Chapter 5 Thin End Of The Wedge

• “Where have you been?” Harry’s deep and cold voice echoed through the walls. He was seated on the couch, waiting for his wife to come home for hours.
• Margot was quite surprised at her husband’s tone but said nothing. She headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. Her lips formed a thin line when she felt Harry’s presence behind her back.
• “Give me a second,” she said before pouring more water into her glass to drink. After quenching her thirst, and soothing her throat with the cold water, Margot walked to the living room with Harry following her.
• She sat on the middle of the sofa, leaned her back, and crossed her legs. “Let’s start, shall we?”
• Harry’s face turned sour. He didn’t like the way she acted. He was always proud and thankful that his wife listened to his every word, but the woman in front of him was acting differently.
• “Margot, what is your problem? You have no idea how embarrassed and nervous I was in front of everyone back there. How could you mention divorce in our family dinner?” Harry started delivering every word he prepared beforehand as he waited for his wife.
• Margot clicked her tongue. She almost laughed at what he said. “You have the nerve to ask me about the problem. You are so shameless, Harry.” She clenched her fists and glared at him.
• “Then let me ask you this. What is the problem? I did everything you said. Everything, Harry. Everything!” Margot shook her head in disappointment.
• “I quit my job at the company and became your faithful wife. I fucked you like a porn star and sucked your dick like a slut whenever you’re fucking horny. At dawn, I wake up to prepare your clothes and goddamn food I wished I poisoned. Did you hear me complain?” Margot's voice was low and shaking.
• “Never! That’s because I love you, Harry. I loved you, a jerk!”
• She stood up from her seat and marched to the kitchen for another glass of water. Her head was spinning and her vision was getting worse by the second.
• “I did all that and more, but you still cheated on me,” Margot mumbled as she broke down. Her tears started falling like a heavy rain in summer. “It was I who should ask you what the problem was. Because no matter how much I think about it, I thought I gave you my all. It turns out I’m still lacking, huh? You should have told me, Harry. If you did, we wouldn’t be enemies by now.”
• Harry stood in shock while watching his wife break down into pieces. He never saw Margot so angry and sad at the same time. He was confused at first, so he decided to ask her what she meant by him ‘cheating’.
• “Seriously? Don’t give me that look, Harry. Don’t look at me like you have no idea what you did wrong,” Margot snickered. She was trying her hardest not to throw the glass she was holding at his face. “That’s not going to work, honey,” she added.
• Harry grabbed a handful of his hair in frustration. “But I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not cheating on you,” he claimed, trying to convince her with the innocent look in his eyes.
• Margot would have fallen for it if she was only guessing. She knew what she heard. And even if she was wrong, Margot already found it hard to trust Harry again.
• “You cheated on me and you have no idea? How can you be so shameless? I thought we married for love,” she said, bursting into tears. “We were so in love. You were my world, my everything. What happened?”
• Margot took a deep breath and pursed her lips. “I’ve already decided. We’re getting a divorce. You should start packing your things and don’t forget to kick your family from my building unless you start to pay rent,” she stated, pulling herself together.
• On her way home, Margot promised she wouldn’t give him another chance. It wasn’t like she had enough time to start over with him again.
• “You can’t do this, Margot. Your father would not be pleased,” Harry replied. “You don’t want to go against your father, do you?”
• Margot cackled with laughter. “Now, you’re using my dad against me. Tell you what, I’ve been too good of a daughter to him. You were the reason I went against his word before, and you think he wouldn’t like it if I dump you now after what you’ve done with his wife?”
• Harry’s eyebrows met. “Wait… His wife? Are you accusing me of cheating you with Linda?” He looked at Margot briefly and laughed.
• “Please, Margot. I would never do that. There’s nothing between Linda and I,” Harry said as he wiped the sweats off his face. “I’m curious why you even think of that,” he added.
• Margot glowered at him. “You’re not only denying it, but you’re trying to make fun of me? Harry, you’re a jerk!”
• With a heavy heart, she turned her heels around to leave. She couldn’t stand facing him while he didn’t take her seriously.
• “Wait, honey! It’s not like that. Promise, I’m not cheating you with Linda.” Harry rushed to follow Margot, but the latter ran and locked herself up in the guest room.
• “Hey, open the door. Let’s talk. Whatever you have in mind about me and Linda, it was all wrong,” Harry said, knocking on the door.
• “I heard you doing it in our room. Don’t try to fool me again, Harry.”
• Margot leaned her back on the door and cried her heart out. She hugged herself while wishing everything her husband said was right and that she just misunderstood it. She didn’t want to listen to him unless Harry provided a better explanation and evidence to prove him innocent.
• “What? Are you talking about earlier, before you return home from your check-up?” Harry verified.
• “Hah! I bet you had several rendezvous before for you to get confused now,” Margot deadpanned.
• “No. I’m telling the truth, hon. If you want, we can check the camera footage in the security room. Did you forget we have cameras installed in the house and everything that happened in all parts of the house is recorded?” Harry said, earning his wish for Margot to open the door.
• “I forget, but that’s only because my mind was a mess,” she told him before stepping outside the guest room and walking to the security room.
• Harry smiled while shaking his head. He didn’t expect his wife could be cute sometimes. Although he wished she didn’t jump to conclusions and ruin the family dinner which everybody was anticipating each year.
• “See that? We didn’t do anything like what you think we did. She was only trying to make me wear the suit that was obviously not my size,” Harry said after joining his wife, watching the footage of what happened.
• Margot watched the video several times while rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. It took her a few hours to accept that she was wrong, and that it was a misunderstanding.
• “I’m sorry,” Margot mumbled with her head low.
• Suddenly, her anger and disappointment toward Harry were gone. Instead, she felt them toward herself. She was angry at making a scene at their family dinner and saying things she should not have. Margot couldn’t get any more disappointed in herself for what she did.
• “Honestly, I didn’t know about the cameras in the house. But I guess it’s a good thing that we have them. I’m sorry for doubting you, hon,” she said, lifting her head to look at her husband’s eyes.
• “It’s okay. I’m just glad that we cleared the misunderstanding. This shouldn’t happen again, though. Your father might kill me,” Harry responded as he pulled Margot for a hug.
• “We should let the others know that we’re fine. If you want, we can set another date for our family's dinner. That was postponed. I know you love this occasion, so we shouldn’t miss it this year, too,” he added.
• “Okay. I’ll tell Dad,” Margot replied.
• After what happened, the couple retired to bed with smiles on their face. They were both glad that their three years of marriage hadn’t ended yet.
• Although It was different for Margot, who knew her end was coming soon. Yet, she chose to keep her illness from everyone. She felt like telling her family would only make it hard for her to live and enjoy her remaining time.
• However, after seeing the footage and knowing that there was nothing between Harry and Linda, something still didn’t sit right with Margot. Her instinct was never wrong and even though she admitted that it was her fault for jumping to conclusion, the feeling of uneasiness remained.
• “Good night,” Margot whispered as she turned to her side to watch Harry, who already drifted to sleep. She smiled while staring at his peaceful sleeping face when she heard a notification bell coming from his phone.
• “Who could this be?” she muttered. Her curiosity got the best of her, so she grabbed Harry’s phone to check the message.
• Her heartbeat lost its rhythm when she saw what it was about. She always thought she did a good job maintaining a nice body in her late twenties but… Looking at the young woman wearing her birthday suit while posing seductively in the camera only to share the lewd images with her husband late at night made Margot doubt everything he said once again.
• “I see. So, it wasn’t Linda, but someone else.”