It had been one week since Leila saw her husband. Within that week, she could count the number of times she ate on one hand. There were no flowers but breakfast and dinner always came at the appointed time.
The fridge was stocked up, she had warned the delivery boy to stop sending food to their apartment. But it was of no use. He had a job and he intended to do it.
Her days went by in a blur. She lived out her routine like a zombie. Waking up, going to the office. Bath and repeat. Today was the first time she was doing something outside of the routine. She hoped to get some answers. If not from Kelvin but from Amara.
Leila hit the number on the elevator. It was ten minutes past close of work, and most of her colleagues had gone home. The elevator stopped on Kelvin's floor, she held her bag tighter and made the short walk to his office. Pushing the straps of her handbag up her shoulder, she knocked.
The door opened to reveal Amara, instead of letting her inside, she stepped into the corridor to meet her. Leila took that as a bad sign. If his assistant didn't want her in, then Kelvin wouldn't want to see her.
"Hi," Leila said with a small wave. Amara smiled at her greeting. "Is he in there?" A nod. "Can I go in?"
"I'm sorry but I'll lose my job if you do," she replied.
A funny feeling spread through her chest. Leila clutched the straps of her handbag tight. Her husband didn't want her. If he didn't want her anymore, he should be bold enough to tell her that to her face.
"Was that his instruction?" The pain of waiting for him each night, the sleepless nights were catching up to her. She was furious. "He told you not to let me in?"
Amara pushed away from the door and cast a tentative look behind like the walls had ears.
"Not in those words but he doesn't want any visitors." Leila sighed. She didn't want the woman to lose her job over her stubbornness. "He hasn't been in a good mood for a week now." Because she accused him of cheating. She pushed him. She cursed at him. If he had done the same to her, her heart and body wouldn't have taken it. "I'm sorry I can't be of help."
Tears welled up her eyes. It was not Amara's fault, it was hers. "It's fine. Can you let him know I'm here?" Amara's lips pulled into a line and Leila smiled sadly. "He's aware I'm here," she said more to herself. It hurt more. If his first instinct was to ignore her after a fight, how would they grow as a couple? "Is it okay if I get his schedule for the weekend? Please. I need it."
"Okay." Amara pulled out her phone from her suit pocket and Leila's phone pinged. The email had Kelvin's schedule for the month. The gesture warmed her heart, she didn't know when she drew Amara in a hug. "I have to go now, he's waiting." She opened the door but paused. "You didn't get it from me, okay?"
Leila laughed. It was the first time she was laughing freely since her husband left her. She waited until the dark-skinned woman was gone. On her way to the elevator, she stopped in front of the camera. Was he watching her? Was that how he knew she was here?
She positioned herself in what she hoped was the best angle and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry."
The camera blinked, she didn't know if it was normal for it to do that but she smiled at it and continued on her way out of the building. She didn't want to go home to the empty house so she took a cab to St Louis.
When the cab stopped at the entrance of the clinic, she realised her decision to come here might not have been the best. What would she do? Hit Madonna until she explained the pictures? She wasn't even the one in the picture. Since she was already here, there was no point going back. She paid her fare and exited the cab.
There was so much going on when Leila entered the hospital. The people seated on the bench in front of the counter looked like they had been waiting there forever. Would anyone attend to her? She didn't exactly have a life-threatening injury.
Dragging her feet to the counter, she cleared her throat. The nurse looked up. "Hi. I'm looking for a nurse. Nurse Madonna." The nurse looked on in slight confusion. Leila raised her hand to her shoulder to describe Madonna's height. "About this tall. Very pretty. She helped us last week when my husband was here. Please, I need to see her."
"Madonna McKenna?"
McKenna? Leila managed to nod. "Yeah."
Was Madonna his wife? Wait, what if Leila was a second wife? Holy shit. Okay, she was overthinking this. The name could be a coincidence. McKenna was not exactly a unique name. Madonna couldn't possibly be one of his sisters. What were the odds?
The nurse pointed behind her. "There she is."
Everything slowed down as she turned. Madonna rushed over and grabbed her in a hug. Leila felt suffocated but the fact the woman wasn't cursing her out made her stay put. Madonna released her and dragged her away from the prying eyes of the nurses.
The first question she asked when they were alone was, "Are you Kelvin's sister?"
"Yep and you're my sister-in-law."
Hold on. What the hell was going on? Why didn't he introduce them? He allowed her make a fool of herself that night.
"You knew?" Leila asked. Madonna shrugged. Knowing the beautiful woman wasn't a potential competitor, Leila found herself wanting to be her friend. She didn't have much friends except for Freya.
"Found out the day he was discharged. Sorry I was rude. Thought you were one of those greedy girls." Madonna threw her arm around Leila's shoulders. The ease with which her sister-in-law warmed up to Leila made her less worried. "How is he? Have you eaten? You look like you lost a bit of weight."
"Yeah." Starving could make you lose weight.
Madonna guided Leila into the clinic cafeteria, and they took a table beside the door. She didn't get a chance to make a request, Madonna disappeared and appeared shortly after with a tray of noodles.
"Kelvin said you love noodles." Onions were swimming at the top of the spicy noodles, Leila took her first bite and nodded. The food was delicious. "You shouldn't starve, Kelvin doesn't like that at all."
"I know." But what she didn't know was how he would react if he found out she was on a date with his sister. He must have failed to introduce them for a reason. Madonna passed her the bottle of water, she took a sip and resumed eating. It was odd eating alone but Madonna didn't seem to mind. She took sips from her bottle of water at intervals. "Does he talk about me often?"
Madonna raised her shoulder. "Not so much in the past week since I just found out." She flattened her hands on the table and her eyes narrowed. "Does he know you are here? What are you doing here, Leilani?"
The million dollar question.
"What's his favourite food?"
Kelvin's sister laughed. "Yam pottage." She made a face to accompany her words. "He's weird like that."
Her meal was finished. Leila couldn't hide her reason for coming here any longer.
"We got into a fight." The look on his sister's face was comical but Leila didn't know how to laugh. If his sister couldn't help, she was doomed. Disgust bubbled to the surface when she retrieved her phone to show Madonna the pictures. "I thought he cheated on me."
"Kelvin would never do that." Her tone was defensive like she picked offense on his behalf. Leila couldn't be mad at her for defending her brother. "He's loyal to a fault."
Hugging herself, she murmured, "I guess I know that now."
Madonna took the phone and zoomed in on the pictures. "Is that Mia?" Leila looked to see the Mia she was talking about. She didn't know any Mia. "Yep, it's Mia. My best friend." Her eyes grew stormy, she handed over the phone to Leila. "Who sent you this?"
"I wish I knew."
"You two fought because of this?"
"Yeah." A tear fell to her cheek. "I called him horrible names." Madonna pulled her in for a short hug. Leila could get used to having her around. "It's all my fault. I should have given him a chance to explain himself."
Holding her hands, Madonna said, "It's not entirely your fault. I might have done worse if the same happened with me and it's also my fault. I let Mia into his room last night, so I'm to blame." Her smile didn't assure Leila but she nodded. Madonna gave her arms a firm squeeze and she finally managed a smile. "I'll sort this out. I will talk to him on your behalf, okay?"
"Do you think that's okay? He might be mad at me for coming to you." Madonna thought about her words. Leila didn't want to have another fight with Kelvin. "Just tell your best friend to stay away from my man."
Her man. The word put a half-smile on her face. Kelvin was her man. Leila wanted this marriage to work.
"I can do that. I will talk to Mia instead, she will never bug you again." Her promise did better at reassuring Leila, she could fix her marriage. "I'm so sorry this happened."
It was Leila who hugged Madonna. "Thank you."