Yes, Baby. No, Daddy.

Chapter 25

Note: The author is not a lawyer by profession (baka mapapangasawa ng lawyer pwede), everything that is written is just base on her research. Also, the views and opinions of the author and the characters doesn't reflect the people behind the characters. This is purely fictional. Lea and Aga among with the other casts doesn't have anything to do with the views and opinions of the characters and the author. Thank you. Read Closely.

Rain

Max came out of the bathroom and found his wife already in deep slumber. Looking after their baby is more difficult that is seems. These past few weeks he started having irregular sleeping routines, waking up at the wee hours unlike when he was newly born. But it looks like that his child has slept early tonight or so he thought.

Cocoa started crying but even before Lea can stand up from their bed, Max carried Cocoa in his arms and started to carefully sway him to sleep.

"Sleep ka na, Missis. Ako na bahala sa kanya." Celine nodded and mouthed "I love you" to her husband before drifting off to dreamland again.

Celine has been taking care of Cocoa for the whole week alone because he needs to focus on his recent case, making the dark circles below her eyes more evident. It's a good thing that Akira helps her during the afternoon.

Cocoa was about to cry again when he tried to place him back on the crib.

"Shhh. Don't cry, bud. Mommy's still asleep. We don't want tiring Mommy, right?" As if the baby understood a thing he said, the baby smiled.

"Okay. Be quiet lang ha? We'll let Mommy sleep while you and I bond, is that fine with you?" And he received another smile from their little buddy.

He sat at the lay-z boy in their room where beside it are papers he needs to read. He turned on the speaker that Celine provided for the both of them since the Cocoa doesn't like hearing his father singing. Lullabies started to play softly in their room which he always believed also helped Celine to sleep deeper these days. Not long enough, his little boy is asleep in his arms. He let's him lay on top of his chest, with dim lights, he started reading for his case.

Marital Rape is something that is not openly talked about in this country. Not a lot of cases are recorded maybe because not a lot of married woman knows that this case does exist. To the ladies, yes, it exists.

In the 17th Century, women are considered as their father's property until they are married so when a man uses a property that is not his, he needs to pay (literally) for it and later on buy it.

Women were subjugated in laws and disappointingly in the society as an object or goods before. These kind of treatment are justified through the ideologies of Chattel Theory, Feudal Doctrine of Coverture, and Marital Unity Theory.

Also, theories believed that a man cannot be convicted guilty under the law for raping his wife because of the marriage contract that the wife signed where she swore to give herself to him fully that she cannot retract. This law was observed by the United States and the United Kingdom, and other States. The law gave a man the freedom to do it forcibly with his wife that would have been rape if it wasn't for the man and wife being married.

In the 1970s the rule was challenged by an act from a group of women from the United States. Moving their point that married women should have the same rights as the other unmarried women for them to be equally protected under the rape laws. And in 1983 the Court of Appeals of New York the exemption of married women in the rape law was abandoned. It declared the unconstitutional and irrational basis of distinguishing the difference between marital rape and non-marital rape.

Marital Rape was only declared as a crime in all 50 states at 1993. 17 of them, including the the District of Columbia outlawed the the act without an exception.