desperately.
Whitney sat at the edge of the bed and looked dejectedly at her husband. "Ethan do I still mean anything to you?"
This question made Ethan re think. He knew he could still lose her if he continued this way and losing her this early would make him lose the properties too.
"I am sorry baby, I just had a bad day at work. Do not over think it, I still love you. Go to bed now," he said and laid down.
Whitney nodded and laid down too.
They laid in bed in darkness and silence. As for Ethan, he cursed his luck. He consoled himself by believing that very soon he would get rid of this woman beside him.
The night crawled past them, causing neither of them to get enough sleep.
The next day...
Agnes prepared breakfast with the help of the chef.
Ethan came downstairs and went straight to the dining. He sat down and said, "what am I having for breakfast?"
Agnes smiled, "chicken sauce and red tea."
Ethan smiled wanly, "I can't wait to taste it, so please serve me."
Agnes poured the red tea from the teapot into his cup, accidentally the red tea splashed on his shirt. Out of anger he stood up and jammed his hand on her cheek. (Wasn't this maltreatment too early) Agnes held her cheek in pain, she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out of it.
"Can't you do anything properly?" He asked in a fit of rage.
Agnes looked at him with sorrow in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spill it, I will clean it up now," she said and quickly started using her hand to wipe off the tea on his shirt.
"Take your hands off me, your careless thing. Never you touch me again, you filthy thing..." He picked up the cup of red tea and poured it all over her, from the top of her head.
Fortunately for Agnes, the hotness of the tea had reduced, else her skin would have been burning. Even with the tea he poured on her, she still did not say anything.
"Get out of my sight you reckless thing," he shouted. "One more thing, you better make sure, you never serve me or prepare my meal again," he shouted at her and in front of the maids, without hesitation.
Agnes was short of words at his character but it wasn't something knew to her. He had behaved like this to her, the very first day.
"Excuse me," Ethan said rudely and walked out on her.
It took her some minutes before she could regain her stand.
"What did I do Ethan?" She asked with fear surrounding her eyes.
A female chef came close to her and held her, "Mrs Agnes do not mind Mr Ethan, he usually gets angry in this manner. Trust me ma'am, he will surely get over it and come back to apologise to you," the chef assured.
Agnes slumped on the chair, tears rolling down her eyes. She looked up to the maid and said, "it was just a little mistake that I made, did he have to over react? He even slapped me," she said, the stream of tears increasing.
"Mrs Agnes you have to be strong. You are his wife and you have all it takes to change him," the maid added.
The maid wasn't an ordinary one, she was Ethan's nanny and that was the reason she knew so much about him.
"He is always stubborn and unnecessarily angry most times but deep down he is so good and caring," she added.
Agnes looked at her with hope. Maybe nanny Mia was right...
x x x x x x x x x
"Can I come in?" Eric said, opening the door to Agnes's office.
"Yeah," she said, without looking up. Infact she did not recognize the person. "Please call John for me," she added.
"Don't you at least care to know who has come to see you?" Eric asked, walking forward.
She looked up eagerly. She hit her head. "So sorry, forgive me. I didn't recognize it was you, come and have a seat."
"Why do I feel like you are having a hard time. Did you get into a fight with anyone?" Eric asked.
Agnes's pale face became lively at once. "How did you know?" She asked, looking at him in surprise.
"I am good at reading people's expressions. So tell me who made you sad."
Agnes looked away, "I do not want to talk about it. It was just a little misunderstanding besides it has passed already."
"I have this feeling that I know who caused you this sadness," Eric said, his eyes intently on her.
She folded her hands and looked at him, "are you a fortune teller too?"
"Not really but I know it's Ethan that is behind this mood of yours," he replied.
Agnes's eyes portrayed agony. She shook side ways, as a way of saying no.
""Do not lie to me Agnes. I know that you had a fight with Ethan. I guess you must slipped somewhere and then Ethan over reacted. My cousin can never change. He is the only guy I know that can raise his hand to a woman and still not have his conscience pricking him, he is just so unbelievable."
Agnes didn't say anything, it seemed as though she was lost in thought.
"Cheer up sister in law. Things like this do happen. Ethan doesn't have a sister, so he doesn't know how to behave with girls__"
"He doesn't have a sister?" Whitney said in a fake life. "But what about you?" Her voice high in anger.
"You do not have a sister too, yet you are so good in communing with ladies. I just wish Ethan was like you or he could learn to be like you."
This was exactly what Eric wanted to hear. He wanted her to compare Ethan to him. He wanted to slowly gain her trust. He was so sure that her relationship with Ethan wouldn't last. So he patiently waited for all this. Eric's mind wasn't in the properties anymore, his eyes were now on his cousin's woman. It felt as though he was already so obsessed with her, it was either her or no other. She was in his blood like a virus and every time his eyes landed on her, it made him want her more. Eric was certain that he would get her soon, all he had to do was continuously play his role perfectly. All he needed to do was continuously pretend to be good and keep on spoiling Ethan's name.
"Listen Agnes, I know Ethan so well. He can never change."