The Unintended Consequences
Kuvira walked to the door of Suyin's bedroom, holding the metal chest plate of her uniform in one of her hands. Using her other hand, she metal bended the door open as she continued to move towards the door way. Jarred to a sudden stop, Kuvira felt her skin tingle as the matriarch ran a hand down from the top of her shoulder to her forearm.
"Wait a minute." Suyin said, pulling on Kuvira's arm to drag the younger woman away from the open door with a playful grin widening on her face. "Where are you escaping to in such a hurry?"
Kuvira turned around to meet Suyin's eyes, as she was still being pulled back further into the room.
She wasn't escaping Suyin, but instead trying to save the matriarch from a much greater fate. The longer she and Suyin stayed missing, the more suspicious people around them became. Kuvira knew it would only be a matter of time before their absence would be noticed by others, and someone would come looking for them.
Deciding to down play her anxiety, she smiled back; feeling the matriarch grab her uniform to pull her closer. "Well my boss scheduled me for guard duty today." Kuvira said, smirking as she glanced over to one of the clocks on the dresser. "And…I'm going to be late…as of …now."
Looking down, Suyin ran her hands over the guard's stomach, before clasping them behind Kuvira's back, enveloping her in an embrace. "Well I'm sure your boss will be very understanding of your absence." Suyin said, leaning her forehead against the guard's collarbone; thinking of what she would've given to stay wrapped around Kuvira in that moment.
As the months passed, Suyin noticed their rendezvous were getting more and more careless; and she was sure Kuvira was starting to notice the same thing. It had gone from carefully planned midnight meetings while Bataar was out, to bold mid-day releases of pent-up lust in the matriarch's bedroom.
"Thank you." Suyin felt Kuvira slightly recoil at her words, no doubt with a look of confusion plastered on her face.
"For what exactly?" Kuvira said, taking a moment to think over Suyin's words as she brought her free hand to rest on the matriarch's lower back. Looking down at the woman's shoulder she smirked. "Are you thanking me for the sex…or just everything in general?"
Suyin made an appalled noise, as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Moving her hands to Kuvira's chest she pushed herself back in the guard's embrace. "Really?"
Smiling at Kuvira in disbelief, she shoved the guard in the arm, as the other woman broke her hold from around Suyin and started to laugh. "Hey, how am I supposed to know?" Kuvira said, her laughs dying down as Suyin's hands reached out to grab her uniform once again, pulling the guard back into her arms.
"Spirits, sometimes you're so frustrating to deal with." The matriarch smiled, biting her lip as she gazed down into the fabric of Kuvira's shirt. With dazed eyes, she watched the finger of her hand trace circles on the guard's stomach as she sighed. "hmm…."
"Well you know that frustration is what makes me-" Kuvira started, looking down at Suyin with a mischievous grin.
Sensing the impending innuendo, Suyin quickly shifted her head up, smiling as she pushed into the guard's chest with her finger. "Don't even go there." She said, rolling her eyes after watching Kuvira's grin widen.
"You know it's true; I-"
"Would you just shut-up for a minute and come here." Suyin smiled, tilting her head back as she wrapped her arms around Kuvira's neck, pulling her down into a kiss.
Unaware of the figure walking past the doorway, Kuvira deepened their kiss, drawing Suyin closer.
Back-tracking his steps to the bedroom doorway; Bataar gaped, watching his wife's hands pull Kuvira closer, as the guard dropped the chest plate she had been holding to link both of her arms around Suyin. He came back because he wanted to make sure his eyes were only deceiving him; but the sight before him was very real. His wife of almost 20 years was locked in a heated kiss with a woman, and a much younger one at that.
Watching Suyin let her hands glide down to the guard's chest until they dug into the fabric of Kuvira's uniform, broke his heart even more. Suyin never kissed him like that; and sometimes he wondered if she was even capable of that kind of passionate love anymore. He grimaced, looking at the answer to his question right in front of his eyes. She was still capable of that kind of love, but it wasn't for him.
Overcome by the emotions he couldn't describe or even express in the given moment, his shaking hands loosened their grip on the large metal object he was holding, letting it fall to the ground with a crash.
Startling both women, they quickly broke apart to see Bataar standing in the doorway; their eyes just as wide as his.
Karma had finally caught up to them; and it was punishing them with the consequences of their illicit relationship.
An eternity of silence seemed to pass before Bataar closed his mouth. Looking at Suyin with hateful eyes, he inhaled an unsteady breath as he turned and walked down the hallway; leaving both women to wallow in their shared guilt.
This is exactly what Kuvira had been trying to avoid. Now things were irreparably damaged, and she was the cause. Watching Suyin's head drop, she found her voice. "Are you going to go talk to him?"
The matriarch shook her head slowly, but said nothing. She was frozen; feeling disconnected from her own body.
"I'm sorry." She heard Kuvira say, as her feet began to move her across the room, away from the guard.
Slowly she sat down on the edge of the bed, resting her elbows on her knees. For the longest time, she stared with glazed eyes at the wall on the opposite side of the room, before she dropped her head into her hands.
"I know…I should probably just go." Kuvira said, cautiously moving closer to the other woman. "But…I can't…" She stopped making sure to leave enough space between her and Suyin. "…Not until you know that I'm here for you."
Suyin heard every one of Kuvira's words, but gave the guard no acknowledgement. She sighed, letting the guilty feelings tear her apart. But as odd as it was, she felt more guilt about not feeling guilty enough. She was supposed to be angry with Kuvira; throwing things at her and yelling about how ruined her life had become with her in it. But for some reason she couldn't bring herself to be angry with the guard; maybe, it was because she wasn't angry at all.
Lifting a hand from her face, she flicked her wrist; closing the door that had betrayed them of their privacy.
Kuvira glanced at the door, feeling the tension slowly draw into the room. Turning her head back to Suyin, uncertainty began to wash over her; as she had no idea what to expect.
"I should hate you right now…" Suyin said, returning her hand to her face. "I should be telling you to leave…"
Kuvira listened to the woman's voice get softer with each word, as a look of confusion overtook her face.
"…but…I can't." Suyin took a shaky deep breath, letting the realization of her actions overcome her. "What am I going to do now?"
Kuvira looked down to at the armor she had left on the ground, focusing on the tiny reflected objects in the metal. "I don't really know." She said, letting her eyes linger on the floor, before shifting her attention back over to Suyin. The matriarch was becoming only a shell of the person she had been just moments ago. Kuvira's job was to protect the other woman, and she felt helpless not even being able to protect Suyin from the things that could damage her the most, her own emotions.
Moving closer to Suyin, she kneeled down before the woman; lifting her arms as she took one of Suyin's wrists in each hand. Bringing her arms down, she pulled the matriarch's hands from her face, seeing the tears held back behind her reddening eyes. "I love you…and I'm not sorry that I do." Kuvira paused shifting her eyes down briefly before looking back up. "But…I'll still respect your wishes. If you want me to leave…then I will."
Suyin shook her head as tears started to fall from her eyes; some creating small darkened spots on Kuvira's uniform where they fell to rest. Leaning her head down onto Kuvira's shoulder…she cried.
Bataar had avoided her for the rest of the day, isolating himself in his study. It was something she couldn't blame him for. He was reacting just the way she had expected, if not better. In this type of situation, it was hard for her to gauge what the proper reaction would have been. People do all kinds of things in the name of love, and she was more surprised by what he didn't do.
She walked slowly down the hall to his study, dragging her hand along the wall with every advance forward. Taking a deep breath, she stopped just behind the view of the doorway; Her mind sorting through plans and ideas of what she'd say, and how she'd go about resolving this if a solution could even be found.
Moving around the corner, she spotted him; sitting at his work bench with his back to her. He always busied himself in work when something bothered him; and this was no exception.
"Bataar." Suyin said, watching him stop and tense up at her voice. " Please listen to me…I want to talk to you."
With every word she said, she saw his shoulders move up and down as he took in angry breaths.
She moved across the room to one of the chairs by a bookshelf, taking a slow and uncomfortable seat. " I don't know…where to start with all this." Suyin looked down into her hands as she brought her fingers together. " But I-"
"Why don't you start by telling me how long this has been going on." Bataar raised his voice as his eyes glared at the table below him.
"Three years."
Bataar's knuckles turned white hearing his wife's confession. He shook his head, as if it would have woken him up from the nightmare he was experiencing; But to no avail, he was still stuck in the same world trying to run away from the truth. He did not want to believe that the woman he had loved so much, would lie to him for years.
"I gave up…so much…for you, to give you everything." He paused, his emotional state hard for Suyin to decipher as she looked over to him. "How could you do this to me?"
Watching Bataar get up, the matriarch moved her eyes back down, before he slowly started moving towards her. "How could you do this to our family?" He stopped a good distance from her, as his eyes bore holes of shame into her very being.
"Now, I don't even want to go into my own bedroom…" He paused, the words too hard for him to speak. "…Knowing t-that my wife, my own wife…has been sleeping with someone else…in the same room."
Listening to him speak, Suyin used a hand to wipe away the tears that fell down her face. "I'm s-"
"I don't want to hear you tell me that you're sorry." His voice rose with anger as he finished. "Saying you're sorry is just the easy way out, isn't it?...to make you feel better."
"Bataar please…just calm down…we can try to work this out." Suyin said in a soft voice, opting for the default saying, as she became more and more emotionally withdrawn.
"You want me to calm down, after I find out that my wife, who I've been married to for almost twenty years, has been sleeping with a woman for the past three."
Every one of his words stabbed Suyin like a knife. She couldn't explain what was happening to her love for Bataar. She couldn't explain why she had chosen Kuvira instead. Hell, she couldn't even explain what was happening to herself. The more she thought about it, the more overwhelmed she became.
"I didn't sleep with her for that long." Suyin realized the stupidity of her own words coming from her mouth, as her mind began to shut down.
With widened disbelieving eyes, Bataar stared at his wife. "Are you kidding me…is that all you can really say?"
"I don't know what else to say Bataar." Suyin said keeping her eyes trained on the floor.
Bataar turned away from her, walking back to the work bench, as he sat down.
In the hostile silence that hung between them, Suyin could hear the echoes of her children's voices down the hall. After what happened with Kuvira, she hadn't been able to focus on anything other than the path of destruction their affair had brought; as karma followed her around like a lost dog, reminding her of the detriment of her actions.
Hearing her kids voices, and seeing their faces, was like another stab in the back. But even through the constant obstacles, what confused her the most, was that her love for Kuvira still remained.
"Tell me something…" Bataar held in the inescapable question that had plagued his mind throughout the whole day. "Do you love her?" He finally said, seeing the image burned into his mind, of how passionately his wife's fingers dug into the guard's shoulders as they kissed.
Suyin looked up as their eyes met for the first time since the argument had started. That was a question she had an answer for, but didn't want to say it. Her eyes pleaded with Bataar, asking him not to force her to tell. She wouldn't lie about it, and the truth would do too much damage.
Giving up, she sighed as she turned her head away from him, shifting her eyes down. "That isn't really important right now."
Bataar slammed his fist on the table, regaining Suyin's attention as he stood up. "It's important to me that I haven't heard you tell me no yet."
"Please don't yell Bataar…" Suyin looked down, facing her guilt. "…the kids will hear us."
"So now you care about the family?" He said, walking closer to her. "You didn't seem to care when you brought that woman into our house." Bataar's mind drifted back to his memories of when he had first seen Kuvira, after Suyin had promoted her to a house guard.
He recounted every instance he had seen Suyin with Kuvira; playing it in his mind like a slide show, picking up every piece of the puzzle he had missed.
The absences, the coincidental meetings, his wife's almost constant need to have the guard by her side, the smiles they gave each other, and so many more subtle things he had overlooked. Tears began to form in his eyes as he put everything together.
"I was such a fool, for not seeing it earlier." Bataar said, as his feet dragged him back to the chair.
Sitting down once more, he drew a hand over his face, letting it linger at his mouth, as he lost himself in the pattern of the deep green carpet. "Every time I came back from a trip, I thought I was…coming back to my wife; but in reality, I was coming back to someone who didn't love me at all anymore." He said in hushed tones, as his eyes darted around the ground in shock.
Turning her head to Bataar, Suyin stood up, walking over to him. She had never seen him this hurt before, and now it was because of her. She would have been lying to say that there was never a point where she loved him; it was just the contrary. Years ago, she fell in love with his sweet demeanor and charm; never imagining her life would bring her into the rapturous arms of a twenty-three year old.
Extending an arm to reach for Bataar's shoulder, she was quickly pushed away by the back of his hand. "Don't touch me with those hands." He moved his arm back down, not even taking notice of the hurt on Suyin's face. "I don't even want to know how many times you've touched her the same way."
"Bataar, I-"
"How can you bring this into our home and taint our family with lies?" He looked up into her eyes, as the woman swallowed her guilt. "What kind of mother are you?"
Suyin staggered back, her eyes wide with unshed tears. "Don't say that Bataar…please."
Bataar stood from his seat, to stare right at Suyin, pointing an accusing finger at her. " You aren't the woman I married…No. the person in front of me is not my wife…" He paused as a tear ran down his face, watching her turn and walk with uneasy steps to the doorway. "…and not the mother of my kids."
Suyin placed a supporting hand onto the side of the door, struggling to keep herself from collapsing in grief. Before anything else was said, she left; moving down the hall like a ghost, as she went to find Kuvira.
Author's note:
Back to my usual stuff…. Sorry guys but I'll crack ship 'til I die….just hopefully that isn't tomorrow. lol . This story is just me throwing random ideas out...so shoot me a quick message and tell me if you like it or not ;)
P.S. I got tummy chills (butterflies...whatever you call them) writing this story. lol ..so hopefully the story had the same impact on you...I'll be glad if you enjoyed it ;)