Chapter 8

You don't have to pretend. Let us be honest at least. It is true that we are in this suite, but it has been your brothers' idea. It has been a detail on your part, but they don't know what our situation is.

We are lucky that there is a sofa bed, because one of the two will have to sleep on it tonight. That is what we are left with in the pre-marital agreement and that is what we are going to stick to.

-Okay, maybe we should forget to give then -replenled Benja coldly. And forget that we are in the same room. And don't talk to us. Why don't you go to the bedroom and I stay in the living room on the sofa bed? There is a TV in both rooms, so we won't have to watch the same channel. Is that what you have.

-Yes, why not? -Cami replied.- I hate being pretending all the time. I need to forget this farce. So hard to understand is it?

-I suppose no; so, come, go to the bedroom. I'll see you tomorrow - Benja growled. He left the glass of champagne so brusquely, that Cami was surprised not to break. Then he grabbed her suitcase and took her to the bedroom. Want something from room service? -he asked him impatiently.

-Nothing,- she replied, raising her chin. If you need the bathroom...

-There's another here. Don't worry, nobody will bother you until tomorrow, as that's what you want.

Stood on the doorway of the bedroom, waiting for Cami to enter. How had things been spoiled so quickly? He approached him and put a hand on his arm before speaking:

-I want to... -Benja stopped and sighed exasperated- God, I don't know! I guess this, what we're about to do: We're all going to our bed, you're right. This is stipulated in the contract. And that's true, we need to be alone, give us a break. Good night, Cami. Sleep well, I will keep the champagne.

-You can drink it. He wasn't going to give him more than a couple of sips, anyway.

-No, Cami,- he replied. It's one thing to sleep alone and another to drink alone. I don't think it's so sunken yet. Give your marriage a few months for that, okay?

-Okay,- Cami repeated, angry, just before closing off a door.

Repressed the urge to cry. Benja's last comment had hurt him like a cut with a sharp knife. Did your husband expect her relationship to evolve? Why was he so pessimistic about a possible marriage success?

It was only two weeks ago that she had convinced her that this was the best choice for the baby and now, in a few minutes, had gone from wanting to give for her union to predict a disdained future for both.

I knew he had missed touch by rejecting the toast Benja had proposed; but there had to be something else. She opened the bed in disconcerted fashion and once she got stuck in the sheets, she realized how tired she was. He fell asleep immediately.

Benja did not reconcile the dream. For a good time, he didn't even try. Despite the refusal he had expressed to drink alone, he had put in two glasses of champagne, trying to find out what he felt and why.

Why had the demons suddenly become so violent? What did you really want? He had already gone through a dismal marriage, despite having begun it with all the optimism of when he is young. A marriage that had taught him how much things could be twisted between two people if one of them was not prepared to strive to save his relationship.

On the other hand, his parents were the most obvious proof of how well a marriage could work, thanks to which he still kept hope. I knew it could be nice. Otherwise, he would never have taken the step of marrying Cami. He had noticed, or at least that had been his impression, that the two understood what they had got into.

«But I wanted to give for us,» he understood. «I didn't want you to remind me that ours is not really and that we may not succeed. Why have you had to break with the spell of the moment when... when you were so excited?»

He thought that, perhaps, Cami would have been pretending all the time; that he had passed through the mother he wanted for his baby. After all, he was rich, millionaire, and it wouldn't be the first time an attractive woman tried to please him to give his fortune a flip-up. Lawyers, financial advisors and even his brother Philip had warned him of the danger of that marriage.

But he didn't want to distrust Cami. He had no intention of doing so without any reason to do so. The bad thing was that suddenly, since they were married, he felt vulnerable.