Tied to a Cervantes

Chapter 29

Hindi pa ako nakakasagot nang marinig ko siyang bumuntong hininga. "Because I honestly wanted us to talk tomorrow. After seeing you cry earlier, I don't think I could let you go through it again. You wanted us to talk, I understand, but I wanted you to rest. You haven't had a proper rest yet after meeting an accident and I don't want to drain you. I'll be here tomorrow. I won't go anywhere. We could talk everything out." His voice was calm and patient. "Is that okay with you, love?"

I cannot help but bit my inner cheek as I felt something warm inside me. It was refreshing, like a breath of fresh air.

"Okay. We'll talk tomorrow."

I felt him moved. "Thank you, love. Rest well." The moment his lips touched the crown of my head, I calmed and my eyelids dropped on their own. "Good night."

**

"You said you went and consulted Attorney Rivedo for our annulment..." He already told me the reason why he got home late yesterday night. Apparently, it was all because he got soaked up by his thoughts of finding a way to make our annulment possible that he lost track of time. It didn't also help that he felt frustrated because our families' debt was making our separation impossible and he couldn't seem to find a way. He felt ashamed to face me, the reason he ignored my calls and acted distant when he arrived. I understood, so I didn't make a big deal out of it anymore. But one thing didn't make sense while he was sharing.

"..why did you go to such extent when you don't even want it in the first place?" He was against the idea of annulling our marriage. He made it clear based on his reaction the other day. But why did he still choose to make an effort for it? No matter how I racked my brain to come up with a possible reason, I just couldn't.

No one was breaking our eye contact. I think neither of us want to miss each one's emotion.

"Because you wanted it."

I blinked a few times.

"Come again?"

Did I hear it right?

He looked at me intently. "I don't want us to separate but because you wanted it, I tried to give it to you."

My jaw dropped. "You mean you did it for me?"

"Why do you sound surprised?" I quickly hit him with a pillow when he raised me an eyebrow.

"Because you seem so cool saying it!"

"What about it?"

Oh god. How could he act so calm and chill about it while my brain just caught off guard? I didn't expect he'd be that blunt! I mean, yes, I asked for it but seriously? He really did it just because I asked for it. "Does that mean that you never thought of you know .. us being done to each other?"

Halos gusto ko na siyang suntukin nang muli niya akong taasan ng kilay. His eyes were also staring at me like I just uttered an alien language.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

Ngumuso ako. Fine. I get it. It was pretty obvious that separation was never a considerable idea for him. It was all me who brought it up. So, fine, my mistake. Tumikhim na lang ako bago umayos ng upo at muling nagtanong bago pa mapunta kung saan ang usapan namin. "If it wasn't because of our families' debt, would you still make our separation possible?" This was also one of those questions that bugged me during his explanation. I mean how far did he go and would he go?

He sighed like this topic is irritating him at the same time bothering him. I knew there are also some other important things we got to talk about but I cannot just slide this annulment topic because there were things that I need to know from his side. I'm just grateful that he's letting me take over this talk.