She felt betrayed, as though she was raped all over again. This time in her mind and by a colleague. Feeling miserable like that was something she despised. Marlena placed her right hand to the side of her head and massaged it a little. She headed towards the balcony, in need of fresh air.

“Marlena?” She would recognize his voice everywhere. Turning to face him, he saw that she’s been crying, he saw how upset she was and all he wanted to do was to hold her. She wanted that too but not here. Turning back, she kept walking towards the terrace, he followed her.

Once the terrace’s door has shut behind them, she fell into his arms, crying hysterically. He just held her, trying to understand what happened.

“Doc..talk to me..” he said, his fingers caressing her smooth aromatic hair.

“You know..” she managed finally, “ it’s time to stop being a victim. I can’t stand that anymore.. Dr. Harington had practice hypnosis for the first time. On me. Somehow he got to ask me about the marks..” she lowered her tearful eyes to her wrists and closed them, he kept looking at her face.

The terrace door has opened suddenly, it was Dr. Harington, an apologizing look in his eyes, he didn’t mean to hurt her, she got him so mesmerizing by her.

John came to stand between them “ can I help you?”

“John..” she said quietly “this is Dr. Harington” not even looking at him, she was too angry.

John wanted to punch him in the face but he did nothing, he wasn't supposed to behave like an angry lover.

“Marlena” Kit started, trying to look at her beyond John “ I am so terribly sorry. I should have stopped, I shouldn’t have let you talk about it. I hope you could find it in your heart to forgive me” he crossed his hands over his chest, watching her. It was windy and the cool breeze played with her hair. She opened her eyes and turned to look at him “what you did is unacceptable. This will not stand. I will have to reconsider our mentoring” her eyes were puffy, he could see she’s been crying, a lot. “ I understand”, kit said quietly “ I’m sorry” he muttered and left them alone.

He wanted to ask her about this Kit character when Roman barged into the balcony and was taken aback by John’s presents there, with his wife. “ Hey John, what you doing here?” asking him, while he moved to get closer to Marlena.

“ Hi Roman, I was around to get my final tests results when I saw Doc crying” all was true, although he wanted to tell him to leave them alone, to let him handle the situation, but he couldn’t.

“ oh ,I see. Doc, hey honey are you ok?” He placed his hands on her forearms, bending his knees a bit to try to look into her hazel eyes.

“ I’m fine” she lied, she wasn’t going to have this conversation here. “ are you sure? You seemed so upset when you left your office.. and even before that, you were saying things, some didn’t make sense to me” this made her look him straight in his eye ,“ what do you mean?” She swallowed hard

“ oh well, I heard you saying something about having to agree to something in order to save someone.. but than Dr Harington snapped you out of it” his words made her edgy, oh god, she thought.

“ Hey Roman” it was John “ I’m

Sure you could talk about this at home, I think that Marlena could use a few minutes to herself. Let’s go” John crossed them and opened the door. Roman didn’t like it when John said things that made him remember that they were once married, happily married but just by looking at her, he understood that this was the right thing to do.

“ I’ll see you at home Doc” he pressed her arms, kissed her lightly on the cheek and they both walked out the door, not before she glanced at John, muttering  “thank you” with no sound.

 

Evening has come. Roman walked around the house, looking for his black tie. It was the night of the fundraising and he needed Marlena to fix his tie for him, like she always did. He walked into the bedroom to find her there, sitting on their bed, reading a book. Her nightgown was on, he was confused “Doc, Hey, what’s going on? Why aren’t you ready, huh?” He stood before her, already in his tux.

“ I’m sorry Roman, I’m not really in the mood for parties and dressing up..” she was making sense but he had missed her so much and really looked  forward for tonight. He wanted to hold her in his arms, to kiss her. He was disappointed.

“Are you ok? Do you want me to stay with you?” He sat on the bed beside her, smiling.

“ no, no, go, have fun. I’ll be alright. I just need an evening to recharge. I’m going to be just fine” she smiled back.

She didn’t really feel like partying tonight, she felt much better, but she knew that Kit would be there too and she didn’t want to face him. Not Yet anyway.

“Ok honey, I understand. I was really looking forward for tonight though. It’s been such a long time since we last danced, hugged… kissed” he got closer to her, sending his hands to wrap around her body, she let out a small gasp “Roman” Marlena placed her hand on his left shoulder.

“ I’m sorry..I know you have.. I’m just not up to this, surely you can understand” her voice was quiet when she talked. He heard her of course but he was so frustrated and felt like he had to speak his mind “ Marlena, all I know is that ever since we got back to Salem, you’re avoiding me. You won’t talk to me of what happened with Stefano, you won’t let me hold you.. just for a little while..you won’t..it’s like I don’t exist anymore. I’m trying to be a good husband here Doc, but you won’t let me” he needed to let it all out. Now was not the right timing to do so but he couldn’t hold it in much longer. He looked at her, she was wearing her dark purple satin nightgown, her breasts peeked behind the france lace decorations on the front, she looked divine, even with only that. He had missed her so.

“Roman, I’m sorry you feel that way, I do, but I’ve been through hell for the past 3 months. I can’t believe that I have to justify myself to you. I thought you understood” she stood up, her book in her hand, she placed it back to it’s shelf and turned to look at him, he looked angry but so was she.  

“Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m going by myself tonight than, because my patience is running out and I don’t want to say things that I might regret later on. I’ll see ya Doc” and with that, he left the room, she didn’t even got the chance to fix his tie for him.

He watched Roman leaving the house, his eyes roamed around to find her again. She stood at the window, looking outside. She looked amazing with that nightgown, he thought and smiled to himself.