The Beast Within

Eleven

Veronica and Ralph...

It was late that night after the dinner with Khiri and Ryland. Veronica and Ralph were back home safely. The dinner was enough to fill them up so they decided to get ready for bed. Ralph was in the bedroom, watching the television. Veronica was in the bathroom.

She sighs as she takes a makeup wipe and wipes her makeup off. She avoided that one spot for last. Once she got everything off, she slowly dragged her makeup wipe across that one spot near her eye. Tears filled her eyes when she sees that bruise that she tried so hard to cover up.

The bruise Ralph had given her.

She took a deep breath and just continued wiping her makeup off. Her mind went to yesterday evening when Ralph came home from work. The reason she has this bruise in the first place.

Yesterday...

"When will dinner be ready?" Ralph asked from upstairs. He got home irritated today and needed no more agitations. Veronica knew this and tried her hardest to not get him mad. She made a tiny mistake that could get her in trouble with her husband. She had burned dinner.

She didn't know how it happened. She turned away for only two minutes to pee and when she came back, it smelt like burning rubber. She hid it from Ralph when he came home so that he didn't see.

Veronica sighs and called him downstairs. "Ralph, hon, could you come down?" She shouted. She heard the door open and footsteps walking down the stairs. Ralph appeared, looking just as irritated as he did when he got back home.

"Why isn't dinner being served, Roni?" He asked her. She could feel her hands starting to shake and she couldn't find her voice. He walked closer to her. "I'm not in the mood today," he warned, "now answer me."

She gulped, feeling nervous. "I-I'm sorry, Ralph. I went to go to the bathroom for two minutes and it was burnt when I came back. I must've forgotten to turn the heat down. I'm really sorry, we can order whatever you'd like," she apologized.

Ralph's eyes got dark. Veronica backed up, as she knew he was going to blow up. He stared at her as his fists balled up. She felt tears filling her eyes as she knew what was about to come.

"You stupid bitch," he sneered. "You good for nothing_!" He didn't finish his statement as he punched her hard, causing her to fall to the floor. "Why the fuck are you so stupid, huh?!" He yelled.

Veronica couldn't control her sobs. "I-I'm sorry, Ralph!" She sobbed. "I didn't mean to," she cried.

Ralph chuckled. "Of course you didn't," he snapped. "You always fuck things up!" He smacked her in her face, causing blood to trickle down her nose. "You're such a fucking disappointment of a wife, such a fucking disgrace of a woman. I don't even know why I wasted my time with you all of these years. You're nothing!" He yelled before he grabbed his coat and walked out of the house, leaving Veronica in her own blood and tears.

She stopped sobbing as she sat herself up and leaned her back against the wall. She held her hand up to her nose to stop the bleeding. It wasn't just the beating that hurt, but it was his words too. He always says mean things to her when she's mad, she should be used to it by now, right? Right?

Present...

"Babe?" Veronica was broken out of her thoughts when she heard Ralph's voice calling her. She looked at him through the mirror. "I called you about four times," he said.

"I'm sorry," Veronica apologized. "I was lost in my own thoughts," she chuckled.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, walking closer to her. Trying to keep her tears from falling down, she shook her head. "Veronica," he warned.

"It's nothing, Ralph, really," she claimed.

Ralph sighed. He wanted to try to get whatever was wrong out of her but decided to leave it alone. He knew why she was crying, he knew it was because of him.

"I'll be out in a bit, okay?" Ralph nodded. He kissed her cheek before walking out of the bathroom.

Veronica wiped her eyes and changed into her pajamas. She walked out of the bathroom and saw that Ralph was sitting, waiting for her. She placed her hair up in a messy bun.

"Come here, Roni," Ralph called. His eyes looked sad and Veronica did as he said and walked to him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down softly on his lap, making her straddle him. Veronica watched as he didn't say anything, just stared up at her. His big hands, the hands that had caused her pain, was softly rubbing the bruise he had gave her yesterday. He leaned his forehead on her chest and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Veronica asked.

Ralph leaned up and looked at her with saddened eyes. "Me, baby," he replied. "I'm what's wrong." He sighed and caressed her cheek. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I forgive you," Veronica assured him. She kissed his palm and his forehead.

Ralph's eyes filled with tears. "I wasn't always like this, you know. Angry and violent. I never used to be like this. I don't know what happened to me," he said.

Veronica just nodded. "I know, love," she smiled.

Ralph hugged her like a little child who hugged their mom after doing something bad. Ralph does truly love her, but as Ryland mentioned, he has his own demons he should've dealt with before marrying Veronica.

Growing up, Veronica was an only child who grew up with her alcoholic mother. She longed for love, and Ralph was the only person who could love her the way she needed, or thought she needed.

Ralph's story... let's save that for another time.

Veronica hummed a little song to herself while her and Ralph stayed in their embrace. She felt he didn't want to let go and she loves his hugs.

"What are you singing?" He asked while still hugging her tightly.

"This song i used to sing as a child," she replied. "I forgot but I know that my grandmother would sing it to me. I don't know the words, just the melody," she said.

"It sounds beautiful," he complimented. Veronica has an amazing singing voice. Ralph always loved hearing her hum away as she was doing her chores or just sitting down reading a book. It seemed to place him in a trance as it always seemed to calm him down.

"Thank you." Veronica leaned his head up to look at her. "Let's go to bed okay?" Ralph nodded and kissed her lips softly. He moved his lips against hers while grabbing the back of her neck, pushing her more to him, wanting more of her. Veronica pulled away slowly as she felt the kiss getting too heated. Any other night if she wasn't tired, she would've let him do whatever he wanted, but tonight she was exhausted.

They laid down. Ralph laid on his back and pulled Veronica on top of him, rubbing her back gently. He kissed the top of her head.

"Good night, baby," said Ralph. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Ralph," Veronica replied, "good night."

Y'ALL 😭😭! I'm so sorry for the long wait, I rewrote this chapter like 4 times because I didn't like it 💀 Enjoy though ❤️