CHAPTER 7: HER WORDS
Leonard could not utter any words at all because of what his wife said to him. He could not believe that his wife also had a stance. As if he had been slapped by her over and over again! In which she had released from her mouth that was on point.
"Do you have anything else to say? If you have nothing to say, can I go back to there now?" Alyssa asked her husband as her hands shook with anger.
Leonard is speechless, so he just nodded while he watches his wife leave the room. As his wife walks away from him, he could do nothing but sit on his bed with his two hands holding his head. As Leonard sat down on his bed, he was still dumbfounded by what happened because of what his wife suddenly said. He is not aware that his wife would do that.
He can see in her eyes the sincerity in it as she utters those words to him. It even cried as it spoke and shook hands. It was pretty clear that she did not like the words he uttered, and because of this, he suddenly felt guilty about what he did to his wife. If only he could retract what he said, he would, but the damage was done and cannot be changed.
*****
Alyssa was in so much pain that it was as if a needle had pierced her heart. She was insulted by the words of her husband. She realized that he looked very shallow on her because of her status. She could not help but shed her tears as she leaned against the next room wall with her hands still shaking.
She even pounded her chest because of the tightness it felt. As she continued to sob, she did not realize that Ethan was watching her. He felt sorry for the woman, but he had no right to interfere with her; he just waited for her until she stops crying.
Alyssa has released everything she feels, so she wipes away her tears and straightens herself to go back to the dining room. As she turns around to step down the stairs, she was as shocked as she saw Ethan on the stairs looking at him, waiting for her to come down. Alyssa was thinking, what if Ethan saw him crying? So to find out the truth, she asked him. "How long were you standing there?"
Ethan does not want Alyssa to know that he saw her crying, so he lied, "Hmmm, me, I just arrived," he responded to her as he pointed himself.
Alyssa thought that he might not have seen her cry, so she agreed, "Ah, okay,"
"Can we go back now to the dining room?" he asked.
"Okay," she answered him as she fakes a smile.
They went back to the dining room to continue eating. As Alyssa and Ethan eat, they enjoyed the companion with each other and even talked about many kinds of stuff.
For her, Ethan was just so easy to get along with, and with that, she was grateful to him. Good that Ethan is not like his older brother, otherwise what will she do in this quiet place?
Sometimes she has this thought that what if this man was the one arranged to marry her? Maybe she would not be hurt so much just like now, but he was not the one, and she has no choice at all. So she just accepted her fate to suffer at his husband's hands and think that it might be her retribution for her selfish decision.
She decided to herself that she will endure this one-year contract of being together as a couple only on paper, and after this show, everything will be back to what it was before, and she will be free again. As she thought about what could happen after the contract, her tears flowed again for reasons she could not explain.
"Are you okay? Why are you crying?" Ethan asked her as he holds her shoulder.
"No, I'm not. It is my food is a bit spicy," Alyssa lied to him.
Ethan knows that Alyssa lied, but he just pretended that he did not know.
As he watched the wife of his brother, he saw in her eyes the bitterness she felt caused by what his brother did to her. He waited for her to open up to him, but he thought maybe she is not comfortable sharing her grief with him yet because they had just met yet, so he can't blame her.
The truth was he already knew why she was crying that his older brother had made her sign the annulment paper. He could see on her face that she was kind. He thought that maybe there was a good reason. Why did she just agree to marry her older brother?
He pities her, he wanted to tell his brother how genuine she is, but Ethan knew in himself that even if Ethan tells him that his wife was a good person, he would still not believe him.
He knew how his brother so well, and he knows how it thinks and that its mind was close to explanations that only what it sees is what it believes.
Alyssa is eating. She looked at Ethan for a moment, and she notices that she was staring at him. "Why are you staring at me, is there dirt on my face, where?" she asked him.
Ethan smiled at him and said, "N-No, you have no dirt on your face." "It's just that I remembered someone who acts just like you." He lied.
"Ah, Okay," Alyssa agrees.
Leonard watches Alyssa and Ethan while they savor the food they eat. He could not help but be disappointed. Leonard thought to himself. That he was the husband, but why does it be not him with her? Leonard wanted to approach them but had no courage to do so. Leonard knew he hurt her, and he also knew that if he approached them, she would be disappointed so as not to disappoint her; he chose not to come near them and then leave the house without saying goodbye.