CHAPTER 4
1166 Words
The Pain of Nadia
Nadia's POV
I was having trouble breathing.
The floor vanished beneath me as soon as Paul said, "She still has feelings for me." I felt like screaming because my heart was twisting so badly. Instead, I felt as though I was staring at a stranger as I sat there motionless next to the man I had loved for seventeen years.
"You brought her here despite knowing this?" My voice trembled as I asked.
"I didn't know until she came," he said hastily. "Until we had a private conversation earlier today, she remained silent."
"And you hadn't considered bringing it up until now?"
Paul, obviously embarrassed, rubbed his face. "I had no idea how. I didn't want to exacerbate the situation.
I got to my feet and looked at him as if he had grown horns. Worse? Paul, how much worse can it get? You misled me. You entered my house with your ex-lover and her daughters. Without asking, you revised your will. You're telling me now that she still wants you?
"She stated that she values our marriage—"
With a sour laugh, I interrupted him. "Oh, please. She wouldn't be here if she valued our marriage. As soon as she found out you were married and had kids, she would have avoided you completely.
He countered, "She came for the girls." "Not for me."
I yelled, "Then she ought to have gone after you introduced them." However, she remains here, waiting and grinning subtly. Paul, what do you think she wants specifically? A get-together? A family of her own? Or perhaps to share "Mrs. Smirth's" title?"
Paul's face grew serious. "Nadia, don't do this."
I crossed my arms. "What should I do? Tell the truth?
He stood up as well, his voice growing irritated. "Your anger is speaking for you."
"And guilt is destroying our family."
The silence between us was thick and perilous as we both stood there. I couldn't help but notice the betrayal in his eyes. Not only about the past, but also about the present—how readily he would allow someone from his past to disrupt our tranquility.
I muttered, "I don't know how to live with this." "I'm not sure how to share my life with you because of your error."
"They aren't an error," he stated firmly. "I have daughters."
"But she was," I snapped. "She still desires you, too."
He took a step back. "Nadia, I'm not abandoning you."
I turned my back on him. "You've already done so. the instant you allowed her to enter our house.
After leaving the room, I locked the door and shut it. I required room. Silence was what I needed. Above all else, though, I needed to feel like I still had some control.
I could hear the faint sound of our girls laughing down the hall. Unaware that the ground beneath their family was crumbling, Rose and Ruby were whispering in their shared room.
This is what I wanted to shield them from. However, how?
I was sitting in the kitchen in the morning, looking at my unfinished tea, when Salma entered. When she saw me, she paused and then nodded courteously.
"Good morning."
I didn't respond.
Nevertheless, she entered with a notebook in her hand. "Pancakes were what the girls wanted." I hoped to locate the ingredients.
Calmly, "This isn't your house."
She blinked, but her expression was unsurprised. "I apologize. I'm not trying to bother you.
"You have already done so."
She put down the notebook. "I wasn't here to take your husband away."
I gave her a look. "Did you not?"
"No. Lia and Liana deserve to know their father, which is why I came. Not much more.
I stood up and spoke in a chilly tone. "You had the option of writing a letter. A call. Rather, you planted a bomb in my life when you entered my gate with his kids.
She nodded but winced. "You're correct. I simply didn't know what else to do.
I took a step closer and said, "Then let me be clear." "You're not welcome in this place. I'm not going to prevent Poul from seeing them. However, I refuse to share a table with you. I will not pretend.
Silently, she picked up her notebook. "Comprehensive."
I buried my face in my hands and sank into a chair as she walked away. It was a sharp, deep, and intimate pain. To this family, I had sacrificed my life. A woman who had once captured my husband's heart asked me to tell her everything in a week.
Paul made another attempt later that day.
He arrived at the study where I was organizing documents and took a seat across from me.
He declared, "I never stopped loving you."
I kept my eyes off of him.
She may still feel something. I've got no control over that. However, I have no feelings for her. No longer.
I turned a page and said, "That's not the point." "You didn't keep me safe."
He bent over. "Nadia, I'm attempting to resolve this. However, I can't do it by myself.
"You ought to have considered that years ago."
A long pause ensued.
My heart stopped once more when Paul said something.
"I'm considering putting the twins and Salma in the guesthouse."
Slowly, I lifted my eyes. "What are you?"
"It's temporary," he uttered hastily. "Until they make their home in Abuja." They require time. a secure location.
"And you believe that's *my* home?" I raised my voice and asked.
He got up. They fall under my purview. I am unable to send them off.
My heart thumping, I stood up as well. "Then perhaps *I* ought to leave."
Both of us were breathing heavily as we looked at one another.
He gave a headshake. "Avoid saying that."
"Don't force me to choose between your past and my pride."
"I'm not," he declared. "Please be patient with me. to think that we can overcome this with greater strength.
I turned my head away. "At this moment, I don't believe anything."
I slept in the guest room that night.
I sobbed in the silence of that strange bed—for the family we created, the love we shared, and the fragments that are now crumbling in my grasp.
Rose was sitting with her arms crossed by the front window when I woke up the following morning.
She stated, "They're relocating to the guesthouse."
I gave a nod.
"I detest this," she muttered.
"I do, too."
Then we noticed it, though.
One of the twins, Lia, was kneeling next to Ruby, who had fallen while playing, across the yard from the window. She put her arms around her like a sister and used a tissue to wipe her knee.
Ruby gave her a hug in return.
*Nadia realizes that she
might not win—or lose—this war as she sees her daughter embrace the child of her husband's betrayal.
- Writer
