Chapter 31 031
Chapter 31
The door was slightly cracked, but I could see into the living room and I could hear even better. The first statement had been made by my father-in-law, Eugene, and backing him was his wife and mate, Alana.
"If our son was not always so obsessed with her since he was little, we wouldn’t have bothered ourselves with forming a marriage alignment. In truth, I never particularly liked her. Now she thinks that she can run off once again."
This new piece of information was another slap in the face. I thought that my in-laws' feelings about me had become sour over time, but it was just another illusion I had built around myself. They also didn't like me. My chest caved and I wanted to just walk away from the door, but something kept me planted there.
"I’m doing everything I can to get her to go back to him," my mother said. "It’s not like I can push her back into his arms. Just give me a bit more time and—"
"Our son is getting impatient! Isn’t it ridiculous that we even have to come here at all to ask you to convince your daughter? From what I have heard, she has become something that isn’t far from a beggar, visiting all of her friends and asking them for pennies. Considering how desperate she is, we don't know if we're even fighting for her back just to deliver damaged goods to our son."
That almost made me stomp in there. What was she implying about me? But I kept still. I wanted them to spill out everything. To think that my mother was just pretending to understand all this time, but in actuality, she was just waiting for me to go back to him. This wasn't as sharp of a blow as I expected it to be, because deep down inside, I already knew she preferred if I just went back to him. But I would be lying if I said disappointment wasn’t swarming in my heart.
"Please, just give me some more time. She’ll get tired and go back to him. I’ve always made sure of it in the past, haven't I?"
It was this piece that shifted the ground beneath my feet. It was one thing for her relationship with my late father to morph how she saw relationships, but this... what did she mean by this? The conversation eventually relaxed and they began to talk about simple, mundane things that had nothing to do with me. However, I was still transfixed to the point where I had been standing for a while, constantly replaying my mother's words in my head.
Heavy steps carried me into my room, and I locked the door behind me, reaching for my pillow and burying my scream into it. What else? What else was a lie? What else was just a figment of my imagination? Who else actually hated me from the bottom of their hearts but smiled to my face?
Everyone—from the mate who promised to love me till the day our hair was gray, to the best friend I took as a sister, to the other friends that I loved just as dearly, to the mother who had birthed and raised me.
I had deluded myself that there was love from all these people, but in truth, I was just surrounded by villains. All I had left in this world were my children, the twins, and nothing else. And now I was going to disappoint both of them, especially Liam.
How was I going to tell him that he would not receive his treatment? The thought alone broke my heart. I tried to gather myself for the next visit, bringing along his favorite snacks in a basket and even a get-well balloon. But I stopped right in front of the ward room. Looking through a square window-shaped opening of see-through material, I saw Shelly with my son, smiling from one ear right over to the other.
I didn't know that my blood could boil so hot. Why had the hospital not called me to tell me that he had regained consciousness? Why was it this woman that was next to my son? I thought about what I ought to do. I could barge in there right now, grab her by her hair and yank her out, but that would only traumatize my little boy. How dare she even show her face here?
I was still bubbling with rage outside, wondering what to do with her as the thoughts rumbled like thunder in my mind. Suddenly, someone apprehensively grabbed me by the shoulders from behind. My surprise slipped into anger quickly upon recognizing the scent of the person that held me. I shrugged him off as aggressively as I could. With a few steps, I created a distance between us that couldn't match the emotional distance that had built up in less than a few weeks—something that took years to create.
As I spun around, not wanting a backstabber behind me, I was now looking at him face-to-face. He growled, annoyed that I had not yet crumbled. "How long are you going to keep up with this?" he said exasperatedly, running his fingers through his hair. "You used to be so mature, Thalia. I don't know what has become of you recently to be acting like a child."
My mouth fell open and then closed right back. I decided not to grace his ridiculous question with an answer. Instead, I asked the more important thing: "Why is Shelly alone with my son?"
"Liam isn’t just your son anymore. Shelly is basically his stepmom now."
"Basically?" The word came out of my mouth coated with deep bitterness. "You really only love yourself, don’t you, Varian? After ruining our relationship, I thought you would commit to her, but she's stuck forever playing the role of your mistress."
His jaw went taut. "Well, none of that matters now. No matter how you feel about Shelly, you’ll have to accept her because she is carrying your future Alpha."