Sorry, I Love You.

2.06

Day Ten.

It had been more than a year since Carmen put on a dress this beautiful and expensive. And, if she were being honest with herself, she didn't entirely like it. Carmen could only think of herself as a mother now. She wore simple shirts with cheesy sayings and old sweatpants that got dirty with baby food, snot, drool, and markers. She rarely ever did her hair, almost never did her make up. Not that all mothers were as sloppy as she was but, she was trapped in that stupid penthouse 24/7. Why even bother?

Carmen used to fawn over women that got to wear clothing like this. She once wished she could live a life where she didn't have to look at the price tag and hang on the arm of a rich man she managed to charm with her beauty. Luckily, both of those things had come true thanks to the path she took as a desperate teenager. Unfortunately, this path came with a price that did not end in a dollar sign. It was her own happiness and freedom. Somehow, she found it ironic that she didn't see that coming.

After all these years, Carmen ended up putting aside her materialistic wishes to take care of her children without any distraction. Dresses like the one one she was wearing now was something she would've appreciated more in the past. It was different now. She didn't care about what she was wearing, as long as she could still carry a child on her hip and get it dirty without worrying.

"Finally! The wife is here!" Ezra shouted as he threw open the door to Carmen's hotel room.

Carmen turned from the mirror she was staring into and towards Ezra as he smirked and gestured out the door of her hotel room, his eyes gripping her soul as he stared. Bailey excitedly hopped off the bed and called for her father as she rushed towards him. Ezra humored his daughter by kneeling in front of her and complimenting how beautiful she looked in her fancy dress. Bailey giggled and threw her arms around her father's neck.

Carmen hated when Ezra did that. He didn't care about Bailey. She knew that more than anyone. But, since Bailey was so young and impressionable, he took that as his chance to manipulate her into thinking he actually did care for her. Likely, so she would grow up thinking of her father as a loving man and never leave his side, thus trapping Carmen with him for the rest of her life. Even if Carmen attempted to leave, he had already threatened to start a custody battle to take away Carmen's babies, just to spite her.

Carmen pushed away her hatred for Ezra and hurried to grab Malik from the floor where he was playing with a light up toy. As Carmen joined her husband and daughter by the door, she reached for Bailey's hand as she held Malik on her opposite hip but, Bailey rejected her to hold her father's hand. Ezra cockily smirked as he winked at Carmen, who simply glared back at him with murder in her eyes.

Carmen, Ezra, Bailey, and Malik walked as a family through the halls of the hotel and towards the elevator, where two bodyguards were waiting. Carmen didn't say a word to her husband until he spoke to her in the quiet, tense, small space of the hotel elevator.

"This is the part where you start telling me all about your new friendship with Ms. Zoe Yang." Ezra whispered as he leant towards Carmen, just to invade her personal space.

Carmen shifted uncomfortably, staring forward at the silver doors of the elevator. She only let her gaze falter when she noticed Bailey playing with Ezra's many, many rings. "What exactly did she tell you about our new friendship? Maybe I can help fill in the gaps."

Ezra chuckled and shook his head as he also stared forward. "Nice try, Carmen. You've just said that to trick me into handing you a believable lie on a silver platter but, by attempting such a thing, you've revealed there's something to hide about your little story."

"I have nothing to hide, Ezra." Carmen finally turned to look at her husband, who also turned to stare curiously, daringly into her eyes. "My life doesn't much extend outside of our penthouse. And, like you enjoy reminding me all the time, there is nothing I can do outside of your supervision that you don't know about."