I know I promised this chapter would be longer...but I'm not sure it is. Sorry! I PROMISE the next one will be longer. And...um...from about now, Mariah turns into the hellish bitch-queen of the north, but (at first, anyway) she's not acting all that differently from a lot of women who find out their husbands have been having affairs ...
"What are you doing here?" Mariah asked stiffly when she opened the door to Rei the next morning. It was just turning eleven...Niu and Jin would be at school...and they could talk. Bryan had stayed in the car, with a magazine, a bar of chocolate and a promise that he would come in if Rei needed him. So Rei was alone, standing on the doorstep under the suspicious gaze of Mariah. "We...need to talk." He said firmly, hoping that the fortnight's worth of holidays he'd put in at work wouldn't see him hospitalised. She looked about angry enough to break his legs, that was for certain...
"You'd better come in then." She moved aside and Rei walked into the house, feeling nervous. This was his house, his name on the deeds, and he still felt like some kind of creeping alien.
Mariah led him into the kitchen, her hair swept up into a pink ponytail that bobbed as she walked. She was wearing old clothes, no makeup...very unlike her. She looked like she'd been crying as well. And Rei felt guilt eat into him again. "Mariah..." His hand came to rest on her arm, but she moved away.
"Don't touch me, Rei."
"Mariah..." He began, heart hammering. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you-"
"What, you sleep with some tart behind my back and then you run away and you say you didn't mean to hurt me?"
"He's not a tart!" Mariah's fists clenched at her sides.
"Just STOP, okay? I don't want to know who it is. Just admit it, Rei. Stop making things up and trying to protect her, whoever she is..."
"Mariah...I'm not making things up. There's no woman."
"Rei-"
"Look, I'm not lying. I realised I was gay when I was fifteen. And then not so long after you got pregnant- we were drunk, I didn't know what I was doing...and I wasn't going to abandon you if you were having my child. And I couldn't tell you...and it went on and on, and-"
"You slept with me! How can you be gay?" Replied Mariah, scornful and disbelieving.
"Mariah...I hated sleeping with you! But I couldn't -not- do it! Because it was getting to the point where if I came out and told you, it would be too late. And I would have to give you a reason why I'd kept it a secret for so long...and I didn't -have- one, Mariah."
"No..."
"Mariah..." She shook her head, stubborn. "I saw other men. But they were all one night stands, they were easy to hide..."
"Stop it!" Mariah shouted. "Just stop!"
"No! I'm trying to tell you the truth, the least you can do is listen!" Mariah turned away from him, and he sighed. "I never told you, and I never told Niu and Jin. Because I wanted you all to be happy. You're my family. If people found out...if I left... I...I just wanted you all to be safe...and it was okay to lie, because I was protecting you from finding out, I was stopping you from losing what you thought you'd always had..."
"Rei..."
"But this time...with Bryan...I love him, Mariah...and it's serious between us..."
"No! Shut up! I-I don't believe you!"
"Why not?" Rei challenged, as Mariah leaned against the heavy marble counter for support.
"You can't have lied to me for twelve years...you can't..." Rei could hear the sob in her voice. "Are you saying our marriage has been a sham from the start? Because I can't believe that, Rei! And I won't believe it!"
"Mariah..."
"Just stop it, stop all this lying and pretending-"
"I've spent the last twelve years pretending, Mariah! And now you know about everything I don't have to go on pretending!" With a cry of rage, Mariah raised a hand and slapped him, leaving a red mark in her wake. "I'm. Not. Lying." Mariah raised her hand again and he grabbed it, pushing it away. "Look, do you have to meet him before you'll believe me? He's in the car outside, if that's what it takes to convince you!"
Apprehensively, Rei knocked on the car window. Bryan appeared from behind his magazine, looking puzzled for a second, then realising who it was. "She...still doesn't believe me..."
"Oh. Shall I be exhibit A, then?" His joke went unappreciated- Rei was too worried to pay much attention to what he was saying. He led Bryan to the door, looked at him apologetically, and took him inside. Mariah was sitting on the kitchen table by now, wiping her eyes with her shirt sleeve. "Mariah..."
"Who're you?" She asked faintly, evidently praying he wouldn't confirm what Rei intended him to.
"Well...I'm Steve from the pub, Martin with the awful girlfriend, Rei's boss needing work done again, and Carlos who needs a bit of help doing up his house." He said slowly, citing a few of the made-up people Rei has used as a pretence for leaving the house. "But I'm actually Bryan."
Mariah looked at him and then burst into noisy tears, bringing her knees up to her chest and burying her face in them. "Mariah..." Rei began.
"Twelve years!" She cut across him. "I've been faithful to you for twelve years! And it was all just a big lie?"
"Mariah...I never meant to hurt you-"
"Is that another LIE, Rei?"
"No! I was just trying to do what was best for you and-"
"SHUT UP!" Her yell was deafening, and it made Rei step back fearfully. "Just...shut up..."
"Mariah..."
"Don't talk to me..." Rei moved closer, reaching out for her shoulder. She slapped his hand away furiously.
"Mariah...Rei didn't-"
"I don't want you to talk to me either!" Mariah screamed over Bryan. "Just get out! GET OUT!" She sobbed, hiding her face in her hands. "Don't ever come near me again, Rei...don't come near me, or Niu, or Jin!"
"Mariah-"
"If you speak to me or them ever again..." Mariah stood finally, and even though she was the shortest person in the room she seemed to tower. "I'm going to take you to court and make sure they put you away!"
"You can't do that!" Rei shouted back. Bryan grabbed his shoulder as he made to move forward. "You can't stop me from seeing them!"
"Yes I FUCKING can! If you can lie to me for twelve years and sleep with -men- behind my back then I can stop you from -ever- seeing the kids again! Now get out! And don't come back!"
"Mariah-"
"Rei, come on. Leave it." Bryan said quietly, holding Rei's arm tightly.
"You can't take them away from me!" He hissed. "They're my kids as well as yours and you can't just shut me out of their lives!"
"I can and I'm going to! Besides, what kind of example are you and your loverboy going to be to them anyway you dirty gay bitch?" Mariah sneered back.
"You-"
"Rei, Stop it! Just leave it!" Bryan ordered, pulling Rei forcibly towards the door. Mariah watched them leaving from the kitchen window, and Rei could feel her eyes cutting into him as they sped away.
Next Chapter: Ooze-burgers, Captain Bryan and A&E
R&R, please? It makes me happy. And it makes me feel warm and fuzzy so my fingers type faster...really!