Chapter 1 - Color of Fluid
Elle tugged at her blouse ensuring that her desired amount of cleavage was exposed. She absolutely hated the loose white blouse and grey dress pants she was instructed to wear for the night. It was such an unflattering outfit and did nothing but hide her gorgeous figure which she'd worked so hard to obtain. A short, formfitting dress would have suited Elle's taste much better. But of course, it wasn't about what suited her, it was all about what suited her husband, which was the reason she was subjected to wearing such a bland outfit.
"Ready hun?" Asked Elle's husband Romeo as he wrapped his arms around his wife.
He trailed kisses down her neck landing the very last one on her shoulder. Elle couldn't help but notice how unaffecting his kisses were, for they fail to excite her. Unraveling her husband hands from around her waist, Elle proceeded to the door grabbing her pearl earrings, which she also hated, before exiting the room.
"They'll be here any minute now," she shouted while heading downstairs.
"Babe wait!" Romeo zipped down behind her grabbing her by the wrist. He stared his wife up and down as if performing a thorough inspection. "Shit", thought Elle knowing that she had been discovered, for nothing got pass her husband's hawk eyes. She could recall plenty of times she'd attempted to alter her boring wardrobes but during every inspection she got busted. Romeo was such a prude and not at all her ideal man. If it wasn't for her mother and father being so unreasonable and threatening to stop paying for her education, she wouldn't have even started dating him.
Raised in the church, Romeo was the wholesome, kind gentleman every saintly woman, and occasionally non-saintly woman, desired. Standing at five-eight with beautiful hazel eyes, light brown skin, and a fairly toned body, it was nearly impossible to speak a word to him at church due to the flock of woman nearly ripping each other's weaves out in order to get close the him. Elle, on the other hand, was not very popular with the guys. Though she had a naturally curvy body (all thanks to her mother), golden brown skin, and soft curly black hair which she usually wore in a bun, facial wise she blended right in with all the other average looking girls. Dark brown eyes, luscious full lips, and a smile that could melt ice, Elle was definitely considered to be pretty, but that was all, and Elle couldn't have cared less.
Because Romeo was an untouchable force, once Elle's parents discovered that he'd asked her out and she had rejected him, they scolded her for being "selfish" and missing out on an opportunity of a life time as if dating Romeo was like winning a lottery. Even after being condemned to a life of abuse by the hands of some worldly thug, Elle stood strong against her parents but was defeated by their decision to discontinue paying for her schooling unless she chose to date their prince charming. Although Elle hated it, she decided it would be best to bend to their will, at least until she was done with nursing. The only problem was that nursing took much longer then she had expected. What should have been two years of prerequisites turned out to be three due to unexpected circumstances. On top of that, nursing school had extended it's time frame as well, so by then her parents, friends, and boyfriend was pushing marriage her on. In all honesty, Elle had come to like Romeo a lot more than when she first started dating him, and although she was not attracted to him physically, and believed twenty-four was way to young to even consider marriage, she thought that maybe, just maybe, marrying him wouldn't be so bad and agreed to do so.However, three years later, she now realize that that was a big mistake.
Once Romeo was done adjusting Elle's blouse to his liking, he gave her a quick peak on the forehead. "Make sure everything is ready for our guest. We wouldn't want them to think badly of us now would we?" He stated before heading back up stairs.
The doorbell rang sending both Elle and Romeo flying into place. They made sure their outfits were neat and hair just right before opening the door to their new neighbors.
"Hello, we're the Cowins,' exclaimed Romeo while shaking their guest's hands. "I'm Romeo and this is my wife Elle."
"Romeo. How romantic. So I see you've found your Juliet," joked the wife of the other couple.
Both parties shared a good laugh, then the older gentleman introduced himself and his wife.
"I'm Alex Ace and this is my wife Maya Ace. Nice to meet you."