Next day……
Ring….Ring…
Smack!
Sleepily, I got up from bed and walked over to the curtains. I opened the curtains to see the sunrise in the distance. That’s nice. I walked into my bathroom and washed up for the day. The bathroom was pretty amazing. Everything inside was expensive.
After dressing up in my white sweater, black leggings, and slippers, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked very plain. I didn’t know if I could adapt to a lavish life. I wore my glasses and walked out of my room.
Quietly, I made my way to the kitchen and started to make breakfast for Adrian. In the cabinets, I managed to find bagels, coffee, and cream cheese. I guess these will do for now . Looking inside the cabinets again, I found a kettle and a coffee filter.
To be honest, I didn’t like coffee. However, I made coffee for my grandparents every morning. They looked my pour over brew method. I filled the pot with water and set the pot on the stove to boil. While the kettle boiled the water, I got the filter and the coffee ready.
After putting the filter in a cup and the ground coffee in the filter, I prepared the bagel. I cut the bagel in half and toasted them in the toaster. Soon, I heard the water boiling. I got he kettle and started to pour the boiling water over the coffee ground.
Slowly, the finished product dripped into the cup. The bagel popped up from the toaster. I took the hot bagels and spread cream cheese on them. The breakfast was simple. I really need to go to the grocery store today.
After of the the coffee was done, I removed the filter and the coffee ground. I decided to make the coffee on the strong side. I remembered Adrian drinking espresso back in San Francisco. I hope he likes the coffee.
I set everything on the tray and walked up the stairs. I remembered that his room was located right next to my room. I walked down a hallway to see Lorenzo. He turned his head to see me approach him.
“Good morning Lorenzo,” I said to him with a smile on my face. I was happy to see him. He gave me a smile in return. “Good morning Mrs. Minetti. Sleep well?” he asked me. “Yes. Thank you for asking,” I said to him.
He looked down at the tray that I was carrying. “Did you make him breakfast?” he asked me. “I did. Is he in his room?” I asked him. Lorenzo shook his head. “He is in his office,” he told me. He is in his office!
“Did he sleep last night?” I asked with concern. He gave me a nod. “He slept for a couple hours before returning to work. This is a life of a CEO,” he explained to me. I gave him a nod. “I’ll escort you to his office,” he said.
Closely, I followed Lorenzo to Adrian’s office. His office was located on the other side of the apartment. Soon, we arrived in front of double doors. Already, I had a idea about what his office would look like.
Lorenzo knocked on the door to let Adrian know that someone was at the door. “Come in,” I heard from the other side. Lorenzo opened the door and peeked inside. “Mr. Minetti. Your wife is here with your breakfast,” I heard Lorenzo say to him.
I started to feel my hands sweat. Adrian told me yesterday that he didn’t want to be disturbed by me or anything. It was one of his rules. “Let her in and close the door behind you. I want to talk to her alone,” I heard Adrian’s order to Lorenz.
Lorenzo opened the door for me. Slowly, I walked inside and was amazed by the office. The office was pretty big with the company logo above the desk. The room was spotless. The furniture made me feel like I was in a office building and not an apartment.
From the desk, Adrian looked at me dead in the eyes. I started to feel my legs shake. I didn’t move my eyes away from Adrian. Adrian got up from his chair and walked over to me. I wanted to move a step back but, my legs were paralyzed by fear.
Once he stood in front of me, I looked straight at his chest. I was too afraid to look at him. “What did I say about bothering me?” he asked to me in a stern tone. His tone felt heavy on my shoulders and made my heart drop.
I couldn’t open my mouth. “Look up at me when I speak to you,” he said to me. He didn’t change the tone of his voice. I took a shaky breath and looked up at him. When our eyes met, I completely froze and tense.
I could see the annoyance and anger in his eyes. “Let me ask one last time. What did I say about bothering me?” he asked me. His annoyance and anger were growing by the second. I forced myself to speak without controlling my fear.
“Y-you said t-t-to not b-bother you,” I said to him. “Exactly,” he said to me. He took the cup of coffee and the plate bagels off the tray. “Now get out. Don’t bother me ever again got it,” he said to me. I nodded my head quickly and walked out of his room.
I set the tray in the kitchen and made my way back into my room. Once in my room, I sat on the bed and felt tears fall from my eyes. I let out a deep breath that I had kept inside myself from my encounter with Adrian.
Why did I have to pair with him? He scares me so much.
I looked at my hands to see them shaking. I held my hands together and tried to calm my nerves down.I closed my eyes and thought about my grandparents. They wanted me to have a better life than my parents and my brother.
The question was…was this a better life.
I could see the ups and downs of this marriage. In the end, I decided that I wanted a life where I didn’t have to displease my husband. I shouldn’t have to fear anything as long as I followed the rules that he had set for me.
Follow the rules Vera. You can live through this.
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It had been a few hours since my encounter with Adrian. As far as I knew, by the time I left the apartment, Adrian was already gone to his work in the city. I had planned to go to the bank and to the grocery store today.
Right now, I had just gotten out of the bank. I managed to get my bank account transferred from San Francisco and gotten a new credit and debit card under my maiden name. Even though I had a credit card from Adrian, I rather use my money than to use his fortune to buy things.
Walking down the street, I could see the difference between San Francisco and New York. New York was super busy with people and traffic. People were walking up and down the street while they talked on their phones, walked their dog, or listened to their music.
It felt different. I started to miss San Francisco more. I missed the slow relax feel of the neighborhood. I missed the air of the bay. I knew that I would have to get used to New York and it’s business.
I managed to find a grocery store that was near the apartment. It was very convenient. Inside the grocery store, I took a shopping cart and walked through the aisle to find things that would last Adrian and I a few days.
I spent a good hour filling the cart with produce and other goods. Tonight, I wanted to make ravioli stuffed with ricotta, parmesan, spinach, and black pepper. For the sauce, I wanted to make home made marinara sauce cooked with home made sausage and vegetables.
I learned many recipes from my grandmother growing up. I would spend hours in the kitchen with her. It was going to be the first time that I was cooking myself without my grandmother tasting my cooking. Hopefully, Adrian would like my cooking.
Once at the cashier, I watched the screen to see the cost of the total amount go up. I should get a membership card . “Your total is $102.98. Do you have a membership card with us?” the lady asked me.
“No. May I sign up for one please,” I said to her. She gave me a form and pen. Quickly, I filled the form with my information while she got the bags. “Can I get reusable bags please,” I said to her. She gave me a nod and worked on the cash register. “That will increase the total to $110.98,” she told me.
“That’s fine,” I said to her. I gave her the form and got a membership card. I managed to get the price down to $80.97. “Cash or card?” the lady asked me. “Debit,” I said to her. I looked into my wallet and got my debit card.
Once I paid everything and got my bags, I walked out of the grocery store and to the apartment. The walk wasn’t too bad. Once inside the apartment building, I walked into the elevator that was specific to getting to my apartment building.
I pressed the button for the top floor.
[Key Card Please] I took a card out of my bag and inserted the card in scanner.
Beep…beep…ping!
[Recognize Valeria Minetti] The elevator started to move. I set the grocery on the ground and stretched my arms. Next time…less groceries. The screen showed me that I was almost at the top. I grabbed the groceries and waited for the elevator to reach the apartment.
Soon, I arrived a the apartment. I carried the groceries in the kitchen and started to put the groceries away. I made sure to throw away anything expired in the trash as I didn’t want any mold growing anywhere.
It took me a good thirty minutes to put the stuff away.
Grumble
I placed my hand on my stomach. “That’s right. I didn’t eat anything yet.” I walked over to the fridge and grabbed some stuff for a grilled cheese with basil and tomatoes. I wanted something simple for now since I was going to make a big dinner.
After grilling the cheese sandwich, I started to eat my light lunch with a cup of water. As I ate my food, I looked around the apartment. It really felt empty and lonely. If a pin dropped onto the feel, a person could hear it on the other side of the apartment.
I should really think of something to do . Something clicked in my head. “That’s right…dinner. That should keep me busy until…dinner.” I finished the last of the grilled cheese sandwich and cleaned the dishes.
After the dishes, I made sure to clean the counter.
“Now let’s make the pasta sauce.”
I grabbed the some ingredients out of the fridge and started to make the sauce.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Few hours later…….
“Tastes good.”
I managed to finish making the raviolis an hour ago and kept working on the sauce. The sauce tasted better over time. Everything was made from scratch. So everything was going to taste extra good and fresh.
“Just twenty more minutes and it’s done.” I set the spoon down and looked at the time. It was almost dinner time. I had set dinner between six and seven. Wonder when Adrian is coming home. I never asked him when he was coming home.
But, I couldn’t speak to him at all unless I was spoken to. I walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch. With the remote control, I turned the television on to see what shows were on at the hour.
I had to say that he had almost every channel you can think of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four hours later……
Four hours had went by and I was waiting patiently for him. “Maybe he is working late.” I should have known about his work ethics from the start. He worked late on our first night together in San Francisco.
Two hours ago, I decided to make myself dinner and make a plate that Adrian could heat up in the microwave. I had to eat dinner alone. The raviolis tasted great but, it would have tasted better if I had someone to eat them with me.
I packed Adrian’s food in the fridge. I didn’t know if he was going to eat it. I hope that he would eat them.
Right now, I was on the couch doing some research on universities and colleges on my laptop. I had planned to go to college before I got married. I thought maybe I could at least take some online classes and slowly get a degree.
I should wait for a while before enrolling.
After a few more hours, I went to bed without waiting for Adrian to come home.
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