Hoax - A marriage of convenience romance

Evelyn

Evelyn: 

We all were gathered in the living room when the news came out of Dante having some sort of "affair" but I already knew he would be seeing someone and to be honest it didn't bother me. Dante had needs and I guess I wasn't looking to be the woman he uses for these needs. Me and Dante are friends, he is allowed to have other relationships aside from what we have going on. Some people would agree that I should be upset that the public thinks poorly of me now, but I don't. The public's opinions never mattered to me, all I cared about was my friends and family.

Amber, Mr. Romano and Rose, and I were now sitting in the living room. It had been three hours since the news came out and the media was still going crazy. "My son's an asshole Evelyn, you have a right to divorce him." Dante's father spoke, Rose's face filled with fear. "I trust my husband Mr.Romano, I'm not going to divorce him." I fire back, respectfully. I now could see why Dante hated his father, because he never wanted anything good for Dante.

"Eve, please don't leave Dante..." Rose hugged me, "I don't want to lose you." Her words shattered my heart, "don't worry sweetie, I'm not going anywhere." I smiled at her. "I trust Dante, and I have faith in him. That woman just wanted attention. Mr. Romano, you should know better than to turn against your son on this." I say as Amber looks at me in shock.

"Eve, how about we talk upstairs?" Amber suggested, I knew by her tone I was in trouble. I get up and walk with her upstairs as the awkward silence gets too much. "Evelyn, do you realize that these news are probably correct? Dante is a man who hookups with women on a daily basis." Amber said to me but I wasn't going to do what she wanted this time. "Amber, me and Dante are friends ok? We don't love each other, we're friends. If anything happened between him and that woman he would tell me when he comes back. Now, if we were in love I would absolutely leave him, but we're not. So, I'm not going to leave him when he needs me the most." I say just as the door opens, revealing Dante.

"Can I talk with Evelyn, alone please?" He asked Amber respectfully, just as she walked out with a disappointed face. Dante comes to sit beside me on the bed, neither of us saying a single word. "It's true." He said and for some reason I felt a stagger get put through my heart, a tear fell from my eye but I wasn't sure why. "Evelyn... You can leave, I'm the one that fucked all of this up not you." Dante stood up, he was being cold with me again. "Don't do this. Don't go back to being so cold with me again." I said standing in front of him.

"Dante we're friends, I told you that you're allowed to see other women. I didn't mind that, I still don't. But what upsets me is when you shut me out." I say these words as if they were a heavy weight over my shoulder. "If we were in love I would have heard everything from you and then decided to leave or not. But as of now we're not in love so it's ok." I half smile at him, as relief takes over his expression. I was doing the right thing, I kept reminding myself. "Thing is, if you were the one who happened to go out with another man I would kill him, Evelyn. The damn idea of you with someone else makes me crazy." Dante admits shocking me.

"I've never had a female friend before, not once in my life. Because of that I guess I feel very over-protective of you." Dante says to me as he wraps his arms around me. I slowly pull back and begin to speak. "Your father wanted me to leave you, but I stayed for you and for Rose. Gosh, she was so scared I would leave. We need to be there for her more, which is why I think it would be better if we took her to the park behind your house." I suggest as Dante nods. I was the only child for my parents, I never got to be the 'big sister.' But as I studied being a doctor I realized that the children who lose their mom and then have to deal with an asshole of a father need another 'mother figure' and I was willing to do that for Rose.

"Can I kiss you?" Dante suddenly asked and I couldn't reject it this time. It was a moment we both wanted, and I let him. I nodded as a chuckle escaped my mouth. Dante doesn't hesitate to grab me by my waist and connect our lips, just then a knock is placed on the door. I tried to pull away only to realize Dante wasn't going to let me. "They can wait." He says as I smile.

"Uhm Eve are you here?" Rose called for me, just then Dante let go of me, thank god.

I go to open the door to see Rose's eyes filled with tears. I quickly pull her inside. "Dad, hit me." She cried into my arms, uncontrollably. My heart shattered at her words, but I knew Dante would lose his shit. Dante's face went completely cold. "Dante..." I called out for him, not responding to me he ran out the room. "Rose sweetie stay in here, okay?" I told her as I ran after Dante.

"You laid your fucking hands on a child!" Dante yelled as he grabbed his father by the hem of his shirt, once Dante threw the first punch without realizing it I screamed. I hadn't realized how violent Dante was until I saw it with my own eyes. When Dante didn't stop the violence my thoughts drifted to my accident, the violence that happened to me.

I called out Dante's name again, when he didn't let go of his dad I pulled him back. None of them understood that a child like Rose, shouldn't have to witness violence. I lost hope in stopping him, I couldn't stop him anyways. Every feeling I had about Dante was treacherous, so unpromising. The slope of our friendship or relationship or whatever the hell it is, it was extremely treacherous. I went back to our room to see Rose sleeping, tears filled my eyes when I thought about her. Rose lost her mother at a young age and Dante always made himself busy with work, and her father was never even there. I vowed that I would make it up to her. Dante comes into the room and I do everything I can to ignore him. I did not want to speak with him especially after he was so violent, that was a version of him I never wanted to see. He stood in front of me but I couldn't look at him, I wasn't sure if it was fear or worry but I just couldn't.

"Evelyn won't you just look at me?" Dante pleaded, I looked up to see regret written all over his face. "I'm sorry. I know it scared you." He apologized, and I accepted it. Without thinking twice I cry in his arms. Dante held me right as he muttered comforting phrases to me, each one becoming sweeter. "I promise that you'll never see that side of me again." He paused, "I just lost my shit when he hit Rose. I kicked him out." Dante said, as I looked up at him. My phone rang, Dad. I stepped into the hall and answered his call, already knowing what I was going to hear.

I go into the hall and call my father. "Hey D-"

"You are going to leave that man." My father spoke, I wasn't going to do that. "I'm not leaving Dante, Dad. I'm sorry but I love him and I'm not going to throw away our love because some girl decided to lie so she could get a bit of fame." I say, proudly. I wasn't one to leave people at their worst times.

"Evelyn, those types of men are into one night stands, he's not going to commit." The line went silent for a little bit, "dad I can't leave Dante. One day you'll understand why." I say to him, "also honey thank you for paying off the debt but you really didn't have to. It's great for your age, honey." My father thanked me and that was when my relief didn't feel real. When was I going to stop being great for my age? I was quietly getting misunderstood every moment when I spoke to my parents. Everyone got all the best parts in me that now I'm not sure if I can try harder. "I uh should go, I'll call you later." I say as I hung up.

I rest my head on the wall as I take deep breaths. I was so tired of trying to be so good for everyone around me that now I couldn't deal with the things they expected of me. My parents always thought to give me 'advice' but that advice only hurt me more and more. I was trying to be a wise and generous daughter and instead I got a "you're great for your age." I was tired of it all, I was making it harder on myself.

Many people would say that I've got my whole life ahead of me, that I'm just a twenty four year old, but it felt like my life was slowly coming to end; as if I didn't have a life to live for. I prayed that I would find someone who would make me forget all these worries, who would understand me. Understand how everyone expects me to do things that don't sound as hard as they are. I prayed that I would spend the rest of my life with someone who was my comfort, someone who I could vent all my emotions to. 

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