RUBY.
I had been feeling uncomfortable with the attention the yoga instructor was giving me. He kept correcting my poses by touching me most awkwardly. I might not have been doing them perfectly but a lot of people around me were doing way worse than I was.
I didn't see it coming when Toby approached us and called out his behaviour."What the hell is wrong with you? That's somebody's wife you're feeling up, like that," he said.
The man denied it obviously, " I wasn't doing nothing." Toby took a swing at him in reply and the next thing I knew they were involved in a full-blown brawl. Rolling in the grass, throwing and dodging punches.
I watched the exchange in disbelief that it was happening for a few seconds but when I snapped out of it the first thing I did was to push Jeremy's stroller aside so it wouldn't end up getting thrown over. Then I began pleading with both of them to stop the madness. Sense had fled them at that point, their egos had taken over so none of them was ready to stop. Clara joined me in trying to stop the madness that was happening before our eyes. We pleaded with people around to break them up but they were too busy filming the action to interfere. Our security detail took his sweet time before rushing to the scene and pulling the man off Toby.
"That was a bullheaded thing you did back there, with the campaign just a few weeks from now we don't need such bad publicity" Clara scolded Toby during the car ride home. We had called our driver to drive us to the hospital after the altercation Toby had but he insisted on going back home, saying he didn't need a doctor.
"I know, I'll have someone write me a statement condemning the violence and then add in something about how I was defending my wife. That would do the trick," Toby said, looking out the window.
"I hope it does," Clara said. The rest of the ride went on in silence, even Jeremy didn't make a peep. The driver dropped us outside the building and proceeded to drop off Clara. Toby went inside immediately but I waved her off before proceeding out of the chilly night air and inside. On getting inside, Toby is nowhere to be found in the main living area, he must be in his room then. I head to the nursery to get Jeremy ready for bed after such an exciting day.
After putting Jeremy down for the night I head back to the living room where Toby is trying to treat his busted lip, mirror in hand. He looks like he is fresh from the shower wearing a singlet and pyjama pants.
"Let me see that," I said," collecting the cotton swabs from his hand. I stand between his legs and clean his busted lips then the little cuts around his face. My hand is in his soft and slightly damp hair, his face turned upward facing me. We lock eyes and both don't look away as I treat his wounds. He looked at me with such an intensity that pulled me in and made me want to shy away at the same time. The pull was so strong that it overrode any shyness as I watched him all through the process, he flinched each time I came in contact with his broken skin.
"Can you take it easy? I'm human you know" he said.
"No, because maybe if I scrub hard enough then you'll remember to stay out of trouble next time."
"How the hell was what happened today me getting into trouble? He was way out of line and I was putting him in his place."
"You could have handled things better," I said, rubbing an antibacterial ointment on his wounds.
"Women," he mumbled.
"What did we do this time?"
"You all need to choose, do you want your man to defend or to sit back and watch you get hurt or abused."
"What we want is to be defended in a sensible, level-headed way, not with violence."
"Sensible and level-headed," he scoffed. "Don't you think that's a hard feat to achieve when your emotions are involved? Just imagine someone was hurting Jeremy, would you be able to handle the situation sensibly?"
"I didn't know you had such tender feelings for me," I blurted out and then suppressed the urge to slap a hand over my mouth.
I looked away as he said, " I….umm. I didn't say such a thing. I was only doing what was expected of me in such a situation."
"I see, " I said, trying to mask the pain his statement brought. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"I don't think so, I'm fine."
"Let me just get you some ice for the swelling," I said, moving from between his legs where I still stood awkwardly.
"Don't bother, I'll grab some on my way up," he said.
"You don't look fine to me," I commented as I watched him hobble away.
"I'm just a little sore, but the ice will help," he said, he headed for the kitchen.
"If you say so, I give a mean massage if you need one," I said then regretted saying it almost instantly.
"I might just take you up on your word," he said before disappearing up the stairs.
My phone made a sound breaking the silence I sat In and notifying me that I had a new notification. I opened it to see Toby just tagged me on a post. He posted a picture of the two of us with Jeremy, at his christening. It was the picture we took with the cake. The caption read; although violence is not the answer, as a man it is always hard to hold yourself back when you see the people you love being abused or disrespected. I apologise for falling short of society's standards of acceptable behaviour but I am not sorry for setting a man who was way out of line straight. Signed a loving husband.
I signed after reading his caption, the whole thing was starting to mess with my head. He didn't even write it himself, I reminded myself as I tried to kill the butterflies in my belly. I needed a reality check and fast. This was a fake marriage, no matter what I felt. Even the private moments we shared were just a build-up of doing it for the camera.
"Don't get carried away, Ruby," I whispered to myself. The comments were full of people commending his actions.
'How chivalrous of him to be defending his wife like this.'