To Love Again

Parent's POV

This was supposed to be a short update. But I should've known! I am never one to do short ;), in anything. HA! Anyway, here it is.

Strong and suggestive language used.

PS: I've finished my paper, polished and submitted. Thank you for the encouragement everyone. But then, I start my set at work tomorrow again :(. So that means, minimal updates again...but hang in there, okay.

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Richard watched Maine from the living room as she worked in his kitchen with her mother. After the conversation in Bella's room earlier, Maine had made it a point to avoid him altogether. He tried to talk to her but everytime he goes even 6 feet away from her, she finds something to do. He volunteered to help her in cooking dinner but she declined and instead asked her mother to help. He offerred to take over, but he was shooed away, in his own kitchen! His father and Maine's father were both sitting on the dining area, each nursing a glass of aged old scotch that nobody asked him if it's okay to open. And him? Yes. He's here sitting on the couch, feeling like an outsider in his own house. How the fuck did this happen?!?

Richard could actually pinpoint the exact moment when Maine started withdrawing from him. It was when he blurted out that he didn't want to have kids again after Bella. Admittedly, he knew that it was probably not the right time and place to say such thing when Maine was a little emotional. He honestly didn't think he spoke out loud until Maine stiffened in his arms and asked him again for clarification. And because it was already out in the open anyway, he stood by what he said because it is what he truly feels. But Richard knew that him and Maine would have to actually sit down and seriously talk about the issue. She mentioned that she was safe. What exactly did she mean by that? He would readily admit that he wasn't really thinking of the consequences when he and Maine started sleeping together. Why? Because my smaller head did all the thinking for me, that's why!

The mere possibility of Maine being pregnant was actually making his insides protest. He felt like throwing up just thinking about it. He can't bear to think that a child he produced will have to go through the same pain and suffering that Bella is going through right now. The statistics say that his chances of producing a child with Gaucher Disease Type 2 are 1 in 400,000 but with his luck these days, he just might be that 1.

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Maine watched Richard from the corner of her eyes as he restlessly sat on the couch in the living room. He was staring in her direction but she knew that he wasn't really seeing her. His facial expressions were enough to say that. He was so lost in his own thought that he wasn't even aware that she was already looking in his direction. She wasn't sure how long she was standing there, staring at him until her mother nudged her on the ribs.

"Menggay, if you stare at him any longer, he might spontaneously combust" Maryann stated teasingly.

"Nanay? Did you know before you met Tatay that you wanted to be a mother?"

"Honestly, no. I wasn't really sure until I met your Tatay. He made me realize that I wanted to have children but I only wanted to have them with him. Why do you ask?"

Maine gave out a weary sigh and faced her mother, turning her back on Richard. She wasn't sure how to tell her mother but now that she's opened up the conversation, she might as well push through with it.

"Alden told me earlier that he doesn't want to have any children after Bella" Maine confessed and she couldn't control the tears that came after. She discreetly wiped them away for fear of her father seeing her cry. Or worse, of Richard seeing her cry now when she nonchalantly walked away from him earlier.