The Social Media Couple

Alejandro Last month, Maya declared she wanted me to kiss her in the backseat of one of our families' cars but when I leaned in to do the deed, she blocked my lips with her hand. Covering her mouth, causing my lips to smack against the back of her hand. Awkward si, but I am a grown man. That did nothing to my ego, but I confess, it did pique my curiosity as to why she did it. It confuses me. She confuses me so much that sometimes I cannot sleep at night, and I have to go do a heavy workout session, to mentally exhaust my mind and body, sometimes in the middle of the night, just to exhaust myself enough to sleep. Even reading her diary was more puzzling. It stated that she wanted me. Flabbergasted is what I was when I read that last entry approximately three weeks ago; ‘Alejandro has a girlfriend. I think my heart is breaking- but how when I have no feelings for that animal?’ Animal. Hahaha. How flattering. To all intents and purposes; I won’t refer to Stephanie as my girlfriend. She was something alright but definitely not that. I need to release my pent-up energy that I have to keep in check daily, which comes with the job. Stephanie works at the coffee shop- makes a great caffe. Honestly, her coffee is the absolute best. But yeah, why would I remain celibate after marriage? Maya is not a real wife to me, so the vows we took have no meaning to me. Or us- she hates being married to me. And I get it. She’s young and innocent. My world is black. Full of sin. Maya is like a white rose in my life. Moreover, when I remarry- which would be a real marriage, my wife will have my loyalty. Maya is not my real wife, so I will play. Anyway, before that whole ‘my girlfriend’ part she wrote down, there was a single line on the previous page. ‘Valentine’s Day Is The Day. And it was circled. Up to last night, I rechecked the girlish book, and she has not written anything in it since. I think she figured out I have been snooping. Yeah, I insinuated it that same night of the failed kiss. I mean, I have nothing to hide there. She is my wife, not my child. I’m not a ‘mummy snooping into my child’s secret life that she hides from me’. Smirking again when I remember the ‘animal’ part of her writing. Knowing she is just wanting me to simply use me for her first experiences does not affect me in any type of way. I will indulge it. Her first everything if she wishes- minus love. I would not wish for the young girl to fall in love with me. I will only hurt her. Incapable of that emotional pull that women crave, is what I am. I will and might never be able to achieve that sublime virtue. That mental pull, which seeds the deepest of interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. Animal. She calls me that to my face when she is highly intoxicated. Other than that, Maya cowers away from me whenever I am within her eyesight. The two times she removed my shoes for me, which I did instruct her to do was only for my family to think we were so in love, but the way she did it, made it seem like I was the master and she a slave. So, I avoid her too. It’s just easier. Pressing ‘ok’ on my phone’s screen to upload the picture onto my page, a wide grin plastered on my face as I headed downstairs to the gym to start a workout, stretching my arms as I walked. These days I hardly get any workout done because I am super busy with the vineyard. See, my wine is white- typically made from green grapes, but now I want to extend it since Maya seems to have a special love for the red one. Fortified wine is what she drinks, which is wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. One reason for fortifying wine back in the day was to preserve it. Ethanol is also a natural antiseptic. Even though other preservation methods now exist, fortification continues to be used because the process can add distinct flavours to the finished product and the alcohol content is much higher. In the last post I made to my personal social account, more than a month back, I tagged Maya on it, and ‘she’ replied with; “I love red, honey.” This is what my strategy is. Love for my wife, into a new flavour of wine. I would love to brag to the world that my wife loves my very own wine. That would do good for publicity and the brand itself. I mean, my personal following is over three million, but it has been dwindling since my marriage. I can only interpret that as females who now see me as taken and unfollowed me because of that status. No longer an eligible bachelor. It hurts my business in the slightest but in this world, people love, love. So, if ‘Maya’ keeps posting about us being all ga-ga and in- My strategic thinking and music are interrupted then by my phone buzzing. Putting down the heavy weights, I was about to lift, I grinned when I saw the caller. I disconnected the Bluetooth. “Sweetheart?” “What is that?” Maya is flat-toned. Sigh, we have so many beautiful comments about what a great in-love couple we are. People could see the 'love we share' under each pic. “The picture you posted?” She knows I have her account. Maya never posts anything- it's all me and she knows this. Yet, as expected, she calls to chew my head off. Smiling widely, I flexed my arm, admiring my reflection in the wall mirror. Red rose tattoo with a book and ruler- Uma's mark on me when I left home. I wanted something to remember her by, and since she was a teacher hence the book and ruler. Lame, but back then it meant almost everything to me. It was my second tattoo. A green swallow tattoo had been my first and I got it when my grandma died. When my father’s plane disappeared, I got an anchor and words; all will prevail. The dreamcatcher and the rest were simply because I loved the design on them. The koi fish on my bicep is an incomplete artwork. It was supposed to be part of the work on my back. The dragon in the clouds signifies happiness in a home. To protect. I liked the Japanese meaning to it but unfortunately, my tattoo artiste died. Most of the guys are out with Angelo and Paolo, today being the day I had to accompany Maya to her father’s house for dinner, so I got off work a bit earlier than usual to get a much-needed gym session in. Hot-tempered is not how I would describe myself, but I do need to get rid of some of my erm, high energy. I know her blood relatives will trigger me, and I cannot have Maya mad at me because of them. She wants a relationship with them- I see it even though she pretends she does not. She thinks she is emotionally tough- she's a kitten. For her brother, I am trying this. If I can get her to get along with me- boom good for my image. Good for business. “I posted no such- it was you!” she screeches, and I am irritated. Squinting my eyes, I blow out a hard breath, holding the phone away from my ear. Thank goodness for Bluetooth speakers, if I had on my headset- that noise would have been directly in my eardrums. “Watch your tone, Maya. You are a woman now. Tantrums and fits do not suit you anymore.” Picturing her with a group of students has me cringing. It does not matter that she is among peers who do not know the real her, nor her social media, but the habit she needs to break out of. There would be a day when they do find out and her hissy fit would not be a good thing for them to remember about her. The image will not suit me. She hangs up. Maya has spunk, I will give her that. She is afraid of me, but she is brave enough to hang up on me. Nobody other than my blood relations are capable of using such rude behaviour and I will condone it. A little daredevil. The picture she speaks of is one I took this morning while she slept. It’s with the both of us, with our eyes closed, so it’s hard to tell who took the picture since ‘Maya’ posted it. It was me but from her account. I captioned it; ‘waking up married next to him’. #marriage #love #hubby #husband #ily #3month #anniversary Opposite me, Maya’s following had risen from less than two hundred followers to almost a hundred thousand now. That is my influence, but I know she does not appreciate it. She values her privacy. Truth be told, so do I, especially in my family’s business, but when it comes to my wine- I need the exposure for it to be marketed properly. Mama is out with aunt Priscilla, aunt Patty, Thomas and Gabby. They went off to a water park that also had a ‘show’. Mama loves live plays and being in the pool, so it’s a win-win for her. Plus, she needed a break after the heartache she had to relive again with the false video footage her ‘source’ gave her about papa’s flight. I'm still considering murdering the scamp. We have the paperwork stating our father is dead, but our mother refuses to believe it. She stares at his death certificate sometimes and the tears roll down her face, but she never talks about it. She grieves in silence, but she has not given up hope, I think. We are all grateful that she is not deluded into speaking about him as if he is coming home any minute. The plane went down. Wreckages were found, scattered in the ocean with zero survivors. Peter comes in then unsmiling, dressed in his gym wear. In our line of work, we rarely do a lot of smiling, but nevertheless, my right hand has become even more distanced from me than usual. He blames me for not letting him run, but I am saving his life by my refusal to let him go. Dutifully, he takes his position to spot me.