Chapter 5:    The Newly-Wed

Kimhan Burnaphan

Pie Mindara Manaying, a twenty-five year old teacher who happened to be my wife was absolutely a witch beguiled in a Goddess form. I admitted it myself that she was beyond gorgeous – her beauty was everything that any guys would die for yet her attitude ruined almost all good impression I had about her at the first glance. It’s true that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and I have learned it from my experience. Good outlook doesn’t necessarily behold a beautiful content. The same thing went for my legally wedded wife. She’s beautiful but that didn’t necessarily make her a nice person. She was rude, stubborn and I despised everything about her afterward. How was it even possible I end up helping a woman like her? She was ungrateful.

I was much aware that she didn’t know that I was going to be her ‘bridegroom’. She wished for a temporary husband not a wife.  As much as I hated to say that I was also selfish in our arrangement, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was doing this for my very own importance too. If Pie wanted to evade the contract for rural teaching, I was doing this for the heart of my life. Pie had no idea about it and it was all because of her complete trust to P’Boy. She didn’t read the contract and I could say that she didn’t care about it at all. That was her mistake.

Put the contract aside. There was another thing which bothered me too much. Pie hated me for no concrete reason. I didn’t do anything to her yet she held so much hatred in her soul. It was only day one and she has jumped into her conclusion way too early. Our first day didn’t go as good as what I was anticipating. It was worse. We had terrible fight and again, I admitted that I was partially wrong in the case. I went too far across the line when I dared her to file the divorce. I shouldn’t have said that. I made myself look bad in front of her and also her family. Grandpa; I knew he was disappointed with me and that was the major reason I’d accepted the offer from him. He told me that we needed our private space and time to get along with or in other word, bonding. Due to the reason that I owed a lot to this family, I had no choice but to oblige.

Now that we were moving to our own place, which by any luck was a gift from Pie’s Grandpa, she has already showed me her true colour when the elder was not around. For the past forty five minutes, she has been directing me to do this and that while she didn’t do anything – so like a boss. We needed to unpack the stuffs and know what? Almost all of them were her belongings. I had no energy to argue over the matter with her. I knew I wouldn’t have the chance to win.

            “I still can’t believe that we are moving in together,” Pie complained, leaning her back against the wall while crossing her arms across her chest as she supervised me while I lifted up the box of her stuff. She eyed me from time to time as if I were about to break anything inside it. I wondered what she took here. They were too much to fit in this terrace house.

            “It would be good if you stop complaining and help me,” I sighed. Listening to her made me even exhausted. Pie might have not known it, but Grandpa and I have been discussing about this moving out earlier. It was no surprise to me when he mentioned about the house. I have known it before hand. It wasn’t the same for Pie. She surely disagreed about the idea. She hated me, I could tell. I wished she knew that I dislike her too; Witch!

            “No,” She crossed her arms, looking a bit bossy with that kind of attitude. “Didn’t I tell you that you’re going to go through a hell life?” She raised a brow, one side of her lips curled up into a smirk. I studied her whole figure quickly. Pie looked so neat in her pink blouse and black slack pants. The aura of her professionalism shone bright through her posture. She was no doubt a high class woman.

            “Ah, sure,” I nodded at her, “How can I forgot the fact that you come from the hell? Thank you so much for sharing your experiences there with me,” I wouldn’t give up just like that. She wanted to play it harsh? I didn’t hesitate to return the same too.

Looking at Pie who seemed caught off guard, I stifled a laugh as I tilted my head to a side, mocking her with a smile. I have noticed that it drove her up the wall when I smiled at her. It would be my mightiest weapon. “Get the things to my room,” She stomped on her feet, turning around very quickly to go somewhere. “This hell is too hot that my throat grows dry,” She walked pass me, huffing. My giggle echoed through the living room. Pie Mindara has been defeated for the first time.

            “Pie?” I called her before she gone completely from my sight. She didn’t hesitate to turn around and look at me. “I love you…” I blew a kiss to her direction. Pie’s reaction was priceless, she widened her eyes in disbelief before she crinkled her nose in annoyance. Without saying anything, she spun on her heel and headed to the kitchen. Why I was saying that to her? Shouldn’t the ‘I love you’ being said when we really mean it? Nope! I would use the three words to annoy her.

            “Kimhan!” Pie shouted from the kitchen. I ignored it for once. She might want to give me more tasks. “Kimhan!”She called me again. I dropped my to the floor, taking a brief seconds of rest before I heard she called for my name again, “Kimhan Burnaphan!” Wow, I took it as her last straw. I might as well check on her before she exploded like a mad volcano. Her lava of anger was dangerous. I wouldn’t risk myself to be burn in it.

            “I’m coming,” I jumped on my feet and arranged long strides to the kitchen. Pie was sitting at the kitchen island while swinging her short legs in the air. She stared at me right at my face and I saw she beckoned me to come closer to her.

            “Wow, do you want to have in the kitchen?” I . Just like what I have expected, she shot me a scolding look. I was just lucky enough that we were about a few feet away. I might get a smack if we were nearby.

            “Don’t to me,” She warned. “At least have some respect to me as I’m older than you,” Oh, she was being serious now. For the first time, I thought she was right. I might as well give in. Talking about our ages, mine was twenty one while hers was twenty five. It wasn’t too huge in difference but I was still younger than her though. The only thing that kept Pie looked about my age was her slim and petite figure. She got the extra credit there that I thought she would stay young even though the digit of her age increases.

            “What do you need from me?” I hopped on to the island and took a seat next to her. We have the chairs there but I didn’t really want to use one. Sitting closer to Pie was more fun because it would mean I intended to annoy her. Why stressing out with her attitude when I could make more fun from it?

Pie scooted away from me. “I’m thirsty,” She said, “And we don’t have any drinking water here,” She added. I gave her a look. Did it have anything to do with me?

            “Don’t give me that look,” Pie crossed her arms to her front again. “Buy me some water before I ask Grandpa to fix a proper water filter for us. I’m not going to drink from that tap water, even if we happen to boil them,” She said with her ‘rich kid’ attitude. My wife was such a spoiled brat. I should get really used to her attitude from now.

            “I have a lot more things to do, Pie,” I shook my head, telling her that I wasn’t going to go anywhere just to buy her the drinking water. She could go by herself because she was practically didn’t do anything.

            “Kimhan,” She frowned, pouting her lips in disappointment. No. No. I couldn’t handle that. There was something about Pie which actually weakened me. Though she behaved like a witch, her innocent and raw soul was something I couldn’t resist. I have learned it very quickly too. She might be hard headed and rude but her heart was as fragile as the glass. One harsh touch and it shuttered into pieces in no time. Pie Mindara held a lot of mysteries which has caused me wanting to learn about her for more. I could sense that it was something worth the research.

            “Fine,” I jumped from the counter to the ground. “You have to know that I’m doing this to make up things for you. You know, since you won’t accept my apologies, I’ll do everything to please you,” I had no idea on why I needed to explain it to her. Part of it was right and the other part was meant to cover up.

            “Good!” Pie smiled. Oh, that beautiful smile. Wait! Did I see it right? She got the smiling eyes. We rarely seen people with those eyes; do you know that? Whenever the person smiles and her eyes seem somewhat smiling too, we called those as smiling eyes. It’s the most beautiful thing I could ever search in a person and to my luck, my wife had one.

            “Can I have the car key?” I requested, showing my palm to her as to wait for the bunch of keys to be placed in there.

Pie tilted her head to a side, which I’d ridiculously find it adorable while grinning at me. What has gotten into her? “You’re not going to drive the car,” She said, “Walk.” My eyes nearly popped out and fell to the ground upon listening to it. She couldn’t be more insane than this right? She was telling me to travel my foot? Where would I find the shops around here when I haven’t really familiar with the place?

            “Pie, you’re wasting my time,” I found myself walking away from the kitchen. I wouldn’t travel by foot just to find some drinking water for Pie. She was crazy.

            “Hey, I was just joking,” She trailed behind me. She shifted her direction to the other junction of the house and returned to me awhile later. “Here,” She handed me the key and also a few bank notes. “Get something for us to eat as well,” She reminded.

            “Are you allergic to anything else rather than chocolate?” It was meant to be a sarcastic question. Pie scoffed a little when she remembered the thing happened between us. She told me that she was allergic to chocolate while the truth was she wasn’t.

            “Well, I have a bad allergic reaction to you.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Get me anything but please don’t include porridge. I don’t like it,” She pursed her lower lips, making herself somewhat a cute creature. Oh God, why it seemed like everything she did was too adorable?

            “You look hideous,” I poked on her head, “Don’t pout like that, you make me sick,” I lied. I wished I could see it often. What has gotten into me?

            “You just have to admit that I’m cute,” She made a face. “You can go now and please be hurry. There are a lot more to be done and for your information, I won’t help a bit,” Pie said. She polished her nails on left shoulder as she smirked at me. Why I wasn’t surprise with it?

            “Anything for you, my wife,” I stepped closer to her and intentionally; I leaned in to kiss her on her forehead. With a slight different in our height, it wasn’t difficult for me to do that to her.

            “Eww,” She pushed me off her and took many steps away from me. “Do that again and you’ll lose your lips forever,” She wiped her forehead in disgust. It entertained me anyway. Definitely, I would do it over and over.

            “Take care while I’m gone,” I told her and it was the matter of being concern of leaving her all alone here.