Money For Loyalty

Chapter One

"Mellisa, we want nothing but the best for you. You are our world and at this point, it's best to divorce that good for nothing husband of yours." Paula, the 46 year old mother said to her daughter who sat in between her parents with her sweaty palms rubbing against each other repeatedly.

"It's obvious that he has nothing to offer you Mellisa, letting him marry you was a mistake and we are sorry about that." Gabriel said putting his hand gently on her daughter's shoulders.

Paula stood up with her forehead squeezing a little, she was not happy with her husband admitting that they made a mistake, she has always believed she is the smart one and never made mistakes and yes, she was known for her assumption of being perfect.

"A mistake? I didn't make a mistake Gabriel, you did!" Her voice raised with anger.

"Please mum, dad you guys don't have to do this now." The young voice of Melissa pleaded, she didn't want this to turn into one of their many argument sessions which had become part of the family.

"Me? Now you blame me? What's wrong with you Paula?" Gabriel stood up with anger and the wallet he kept on his lap fell on the floor.

His wife didn't stop, "Yeah I blame you! I told you we couldn't let our daughter marry Mc Ethan but you never listened, you kept saying he's hard working and will definitely take care of her."

"And now you're saying I'm responsible for our daughter ending up with a man who can't take care of her?" His rage was becoming uncontrollable and the neighbours could hear them screaming at each other.

"Yes again! I blame it all on you, I know a rich man when I see one and I told you that Mc wasn't capable of taking care of our daughter Melissa."

"Rich man yeah? Rich man! Rich, rich, rich! That's all you talk about Paula, I wonder what you'll do if we wake up one day and my money vanishes, you'll leave me too?"

Mellisa heard a heavy clap sound in the room and hurriedly raised her head up to see that her mom turned her dad's face to the other side with a dirty slap.

"Oh my God mom you guys don't have to do this, you both have the same mindset, you think Mc is not the right man for me and you want me to divorce him, isn't that what you guys want?

"Yes honey that's what we want!" Paula snapped as she walked out the door with her mind already a pool of anger.

Gabriel followed her steps out of the room with the same rage leaving their beautiful daughter in the bedroom of her husband's house.

Mellisa fell back on her bed with her arms widely opened in frustration. Little did she know that every single conversation they had in that room was heard by her calm loving husband Mc Ethan who was eavesdropping from the bathroom of the guest room "I'd always known she had doubts about me, and now she's gonna leave me despite my struggles?". The handsome and hardworking young man with perfect long hair has been trying his best to take care of his wife Melissa for the past 3 years but he was never appreciated neither by his wife or his in-laws, "not so bad but quite cheap" Mellisa whispered to herself after receiving a gift from Mc on the past Christmas and it still played in his head like it happened just yesterday. The poor boy without both parents who had to survive on different part time jobs during his High-school days has grown to be a husband who's looked down upon by everyone including his neighbours who once had a bit of respect for him before his marriage with Mellisa.

"Hey love." Mc tried to get his wife's attention after walking into the bedroom.

"Hey." She wasn't interested in a conversation with him.

"I saw your parents leaving, it didn't look so good. Are you guys ok?"

"It's family stuff Mc, you shouldn't care." She carelessly said as she stood up to walk out.

"Hey love," his hand grabbed her arm gently to draw her back, "I thought we were one family, and I care about you all, I love you and I'll always want to know what's wrong."

"Well you've mistaken your priorities, you should be caring about raising your standard of living because last time I checked, we are below standard." She pushed his hand away to walk out but then turned back after realising something.

"Wait a minute, what are you doing home at this time? Shouldn't you be at your so called workplace?" she didn't really care.

"uhm... I was thinking we should talk about that."

"What now? They made you CEO and now you don't have to go to work anymore?" she mocked.

"Well Mellisa, I lost my Job!"

"What?" Now she was genuinely shocked! "You lost your job? What did you do this time? Mc can you keep one job for at least 5 months? How do you expect us to live now?"

"It's not my fault I promise."

"Yeah I know it's never your fault, you keep fumbling and it's always never your fault. We are behind our bills and it's not your fault. You've taken a bunch of unnecessary loans you can hardly pay and it's not your fault, and now you've lost your job and it's not your fault. It's my fault then?"

"I never said that, it's a hard time for me and I was really hoping you could be supportive with some kind words, everything I do is for the good of both of us."

"Oh now I'm not being supportive? You want me to appreciate you for screwing things up and making living harder for us? That's it, I'm done here, I'm going to spend the weekend at my friend's place."

"Can you stay so we can reason things out as a couple? I need your support now more than ever."

"No Mc I'm not doing this right now. We will talk when I get back in maybe two days." She grabbed her pink expensive purse and her iPhone 15 which brought problems between her and Mc because he thought they had monetary problems to tackle and it wasn't time to buy such an expensive device.

"I'll see you when I get back." She slammed the door behind her.

The tall, beautiful and successful banker left the room leaving behind the frustration of her husband filling every single corner of the room and yes! She didn't care. She walked out the gate speaking to herself with so much anger "You've never been a real man! Real men have good jobs and real men can keep a job but what do you always do? Huh? You always lose it!" Her keys fell on the concrete floor and she struggled to pick the bunch while passing it around the floor repeatedly out of frustration, "just get over here you damn keys" she finally said after picking them up.

Mc slowly opened the door to the bathroom and went right in the bathtub with his clothes still on. His eyes could say it all, he needed someone to hold on to him, someone to encourage him with their words and actions. "This is really what's in it for living a life? Just having a complete bad time here on earth and then finally dying? Not cool for real." He spoke to himself.

"She's always gonna be like that bro, as long as she has a better job than you and she earns higher than you." Michael's voice came back into Mc's head from their talk over the phone yesterday. He's been friends with Michael right from childhood and he seemed to be the only one left on the planet who understood him.

Mc dialled his best friend's number again hoping to hear some words of comfort while his body got wetter and he shivered from the cold and the thoughts in his head. "You know one thing we don't have in common bro? I think you hold onto things for too long." Michael's voice came over the phone as their conversation got deeper.

"What're you saying man?" Mc stretched his legs in the bathtub as he listened carefully.

"I'm saying you should let her go if she wants to leave. Don't keep holding on and looking so desperate."

"I love her man, I really do love that lady."

"I know bro, and that's the problem. I've been with you right from childhood, you remember when you worked three different jobs just to survive?"

"Of course Michael."

"You remember the girl by the roadside who used to give us food for free? Right there Mc, that's real care! That's someone with a good heart. She didn't even know us that well but she could tell that these two little boys were working and could hardly afford a good meal but needed to eat!"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Isn't it obvious? There's people who have a heart to care and love because that's who they are. And there's people who's care and attention can only be bought by money!"

"Money for loyalty."

"Exactly! Money for loyalty. And your wife Mellisa is one of those whose loyalty only comes with the presence of money. Now I'm left to wonder if she's going to leave you because of the pressure from her parents or after you finally catch her in one of her cunning acts."

Mc's heart skipped a beat before he asked" cunning acts? What do you mean? Do you know anything she's been doing behind my back? "

"You know what bro, I really shouldn't have brought this up, let's talk some other time. "

"No Michael, wait, wait. "But the call ended and Mc was left alone with his thoughts and a wandering mind.

"cunning acts, what's my wife hiding from me? I'm definitely going to find out, and it better not be about having an affair with that coworker she lied about!" He said to himself.