To Err Is Human

Hangover

A new morning and a new day. The first day they were going to spend together as a couple and it didn't feel right at all. Angelo rubbed his forehead as he walked down the stairs. His head felt so heavy. Just how much did he have to drink the night before?

He tugged the jacket of his bright royal blue suit as he walked down the stairs.

"Good morning Sir Angelo."
He heard the maids chorus as they walked past him.

He headed straight to the dining room. He was starving.

"Good morning."
He looked at Anna, her eyes were glued to the magazine she had lifted to almost cover her face.
He walked straight to the other end of the table and sat in it, pretending like he hadn't heard her. After what happened yesterday, after the kiss and then getting home drunk, he was too embarrassed to face her.

He handed his bag to the butler, while one of the maids stepped forward to serve him.

Anna picked a slice of apple with her fork and placed it in her mouth.

"I bet you were never taught to greet back when someone says good morning?"

Angelo wasn't going to say anything. He just wanted to ignore her. Pretending like she wasn't there was the only way to protect his sanity. To escape the reality he was in. He was just going to act like she didn't exist. Like he was the only one living in that big house. He took a sip from his cup of water.

"You know, if you're going to always show up drunk every night, you should at least pick your calls so I don't need to worry. You weren't even there at our wedding reception."

Angelo tried to slice his beef. Was she really going to keep talking? Couldn't she read between the lines? Couldn't she see that he was in no way trying to have a conversation with her? Anna didn't care. She didn't care what he wanted. She was going to say what she liked. If she was going to tolerate this man sitting in front of her, she knew she had to set boundaries and that was one of them. How could he sit there and ignore her like that? She found it so annoying.

"No wonder no one likes you." She whispered loud enough for Angelo to hear, still with her head buried in her magazine.

Angelo dropped his fork with a loud thud. The whole table shook and so did the workers but they still kept their heads down.

Angelo rose his head slowly at Anna. She was talking too much. Too much to get him really irritated. He glared at Anna.
"Excuse me?"

"Now you can talk?" She asked him.

Angelo took a deep breath. He was trying so hard not to get mad. He exhaled.

"Look, it's already hard enough for me that this marriage has to happen. If we're really going to make it work, we really need to mind our businesses and stay out of each other's way."

Anna clicked her tongue.
Bingo.

"I'm just curious." Now she really wanted to just annoy him. What was the point staying in that big house with someone and not being able to make a little bit of fun from it. "Is this the same way you talk to Patricia?" She chuckled.

Angelo eyed her. He could see what she was trying to do. How did Patricia even become a part of this conversation? That was it. He was done playing her games. He wasn't going to entertain it any longer. He got up to leave.

Anna folded the magazine and threw it on the table. Now she was done playing games too. She was serious.

"I wasn't the one that asked me out for lunch and came up with this marriage deal Angelo, you were. You have to stop acting like I did this for myself alone. Like I'm the only one that wanted this. Like you're just doing this to help me because you need this marriage just as much as I do. You need me."

Angelo slowly turned back. He wasn't going to let her have the last words.

"Just as much as you need me." He told her. Anna squinted her eyes. "That was why you didn't say no isn't it?" He slowly walked back to the table.
"And it's not just because you needed the boards approval. There's something else." He smirked. "Do you think I'm stupid to believe that you'd get married to someone from a community your community has harbored a lot of resentments for centuries because of some stupid company? I know you're up to something Anna Storm but unlike you, I only agreed to all of this to protect my family's legacy. That's something you'd never understand. That's something you Atians can never understand. The importance of family."

Anna scoffed. She looked at her plate. Did Angelo just assume she had no idea how important family was? Her family was? She needed a minute, a minute to get over it.

"That's too racist Angelo, even for you." She looked at him. "I know how you feel about Atians. I know you hate us for what happened to your mum. But when you lost a mum, I lost my whole family to your kind and not just me, lots and lots of Atians at the Arc. While you were whining about the death of your mother, We lost parents, our sisters, brothers, our children even before you were born, up until this day so don't you ever for once think I don't know what it means to lose someone in the hands of the enemy, what it feels like to lose a family. Don't think I don't know what it feels like to want to protect what's mine because I do." She was glaring at him now, fire in her eyes. "Better than you ever will."

Angelo swallowed hard. He had no idea. In as much as he tried to not pay attention to it, Anna was right. Life was never fair to the Atians since the Great War. Many of them were killed either for being too old or for being too young, for being a third child while some were used as lab rats. The odds weren't in his favor at that moment.

"I know you don't like me and this whole thing makes you sick because you probably pictured your life with someone else. I don't like this just as much as you don't but screw it, " Anna got up. "We're married and if we intend to stay that way till all this is over, then you should try to act more like a husband and less like a douche bag."

She picked up her plate and walked to the door.
"See you at work."

She eyed him as she walked past him and then headed straight out from the dining room.

Angelo exhaled.

'What has come over you Angelo?', He asked himself.
He knew just how rude he was to her.

"Sir Angelo?" He quickly turned to the butler . "Your car is ready."

Angelo took a minute to breathe right before he turned and walked out of the room in an attempt to go after Anna. What he said was rude and really unnecessary. She didn't deserve it. He turned to the stairs but Anna was out of sight.

"Sir Angelo?"

He slowly turned back to the butler who gave him a look of remainder. He had a car waiting for him and a company to get to. It was his first day, his first day meeting the board and he wasn't about to screw it up.
He forced a smile and then walked to the door.