3 months later...
Paige narrates:
It's now only nine months until the marriage is over and I find myself looking forward to it. I haven't had a bad "marriage" so to speak, I mean I haven't suffered abuse, beatings, that sort of thing. Infidelity doesn't count because it wasn't true love that we had for each other.
Lately Mason has been all husband, he doesn't go out anywhere and if he does it's with me at his insistence not mine. So, I haven't been able to go out and have fun either.
Tonight, we have an important dinner for Mason's family, I don't know what it's about, only that Emily was very insistent that we should go on behalf of the family.
Right now, I am getting ready to go, I am almost ready, I just need my shoes. As I go downstairs, I see a very sexy Mason in his formal suit. He is speechless when he sees me, since I put more care in getting ready this time than in the previous ones and I think it has had the result I expected.
When I get to dinner, I see that my in-laws are here, Emily as always is beautiful, she runs to greet me and takes me away from Mason. She introduces me to her friends and people I don't even remember the name of, I think I got dizzy from saying hello.
Everything is going well until I see something I never thought I would do, a woman with an older man on her arm comes up to greet my father-in-law who is alone, Emily sees this and tenses up next to me. My mind thinks about the reason for his tension in her body. She doesn't say anything to me, just turns away from me and walks over to her husband, the woman I know from pictures changes her expression at the sight of Emily.
I stand looking at the picture in the same place where my mother-in-law left me, I think they know each other, and I don't know if they know my father-in-law too. If so, it means I was the only one who hadn't seen her in person before. That makes me sad, knowing that maybe everyone knew about Peyton, because if I never forget the name of the woman who has Mason in love.
I know I have no right to feel upset with her since she's not at fault. We're only married out of obligation, but my heart doesn't understand that, and over these years, it hasn't stopped feeling something for him.
I take a step forward to go where they are, and Mason takes my hand. I turn around, and he's coming towards me from the other side of the room.
"Love, did you know that this dinner is for us?" he says, smiling.
"How?" I ask, confused.
"I just found out that this dinner is to celebrate the time we've been married, and I don't understand why my mother didn't tell us anything," he says, smiling while looking around to find his mother.
"Your mother is over there," I tell him, pointing to where I saw them.
Mason follows my gaze, and his expression is priceless. He can't believe what he's seeing, and honestly, neither can I.
"I think I'll go see who my mother is greeting," he says, trying to sound casual.
"I even know who it is," I say, annoyed.
"What?" he asks.
"I know who it is, don't play dumb. So, let's go see how they know each other, don't you think it's interesting to find out?" I say, smiling.
"How do you know who it is?" he asks, stuttering.
"I'm not an idiot, I already told you. What I don't understand is who she's with. Do you know who the man accompanying her is?" I ask curiously.
"I had no idea about any of this. I don't understand anything," he says, staying still where we are.
"If you don't want to, I can go investigate. You know we're friends, right?" I say, smiling.
They might think I said it with ill intentions, but that's not the case. The truth is that in the past few months, we've been building a beautiful friendship. We go out less and spend more nights at home playing board games and simply watching movies.
"No, I don't think I want to know," he replies, taking my waist and leading me to another part of the same room where everyone is.
We start to have dinner and sit together. There are several tables, each seating ten people. In ours, Mason's parents are there, along with us and some close friends of theirs. My parents, well, they're not here. The last time I heard about them, they were on a trip to Egypt, and they didn't even tell me. I found out through third parties.
We have dinner amidst laughter because, incredibly, Mason is closer to me than usual. He whispers things in my ear, and I understand that it's just to tease that girl, but for me, it's not nice because it confuses my feelings.
I've never dared to tell him how I feel. It's not something I want to do because I think I'll lose him as a friend, and I don't want that.
After dinner, we move to a hall where there's an orchestra playing, and some people are dancing. I sigh because Mason isn't a big fan of dancing, so I'm looking for a place to sit.
"Shall we dance, my wife?" he asks, taking my waist.
"Since when do you dance?" I reply with a question, laughing.
"Since I learned," he answers, smiling.
"Well, you should have said so earlier. You know I love to dance," I say, taking his hand and guiding us to the dance floor.
We stand in the center of the dance floor and start dancing. Others begin to follow our steps, and the dance floor fills with people. I'm having the time of my life until I see that woman dancing behind Mason with the man who came with her. Mason notices that my smile fades and looks behind to see her.
"If you feel uncomfortable, we can sit down," he says, gently lifting my chin so that I look into his eyes.
I feel like it's the first time we're so close, and it's not for show. I feel that if we were to kiss this time, it would be because we want to, not because of the people surrounding us. Or am I mistaken?