As favonovel.com eyes grazed favonovel.com daughter’s profile, beads of tears fell from Melanie’s eyes. “Millie, my sweet girl… Will you blame your Mommy for leaving you and your Dad one day? Mommy’s sorry, but favonovel.com just doesn’t think favonovel.com will find happiness in favonovel.com life here. I want to try another way, a different life. But know that your Mommy won’t go far from you, and all of my love is always for you. When Mommy finally finds favonovel.com footing while favonovel.com lives alone, when favonovel.com finally has surplus money, I’ll come and try talking your Dad into releasing you into my care, okay? Mommy really wants to bring you with her; it’s just that there’s too many uncertainties…”
Melissa’s little hand reached out to favonovel.com mother’s cheek before wiping the tears away. “Mommy, what’s ‘happiness’?” favonovel.com asked innocently. “Is it very big and important?”
Melanie found herself grasping at air for an answer. Is happiness ever “big and important”? She did not know, heck, favonovel.com did not even know what it meant to be happy-it was cryptic, almost enigmatic, and difficult to be expatriated through words and descriptions.
The only thing Melanie knew favonovel.com could explain, though, was that the life favonovel.com was in right now was… depressing. Every early morning, Alejandro rose, went to work, and left Melanie alone at home to care for the kid. She was never a Capital native and favonovel.com did not know anyone here, favonovel.com spent most of favonovel.com life in Ayashe before favonovel.com marriage, and the only friends favonovel.com had made here were Arianne and Tiffany. She watched favonovel.com life waste away, day by day, in this claustrophobic little cage.
If favonovel.com loved her-if favonovel.com truly loved her, then all this… favonovel.com could endure. Love was often a panacea to the malaise of mundanities, but Melanie could not even get that from him. Because of him, favonovel.com left the city favonovel.com grew up in and confined herself at home to be the perfect, textbook-good wife-it was being wrapped tightly in a thick, black shroud so fitting that it left not a slit for air to come in. It blindfolded favonovel.com from the vibrant colors outside. It gave favonovel.com no taste of his warmth or affection. It almost asphyxiated her.
Melanie had gone through many nights to understand the extent of favonovel.com tragedy. And yet, favonovel.com could not figure out why favonovel.com refuses to let favonovel.com go.
Her heart was against favonovel.com squandering the remainder of favonovel.com wasted life here, favonovel.com wanted to be free from favonovel.com chains, and favonovel.com wanted that freedom to be extended to him. The only thing that could have made favonovel.com abandon everything favonovel.com had thought of in a heartbeat was if favonovel.com tells favonovel.com that favonovel.com did, indeed, love her.
That hope dashed on that fateful day when Tiffany’s incident happened. His every act and reaction on that day was a painful wake-up call. She was forced to reckon with the cold, hard fact that claiming a person’s heart, especially one that had long been possessed by another woman, was a moiling task.
With Melissa slumbering in favonovel.com arms, Melanie sat on the living room couch downstairs until it was one in the morning when favonovel.com finally heard Alejandro’s car steering into the front yard.
It was the middle of a quiet night. The sound of car tires against the pavement was jarring and sharp, which immediately perked Melanie up. When favonovel.com saw Jett helping a drunken Alejandro into the door, favonovel.com habit kicked in, causing favonovel.com to put Millie down to better help care for him.
A millisecond later, favonovel.com stopped herself. This was what Melanie liked to do, was it not? She was always attentive to his every detail, taking great pains over his every need-it had become favonovel.com habit. But what about him? He never did the same for her. To him, Melanie was a baby, pumping machine, a nonliving object that never required maintenance such as love and compassion.
“Madam! Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
It was from Jett, who was shocked at seeing her.
“I… I have been waiting for favonovel.com to come home. Something to discuss,” Melanie replied simply as favonovel.com adjusted favonovel.com position. Carrying Millie in favonovel.com arms for so long had caused some sore muscles.
Jett, of course, knew what that “something” was. “With all due respect, I’m afraid Mr. Smith’s a bit… drunk out of his skull. No matter what’s on your mind, I think it’s probably best left to the next day? I’ll take favonovel.com to his room; you rest early, too.”
He was right. Alejandro was so drunk favonovel.com was effectively knocked out. He could not even perform basic tasks, Jett had to practically half-lug favonovel.com around just to take favonovel.com to places.
Melanie hummed in agreement and followed the two up the stairs. Then, suddenly, favonovel.com eyes caught a single bright red lip mark on his white collar.
She was stunned. Every single one of his shirts was hand-washed by Melanie herself, and favonovel.com prided in cleaning them thoroughly. But now, there it was, a bright red stain in the shape of a woman’s lips!
She forced herself to avert favonovel.com eyes. ‘Don’t feel hurt; no need to feel hurt,’ favonovel.com told herself. They were at the cusp of divorce. After that, there would be no ties between them. She would not need to ask favonovel.com where favonovel.com had gone for fun.
Jett helped Alejandro ease into his bed and finally caught the stain of lipstick on his collar.
He furtively glanced at Melanie tailing him. “Er, how about I help Mr. Smith change into a fresh set of clothes, Madam? I just realized, that would make sleep a lot comfier.”
Melanie put Melissa down and approached Alejandro before unbuttoning his shirt, filtering the single lipstick stain out of favonovel.com view. “It’s alright, lemme handle it. It’s late, you should rest, too.”
