Chapter 05

He went to knock on his wife's door a week after their wedding. Nothing special has happened actually. They had been maintaining their distances. And no, no honeymoon. That's for those that are in love and they are not. 

He had been pondering long and hard on what he could do to release the tension between them. Well, it wasn't typically a tension when you are ignoring each other, right? 

But he was feeling guilty about being married and also having a girlfriend outside the marriage. Well, it was the marriage that happened outside of his relationship. He didn't know why, but he was feeling as if he was cheating on the wife he did not even love.

Why was he disturbed when they were only married on paper? Well, he didn't want to know. All that mattered was the fact that he had come up with the best solution for the two of them and that was what he was going to discuss with her.

He knocked again. "Hey," he called. 

Wait, how could you call your wife that?

"What do you want?" Rhoda asked in an unfriendly tone as she opened the door. 

"Okay. That was a rude thing to say," Jeff said as he scratched his forehead with one finger.

"And calling me 'hey' isn't rude?"

Jeff looked at her eyes, but said nothing. She won. He decided to hit the nail on the head. "Come out. There is something I need to discuss with you and it's very important."

Rhoda looked from his face to the envelope he was holding. "Is it very important or can it wait? I just have to finish the last chapter of the book I am reading." 

Well, she just heard that it was very important. She was just trying to get on his nerves. Jeff gave a sardonic smile. "It better be a self help book because that's what you need "

"I married an asshole," she said simply.

"Pardon?"

"By Truve," she added.

"What?"

Rhoda glared at him. "That's the name of the book I'm reading," she said, obviously annoyed. So, he figured that to be a lie. 

"Wow! Congratulations. Just come out here. It's something important and urgent. You can go back to your fictional 'Asshole husband' later," he said and made his way into the living room on the second floor.

"You're actually an asshole," she muttered with a frown as he turned to leave. 

He turned back around. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing—," she shrugged. 

"Good," he said but she replied almost immediately.

"—I just called you an asshole, that's all." Talk about being gutsy. That's what she was, but he said nothing, but left quietly.

Rhoda joined him minutes later and he gave her the document inside the envelope to read. "What's this?"

"Wait, you can't read? Wow! I'll have to read it for …"

"Shut up. I can read," she replied angrily and went through the document. "Wow!"

"Isn't it amazing? This is practically the solution to our problem. We both don't want this marriage, anyway. So, we shouldn't allow it to be a hindrance to our happiness."

Rhoda nodded. "Open marriage?"

"I know you have a boyfriend. I've heard you call him a couple of times and you know I have a girlfriend, too. So, we can both be with the ones we love without feeling restricted. Freedom. You get what I mean?"

"And the marriage vows? What if our parents found out?"

"Marriage vows? Are you planning to keep that? It seems you don't love your boyfriend as much as I thought. The vows aren't important and our parents do not have to know. I am giving you the opportunity to be with the man of your dreams. I can't be in this loveless marriage that's going to do me no good forever. We'll have to find a way out of it later. We're just married on paper, so do not mind the vows. We can't even kiss or have sex. Anyway, I hate talking too much, so just sign this and let's move on."

He was right. Absolutely was. And she liked the fact that he was being considerate of her feelings towards the man she was in love with. She just hoped they would be able to find a way out of the marriage since their parents told them divorce wasn't an option. 

"You're right. Let's do it that way and make it open before you start getting the idea of having sex with me," she took a pen and signed the contract. 

What she said made Jeff laugh. "You're joking, right?"

She looked up at him. "I'm not." She just liked to piss him off.

He smiled. "You're not my type, miss. Do I have to remind you of that?"

"Of course, I can't be your type because your taste is way lower than what anyone could imagine."

"What!" He was shocked and he did not hide it. "You know what? Just sign the damn thing and go back inside."

"I have signed it."

"Okay." He retrieved the document from her and stood up. His phone alerted for an incoming message. He brought it out

What's up, baby? The message read and he smiled.

He looked back at Rhoda and decided to add a warning to the contract. "One more thing, miss."

She looked up at him, urging him to say what he wanted to.

"Do. not. fall. in. love. with. me," he had said and started to walk out.

It was Rhoda's turn to laugh and she did it very hard. When she finally found her voice, she said, "Is that actually coming from someone who thought about sleeping with me?"

Jeff has had enough. How could someone be so annoying? He took a few steps towards her and leaned down to meet her face. "Just to be clear, miss, I should say this again," he started. "You, are, not, my, type. Do you want me to repeat that?"

"That's a mutual feeling. So, you don't have to worry because never will I ever like you. Never!"