Chapter 34: Chapter 34
By the time Carol came back in the evening, famished and sweaty from all the shopping that she had done, Sebastian was nowhere to be found, neither did it look like he even came back at all in all the time that she had been away. She dumped the parcels she was holding on a nearby chair and proceeded to take off all her clothes before having a much-needed bath. The day had been rewarding, albeit stressful. She had visited a lot of tourist attractions and shopped a little. Now that she knew that the money that Sebastian had sent to her was hers to keep, she could use it freely. Some days ago, she had sent the money that her mother had requested from her but did not even get a thank you for it. Carol sighed and shook her head.
By the time she was done having her bath and had eaten dinner, Sebastian was still nowhere to be found. Carol was beginning to become a little worried. What sort of business meeting was this that kept him out till nearly ten in the night?
“I’ll just call him.” She thought to herself, picking up her phone and searching for his number, although self-doubt was creeping up on her. She had never called him on phone, usually because there was no point, but she had to find out where he was and if he was coming back this night. She dialed the number and waited as it rang until the call ended without him picking up the phone. She dialed him a second time, beginning to get worried. This time around, he picked up on the fourth ring.
“Is there a problem?” His baritone voice came from over the phone. He sounded angry, and Carol instantly regretted her decision to call him. What had she been thinking? This was grumpy Sebastian for crying out loud.
“Problem? Um… oh no. There’s no problem. I was just getting worried that it is getting late and you’re not yet back, so I thought that I would call and find out if everything was okay.”
“Is that so? You do realize that I’m a grown man and I have been attending business meetings since forever, don’t you?”
“Um, I...”
“Look, I know you’re just trying to stick to the script, but you don’t have to when there is no one around, okay. I’ll be back before eleven. We’re wrapping up things. Later.” He said and hung up the phone.
“Oh, well. To hell with him.” Carol thought to herself. There was no need for him to get all grumpy just because she had decided to check up on him. The only reason why she did that was because they were in a strange land and she didn’t know what to expect. Well, it would never happen again. She would mind her business and he could do what he wanted. After all, as he said, he was an adult. Another thought came to her. Maybe he was even with another woman at this very moment and was only using business to disguise. That was also his business as far as she was concerned, but she found that she felt a little pang at the thought of that and quickly chided herself. Why should she care if Sebastian was out with other women? It wasn’t as though they had a real marriage. However, she found that the thought of it still did not sit right with her. What the hell was wrong with her for chrissakes?
Deciding that she would watch some television while she waited for him to come back, she changed into her pajamas and lay on the bed, only to drift off to sleep less than twenty minutes later. Being the deep sleeper that she was, she did not hear Sebastian come into the room at a few minutes past eleven. As soon as he entered the room and saw her asleep, he tried his best to do everything he was doing quietly so as not to disturb her. The truth was that he felt a little bad about how brusquely he had spoken to her when she had called earlier. She was only concerned about him, but he preferred that they keep their relationship as strict and emotionless as was possible, except for when they were pretending for the benefit of his uncle. The last thing he needed was for her to begin to get feelings for him because on the very day that the contract was ending, he was going to serve her divorce papers and he did not want her to feel bad about it. He would rather they were on the same page. His heart had belonged to only one woman, Jessica and it would keep belonging to her. It was because of Jessica that he was in this mess in the first place. He refused to believe that she was dead, despite all evidence pointing to that. The Jessica he knew would never up and leave him just like that, but he would not give up hope. Until they found her alive or dead, Sebastian would not stop searching for her.
His uncle had promised to help him look for her with his connections if he would get married to Carol, and that was why he had agreed. He would do anything to find Jessica. That was also why he had insisted on placing Carol on a monthly allowance, even though his uncle had kicked against it. If she was wise, she would save up some of her monthly allowances so that with the money he was going to give her at the end of the marriage, she would have more than enough to live on. But as for the divorce, it must take place, because as soon as he found Jessica, he was going to get back with her…and his gut feeling told him that Jessica was alive somewhere. He'd be damned if he gave up on her so soon.