Darker And Devastated

16.

Iva Faith

"I had everything in my life, family, money, freedom, happiness, everything. My dad never failed to provide for us, but he also made sure to discipline us. We were taught to respect every single living being regardless of who they are, especially women, because Dad believed that women are not appreciated enough. He prohibited me from ever looking down on any woman because of my money and status. He was so strict about it that at one point in my life, I had graduated from college where everybody was in a relationship, but I never dared to befriend any girl let alone date,"

He chuckles, opening up to me about his earlier years of life.

"I was afraid of disrespecting women and disappointing my dad as a consequence of it. Then, one day I saw a girl. She hit my heart like a vibrant color on a plain canvas, and I fell in love with her. Dating was not an option for me because I wasn't comfortable with getting emotionally attached to someone and then leaving them after some time. I wanted something that would last forever. I liked the stability in my life,"

He says.

"I looked up her name and then sent her a proposal via a simple text. She laughed in reply. I got confused because I didn't know if it was a yes or no. So I asked her, is that a yes? She replies, Oh, yeah, bring your parents to my house, and ask my father for my hand in marriage LOL,"

I smiled upon hearing it because she was being sarcastic to him.

"I replied, OK, and then went to her home,"

He says, and my smile widens as he chuckles.

"She was shocked to see us because she thought I was kidding with her,"

He chuckles again.

"Let me guess," I interrupt. "She said no,"

He looked at me surprisingly as if it was too hard to guess.

"She thought I was insane and that nobody would want to marry so early and that too to a person they don't know,"

"She was right," I added.

"But eventually, she agreed when her dad recognized my father. I was too happy and in love to understand that she agreed to marry my status and not me,"

He sighs.

"Everything was going fairytale fine until I started to notice her obsession with money and materialistic things. Slowly her entire personality started to unfold and I started to worry about her because I didn't want her to turn out like a typical gold digger. I gave her everything that she asked for, and I didn't mind doing it for the rest of my life, but she could have at least changed her behavior towards life. For her, a designer bag has more value than a human."

He pauses.

"She got pregnant very soon and I thought she might start to change, but I was wrong. She gave birth to Juan, and left him at the mercy of house help while she enjoyed her life in clubs. She didn't even have time for me. I tried everything to make her aware of her responsibilities, but it was all in vain,"

He sighs.

"She started arguing alot and one night, I lost my calm when she confessed that she has been cheating on me for two months, and she regretted nothing about it. It made me lose my senses and I did something I never imagined I would do– I raised my hand on her. It happened only once & there was no history of me being abusive or disrespectful to her. I loved her with all my heart & her death on that night shook me. I was already devastated by her loss, and to add more to my misery, I kept thinking that I was the reason she met with an accident. I thought our fight led her to an unfortunate death until I found out that Dylan was the guy behind all of this. He was the guy she cheated me on with, and he was the one to kill her by tempering with her car brakes to frame for murder,"

He says, making me hate Dylan even more.

"This is all I have to say for now. I'm exhausted and want to sleep," saying this, he lays down, turns his back to the other side in the fetal position, placing his hands under his cheeks, and closes his eyes.

I don't know how to react, or maybe I'm too tired to feel anything. Our past has been full of mistakes, misunderstandings, and unfortunate events, but it doesn't matter now. We have faced the consequences, and I don't want our children to bear the burden of it just because we adults are failing to deal with it.

I lay down beside him, and hugged him from behind. He stiffened, but didn't do anything to push me away, so I stayed. In a matter of a few minutes, he drifted to a deep sleep, confirmed by his soft snoring. I flinched when I felt the vibrations. It was his phone. Carefully, I took it out of his pocket. Cyndia was calling him. It was a video call.

She is probably the girl he is going to get married to.

I felt the jealousy and pain in my heart, but to mitigate it, I swiped to the green.

_____________

Sorry for the short chapter. I just wanted to put a stop to this procrastination!

I'm feeling a lot better mentally by the grace of Almighty God, and now my goal is to finish this story ASAP because I already feel guilty for making you guys wait so much.