My Ex-husband's Regret

Eva stared at the clock and sighed. It was past ten pm, yet Jacob was not back.

She sighed and rubbed her neck. She wondered why she stayed up waiting for him when he was not even looking forward to seeing her.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she ruminated on her life.

She stood abruptly when she heard the front door to their home unlock.

Jacob walked, looking as handsome as ever to her. She gave him a small smile and stood awkwardly in the living room as he stared coldly.

"You're welcome home, honey. I made dinner, "she said in a small voice.

"Dinner? Did I tell you I need your food? Get out of my sight and never talk to me again about any food. Anything from you disgusts me. "

She shrunk back at the intensity of the hatred in his voice.

She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"And what did I tell you about calling me those damn pet names?", he snarled.

He walked towards her and pointed his finger directly in front of her, raising his voice. "The next time I repeat myself will be your last time in this house."

"I'm sorry, sir," she whispered.

He pushed down the carefully prepared meal she had made for emphasis, causing a loud crash to ring in the cold living room, and stormed off.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched his back till he disappeared into his room.

She sank into the nearby cushion in despair. Will her relationship with Jacob ever return to normal since her mistake of the last two years?

She did not know when she began to sob audibly, trying to muffle the sound by placing her hands over her mouth.

She cried herself to sleep that night.

*

Alex coughed some more as he read his newspaper through his glasses.

"Are you sure you are alright, dear?", his wife, Susanna, who was catching up on a reality show, asked, rushing over to him and patting his back.

"It's just..." Coughs. "A minor cough I've been having for a few days now,"

"Days?", she asked bewildered.

He tried to wave it off, but the cough became more raspy, and he heaved and sucked in air in between.

Her heart raced as she saw some redish fluids splatter on the ground as he coughed.

"Oh no! This is bad", she panicked.

She called a maid who was going about her chores, cleaning the marble tiles.

"Go call one of the drivers. Tell him to get the car car out now. "

The maid nodded and rushed out.

"There." Coughs. "There is no need for that. I will be fine"

She stated at him in annoyance for a moment before pulling him to a standing position.

"Let's go"

"But honey-"

"No! You have to get checked", she snapped as they rushed to one of Alex's jeeps, and the driver sped off to the best hospital in town.

*

Eva rushed over to the man who had been waving at her and had insisted that she be the one to serve him.

.

"Good afternoon, sir. You are welcome to Seymour's restaurant", she said with a pleasant smile. "What's your order?"

"Will it be froward if I say you?", the man said with a smooth voice. He looked at her with piercing gaze through his emerald orbs.

Her lips parted in a soft sigh. She took a look around, hoping no one had heard his comment.

"I'm afraid I'm not in the menu," she whispered, keeping her formal pleasant smile on her face, and took out her pen, raising notepad.

Wanting to hide behind her notepad, she put it directly in his line of view of her face. "This restaurant has a strict policy against any informal relations between customer and staff"

"Can I buy the restaurant and change the policy then?"

.

Eva had had a long day, even though it was just some minutes past one pm. The last thing she needed was a pestering from a flirtatious customer.

She gave him a blanket stare and tapped her pen on her notepad while looking into his eyes, which seemed to draw her in, to show she was in no mood for flirts.

"So you aren't game then? Such a bore", he said. He lifted the menu in front of him and blew out air as he flipped through it.

'So he had not even gone through it before calling for her', she thought to herself as she watched him frown at something in the menu and then flip back to the previous page.

"I see you have not decided yet, sir. You can signal me when you are ready to order. I bet my presence here will cause you to feel under pressure to select. I'll be back"

He smiled at her and replied, "On the contrary, your presence is quite soothing."

She groaned inwardly. Could this day be any more annoying?

She pressed her lips into a thin line and stared at him.

She looked back towards the waiters' station and saw two of her fellow waitresses snickering.

"I'll have the citrus-infused quinoa salad with grilled shrimp," he said after observing her face instead of the menu.

He smiled as she pursed her lips. He had studied her face, pretending to be going through the menu. He imagined different things as he looked at her.

She rolled her eyes subtly as she turned to get his order.

Lala, one of the waitresses, scoffed as she approached them.

"What took you so long?", she asked.

"He was indecisive," she replied with a tone of finalty. She was not in any mood to talk. All she wanted to do was to brood upon her life.

"You're not allowed to be with a customer for so long,"

Eva was done replying to her, so she just went to get his order.

"Bitch. I wonder what they all see in her", she heard her say to Mika, the other waitress who was with her, before she entered the service station.

She soon returned with his order and muttered some pleasantries before turning to leave in a rush.

She could feel his eyes as he bore holes into the back of her head.

After her shift that day, she rushed over to the daycare which was not too far from her workplace to pick David, her baby and her treasure.

"Mama", he said, trying to run over to her but she rushed to him and picked him in her arms while twirling him around.

He giggled in delight as she pecked his eyes, his nose, his mouth and every part of his face.

"Mama, stop", he said in between giggles, his small hands roaming her face in an attempt to push it away.

"You are late, Mrs Donovan. We do not tolerate our staff being kept back because of parents who pick their kids late. You will have to pay a lateness fine the next time, ma'am. We've talked about this with you countless times"

"I am so sorry. It is just that work has been super hectic these days. I assure you it would not happen again. I am so sorry", she pleaded with the head of the daycare.

The older lady smiled down at her. She could see the stress signs telling on Eva.

"You should try to lessen your pace to take a rest, Eva. You have to be strong for your son. He's such an amazing boy", she said in a warmer tone to her.

Eva smiled at her, trying to mask her pain. "Thank you so much, Mrs Grace. I really do appreciate your advice. I will try to implement it"

"You can always talk to me if you have any issue, you know"

She smiled. "I know, ma'am. I will do so when I have any"

They bade each other farewell and Eva set out to her house with David making her laugh all the way home, telling her in his baby accent about his classmates.

She was proud of her two-year-old son. She cherished him more than anything. He was the only one kept her sane after all she had been through and had been made to pass through.

The walk was a twenty minutes walk and she kept singing rhymes with David to prevent him from sleeping off before they got home so she would be able to feed him and bathe him before he went to sleep.

She got home by eight pm and quickly prepared his meal. She was in no mood to eat so she only had greek yoghurt with granola and some fruits.

She bathed David and listened to him chatter on and on about his classmates and a certain Kira who had refused to play with him.

He eventually dozed off and she laid him in his little bed which was besides hers, patting his behind slowly to prevent him from waking up.

When she had put him to bed, she yawned. Sleep was not far from her as well.

She stretched and wondered if she should still wait for Jacob's arrival or response to the call of nature to her bed.

She stood and dragged her feet to the living room. She sunk in one of the cushion.

She missed Jacob. She still hung to the hope that someday he would forgive her and things would go back to how they were. She hoped that he would tell her he loved her. She hoped they would, like old times, hold hands and walk down the street just to take in the scenery while basking in each other's loved. Oh, how she missed the feel of his skin against hers as they made love and how he had always made her feel special.

She blinked back tears and yawned, her eyes drooping before finally surrendering to the warm caressing hands of sleep.

Less than an hour time after she had dozed off, she heard the door open and she tried hard to prevent her eyes from going back to sleep as she went to give her cold welcome to him as had been her nature.

She gasped as he staggered a bit before pulling himself together and walking with unsure steps.

Was Jacob drunk?!