An unconventional love story

“Dara?” Tom popped his head out of the bedroom in search of his missing wife. “Dara?” he called again and heard no answer. Fear raced through his body, James! He grabbed his keys from the dining table and headed towards the door, but as his hand reached for it, the door swung open. Dara was standing in her black PJS and slippers. “Where the heck was you?” the venom in his voice and cold green eyes caused the girl to tense, the smile on her face gone. 

“I, I, ordered, I wanted to try, breakfast, you said, I’m sorry, I didn’t know, Tom I’m sorry”. She dropped the basket in her hand. The tension left his body, and it was instantly placed with regret. The night before Tom mentioned that he couldn’t make breakfast the coming morning and they should try eating in the café downstairs. The branded basket mocked him, Dara stared at his unmoving features and her eyes began to well. She's done it this time - she thought to herself.

“Dara” he reached for her arm. But she pulled back slightly. “Dara” his voice was guilt-ridden. “I just got worried, for a second, I thought you were gone, that James took you. I”.

She sniffled and gave him a watery smile. “It’s okay” she whispered out, but Tom felt everything but okay. “I should have let you know I was going, I just wanted to surprise you”. She tried to ignore how the pain in her chest - he must really hate her father for this to be his reaction at the mere thought of her interacting with him. 

“Can I hold you?” he asked, not wanting her to flinch again. 

“Would, could, would it be okay if I said no?”.

Tom nodded, the pain of rejection clear on his face. This was what he wanted. In a week, she had gained somewhat of a voice, but he never knew it would backfire on him so quickly. He cleared his throat, “I guess I better head off”. He stepped over the mess of fruits and pastries and headed into the lift. “You have my number if you need anything”. The doors closed before she could say goodbye. 

Dara fell to the ground and let out a sob. This was not what she wanted, in the moment she was annoyed with Tom, he shouted at her, and she just needed a second to register what just happened. But she didn’t want him to just go. Thoughts of him leaving and never coming back played in her mind, what would she do then? She knew her father would be more than happy to come and get her, but she wanted Tom, the guy that was so patient with her and never pushed her beyond her breaking point. The time was 6:15, he would be gone for 12 hours and all of those 12 hours she would let her thoughts eat her up on the inside. 

She headed to the bedroom and began to pack her belongings that were sent over the day before the wedding. He probably wouldn’t want her here by the time he came back home. She thought how much easier it would be if he just hit her, then he would forgive her afterwards and she wouldn’t be worried about if he still held it against her. Once packed she went to the living room to pick up the mess all over the ground. Her phone dinged with a message. 

Didn’t mean to rush out like that. I just wasn’t sure what to do. 

Sorry for overreacting.

I'm sorry.

Don’t overthink anything.

Have a good day, Dara.

She watched the messages appear one after the other and the deep worry that was weighing her down disappeared. Of course, he didn’t hate her. She pushed her glasses up her nose a cheek-splitting grin on her face. She typed her message out five times before settling on: 

It’s okay x

She stared around the room. Tom had left her with nothing to do, well that wasn’t completely true, they came up with a list of things she could do today, but she had spent 30 minutes staring at the doorknob deciding if it was a good idea to leave, the result of that backfired quickly so anything to do with leaving the apartment was completely out of the plan. She sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. She swiped on the endless options; she wasn’t raised in a cave she had a TV. But her father had found a way of limiting her options to shows he approved of, which were mainly documentaries and old-school movies. She had 2 hours of screen time a week and would have to be smart with what she watched. She finally settled on a show called Supernatural, the plot sounded ridiculous but she wanted to try something completely new. She grabbed some snacks from the kitchen; extra sweet popcorn, full sugar fizzy drinks and a bunch of candy – if she was going for this, she would go all the way, the first step of being free was eating what she wanted, no matter the time. She was surprised that Tom even had these items, but he said he mainly stocked it for Draco who would eat all his healthy snacks and complain about it. 

X

Tom stared at the text with an unreadable expression. Of course, he had to find a way to ruin things. He wasn’t sure if she was okay or just saying it as she thought that would be the best answer. 

“You, okay?” Ron asked, tapping his pen on the top of Tom’s paper. 

He looked up surprised “Oh, yeah, sorry. Where were we?”. His group were in the computer lab working on the code for their project. 

“You sure you’re okay? You look completely out of it?” Malcom popped his head up from the opposite computer screen. 

“I said I was fine, didn’t I?” The typical brusqueness in Tom’s voice was back. River ducked her head, writing away on the tablet, Tom was clearly in his stay away from me mood. 

“Does it have anything to do with what happened on the break?” Ron asked. River groaned internally; the guy had no idea how to catch a hint. Tom’s wedding band was the first thing they noticed when he walked in, but nobody made mention of it. However, Ron was referencing the fact that Tom was now the owner of ISSEA and there was allegedly some conflict with ousting his father. Ryan (a quiet guy in their group) had pointed out in the morning before Tom arrived that he was now officially their future boss and they could not afford to slip up. 

“Ron, not the time” Ryan tried, but it was clear Ron was not a Master of Social cues. 

“I’m honestly just trying to help if you haven’t noticed we're all freaking out now. More than the last time. You’re officially our boss that’s if we pass, but you get it? When you’re tense, we’re on the brink of death”. 

Tom kept his face neutral as he processed what Ron said. Even though he worded it poorly, Tom understood. He ran a hand through his hair. His green eyes scanned each member of the group before landing on Yinka, the girl had barely said a word to him, and she was typically cracking jokes that he appreciated silently “I apologies”. 

“Cool, can we get back to” Ryan pointed at Malcom’s screen, his voice wavered slightly. They were all unsure of how they should react to his apology. The group worked in a productive silence, Yinka and Ron were back to joking every time their coding was rejected, and Tom may have cracked a smile once or twice. Other groups slowly filled into the lab, each person came up to Tom to shake his hand and offer a word of congratulations. Tom felt uneasy with all the eyes on him, but he was used to this life, and so was Hadara. He had been struggling to concentrate completely on the task as she kept on running through his head, he just wanted to go home and talk with her, that’s what they had been doing every single night, they would talk about similarities in their upbringings, places they’ve travelled to and even small things like the food they liked and disliked. For everything his father had ever done, Hadara was worth it all.

“Tommy” Hermione’s voice caused his thoughts to come to a crashing halt. He hadn't realised her group had walked in. He didn’t need to turn to her to see her eyes were glaring daggers at his wedding band. 

“Hermione?” He turned to her. 

“Can we talk outside?” he glanced around the room, and everyone instantly began busying themselves with their tasks. He walked out, holding the lab door open for her. Once at a reasonable distance from the computer lab he turned to her one eyebrow raised and arms crossed, she looked him up and down, biting her lip. “Why did I have to find out from a text you got married last week?” she raised her voice. 

“Try that again” He responded like a parent talking to a child. 

She blushed and looked down “I just mean, I thought, at least you would give me the respect of telling me. I looked stupid in front of the girls”. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. 

He looked down at her and she felt so small under his gaze, Tom was so handsome yet so intimidating at the same time, his cold look could make one feel so insignificant. The fact that he towered over her made things worse. He bent forward “I knew this would happen, Mione. I made it expressively clear what we had was temporary. You agreed to that arrangement” Truth be told, Tom originally intended to go back to their previous arrangement the second he returned from the wedding, he enjoyed how she pretended to act distant and indifferent, and her behaviour amused him.

She took a step back, horror on her face “You can’t just leave me like this”. She raised her voice once again. 

“Watch your tone, I will not tell you again” he resumed his position of staring down at her. 

“Tom, is that it? Are we just done? Just like that? I thought we had something?” she pleaded, closing the gap between them. 

He sighed again and walked toward the door “Hermione, you’re a beautiful and intelligent lady. You will make someone happy one day.”. 

She raced forward and blocked his exit, arms spread out “I know I acted like I was cool with our arrangement, but I didn’t think you would go and get married a month later. I like you, a lot” She begged. 

“All girls are worth so much more than being a guy's thing on the side.” He sided stepped her, but she blocked his path “Hermione, this is getting pathetic” he snapped all gentleness in his tone gone. He gripped both her arms and lifted her before putting her behind him “Take a second, get yourself together and then go finish your project”. 

Hermione watched his retreating form. Tom did make it clear what they were from the very beginning. However, she thought they were past that. She had been over at his place a total of nine times within the past month and he had treated her better than any guy she was with, he was lacking in the emotional intimacy part and would leave her as soon as they had finished, but he took care of her. He made sure she got home alright every night. He would check in on her during late-night study sessions in the library and would listen to her moan about whoever pissed her off that day. Pathetic or not, she was going to get her man back. She had seen the wedding pictures of Hadara on the company website and even though the girl was cute, she had nothing on Hermione. 

 X

Hadara paused the show for the hundredth time. She had successfully scared the crap out of herself, she expected a light heart-warming show, but she had to go and pick one of the most terrifying things she has ever seen. It was still daylight but everything about the apartment filled her with dread. She had closed all doors and cupboards but still had that eerie feeling as if someone was watching. Without giving herself a moment to chicken out, she raced to their bedroom to change and was out of the apartment in less than 5 minutes. 

Directions to the campus were straightforward, but as she got to the doors she stopped. What would Tom think? She checked her phone and the time read 12:30, Tom was probably having lunch with his friends and didn’t need his weirdo of a wife he never wanted to be with in the first place distracting him. She turned around, heading back to the flat. 

“Hadara?” a blonde man waved at her from across the road. She pointed to herself in confusion. He nodded and raced over, struggling with two massive bags of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. She recognised him from the wedding. 

“Hi?” she recoiled back as he approached her with the energy of a golden retriever. 

“Oh, sorry you probably don’t know me that well. I’m Draco, Tom’s bestie” he put a bag down and held out a hand. She shook it with little hesitation – a friend of Tom’s was a friend of hers. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why are you here?”. 

She was about to go into great detail about her morning but decided against it. Draco would probably think she was a baby, running to her husband for help. “I wanted to see Tom, I know it’s probably dumb, but I don’t want to get him in trouble, I’m sorry, pretend I wasn’t even here, I don’t even know where he would be”. She waved her hands about and began to bite her cuticles.

Draco’s eyes widened “No, no, no, this is great. They have lunch at 1 pm, and mainly all just eat it in the main lecture hall, the weirdos never stop working” He clapped his hands together “I have a great idea, Tom always eats the dry sandwiches from the cafeteria, you should go buy him something tastier”. 

“You think he would like that?” she felt that with Draco what you saw is what you got. However, she was aware she didn’t have that much exposure to many people, so held her guard up just a bit. “I, what, I don’t know, I know he likes meat, but what, what restaurant would he like, can, I don’t know, can you help, you don’t have to, but if you could, if you don’t mind”. She almost hit herself, she had to work on that assertiveness. 

Draco broke into a grin, then popped out an arm “The doughnuts are a treat from my dad to all the nerds in there, but they can wait for a bit”. Dara smiled and slid her arm into his. She could imagine her dad freaking out at the mere prospect of her walking around with a guy that wasn’t him or her husband, the fact they were interlocked… he would probably pass out. “Oh I’m going to like you” Draco grinned. 

 X

Tom joined Malcom and River in their unofficial seats. The rest of his group had gotten up to mix with other people, but just a few were still huddled up like them looking over their notes. “I think this is the key that has been causing us a problem, this formula shouldn’t have a comma” River pointed out. 

Tom gave her a high five – of course, their maths had been right, but one of them had accidentally put a comma in there, effectively messing with their results. “Your sister took all the brains then I see?” he playfully asked Malcom who rolled his eyes and gently shoved Tom’s shoulder. 

“FOOD FOR THE FREAKS” Draco cheered from the entrance. Tom held back a sigh as everyone cheered. He had no idea why they liked him so much. Tom was so focused on ignoring Draco’s presence and the effect it caused on everyone that he didn’t hear the whispers from the room. 

She looks like the Potter girl.

Is that not her?

Why is she here?

That can’t be her!

He felt a light pat on his back, and he was ready to playfully punch Draco in the gut. He tended to get everyone riled up, which effectively destroyed his momentary peace. Tom would eat outside but didn’t feel it fair to ask Malcom and River to give up their lunch breaks to sit with his excitable self. “Why exactly are you-”. The words died on his lips. Hadara stood before him. Her hair in its natural curly state, pulled back into a ponytail with two pieces dangling before her. She was dressed so simply, in jeans and a white top, but she still took his breath away. Draco watched smugly as the snarl on Tom’s face morphed into a grin and he had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. Tom pulled her into a hug, smashing the PAULS bag between them. 

“Suprise” she squeaked out, red as a tomato. 

He positioned her so she was standing between his legs. “I don’t think I deserve such a pleasant surprise”. 

She rolled her eyes and leaned in for another hug, whispering in his ear “I may have missed you”. 

“Me and my sunny disposition?” he whispered back. 

She laughed, pulling back “Yes, my morning was hard without my sunshine. Plus I wanted to have lunch with you”. She turned to see all eyes were on them. She cleared her throat “Is that, was that, was, are you okay with me doing this?”. 

He nodded goofily – well that was how he would describe it. To anyone else, he looked slightly pleased. “Come on” he took her hand and led her out to the cafeteria. 

Hermione ignored the looks of pity Ginny and Luna were sending her. “Hey Hermione, since you and Tom are not a thing anymore, I was…” Fred didn’t even finish his sentence, the look she was sending him was enough for him to walk back to his original spot. She stalked over to Draco and grabbed two doughnuts, then sat down and stuffed her face with anger. 

 X

They sat opposite each other. Hadara kept on pushing up her glasses, they needed to be re-tightened “Try this one”. Tom held out his half-eaten sandwich and she bit into it and let out a delighted moan. Tom couldn’t hold back a grin “You like?”. 

She nodded food in her mouth “It may sound silly but, I’ve never tried that before. Father always said it was too processed”. She didn’t miss the slight frown that formed on his face when she bought up her father. “But it was so fun hanging out with Draco, he’s so funny”. She quickly changed the topic.

Tom groaned “Please don’t spend too much time with him, I don’t want him destroying you”. 

She laughed taking a bite of her food. “Can I tell you the reason I came down”? Tom nodded, sitting straighter, his thoughts instantly went to the whole morning fiasco, they hadn’t touched yet.

However, he was not expecting what she said next. “You got scared,” he asked amused. “From a CW show,” he tried to hide his laughter behind his hands, but Hadara pulled his hands back. 

“Tom, it’s so scary, I was 7 episodes in and had to give up” she wined, whacking his arm playfully. “I bet you won’t even be able to get past a single episode. Stop laughing at me”. 

“I’m sorry Dara but I can’t” he moved to sit by her side, still chuckling lightly “But, I am pleased you ran to me”. 

“Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure you’re the worst person to go to in situations like this” she bite back playfully but stilled, eyes wide. 

Tom laughed louder and the fear disappeared. “I promise you, the day we have to defeat a highway ghost I’ll protect you”. He held out his arms and she slumped into his chest. “Dara, you surprise me” he rested his chin on her head.

Sooner than they would have both wished lunch was over and he headed back inside. Draco came rushing out to take her home. Draco kept her company for a while before he had to leave, she could hear his dad shouting at him via the phone and she was a distance away. He promised to come back for dinner, and she was once again alone in the apartment. She decided to read the lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for a while. Fully immersed in the story, the fear of the morning gone. 

x

The house bell rang, bringing her out of the book. Tom didn’t say she couldn’t open the door, he pretty much left her to her own will. She played over her memories from lunch, pleased that Tom was so happy to see her. The doorbell rang again “Coming” she yelled. It rang one more time and she jogged over, whoever was at the door was persistent. 

She pressed the answer machine and time drew to an immediate pause. For a second, she forgot how to breathe and could only stare in shock at the face on the screen. “Open this damn door, Harry”.