She Loved, He Fought (The Daughters' Series #1)

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Ambush

The love that we have keeps on failing. Why? Because it was never surrounded by the truth. I'd never thought that the air we were breathing in every time we're so close has been polluted all this time.

I was fed with lies, same with the man I love.

Sa unang pagkakataon, pakiramdam ko isang kasalanan ang tignan siya sa mga mata. Hindi ko alam kung bakit o baka hindi ko lang din talaga kaya siyang tignan. Not in this time when pain, sorrow, and anger were written all over his face; and the lethal glimmer in his gaze mirrored his presence.

I felt like everything isn't right, nothing's right, and even I, myself, isn't right.

"I-I'm sorry," I heard myself saying after a tear slipped out of my eyes.

Tita Cristina sobbed. "Frances..."

Napako ang tingin ko kay Tita. Tuloy ang pag-agos ng mga luha niya at sa bawat patak ay saksak iyon sa aking puso. Hindi ko pa man din alam ang buong kwento o kung ano man ang pinakapinag-usapan nila may pakiramdam na 'kong kasalanan ko.

"I-I'm sorry, Elias."

I wasn't even sure what I am sorry about. It's just deep inside I had the sudden urge to be sorry. I had a feeling that Elisse was right. I am to blame for everything.

"Stop saying sorry, Frances! It's not your fault!"

Tita maneuvered her wheelchair towards my direction. "I wasn't really raped, Frances."

I brought back my eyes to Elias. His face flashed his torment as he gave me a quick glance before he eyed my Tita Cristina again. It was as if he can't afford to see me. That he can't look at me like how he used to look at me. Like how he used to adore me using his dark roasted eyes.

And this time, it was my turn to wish for him to remember me. For him to remember why he loved me before. Because all I could see in his eyes was pain and wrath.

"Ambrocio and Celestine tampered all the evidences. Hindi ito alam ni Frances, Elias. Labas siya rito 'wag ka sana magalit sa kaniya!"

Hindi ko inalis ang mga mata kay Elias tila ba'y hinihintay ko na salubungin niya ang mga tingin ko. Hindi ko na alintana ang panlalabo nito dahil sa mga nagbabadyang luha.

"They did everything in their power to send Eliot in prison. Dahil isang kahihiyan ang relasyon namin ni Eliot, pamilyado at may mga anak! Frances and Elias, you deserve the truth. But don't let it destroy your relationship!"

This is about his father, who's sent in jail, locked in prison, almost rotten in cell, for a crime that never really happened. And just by thinking of it, anger spiralling through me. Knowing that I grew up having faith in our criminal justice system because I've witnessed my parents protecting and defending people whom I thought all were innocent. But who knows, right?

I was under an illusion of a perfect justice system. When in reality, our system is broken. And it's a shame to know that I am living under the same roof of the people who destroyed lives and families.

At last, his metallic eyes fell on me.

"I-I'm so─"

Hindi ko pa natatapos ang muling paghingi ng tawad nang mabilis siyang humakbang palapit at yumakap. His hug was tight. So tight, as if his life depends on it. As if I was the only person he could hold on to in this situation. But at the same time, his hug felt like it's the last.

"I'm sorry too, Frances," he said as he buried his face into my neck.

Mabilis akong umiling. "Ako ang may kasa─"