Esmontess Delgado

3.

"No goodbye kiss for me, esposa?" Esmontess froze. She was just about to close the bathroom door and light off the lights to go sleep.How did he knew about that. The same exact words. But he was not around when Nathan asked her for a kiss which she of course she refused by turning her back at him and walking away.

"What do you mean?" She said and watched him carefully. He laid on the bed his hands under his head and eyes fixed on the ceiling. Esmontess sat down on the sofa which was in a corner in the room and played with the hem of her silk robe with her heart beating furiously.

"Don't play dumb querida. Not with me."

"I...I didn't do anything, Rafé." She said her eyes on him.

"Of course you didn't. You never do, no?" He asked in one calm tone.

"Undress."

"What?"

Though Rafé was a brute, he never forced her to engage in any kind of sexual activities with her. Never in those one year of marriage did he have sex with her and she was fine with it. She didn't want to give her virginity to this man.

"Rafé, I, I..No." She said taking in a sharp breath and closing her eyes waiting for the impact of her words to lay upon her.

"And why so? Because I am not my dear cousin? Even I don't want what he had Esmontess. I don't do my family leftovers, I only wanted to see how low you can fall."

Esmontess let out a shaky laugh before wiping her tears and answering him.

"You choose to believe what you though was the truth Rafé. My words, no matter how sincere I am, you will never choose to hear me out and trust me. I'm tired of trying to prove myself to you, cause every time it's the same scenario, you end up beating me like some vulgar whore you think I am. One day , and I know that day will come but by that time, I won't love you enough to forgive you."

Rafé heard her, but there was absolutely no reaction from him, while she waited for him to tell something. Anything. As always, he chose silence and the hope inside of her heart died again. Minutes later , she took her pillow and blanket and went downstairs, today, she would sleep on the sofa where she would hate herself for crying again. If only, she had someone who would understand her. Someone she could call family. A loving mother. Esmontess is an only child who had been brought up by her mother only as the latter had decided to cheat on her father ,who then died a few years later. Her mother knew her mother in law, they were well acquainted through her mother's lover and one unfortunate day, they had asked her hand in marriage for one of the ElGuira son's. She was 21 at that time and heartbroken over Nathan. Those two were seeing each other ,Esmontess thought it was love but later found out that he was not serious about their relationship in addition to cheating on her. She had ended things with him and had taken an irrational decision, she had agreed to marry who her mother had chosen. Young her had thought that it would be a fairytale like in the books, she had thought to receive love and affection just like in the beginning of their relationship where Rafé was the sweetest. Besides the love she had wanted to receive, the young fragile girl in her had agreed to be married as a way to escape the hurt. It pained her to see her mother acting so cold towards her and prioritizing a man instead of her own blood. Things were going well until days before her wedding Rafé found out that Nathan and her had been in a relationship, in addition she had found out that he was Rafé's cousin. She had no idea that those two were family. And that is where her fairytale turned into a nightmare.

LOVE,

-A