Hope's Love

Chapter Eighteen: Knowing the truth

Hope's POV

"Okay, tell me everything! No, show me everything Dylan" I request to Dylan, he opens his mouth to speak but Arielle interrupts, "Yes, sure. But hurry up Adrian is your husband and he can be here anytime."
"Yes, yes!" I look at Dylan as he types something on his computer, which he grabbed from my closet. Arielle and Dylan were practically living
here, so their things were here.

Dylan moves the laptop towards us,"See this, this are your husbands text messages, this is some emails from his computer and we suspect he is ah... "

I look at him expecting for him to say something but a knock on the door interrupts us. Dylan quickly shuts his laptop and hides it under the
pillow behind. 'Yes?".

The door opens and in comes Arhaan bhai, " Come on, everyone.Lets eat! And both of you stop torturing my little sister. She must be tired" he jokingly warns pointing towards Dylan and Arielle. Dylan shrugs in response and Arielle makes a weird face.
"Yes, bhai we will be there in few" I confirm him with a smile and he leaves shutting the door behind. I quickly look at Dylan and arch my brow
as he looks at me confused.

Arielle breathes out in frustration, "Idiot, the laptop!"

He smiles as if his bulb is on again and takes out the hidden device on to his lap, "Okay, so this yeah! Take a look now!" He detaches the screen
and gives it to me. I scroll through the material, looking at it, I was just dumbfounded, how could he do this? Drugs? Was he serious? Am I misunderstanding him somewhere?

"Lord! Hope you are crying" Arielle renders.
I look at her and listening to her comment I put my hand on my cheek
I feel the tear from my other eye roll down. Why am I such a crybaby? I always cry even for the smallest matter. Why can't I be strong? Now I am bawling my eyes out, as my friends hug me.
"Why can't I ... get a normal relationship with him? Why?" I complain, both of my besties calm me down, pat my back, telling me
soothing words, they tuck me in bed and soon I fall into a deep slumber.

I woke up with swollen eyes, and face, this is what you get for crying for hours. It was 10:00. Well, I slept through dinner so my stomach was
growling like a rogue wolf. First, I decide to take a shower, so quickly getting a pair of my night suit, I proceed to walk towards the bathroom which was attached to my bedroom. I turned the hot water on, as I undressed myself from the flimsy nylon blue shirt and jeans, I stripped off
of my underwear and bra too. Oh! It feels good to be free.

A knock on the bathroom door startles me, I roll my eyes. Who would it be? Getting a rope from the bathroom closet, I dress myself in it and answer the door but not open it completely. I see my husband, who looks extremely tired " Ah! I ... want to talk, get out fast okay?" He asks and I nod, closing the door on his face and making sure I have it locked. I stand behind the door thinking he could have just waited instead of knocking and taking more time in discussing with me.

After 10 minutes, I step out of the bathroom with the same rope on, as I dry my hair with the towel.
"Baby" I look up as Adrian calls me sweetly. What's gotten into him? Is he bipolar?
He is sitting on the edge of the bed clearly disturbed by something, so I put the towel on the table and walk towards him. He looks so exhausted, has he even had something to eat? I sit beside him as he instantly puts his head on my lap and curls down on the bed.

"I love you, Hope! I really do," he confessed. His face looked up towards me and mine down at him. He looks so weak right now, what
happened?

I stroke his hair and cheek with my hands, "What's... what's wrong, Ad?Please, please tell me".
"It's difficult, I can't tell you" He almost chokes up, I see tears well up in his eyes, I can not see him like this, I will cry if he cries.

"Okay, I understand. But you know you can't treat me the way you are treating me right? One moment you are happy and loving and cuddly and other you are abusing me" I express my emotions that have been suppressed for all this time. There are some questions that need to be answered today.

"I know! I know, love but I can't help it ...I " He sits up beside me and puts his hand on my cheek.
"What, Adrian I... What ? You have got to tell me, if you ever cared or loved me ever in these 10 years. Then please let me know a little about you
please?" I am now practically begging him to tell me anything that can make me atleast feel a little bit closer to him.Sometimes, I feel as if he does not trust me at all, was these 10 years of our relationship not enough for him?

He thinks for a second, as I look at him, hoping he speaks something. After a pregnant pause which felt like ages, he opens his mouth and states, "I have a disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which makes me angry or my mood shifts really quickly and I just can not control it now." "Now? What do you mean now? When was this diagnosed?" I ask him quite firmly, placing my hand on his. He hesitantly replies, " 2 and half years ago".

My mouth opens wide, 2 and a half years? How the heck did I not know this? Was I not good enough?

"Dont dont think that baby, You were and are perfect, love.I was selfish, I did not want to lose you, that's why I hid it until I could not!" He
kisses my palm as a tear slides down his eyes.
"I am so sorry! I am sorry for not noticing, I feel so terrible." I was about to cry but controlled myself, I need to get more from him but one step at a time, it will be baby steps.

He kisses my forehead and speaks, " I need to tell you something more, my mother is alive, she has been for all these years".

"Oh god! Where is she? Is she okay? Are you okay?" I question my worry, he smiles and answers, " Don't worry! She is okay, I am okay. But I need to get her back".

His smile fades as he continues to speak, " I have to make a real big sacrifice to get my mother back in my life, baby".

"Then sacrifice it, what is more precious than your mother whom you were searching for so many years, Ad. Just let it go and get your mum back, okay?" I say with a smile on my face.

He looks at me with a sad smile, and nods, " I don't know if I can do that" he pecks me on the lips and eyes. I was happy that he talked, that he
expressed anything.

******
Hope you all liked it.
Thanks ❤️❤️
Uvy...