I glanced at my watch. Again.

My jet had just landed and I was already supposed to be in a car, heading to a dinner party hosted by one of the members of the company board. I knew I was late, something I hated. Lateness was as unacceptable from me as it was from anyone else.

After successfully leaving the airport, I found Joe and one of my cars waiting for me. Joe took my luggage as I quickly slid into the car, finally able to relax after the long flight.

As I let myself sink into the seat, I heard a small "hello" that made me freeze. I hadn't been expecting my 'wife' to be there, and I had no clue what to do now that she was. We'd spoken a total of maybe ten words since we had gotten married. It was awkward and weird, and now that we'd went so long without talking, it felt even more awkward and weird for me to start now.

I was about to respond with a polite and satisfactory greeting when I realized it was way too late to answer her now. Shit, why was this whole situation so awkward? The last thing I needed in my life was a stressful home life on top of my very stressful work life.

I looked down to my phone quickly, hoping to avoid more  awkward interactions. After replying to a few emails, I glanced up at my wife for the first time since entering the car. She had her head rested on the headrest, eyes closed and seemingly fast asleep. It was then that I got to take a good look at her without fear of being caught.

I knew that she was beautiful, but for some reason I was shocked all over again when I saw just how beautiful she was. She was tall; her legs that laid out before her seemed to stretch on for forever. Her long dark brown hair was let loose and wild, framing her eerily perfect face. Full lips painted in a dark red contrasted against her perfectly tanned skin, drawing my attention to her over and over. She was effortless, and easily the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

She stayed asleep until we finally reached our destination. She looked peaceful that way, and I didn't want to disturb her sleep. I waited in the car for a minute, hoping she would wake on her own so I wouldn't have to awkwardly wake her up, but I had no such luck.

I decided it would be too weird if I woke her up. Maybe I would tell Joe to do it.

Yes, that seemed like a much better idea. She would probably feel more comfortable that way anyway. I was sure the last thing she wanted to wake up to was the face of a stranger as he interrupted her rest.

I rolled down the partition and asked Joe if he could wake her up after I left. I knew the right thing to do was to wait for her and walk into the dinner together, but I wanted to avoid the awkwardness of that at all costs. I got out of the car quickly and entered the hall quietly, hoping to remain unnoticed. But unnoticed I was not.

Moments after entering the hall, I was all but attacked by Cassie, my friend and the one of the Human Resources team at the company. "Ayyy it's Tobias! 'Sup, bro?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Why do you insist on talking like that whenever you see me? You know how much abbreviations irritate me."

"That's the whole point," she rolled her eyes right back at me, then looked around. "Where's your amazing wife?"

"In the car, sleeping."

"Well, did you wake her up?"

"No, I told Joe to."

"Tobias, are you dumb? Why would you- oh! There she comes!"

I looked back quickly at the doors to see them opening and grabbed Cassie's arm and pulled her towards our assigned table. If I had to keep running away from awkward situations with my wife all night, so be it.

"What are you doing?" Cassie asked, ready to reprimand me. Before she could start, she passed by a waiter with a tray of hors d'oeuvres and in a moment, she was gone.

I sat down at our table, which was currently empty. Looking back towards the entry, I found my wife with Jasmine, and they were heading our way. I couldn't really run away again, could I?

Apparently I could, as I quickly stood up and left the table. I ventured as far away from my seat as possible, ending up by the bar at the edge of the hall. When I glanced back at the table, I saw that she was seated, giving my empty seat a distatesful look. Immediately I was glad that I had left the table when I did.

I thought I had found a quiet, solitary place for myself for the rest of the dinner, until I was interrupted by a hand on my shoulder. Begrudgingly, I turned around to find Jake smiling up at me.

"Someone's hiding," he laughed.

"What?" I denied. "No, I'm not."

"Jasmine and I have been watching you avoid Talia like the plague. It borderline comical, Tobias."

"Shut up, Jake. No I have not, okay?"

"I don't think you can avoid her like this for the rest of your marriage, let alone for the rest of your night. So come on, let's go back to the table. The foods coming out anyway."

"I'm not hungry," I said.

"Tobias."

"Jake."

"Don't be a little bitch. Come on," he said, turning away and walking towards our table. Sighing, I had nothing to do than to follow him.

I sat down as I saw Cassie run over and stuff her napkin down the top of her dress so that it acted as a bib. Shifting my eyes to the side, I watched as Talia walked over back to her seat. She was graceful as she walked, with good posture and her head held high. I had seen few people move with the confidence she did.

She sat down and I looked away quickly, finding it best to pretend she wasn't there instead of trying to have some sort of awkward conversation. The food was served and I ate in silence, finding I had little appetite as I did.

But if I thought I didn't have an appetite before, it completely dissipated when dessert came out.

It took all the power in my body not to wrinkle my nose at the countless plates of chocolate cake being served.

I hated chocolate with a passion. It was something I had grown up to despise, and even the sight of it turned me off. It seemed I was the only person in the entire planet that felt that way, because everyone else seemed very excited at the prospect of chocolate cake.

Next to me, I heard a small moan of pleasure from Talia as she took her first bite. I glanced at her. Did she really just moan? I hated food moaners, especially when they moaned over chocolate.

I watched from the corner of my eye as she all but inhaled the cake. It was almost comical the way she ate it, like she was trying to be proper while simultaneously stuffing bite after bite into her mouth.

She looked over at my plate when she was done, and I could tell she wanted my cake too. I was about to offer it to her, but Cassie beat me to it. She grabbed the entire cake off my plate and shoved it in her mouth.

Talia seemed annoyed momentarily before she started laughing at Cassie. Her laugh was interesting, a melodical sound that lilted in the air.

I took out my phone to respond to a few emails when Jasmine turned to Talia. "I'm going to the bathroom," she said to her. "Want to join?"

Talia agreed, and up they went to go to the washroom. I looked back down to my phone, but was unfortunately interrupted by an interrogation session by Jake. "So how is it going with your wife so far?" he asked.

"Fine," I said, wanting to go back to my work.

"So fine that you two don't talk to each other at all?"

"We have nothing to say to each other. It's better this way."

"Okay, well why don't you try to get to know her and maybe you'll find things to say to each other?" Jake suggested.

"Why would I do that?"

"Do you really just want to be in this weird state for however long you're going to be married for? It sounds like torture if you ask me."

"Its business."

"It doesn't have to be, Tobias. Come on. I know you think she's super hot-"

"What? No, I don't."

"You do. Everyone does, but especially you."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Her appearance adds nothing to the situation. I don't care what she looks like. Again, it's business."

"Again, it doesn't have to b-"

Before he could complete his sentence, Cassie looked over at us. "What are you two weirdos talking about?"

"Tali-" Jake started.

"Nothing," I interrupted him. "We were talking about nothing. Actually, Cassie, can you do me a favor and tell Talia I'll be waiting in the car when she gets back from the ladies room? We need to go right away, I'm busy and frankly I don't have time to wait around all day."

Before her or Jake could say anything, I got up quickly and rushed over back to the car. Joe was waiting patiently and perked up at the sight of me coming back so that we could leave.

"Where is Miss Talia?" he asked.

"She should be coming shortly," I said.

We waited for around five minutes before she came back, which was five minutes longer than I cared to wait.

I spent the rest of the car ride responding to various emails. The work I had to do for the company never seemed to end. It was even harder to focus as I felt Talia's searing gaze on my face. It wasnt hard to tell that it was more of a glare than a gaze, which I honestly could not blame her for.

I refused to look up at her in fear of having to have an awkward conversation, so I didn't look up from my phone for the entire car ride. I sat there hoping time would go faster so that I could escape this situation and get into my bed for the sleep I had been neglecting for days.

The moment Joe parked in front of our house, I wasted no time in jumping out of the car and walking as fast as I could through the driveway towards the doors. I was almost inside when I heard my name called.

"Tobias!"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to find Talia pulling at her leg by the drain.

"Um... I'm sorry," she said. "But could you help me out here? My heel got stuck in this drain."

I stood there, still frozen, looking at her. I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to get her heel out of the drain. If it was stuck, how would I change that? Did I have to pull on her leg? Help her take off her shoes? All of those things required too much contact for my comfort.

I decided it was a better idea to go in and ask Ella to help her. I was sure we would both be more comfortable that way.

When I was inside, Ella, our head housekeeper, immediately walked up to me. "Mr Tobias! How was your trip?"

"It was good, thank you for asking, Ella. However, Talia has gotten her heel stuck outside and might need your help," I said.

Immediately she rushed out the door to help Talia. I continued my way up the stairs and into my room where I took a short shower and got changed into pyjamas. I was exhausted after my travels and exhausted from avoiding my wife all night.

It would be easier to just pretend she wasn't there. Actively avoiding her was too much work, and I was sure both of us would prefer to just not acknowledge the elephant in the room that was our marriage. I could live my own life and she could live hers.

Before I went to sleep, I peaked out of my window looking out of the driveway. She was no longer there, but her heel remained stuck in the drain and I felt an off connection with the shoe. After all, it was just as stuck in the drain as I was in my marriage.