After a frustrating evening with her husband, Chef Ramsey heads back to Kena for more answers.
"Tyr talked about how he can 'out-stubborn' you. Care to explain what he meant by that?"
"He basically stalked his way into my life. We met when he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia eight years ago. He was hitting on me relentlessly even though I'm… Well, look at me. I'm not exactly supermodel material," she admits, spinning around in a circle. " I figured he lost a bet or something. I mean, why the heck would an African battle god pursue a fat chick with a great personality, right? It took two years of convincing to make me see that he was serious about me and another year to marry me. We basically skipped the Courtship. Maybe I should have insisted on one. Maybe I would have seen this coming and broken things off with him. But honestly everything was fine until he got it in his head to open a restaurant. We used to be happy together. Now all I want is out of my marriage."
"Tyr said that you don't believe in divorce."
"Not in the way most people do. I've bound my life to his and only death can part us. But his psychological warfare is damaging me. It's destroyed my health and is affecting my wellness. I've been hospitalized for my blood pressure three times in the past year. And I can't tell anyone why! It's abusive and isolating. I can't talk to friends or family about the way he treats me. I can't talk to anyone about it. I am allowed to get away from that through a divorce, I just can't remarry, cause that would be adultery. And it would allow him to commit adultery too. But I don't mind being alone. Tyr was my first everything and he's ruined me for other men. I just want to be free. I'll never be free as long as I'm bound to him and his oppression."
"You still love him."
"What's love got to do with it?" she asked, holding back tears. "I can't be what he wants me to be. It would eat at me, killing my will a day at a time to work in his restaurant. It's best for me to just… step aside now. I got two blissful years with him. And that's more than any woman who looks like me should expect from the Sexiest Man Alive. I plan to talk to a lawyer and get the paperwork today. No use in delaying the inevitable now that I see that he's never going to stop." She takes a deep, shuddering breath, ignoring the tears in her eyes.
"You came at a very auspicious time, Chef. I was toying with the idea of divorce when you walked into our lives. And now I'm convinced that there is no deceitful trick he won't use to force me to work for him. So, thank you. I'm so sorry that we wasted your time with our drama."
"You would condemn yourself to be alone at the age of thirty-one?"
"This is the only option left to me."
"Mekena, let me help you. It doesn't have to be like this. You both love each other so much, give me just six days to make this right."
"This isn't a fairytale, Chef!" she exclaimed. "This is my life and you can't just 'fix it'. This divorce is three years in the making. At least there are no children involved."
"I was wondering about that."
"Rich people really do have it better. He's under the influence of a very powerful contraceptive that he's been taking since he became sexually active at age eleven. He's been with hundreds of women and no few of them have tried to get pregnant by him for his family fortune. Paternity tests have proven that the babies weren't his. I wanted a baby when we first married, but Tyr just said that he wanted me all to himself for a few years first. Then this restaurant business came up and he cut me off to try to get his own way."
"He cut you off?"
"I think he hurt himself more than me with that move. I was a virgin when we met, so it makes me no never mind. But Tyr is a man quite accustomed to the company of women. I'm likely doing him a favor by stepping aside. There's plenty of women clamoring to get in his pants and I don't share."
"Kena, Tyr loves you. He loves you so much. He's just misguided about how to show it."
"He doesn't love me! People who love each other don't treat each other the way he treats me! He never loved me, he just wanted another notch in his bedpost and he knew I wouldn't put out until he 'put a ring on it'!"
"Then why would he go to all the trouble of marrying you if all he wanted was the sex? He could have gotten sex from anyone with those muscles."
"Rich people are eccentric. Our wedding was super cheap comparatively speaking, I insisted on it. He probably just-"
"You give yourself too little credit, dear lady," Chef Ramsey smiled and wiped at a tear that had escaped her iron hold on her emotions. "If you truly believe that six days won't matter to your divorce proceedings-"
"Six years wouldn't matter!"
"-then I don't see how giving me those six days will make a difference. Unless you're afraid that I'm right." The light of challenge enters her expressive brown eyes. She smirks.
"You know what? Fine. Six days won't make a lick of difference. But if you want to waste even more of your time, so be it."
"Thank you. Now the first thing we have to do is to show your husband that he has no plans for your supposed 'arrival' in his restaurant. Can you give me your time for the next six days? Maybe take time off work so that we can convince him together?"
"I still don't see what it'll help, but I'll call out right now if you want, Chef."
"Perfect! Now, I may ask you to do some strange things over the course of the next few days, but please understand that it's all to save your marriage."
She nods and wipes her eyes and nose on her sleeve. Chef Ramsey hands her a box of tissues and she grins through her tears.
"This isn't going to work, you know. But I truly appreciate you caring enough to try."
[Third Commercial Break]
Thank you to all of you who have read my story up to this point. I know it's a little out of the way and not the easiest to understand.
Well, it seems the Chef has a plan. You'll have to wait until next week to find out what it is. Please review; I'd love to hear what you guys think of the story. Is it too hard to follow with the narration? Is it not narrated enough? Let me know! ^_^