chapter 9: Talking To Series?

Blaze��s head continued to pound as he entered his mansion. As he was about to walk upstairs to reach his bedroom quietly, Diva hollered from the main doorway, "I��m back!"
All of a sudden, Blaze was grateful that he assigned Diva a room in the farthest corner of the second floor. Even though his room was on the same floor, their bedrooms were polar apart from each others'. Simply ignoring Diva's presence, he scurried off to his room.
After freshening up, Blaze decided to watch the recording of the morning��s meeting, since he missed most of it, thanks to Diva. He took his MacBook and went to the living room, where he sat on one of the couches. He played it as loudly as possible. He had a habit of working in the living room peacefully alone.
But how could his peace last as long as he had a wife in his home?
Soon, wearing a comfortable outfit, Diva plopped on the couch next to Blaze's, a bowl of popcorn in her hand. "Hey, Blaze! What are you watching?"
Hearing no reply, Diva twitched her lips. When her eyes fell on the remote, she snatched it and turned on the television, blaring the sound. As she loved watching dramas, Diva selected Meteor Garden from Netflix and connected it to the television. Crossing her legs, she grabbed a cushion and curled herself in a ball.
Blaze internally cringed seeing Diva's feet on the couch. However, he knew that telling Diva to remove legs would result in far too much talk, and his headache was still fresh. When Diva turned the sound of the show louder, Blaze could feel his headache worsening. Blaze mumbled in a calm tone, "Lower the volume."
Drooling over the drama, Diva didn��t hear what her husband had said; rather, she took a handful of popcorn from the bowl and shoved it in her mouth.
Sighing, Blaze pulled out the AirPods from his pocket and put them in.
As he continued watching the video of the meeting, Blaze almost got a heart attack when Diva shouted out of the blue, "Stupid Shanchai! Are you blind? Can't you see how much Daoming Si cares for you? Just accept him, you dimwit!"
What the fuck? Blaze thought to himself, to whom is she talking like that?
Diva's eyes were still glued on the television when Blaze looked at her. As soon as Blaze caught her talking with the fictional characters on screen, he scrunched his nose up in disgust.
"No, no. Don't hate him. Don't reject him like that. He will get hurt," spoke Diva, leaning forward as if she was ready to jump in the scene and knock some sense into the female protagonist. "Idiot! Argh... you did it. You rejected him." She sat back in disappointment and shoved more popcorn in her mouth.
What is a girl who talks to fictional characters doing in my home? She should be in a mental asylum, Blaze screamed in his mind.
Trying to ignore her entire existence, repeating the words 'pretend she is not here' to himself, he concentrated on the meeting footage for a brief moment before getting up on his feet out of fury. He glared in her direction.
Everything about that scene was getting on his nerves��her feet on the couch, the popcorn kernels everywhere, the volume of the television, her chats with the characters as if they were her childhood buddies, and her lack of consideration for him.
Blaze couldn't stand the sight anymore, so he burst out, "Just stop it!"
Diva's unamused gaze lingered on him for a moment before munching on popcorn again. "Stop what? Eating? You can't forbid me from eating when I'm watching a drama. It kills the fun. Are you trying to ruin my fun?"
"Goddamn it! Just lower the volume of the bullshit you are watching."
"First of all, it's not bullshit. Besides, whatever they are saying, it's important. I need to hear the audio to thoroughly enjoy watching," she said, leaving the bowl on the coffee table.
He was beyond pissed off. He glanced at the subtitles and the unfamiliar language the fictional characters were speaking and blurted, "What's the point of hearing the audio when you don't even understand their language?"
Hearing his question, Diva stood on the couch, much to his dislike. Placing a hand on her hips, she argued, "How could you even say that? I know they are talking in Mandarin yet, hearing them makes it feel real."
"What real?"
"The existence of the story. It doesn't even feel fictional. See?" She pointed at the screen, making Blaze narrow his eyes at her.
"Get down. Go and watch it in your room." Blaze was more annoyed because Diva had a television in her room, yet she was watching in the living room��which was a workplace for him.
"No, thank you. I am quite enjoying myself here," responded Diva and made herself comfortable on the couch once again. "Besides, if you are having so many issues, why don't you go to the study or your room and use your MacBook there?"
"I always do my work here," he protested, throwing daggers with his eyes in her direction. "And it's my house. I can do my work wherever the hell I want," he added.
"Well, this is my husband's place, so technically it's my place as well." Blaze scowled at her. "And I love watching dramas in the living room. If you have a problem with that, which you shouldn't, just learn to cope up with it."
As Blaze was about to scold her yet again, a phone call stopped him. He checked the caller ID. It was Atlas. He picked it up without a second thought.
"Hello, sir. You told me to call you tonight to know your opinion about the deal proposed by Mr. Walters," said Atlas.
"Yeah, about that..." Blaze paused for a moment to think about the proposal. Due to Diva, he couldn't even fully concentrate on the video recording of the meeting. However, he could grasp the main theme and important points. Based on those points, he wanted to seal the deal.
"No!" Diva started yelling at the character. "No. no, no, no!"
Hearing her, Blaze slipped out, "No."
"No?" Atlas was dumbstruck. The deal proposed by the Megamile Corporation was a good one. It would've been profitable for both companies. He had no idea why Blaze was rejecting such a nice proposal. In order to be sure, he further asked, "Are you sure, sir?"
"Uh?" Blaze uttered, "Yes��no, wait. I mean, yes, we should accept the proposal."
Heaving a sigh in relief, Atlas said, "Okay, sir. I will let them know. Have a good night."
Blaze cut the call and looked at Diva in disbelief. He wouldn't have a good night as long as that lady was in his life.
She was still jabbering on about the show, "No! Huaze Lei is cute, but don't fall for him."
Did I just fucking utter whatever she did? I could've lost such an important proposal just for this walking chatterbox!
Knowing it was pointless to argue with his so-called wife, Blaze took his laptop, deciding to head back to his bedroom.
"Giving up on the argument already? I told you, audio is important!" she spoke aloud, but he avoided her and stormed into his room.
As soon as he stepped into his grey-colored room, he locked it thoroughly with the fear of Diva bursting in the room in the middle of the night just because she found another reason why she should watch television in the living room.
He was tired and wanted a peaceful sleep to relieve the headache, which was now much worse than before.
"I hope that chatterbox doesn't ruin my sleep."