Disclaimer: I do not own any superstar/diva that may be mentioned in this story. I do not own any names, trademarks, etc. associated with World Wrestling Entertainment. No copyright infringement was intended by this story. I only own the plot.
A/N1- My first Nena story, no doubt I love this couple. This is dedicated to therealchamps who first inspired me to write this couple.
John Cena was in a happy mood when he parked his car in his garage and shut down the engine. He had a very productive day at the office, his boss was impressed with his job and had promised him an increment and a promotion. Then the drive back to his home was a nice one where he sang along his favourite rap songs playing in the car. However all his nice mood turned sour once he thought of entering his house and facing his wife of three years, Nikki Cena.
It was baffling and hard to believe how much their relationship had deteriorated, even until 3-4 months ago, they were deeply in love with each other but now, it seemed they could not stand each other's presence. What was the real cause of this situation, John couldn't tell but he was faintly aware that he was partially responsible for this predicament. Nevertheless as much as he tried to show his dislike for his wife, he secretly loved her with all his heart and he knew for a fact that the situation was similar with Nikki as well.
With a sigh he entered the house and was met with the sight of his wife sitting in the living room, leaning against the sofa with her eyes closed, most possibly taking a rest. John decided not to bother her and started for the bedroom when Nikki's eyes opened. She looked at him with a face of slight embarrassment.
"Sorry, I haven't cooked dinner tonight, I just returned from work a few minutes ago."
John whirled around. "What?", he burst out, "You were supposed to be back by 5 and now it is", he paused to look at his watch, "8:35 exact. What took you so long?" He could already feel his temper rising. He also knew that he was overreacting a little.
"I had to do overtime, the boss asked me to stay and I couldn't say no. It was a very tiring day, how about I order something tonight? Would be a nice change." Nikki tried to explain as calmly as possible but she too was getting a little angry on the inside.
"Well if you really cared about me or our relation, you should not have accepted that promotion. Now there is practically no guarantee that when I come back home, I would see the dinner ready. I earn enough money to support the two of us and in line for a promotion and yet you act selfish and accept the offer. May be if you actually stayed home, we could go ahead with the family planning we decided on before marriage. But no, not you, you won't have it any other way." John was not trying to hold back his voices and it clearly showed. He was clearly annoyed with his wife's job situation.
Nikki was livid. She sprang up from her seat and stood in front of John and stared up to him. He too not backing down, stared at his wife. "Don't you dare pin it on me John. Soon after our marriage I wanted a baby but you declined, saying you were busy with office works and such. It is for you only that I took a job in the departmental store because I was getting bored sitting at home alone. Now I have been promoted to be the store manager so of course I am going to be busier than before. I can't help if you can't handle it, you just have to cope", she too said loudly.
"Well my career is stable now, we can easily plan for the baby but you won't do it, how is it my fault?" John knew he was much at fault but of course he was not going to admit it. Before he could say anything else, Nikki interrupted him.
"So, you want me to just throw away my responsibilities and my position? I have worked hard for this promotion and I am not going to give it up. We will have to wait some more before finally deciding on having a family. In any case, it is not happening soon". Nikki too knew that she was not thinking properly but lately it had been all about ego first and logic last mentality. It didn't matter that they were both right and wrong and needed to compromise, all mattered was who won at the end.
Such was their condition. None could actually say what was the real reason for their conflicts, be it the stress from their jobs, spending less time with each other or not being able to fulfill other's needs, there came a moment when even a slight mistake from the other irritated the hell out of them. It was probably a combination of all and more. They started to catch each other's tiny mistakes and make a big deal out of them. It didn't help matters that they could not actually sit and have a talk about such things because they were always busy. The energy and will to have a discussion left them once they both returned from their respective jobs.
John was going to give a hard response but the sound of Nikki's phone ringing on the table attracted both of their attention. From the ring tone itself, she could predict it was her boss calling her, probably for some work the next day. She slowly moved from in front of John and walked towards her phone while muttering, "It's boss".
John sighed in exasperation, "Oh now we can't even have peace and free time in this home because of your boss always calling. Finish it fast and then if you kindly can, order some dinner as well while I go shower and change", he left the room not bothering to listen to her response.
As John took his time refreshing himself, Nikki finished her talk with boss and ordered some pizza and two bottles of soda. After that, she just sat staring at the mute tv, a thousand thoughts running through her mind. She knew she was in the loss it this particular case here because the call took away from their argument and she was most probably going to win. John got to have the last word in. Yes things were that bad between them and she really hated it.
John changed and came in the room just as the door bell rang. Guessing that it was the delivery man, he took out his wallet and opened the door. His guess was right. He took the food items and paid and tipped the person. He arranged the food in the dining table as Nikki came silently and sat down. They both ate dinner in silence, none of them even looking at each other. It was really a comical situation, both wanting to have a conversation with the other but none taking the first step.
After the dinner was over and the table cleared, John returned to the living room and switched on the tv. He sat on one side of the sofa. After a while Nikki entered the room and sat on the other side. They both kept watching the random things on tv as John changed the channels at will, Nikki not interrupting once. Just then his phone rang in the other room. Since he used the same caller tune for every contacts, he could not decide who was calling and got up to receive the call. Nikki sat still watching the tv, not even bothering to change the channel. She was lost in her own thoughts.
John returned after about 10 minutes. He sat on his side of the sofa, shuffled a little and then cleared his throat. Finally he broke the silence between them. "It was Daniel, Brie will be calling you soon. They are coming to visit for the weekend".
Nikki didn't move. She showed no expression either on her face but inside she was feeling ecstatic. This tense relationship with John was eating her away. She was just happy to be able to spend some quality time with her twin sister, even if only the weekend. She was hoping it would refresh her mood extensively. She just replied matter of factly, "Cool, it's been a long time we have seen her and Bryan, would be nice".
John knew his wife well, he knew that she was trying to play it casual but was actually very glad. Before he or she could say anything else Nikki's phone started to ring, she quickly grabbed the phone and started talking excitedly. It was her twin sister Brianna Bryan, married to Daniel Bryan. The four of them were college friends.
To give her some privacy, John got up from the sofa and walked towards their bedroom. As much as they had conflicts and differences, they still shared the same bed, just no physical contact. That had been the case for over a couple of months now. He took off his shirt and slipped on his side of the bed. He did not immediately lie, he leaned against the bed frame and waited for Nikki to return.
She came after about 15 minutes. Sure these two women liked to talk very much he thought, but it was natural though. They often talked on phone 3-4 times a week. John lightly wondered if Nikki had said anything to her sister about their current differences and the tense situation they were going through.
Nikki lied on her side of the bed, turning away from him. John felt bad, there was no excitement in their relationship now, it was dull and lacked affection. He longed to kiss her, make love to his wife but he was not sure of how she would react. Weird enough, that never was an issue for them before, they always had a crazy active sex life. But that all went downhill when they both became busy with their own individual life.
"Hey, did she say when will they arrive? We should make arrangements for a welcome party". John asked her.
Nikki didn't turn over. She simply replied, "They will be here by 10 am and Brie particularly asked not to make any special arrangments, this is just a family visit. We still have one full day in hand so we will plan on something later on", there was a hint of excitement in her voice.
John silently smiled. Daniel and Brie always tried to live a simple life though they too were rich in their own rights. They did not believe in all the leisure of the world and preferred just the required luxury. Daniel was a great guy and they became fast friends in college. The Bellas twins also attended the same classes and after a while the two started dating them. Brie and Daniel married a year before them and they were yet to have any known problems in their marriage. John wondered how would they feel if they learnt of his own marriage problems.
"Have you, by any case talked to Brie about our situation? Do they know?" John asked his wife.
Nikki turned towards him this time. She looked at him straight in his eyes. "No, I haven't, I don't really know what to do. I have never kept any secrets from my sis but I don't know why I haven't confided in her yet. I need someone who will understand my feelings, unlike you. I am thinking of having a conversation with Brie face to face this time". She said the last part with slight anger in her voice.
John instantly felt bad. Here his wife was openly admitting that she was not getting proper understanding, care and attention from him and he found he couldn't say anything logical in return. He tried to ignore it for the time being. "I think if they ever learn that we are going through some problems right now, they will feel they are forcing on us which is of course not the case. Also as much as it is true, I don't want to feel bad in front of them and I am sure you too don't want that. They have always thought that we are a pretty solid couple so the news will be a shock to them. I don't want them thinking like that".
Nikki was listening to him talk, silently. After he was done, she responded loudly, "So what do you want? I too don't want that but how long are we going to ignore this tension which is slowly tearing us apart. I am sure they will catch something the moment they see us interacting. I think it's high time we stop running from problems and address this situation".
John looked at her hard. "I am not trying to run from anything, all I want is for Brie and Daniel to not know anything about our problems. Now listen, today is Thursday, day after tomorrow they arrive, stay for two days and leave on Monday. We just have to act as normal as possible for the weekend, we behave in such a way so as not to let them guess anything. After they leave, we are going to have a long discussion about everything and won't stop until everything is sorted out between us. I promise you, I will do everything to make our marriage work, I love you and we will make decisions together. Now we just have to put an act for two days, tell me, you can do that at least, right?"
His words hurt. Did he really just say to put an act, they have to act to be normal? Was their relationship that bad? Nikki just took solace in the fact that they were going to have the big talk soon and she felt she could keep it away from Brie for a few more days. She didn't want to do it but again she didn't want to look as the bad sister. She reluctantly agreed with John and it was finalised that they would not let the other couple suspect a thing about their conflicts. Soon after, they went to sleep.
A/N2- Hope you liked this chapter. This story is going to be three chapters long. I will try to update the next chapter as soon as possible.
Sorry for the grammatical and spelling mistakes, English is not my first language. So the usual rant at the end, read it, review it, tell me what you feel about it, give me suggestions on what to improve and how to improve, they are all very much appreciated.