The Sins Of The Past

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

I was preparing vegetable salad in the kitchen for our dinner that evening. Ares was cooking beef steak. He teased me saying that I needed to eat more for endurance later.

"Will you stop teasing me?"

His arm went around my waist drawing me closer to him. "I love making you blush."

"I look like a clown when I blush."

"What? Who told you that?"

"No one. I just made it up." I laughed. "You really saw me behind the curtains before?"

"Who wouldn't? Your cute feet were showing." Ares chuckled.

"Oh! So you decided to take your clothes off to scare me."

He laughed aloud.

"You gave me a scare of my life! You're so bad."

"I'm sorry."

"I thought it was dad who gave me the cupcakes and aspirin."

"I did. To make up for what I did to you." He caressed my arm lightly with his fingertips and it made me shudder. "I wanted to annoy you to make you hate me. When I succeeded, it made me feel so bad. I changed my mind. I didn't want you to hate me all. I liked you a lot and I wanted us to be friends."

"Why did you want me to hate you?"

"I confess, I grew up not liking your father, Rachel. I heard the staff talking about his drinking and wife-battering problems. So as much as possible, I avoided him. Later on, I decided to avoid his daughter too." He shrugged his shoulders. "You see, it was really hard. Seeing you everyday, looking so cute especially when you smiled at me. I can't resist your charms."

"Oh... you're teasing me again."

"It's the truth." He stole a kiss on my lips.

"Ares."

"Yeah?"

"About dad... I saw how my mom suffered with his beatings. I could still recall her screams and her trembling voice begging my father to stop hitting her. I pitied her. Oftentimes, I helped her clean her wounds and bruises." I shuddered. The thought still made me cringe. "My dad was a terrible man. When my mom left, I thought he would change. But instead he turned his attention to me. If I did something wrong, he beat me."

"What?" Ares' eyes widened. "My God, Rachel. He hurt you?"

"Yeah. Too many times. My palms were full of bruises when we got married. He beat me the night before our wedding."

Ares' gasped. His face was thunderous. "Fuck that stupid asshole! He did that to you?" He clenched his fist with anger. His face was ready to murder someone.

"Ares, calm down." I touched his arm, making him relax. "I hate him too, but he's still my father. I still owe him my life. Without him, I wouldn't be here in this world and I wouldn't have met you. Whatever he did, I forgave him already. I won't be happy if I keep on hating him."

Ares hugged me again and kissed me. "You're so kind. That asshole is lucky to have you as his daughter."

I heaved a sigh. "I learned to forgive and forget. That's what love can do."

"Just like what you did to me, right? You forgave me Rachel and chose to forget the wrong things I did to you."

I nodded. "I love you, Ares. I wouldn't be happy if I keep on hating you. Everyone deserves a chance to make things right."

"Thank you, baby. I love you so much." He hugged me tightly and rained kisses on my face.

"You're a wonderful man. I was so naive at eighteen. I idolized you, seeing you as perfect and put you on a pedestal. And when I saw your flaws, I got scared and ran away from you. I started hating you and saw you as the younger version of my father. I had horrible images forming in my mind. You would beat me, make me suffer and make my life miserable."