✓ | REBIRTH OF THE REBEL [Book Two]

CHAPTER 11

When they left, I took a deep breath and composed myself. I fixed my cloak before I stood up and went to the nearest broken window on my right. Nagsimula na naman pumatak ang langit ng mga niyebe, at ilang oras mula ngayon ay umusbong na naman ang kadiliman.

I heard the door opened again. Dahan-dahan akong lumingon para salubungin ang kanyang mga tingin. He pushed the door and closed it. I even heard the locking sound which adds fuel to my anxiousness.

"You tricked me," I said without a hint of emotion on my voice and how I wish my face project the same act I pulled using my mouth. Hinintay ko siyang lumapit sa gawi ko subalit huminto lang siya ng dalawang metro.

His face looks exhausted as his eyes beamed tiredness. His beard even grow long as if he didn't shave for the last two months, which made him looked older. Napansin ko rin ang pagpayat ng mga braso niya kahit suot niya ang kanyang kapa. His hair grow long too, but it made him look handsome.

"I'm sorry," he uttered and his voice conveyed more than what his words could. "I know you want to go out of my protected perimeter, because you know if you get my back, the efforts will fall to me rather than to you." He took a short breath as his eyes diverted away from me. "I want to give my support, but you can't even trust me."

"This is not your fight," I firmly said.

"I am your husband. The moment you walked down the aisle as I waited for you at the end of it, the moment you spoke your vow and let the cosmos heard it, and the moment you took my hand and showed it to the Empire, you are my responsibility, Latisha. Every move you make, every breath you take, and everything that comes right after, it doesn't change the fact that you are my wife."

His voice doesn't show anger, but instead it beamed disappointment. Hindi siya mukhang galit, subalit nakalantad ang panghihinayang na alam kong naiintindihan ko, subalit hindi ko gustong tanggapin. I know for the fact that he will do everything just to protect me, but if he use it now, then there will be no more for the future.

"It still doesn't change the fact that you tricked me to escape and allowed me to stray. You used my empathy to deplete the enemy's forces and now that your so-called margin has been lifted up, you are rushing here to bring me back?" saad ko sa kanya na may halong disgusto. "You want me to trust you but this act seems like a bomb that made me realize you just want me to be submissive, Roshan."

"I did not say that," he countered. "You are the most amazing rebel I ever met, wife. You are not bound to any rule and even if that is something I can be proud of, yet it is not filling my ease. You grow up like a stray cat: always wandering alone. I want to be someone who you can rely on and be a shelter that will warm you when winter comes. I want to be with you, Latisha. Is that a hard pill you don't want to swallow?"

My eyes locked on his amber orbs that illuminated a gloomy emotion. He looks like he is in pain, and I am the one causing that. My lips seem tied because I can't open my mouth to speak on my behalf. I just remained shut as his dejected face drowned the line of my ego and conscience.

"You are always ready to leave me, you never look back as if departing is a relief. I did a lot of misdeeds in the past that taints our marriage, and I can't wipe that off. However, I am trying to move on from the past like you did when you accepted my hand," he continued. "Why can't we bury the past, wife? Why can't we start anew? I will never hurt you again, and I will be better. Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you," I uttered after finding my own voice, but my voice didn't sound pleasing. "It is me who I don't trust. You don't know me entirely, your grace. You don't know what I did and what I can do. We may be talking casually here but believe me, I did more than that."