Life Without You

Chapter 74 - Wait for Me

Johan's hands cupped around the hot coffee mug, feeling its heat to release tension each time he talked.

He was seated at the same table with Leon, Ariel and the police officer beside him at a private room allocated to them not far from Andy's ward.

"As you know, me and Emily married quite young. We moved to Norway right after we graduated from Uni, and had kids almost quite quickly after we married. Emily always wanted to have a family. I helped manage my family's fishery business and was the main provider, while she was a full-time mother to our kids, our daughter, Emma and our son, Einar. I thought we had it all. I didn't understand the extent of the post-natal depression Emily suffered. She became overwhelmed emotionally and physically."

Johan took a sip of his coffee before continuing.

"Of course, we had marital problems, just like any other married couple. Emily would make-believe in alternate fantasies that she conjures in her head. I thought it was her way to cope at first. She would snap at our kids for no reason and tell them bad things about me that were not true. The time came when she could no longer differentiate fantasy from reality and started reminiscing those care-free high school days with you in order to escape the mundane, day-to-day family responsibilities," He looked at Leon.

"Emily followed your every move and imagined every woman you dated to be her. She wished she was part of your fun, partying high-life. I tolerated her nonsense just so as to keep the family together. Whenever we had disagreements, Emily would cruelly compare me to you, said I couldn't love her the way you did and accuse our marriage as a pile of shambled lies. Once, I was horrified to discover how she pasted cut-outs of your face over mine in many of our pictures. I was so angry that we quarrelled and fought. She accused me of tricking her to leave you for me and started telling people that she was your wife. She even entered the chef competition you held but did not make the cut."

Leon was shocked at the revelation. He could not imagine what he would've done if he had directly seen Emily's video entry, but he never did. Someone in his team must have seen it and thankfully, she was never selected.

"One day, she told our kids that their father was not me but you. She showed them old pictures of her and you together. That did it for me," Johan wiped his forehead and took a big slurp of his coffee. "So, I moved out with our kids away and refused to let her see them until she stopped her nonsense and sought professional help. I never intended to give up on her cos she's still the mother of my kids. Eventually, she packed her bags and flew to the States. We never heard from her again until the news broke of what she did. I flew here immediately and left my kids with my parents."

Johan took a deep breath and drank his coffee.

"I saw the video of what happened," he referred to the video that the police retrieved at the crime scene. It was from Paolo's phone. "I never expect Emily could be capable of...of.." He choked on his words and wanted to gulp down all his coffee but the mug was empty.

Ariel refilled his mug and he thanked her before taking another sip and continued warming his nervous palms with the hot mug.

"I love her, I still do and I always will. But my kids..." his eyes went downcast. "How do I explain to them what happened? Especially about their mother and that she may never come back?" He blew his nose in a tissue.

Leon was overwhelmed along with him, "Must be hard."

Johan looked intently at Leon, "I know you loved her a lot then, but Emily was mine the first time I saw her, right before you entered high school. I couldn't understand why she went for you. I was mad that you stole away the girl of my dreams away, but she fell head over heels for you. My only consolation was whenever you were too busy for Emily, I would step in and be her company. I remembered the day she came into my dorm and cried to me about the death threats she received from your fans. How could I not comfort her? Later that day, we did it, and that was three weeks before she left you for me."