Chapter 64: Chapter 64

Dashtan woke up first and looked ready for the office while Rakia was still getting dressed in the wardrobe room. As Dashtan came out of the room, heading towards the kitchen he found Dalilah preparing breakfast. The woman turned her head when she saw Dashtan from the tail of her eyes.

“Hi, come here, let’s have breakfast together,” invited Dalilah who tried to look friendly and cheerful. Dashtan exhaled loudly. He stared at the two cups of coffee sitting on the granite countertop and stared at the toast with scrambled eggs. As Dashtan approached the table, Rakia came and also approached the table. The woman stared at the breakfast spread on the table. Dalilah looked at Rakia with a nervous gesture, to her the woman was like a merciless despot.

“Did you make it?” asked Rakia in a curious tone while looking at Dalilah. The woman nodded nervously, Rakia snorted then passed from the table to the cabinet to make her own breakfast. She took the oatmeal from the top cabinet and picked up a bowl. Dashtan looked at Rakia who was making her own breakfast, he immediately sat in one of the chairs and sipped the coffee Dalilah had made. The woman smiled happily when she saw Dashtan drinking her coffee. She joined Dashtan and sat in one of the chairs enjoying the breakfast she had made earlier. As Rakia turned around after making her breakfast, she saw a sight that instantly ruined her mood that morning. She held her oatmeal bowl as if she wanted to smash it. She didn’t like seeing another woman sitting in the chair where she usually had breakfast with Dashtan. Moreover, the woman and her husband seemed to be chatting and occasionally laughing lightly. Rakia snorted loudly, like an angry bull, and turned to the sink and dropped her oatmeal bowl into the sink with such force that it made a noise that startled both of them. Rakia turned on the tap water to dissolve the breakfast she hadn’t eaten with tap water and then left the kitchen in a time-bomb-like rage.

Dashtan could see the look of anger on Rakia’s face while Dalilah was confused by Rakia’s leaving after making the noise that startled her. Dashtan sighed loudly then finished his coffee and quickly walked out of the kitchen, leaving Dalilah without a word. Just as Dashtan was about to catch up with Rakia, he met the woman who was about to leave for the office. He immediately intercepted the woman at the threshold of the living room and the living room.

“Hey,” Dashtan greeted, which automatically stopped Rakia. The woman stopped but did not look at Dashtan.

“Are you okay?” Dashtan’s question managed to make Rakia lift her gaze to look at the man.

“Am i?” Rakia answered by throwing a question. They were silent for a moment and stared at each other with their thoughts, then it was Rakia who broke eye contact first by turning her face away. She shook her head as she adjusted her hair.

“I can’t have a marriage like this. I can’t, it’s better for us to separate and we can be free to live our lives.” Rakia said in a rather fast tempo. Dashtan placed his hands on both of Rakia’s arms.

“Look at me,” he commanded to which she did not respond.

“Rakia....” He called out to the woman in a low voice which made Rakia look at him.

“What? You want me to hold on, is that it? You want me to watch you make love to her and get pregnant with your child, is that it? Then, you and her will live happily and when the time comes you’ll dump me?” Rakia stared at Dashtan wide-eyed with her heart beginning to fall.

“Rakia... What are you talking about? There’s no way I’d do that, you’re thinking too far, I don’t-“

“Why not? Huh? Sooner or later you’ll treat her like you treat me. And, if that happens, I won’t be willing to keep this marriage anymore. To hell with that agreement!” After saying that, Rakia immediately walked away leaving Dashtan who could only stare at the scene with his mood instantly shattered and mind in turmoil.

He turned around to leave his current place. But when he turned around he found Dalilah standing not far from him looking at him with a sad look. Dashtan quickly walked away, not caring about Dalilah who tried to reach out to his sympathy. He quickly grabbed his coat and car keys and left for the office. Dalilah could only sigh harshly. She thought at first, she could handle the situation but she did not expect that Rakia was a woman she could not easily subvert. She also knew that the woman’s marriage to Dashtan was just an agreement on paper. And right now she was also in such a marriage with Dashtan. She thought she had a chance to dominate the situation, as either of them could be released at any time, depending on whose side Dashtan was on.

The point she didn’t expect was that Rakia had managed to penetrate Dashtan’s heart, which she had frozen to build a committed relationship with a woman. Rakia managed to break through the ice in a way that she did not know what with.

“Huh, damn it! I didn’t expect that woman to dominate the situation.” Dalilah monologued. She was quite surprised by Mrs. Hunt’s arrival. She went to her bedroom to change and attend her divorce hearing with Steven.

**

Towards noon, Dashtan answered Daily Singapore’s call for him to guest star in a special talk show with him. Rakia, who was getting ready for the noon news program, was talking to the program editor in the room where Dashtan would be on the special. She looked at Dashtan who was walking up the stage to a high chair with a small table between him and the presenter.

Rakia, who was behind the crew directing the program, chose to watch the show live. Minutes passed with Dashtan confidently answering and responding to all the presenter’s questions with straightforward and evocative answers. Rakia listened attentively to the man, until it came to a question that made her gasp and stand up from her seat.

“Now, you have surprised many people with your second marriage to a woman, is this known to your first wife? And how did she respond?”

Rakia immediately approached the person in charge of the program who was her boss, Brand.

“What the hell is that question? It shouldn’t even be on the questionnaire,” Rakia protested to Brand’s casual, even indifferent response.

“You’re giving a list of questions that doesn’t inspire people to watch the show, that’s why I’m asking questions from other journalists as well.” Brand explained without any guilt. Rakia was furious with her boss’s casual attitude. She did not want Dashtan to be publicly humiliated, although she intended to teach the man a lesson, but she did not want anyone else to do it.

Rakia snorted in annoyance then turned to leave the room but Dashtan’s answer to the question made her cancel her intention. Instead, she stayed where she was.

“I didn’t expect this question to come up, but since you’ve asked I’ll answer it. She found out about the second marriage after I told her, and that’s how most married women respond when their husbands decide to remarry. I know, this second marriage will hurt both of us but I will try to repair our relationship that was disrupted because of this marriage.”

Rakia instantly smiled her scornful smile.

“What is he talking about?” Rakia muttered, but as she was about to step out of the room, she once again stopped and decided to stay until the end of the program.

“If you had to make the difficult decision to divorce, who would you let go?”

The question jolted Rakia once again as she clenched her fists with anger slowly building up.

“Damn you Brand! You’re going to regret this!” She looked at Dashtan who was smiling with laughter.

“I think... This is a personal and inappropriate question. I prefer not to answer it.”

Hearing Dashtan’s answer, at least made Rakia a little relieved. She looked at Brand who gave the code to the presenter for a commercial break. As Dashtan looked at the direction Rakia was currently in, she smiled.

“Calm down... I’m fine,” he said in his mind. He knew Rakia must be worried about him. Rakia, who saw the smile and knew what it meant, looked down for a moment and then left the room to go to another room to carry out her duties.