Chapter by syaminhazam
[UNEDITED]
I looked into Marcel eyes as his arm around my body loosened. He let out a long sigh. His finger rubbing his forehead as if he is deep in his thinking.
“Why did you lie to me?” he asked dryly. His face hung low as he speak.
“I didn’t think that he would come back. I thought that,-“
“You thought that he will rot in jail and die. Is it?. So, you will keep it as a secret, forever” he finishes my word, seethed with anger.
Tear stung my eyes. I do admit that it was my mistake. I should tell him earlier. But, there is this fear in my heart that once he knows the truth he will leave me.
“No.,” I hold his hand in mine. I can see the hurt in his eye. Tears welled in his eyes too.
“Yes, I was thinking that he will rot and die in the prison but i want to tell you, believe me. I tried but I am scared, scared that once you know the truth, you will leave me and Leo,” my head rest on his hard chest as I embrace him.
My heart stopped beating as I realized that he didn’t embrace me back like usual. His hand fall on his side. What have I done?
“So you think that my love is weak, I am weak,” his voice sounds pain more than anything.
I pulled myself away from him. His word stings me. My eyes searching his s he averted his gaze. He cast his gaze on the ground and sighed again.
Grabbing his jacket, he gets ready to work without glancing at me. He puts on the jacket and walks towards the door.
Calling out his name, I followed behind him. He ignored me. My throat felt dry and bitter, as I try to fight back the tears that starts to well up in my eyes.
His hand was on the door knob when I get a hold of his elbow. “I am going to work but tonight we are going to sit down and talk.” He said without looking back at me.
I stand dumbfounded in front of the door as Marcel walks out, closing the door behind him. This is not the first time we fight. However, this time it broken my heart and his too.
We fight, but later he will smile and try to make the situation lighter. He will coax me until i give in, forgive him even it was my fault that caused the fight.
Today is different in so many ways. Does this mean the end of my relation with Marcel?.
I still go to work today. But it was hard. Always it was me who tries to run away from Marcel. Today, it was him.
Every passing minute at work today is like a slow poison for me, almost killing. Not once, but a lot of time our eyes met, but he averted his gaze as fast as he could.
I even didn’t feel anything during the time i played the piano. My eyes was looking for him in the crowd of people, but I couldn’t find him.
My frustration grow as i waited for him outside the restaurant. He didn’t even look at me when he passed by me.
My heart shattered as the driver holds the door open for me not him as usual. I really broke his hurt and hurt him for him to act like this towards me.
The ride home was silent. Gone the chattering and his flirting whenever we sit inside the car. He always smile to me when there is nothing to talk about or when he is to tired to talk. Today his face hardened as he fixed his gaze outside.
“I will bring Leo, you just rest,” he told me coldly as we reached my house.
After putting a sleeping Leo inside the room, Marcel changed his working suit to his normal clothes.
He was fiddling with his finger as he took the seat opposite me. “I feel that everything between us for the past month was a lie, fake. It make me wonder if Ella even your real name,”
My face dropped and my gaze falls on the floor.
“It is not, right,” his voice came out like a whisper but hurtful.
He averted his gaze as my eyes searched his. His jaw clenched as his fingers balled into a fist.
“My birth name is Valerie. Born and raised here, in Spain. My mother passed away few months after i got married to Gio. I have two more sibling, my sister and my brother.” I felt weird as i reintroduced myself to Marcel after few month of knowing him.
Hurt flashes in his eyes. He pursed his lip into thin line. “You even lie your name to me, what shall I call you now, Ella or Valerie? Tell me” he said gritting his teeth.
I am shocked with his burst of anger. Composing myself, i tried to grab his hand but he pulled back. “Valerie or Ella is the same woman, Marcel. It is me,” i answered him calmly.
The air around us was heavy, pregnant with tension. The tension is so much, that you can feel the heat burning your skin even the weather during the night like this is always cold.
“No” he look at me accusingly.
“Ella is the woman that i love, the woman that i know. Valerie is like someone else. She is the wife to the Mafia. So tell me which one is you, Ella or Valerie?” he asked seethed with anger. His eyes blazing with anger and hurt.
“Both of them are me, one same woman. The difference is the name. My heart still belong to you,” my finger wiping away the tear that starting to roll down my cheek. My heart felt heavy.
“then why this two name?. Which one is true and which one is lie? Is your love for me is fake too like your identity” he closed his mouth with his hand as the question escaped his lip.
I couldn’t stop the tears rolling down my cheek. It came down like a broken dam as i kneel down on the floor.
Marcel shoot up, standing and pacing the floor. His mouth opens and closed.
I know that he didn’t want to hurt me. When a person is angry and hurt, they tend to blurt out hurtful word just like Marcel.
His word however was like a knife, slashed deep into my heart.
“ I have to. The name Ella was given by the agency for my protection. Without the witness protection program, i will be dead. Hence the two name,” i said fighting the sob.
“I love you more than anything else. I was scared to fall in love again, not believing in love anymore. You Marcel, changed everything. My love for you is real, deep from my heart. My love is not fake” i stuttered.
Marcel then kneel down, embraced me in a tight hug. “I am so sorry, the thought of you leaving me makes me scared the shit of my life. Would you do the same. Betraying me and leave me alone, ruined,” his eyes narrowed on me as he throw the question at me.
Taking a deep breath, i answered his question calmly. “No, I will not do that to you. Gio is a bad man. I was a naive girl when i fall in love with him.”
Cupping Marcel face, i kissed his forehead. “You are different than him Marcel. He is an evil that brought darkness in my life whereas you, are like an angel bestowed on me, bringing me out of the darkness and taught me how to live my life in the light,”
“Then come and stay with me, move in with me. I can’t imagine what he could do to you and Leo while I am away. I can’t let him take you or Leo away from me. Never. Please” he asked staring deep into my eyes.
I smile and nodded. “Yes, i will Marcel.”
🐾🐾🐾