The Mistake Bride (Unrequited Love #2)

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Cora's unexpected phone call lurked within the depths of Nicole's mind. It had kept her up the whole morning, just as after her alarm went off. She had taken a shower after and whilst she was taking her bath, Nicole took the time to ponder the thought over. She was miffed and slightly offended from her sister's usage of her. They were meant to be siblings, best-friends even. How could her own blood and flesh supporter use her like that? Growing up, with the four years gap between them, Nicole had looked up at her older sister whom had been her biggest ally in the family. Her sister had been the yin to her yang, the Bonnie to her Clyde. They had always thought of each other as soul-sisters' that nothing, especially no one, could ever separate them together. Until the other man came along. Barging both into their lives, wrecking everything. Whoever was with Cora was certainly not his fault. She felt a stitch of guilt, she was not one quick to judge. It was just not in her blood. She rubbed her eyes, the water sloshing down her face as it washed away the lavender scented soap. Her pale skin was pink from the hot dribble of water, still she shivered from the invisible cold.

There were so many questions unanswered and she longed for them to be solved by Cora's intelligence. She had always been honest and never beat around the bush. She was the kind of person who would say what was on her mind, her sister was confident and stunningly beautiful. She was everything that Nicole wasn't. And no matter how much she tried to catch her new husband's attention, she knew it would never work. The mention of Marcus brought her eyelids open, blinking through the clear aqua. She resisted the urge to bite her nails until they were none left. How would she tell him about the astonishing phone call? Surely, he would become suspicious and might even blame her for not convincing Cora enough to come home. Why hadn't she manipulated or at least tried to get her sister to call Marcus instead? Why that didn't thought ever occurred to her?

Stressed-out and betrayed, she turned the tap off and hopped out of the shower. The heavy weight of demands and expectations were brought down upon her, leaving her deprived of any other choices. The first one had been for her to take the bride's place, to become the wife of a cold-blooded and heartless man. And that was followed by predicted repugnance and detestation by the spouse whom had committed to love and cherish her for the rest of his life. Which she knew would never happen as he was emotionally detached and could not see a seed of growing love within his heart. Every words of oath had been a lie, just as the start of their marriage had been a sham. Although, Marcus had reassured her that he was to be loyal and faithful to her — though the sound of that promise was starting to wither and die, just because she would not make a leap forward towards his bed. Nicole wiped her whole body with her blue towel and hung-it up on its place. She seized her lotion from the upper drawer and let the trail of the aroma linger in the air. The tension of her muscles was still strained and rigid; oh, how she ached for a massage and just to get away with all these problems that weighted her small frame of shoulders.

Her set of feet took her in the direction of her clothing closet and pulled out her working attire. She put them on quickly, her stomach growling loudly, indicating she was famish. Just before she went down for breakfast, she sat down on a chair and faced the mirror. A very, shattered, whacked, and dog-tired woman stared back at her. A very indistinct black shadow appeared under her eyes, which she quickly covered with a concealer dreading that Marcus may criticize her for her disorganized facial look. After blow-drying her hair, she pinned them up; coming back into a businesswoman pretence and hoped that she looked presentable enough for her husband's early meeting. She grabbed her glasses, not feeling the need to put her clear contacts on. Nicole draped the strap of her handbag and flounced herself out of her room. As much as she hated working for Marcus, she knew that she should be thankful for many other employees would give-up anything to take her place. If only they would be brave enough and approach her boss for a husband and ask if they could take her position instead. But she put the crazy idea aside, not wanting to draw other people into her growing delinquent state of affairs. She bit the inside of her cheek when she saw Marcus taking a bowl out of the cupboard and filling it up with his normal cereal. She tried for a calm, casual endeavor as she greeted him with a good morning.