Chapter 2: The Twin Necklaces

He wished there was a way in which he could try to make her understand. He knew exactly how she felt, and his heart ached painfully seeing her this way, but her words tore a hole right through his heart. 

"What exactly it is that you wouldn't tell me?" Devra pressed on. "What exactly it is, that you wouldn't tell the one you call your wife? You heard what I said, it's either you open up about this whole thing, whatever it is that you're hiding from me, or I file for a divorce immediately."

"I understand how you feel, Devra," Darion spoke softly in an effort to calm her down. "I understand exactly how you feel. But you must understand that knowing too much at this stage isn't exactly beneficial to you. You must learn to trust me, you must learn to endure until the time is right."

"Endure huh?" She scoffed. "And what the hell do you think I've been doing for the past three years?! Three years went by, and you're still a stranger to me! The same stranger who was found by the roadside injured with no family at all. The same paralyzed stranger who wouldn't even talk about his past. Is your name even what you say it is?"

At this point, his jaws clenched tight as he tried to suppress the emotions within. "My name is what I say it is." He spoke out finally. "But you must understand that I'm not lying to you, neither am I being decisive. I'm merely keeping the truth at bay until the time is right."

"What truth?" She yelled. "The truth that you have a mistress somewhere?" She blurted out the last bit and then broke down in despair as her body crumbled to the floor of the study. "You know there are rumors out there that you are actually leeching off me, stealing my money to support your mistress somewhere out there." She said amidst tears.

"What?!" He exclaimed in sheer horror. "No! That's not the case at all. I would never do that to anyone and definitely not to you, Devra. Don't listen to what people say out there. They tend to make up stories when they fail to understand the truth."

While she was still sobbing, Devra looked up at the man whom she called husband and she just couldn't believe how insufferable this man was, the nerve on him! She shook her head sadly as she felt her whole world plunged into chaos. "I was a fool to let this happen." She said, more to herself than to the crippled man before her.

The pain was too unbearable for him. He could not bear to sit there and watch his wife suffer in despair. Darion wheeled his chair closer and reached for her hand. "My dear wife Devra. It really hurts me to see you suffer this way." He spoke while reaching out for her hand. "I promise you that everything is eventually going to turn out well all you have to do is have faith in me as your husband and…"

"Don't touch me!" She snatched her hand away before he could even touch her. "You call yourself a husband? Is that what you call yourself?" She edged away from him like he was a parasite she had to steer clear by all means necessary. "Any man who depends solely on me isn't worthy to be called my husband. When have you ever done anything for yourself let alone doing something for others? All you do is wheel yourself around the house all day and then disappear every single month to who-knows-where, doing who knows what!" 

She stopped to catch her breath before continuing. "The only grounds on which you have to call yourself my husband is the marriage certificate tucked away in the bedroom. Aside from that, you don't even belong here!" She spoke so fast while pacing to and fro, giving the poor man no room to defend himself or his actions.

Darion could only watch in silence as she ranted. He wasn't ready to interrupt her just yet. He wanted her to talk it all out, maybe this would make her feel better. Devra, noticing how quiet he had become, paused and pursed her lips with her arms folded across her chest. "You're not gonna try and say anything?" She asked in irritation. But before he could talk, she cut him off again. "Okay, fine!" She yelled.

She moved to her desk and removed something from within but he couldn't see what it was as his attention was solely on her face. 

"My husband should be a hero." She said wistfully. "My husband should be capable and not someone like…" She paused with her eyes momentarily scanning him all over. "…well, someone like you." She finished her statement. 

"My husband should be a hero who saved me years ago on the battlefield. Unfortunately, he left before I could get a better look at him but he left behind this…" It was then she brought what she had earlier removed from the drawer into the light. "This is the only thing I have to remind me of him. He left abruptly and didn't even know he dropped this." She sighed and then proceeded to tuck away the necklace. She turned her gaze back to Darion with that wistful look completely gone and replaced by a cold and hard stare.

"I don't love you, Darion, or whatever your name really is." She declared coldly and without emotion. "I've never loved you and I'll never love you." 

Darion, on the other hand, was left speechless and in shock. His surprise didn't come from the words she'd so coldly uttered but from the necklace she had. Immediately he laid his eyes on it, memories came flooding back as he remembered the twin necklaces. There were quite rare necklaces, and he had lost one of them in the heat of battle, but what was more intriguing was the circumstances under which he had lost it. He recalled the lady he had saved even though her face seemed fuggy in his memories. Could she be the one?…..