Unholy by Miles Dini

Ivy was sitting miserably on her bed. She appeared to be deep in her thoughts. It seemed she was in deep regret. Next to her was a man named Peter. He was still asleep, yet it was already nine in the morning. She was thinking of waking him up. After all, wasn't he possibly running late for any errands on a Monday morning? Just as she was about to touch his face to wake him, he opened his eyes. He then slowly turned to her and noticed her gloomy expression.

"Babe, what is it? Why do you seem miserable?" Peter asked her. "Don't act like you don't know what's up! You know very well why I am like this," she retorted harshly. "Um, okay? I didn't realize I am a mind reader," he answered sarcastically. "Oh, so you are going to act like this is the first time this is happening? You always play dumb every time. You are cheating on your wife with me!" Peter rolled his eyes and turned back to sleep. "Seriously, Peter? You are going to sleep while we are having this discussion," Ivy complained as she crossed her arms.

This time, Peter was agitated and aggressively sat on Ivy's bed. "Honestly, I am tired of this back-and-forth we do every time we sleep with each other. Why can't we behave like a loving couple for once? Normal couples would have pillow talks or something, but not you. You choose to sleep with me and then act like you have the moral high ground." Ivy was a bit speechless, and all she could do was stutter, "But...but..."

"No babe, I am really sick of this thing that you do whenever I visit you. Didn't you claim you would stop complaining yesterday when you were all over me? What changed? Did you lie to me?" Peter asked her. "Okay, Peter. It doesn't have to get this personal," Ivy said while trying to lightly pat his head to calm him down. "Personal? I haven't said anything strange. Is it not the truth that you couldn't resist touching me?" asked Peter. Ivy sighed and reclined on her bed.

Sensing that Ivy had some guilt, Peter asked what was troubling her. "Well," Ivy began, "Don't you ever feel that you are betraying your family and principles as a whole? I mean, you are a pastor who sleeps around yet you have left your wife and two boys at home." "Ivy, I need you to be honest with me for one second. Why are you acting like a hypocrite right now? How can you preach to me about my principles when you have no problem sleeping with a married man?" asked Peter. "No, Peter, no! You have to answer my question first. Don't you have any shred of guilt?" Ivy asked hotly.

Peter took a moment to think about Ivy's question as he felt rather cornered. Finally, he said, "I guess I don't have a guilty bone in my body." "Really? So, you never feel guilty at all. Don't you worry about constantly hurting Eva?" Ivy asked in a somewhat concerning manner about his wife. "Babe, why are you doing this right now? Can't we talk about how much we love each other for now? What does it matter whether or not I feel guilty? Clearly, I am not feeling guilty seeing that I am still in bed with you right now," he answered angrily. "I don't think that's true. I sense you are feeling guilty but putting on a brave face," Ivy answered.

Peter angrily sighed and went for his rucksack that he left lying next to the living room door. This is a bag he would normally use to keep his Bible or any other necessary items for Bible studies. However, he wasn't pulling out a Bible from the bag at this time. Instead, he pulled out a cigar as he walked back to Ivy's bedroom. Ivy was irritated and asked him, "Oh, don't tell me you are going to smoke that right now? You know how much I detest the smell of cigars." "Too bad babe. You have always known I am a smoker and tolerated my smoking. It is too late to suddenly act like you can't stand cigars."

Ivy got up from her bed and stood close to her bedroom door to avoid the impending smell of Peter's inevitable smoking. Peter shrugged and proceeded to light up his cigar. Ivy quietly looked at him as he blew the cigar smoke into the air. Due to the awkward silence, Peter decided to strike up a conversation with her, "So, did you have fun last night?" Ivy sighed and reluctantly agreed she had fun. Just as she was about to complain about their action, Peter silenced her by urging her not to bring their action up.

"Okay, this was fun and everything but aren't you running late?" Ivy asked Peter. "Well, what time is it?" he asked her. "It is almost nine-thirty," she answered after looking at her phone. "Mmh, okay. It's not like I have anything urgent to do at the moment. Today I am supposed to prepare a sermonette for a family I intend to visit, but that can wait," he said. "What do you mean it can wait? Do you not intend to visit the family?" she became intrigued. "Well, visiting strangers can be so boring. I mean you have to sit there all day listening to their sob stories. It gets even more awkward when they burst into tears. Sometimes, I am like, why are you even crying? You are a grownup for goodness' sake," Peter answered angrily.

Ivy was speechless for some time and could only shake her head in disbelief. She finally said, "If your congregation knew this is how you thought of them, they would be enraged. "It's a good thing they can't read my mind though. The only reason I became a pastor was for the money. Religious people are so easy to fool these days," Peter claimed arrogantly. Ivy seemed shocked the more Peter spoke. Sure, she knew he wasn't a good man, but not bad to that extent.

Ivy decided to change the subject by talking about Peter's family. "So, don't you think your wife will nag you? You slept out all night." "My wife isn't as difficult as you may think. That woman is submissive and loves me too much. I could even be away for a week without letting her know," boasted Peter. "She seems nice yet it seems you are hurting the poor woman," Ivy remarked pitifully. "There you go pretending to be more righteous than I am. Don't forget, you are the one who sleeps with me," he reminded her. "Well, yeah. I know I am not righteous but still..." Before Ivy could finish, Peter interjected, "Still what? Frankly, your need to constantly preach is getting old. Preaching is my role, not yours."

It was at this moment that Peter threw his used cigars on the ground. Not only did he throw them on the ground, but he also crushed them with his feet. Ivy was appalled at his arrogance and shouted at him, "What do you think you are doing? Don't you have an ashtray? Do you expect me to clean them up?" "Why would I clean these ashes? Isn't this your house? Clean them out yourself," Peter responded nonchalantly. "Are you serious Peter? Why are you being like this?" she asked him. "Listen here, Ivy. One thing I like about you is your passion in bed. Unfortunately, I forget about how passionate you can be the moment you start acting like an angel. Once you lose your holier-than-thou attitude, then maybe this relationship will work out. Until then, I will be going back to my family." Peter stormed out of her house and slammed the living room door which startled Ivy. She went to her bedroom still bemused by the whole thing. What kind of man was she associating with? This is a question that lingered on her mind as she stood up to clean the mess Peter had made.