TimeBound (Time Tells #1) (COMPLETED)

Chapter Eleven

I wake the next day exhausted. The house tells me my sleep cycle was disturbed and recommends a few more hours of sleep. I smile tiredly and get off of the bed.

It was quarter past seven.

I wonder if Kri had left.

I want to say goodbye. I had wanted to ask about his day yesterday. I had... I had wanted to eat dinner with him.

A twinge in my stomach reminds me I hadn't eaten anything since last afternoon. I trudge to the bathroom.

My spirits were down. A clear contrast to yesterday.

Despite my hunger, I take my time to get ready. I have an early bath. Because I was not ready to face my husband. I was hurting. If I saw him, I may just burst into tears. And want him to hold me.

I wince.

The anger in his eyes yesterday...

Something was wrong.

He was... livid. Angry with me. How could he be so angry with me? He didn't even know me. If he did, he wouldn't be angry with me. Not at all.

What I saw last evening didn't feel like anger from yesterday. It felt old. Like it had been there for a long time, festering. Digging itself inside him until he couldn't see past it.

Did he hate humans?

That was the only conclusion I could arrive at. This hatred made no sense otherwise. I step out of the shower stall, wet. Warm air from the ducts help me dry immediately.

I stand there, looking at my face in the reflection.

My hazel eyes were dull. I looked tired. Circles that had formed beneath my eyes from last week had worsened. It hurt to even blink.

I go about my business slowly. I pull on an old grey shirt and some sweatpants. I was dressing to my mood, that was clear. I had left both my phone and my laptop outside and hadn't gone back to retrieve it.

I check the time.

Eight AM.

The date to submit my draft was close. Like three days close. I had to get to work like... yesterday. And four days before yesterday.

I walk out towards the kitchen, casting a careful eye around. He had left. My shoulders slump further. Apparently not wanting to face him didn't mean I hadn't want to see him.

How the two could exist together—even in reality—was beyond me.

In the kitchen, I freeze when I see Hrei at the stove, stirring something, her back to me. My eyes latch on the black mug that sits on the breakfast counter.

My heart picks up as I flash a look around. Was he still here and I hadn't seen him?

"What happened yesterday?" Hrei asks without turning around.

I still. "What?" I ask, nervously.

She turns around and to my surprise has a smile on her face. I relax a little.

"Kri came into the kitchen today. And asked me to make him a cup of coffee." She raises her brows at me.

I blink. Then point at the mug. "Is that it?"

She nods, "It is." She gestures at it, "Look at it."

I start toward the breakfast counter to peep into the mug. But halfway there I realize I needn't. I could see from here it was filled to the brim. I look at her confused.

"He didn't drink it?" I ask.

"He took a single sip. A single sip and deposited it over there and left." She says.