Second Chance with the Billionaire

07. Pent-up anger

DAYS SEEMS SO QUICK AS I spend more time with my family in our family home and with daughter. However, the more days passes by, the more days I also get to spend time with Ezekiel and almost forgetting the reason why I decided to escape from the city where my life suddenly went down because of my cheating husband.

Being in here felt so refreshing and peaceful. I am away from any responsibility brought by work and the sight of my in-laws, and my husband is nowhere nearby. It is like I am getting my well-deserved rest after years of needing to be considerate of everyone around me.

“Mommy! Mommy! Daddy’s calling!”

I instantly freeze upon hearing my child’s excited cheer as she shouts out loud from the backyard while holding my phone in her hand. I could feel my parents’ attention to mind and the excitement growing in their eyes. If only I could say that having that jerk’s call right now doesn’t even make me happy nor excited at all.

“Hello, Daddy! I miss you!” Kathleen answered my phone without permission, making me surprised. I gave her a warning look, but immediately back off when I saw how wide her smile is while talking to her father. “Yes, Daddy! I am just playing with Uncle RJ and I also went to swim with Papu and Mamu the other day!”

“It looks like your little kid here missed her father so much. It’s a pity that he couldn’t come here for the holidays. I’m pretty sure Kathy will have more fun if her family is complete for this year’s Christmas.” Mom exclaims with such adoring gaze to my daughter.

I can only smile in return and decided to keep my mouth shut while letting Kathleen just speak with her father for now. if only my mother knows how things really are and the last thing, she will probably want is to see Gael anywhere near me and her grandchild.

As I watch my daughter, it makes me feel guilty for the fact that I choose to file a divorce to set myself free from a cheating husband. However, I wasn’t only doing it for myself, but also for my daughter. Maybe others will think that I should just still be with Gael even after what he did for the sake of our daughter, but if staying with him will only hurt me more and my daughter will end up witnessing how fake things are between her parents, I would rather prefer hearing everyone’s judgmental words.

No one will never understand the pain comes from being cheated by a husband you thought is the most thoughtful and loyal one in your life until you experienced it. Back then, I used to have friends who was cheated on by their partners and husbands or wives as well. During that time, I used to tell them that they should think of how difficult it will be for their children if they ended up having a broken family, and the only thing they told me was… I will only understand it once I experience it.

And I now fully understand that.

It’s just crazy for me because, yes, I can forgive for the sake of our child and, maybe, even try to fix our marriage still despite what he did. However, that option was never in consideration anymore the moment I found out and realized that it wasn’t the first time it happened. His affair has been going long way back, and being considerate of him now will only make me a fool.

“Mommy, Daddy wants to speak with you.” Kathleen said, bringing me back to my senses.

Without wasting any more time, I took the phone from my child and excused myself to walk out to the backyard where I will be alone. I made sure that there is no one around and I could see them from my spot just in case they suddenly come out of house before taking the call.

“What do you want? I told you that I will contact you.” I said, coldly.

[“If you didn’t hand in your resignation, then I wouldn’t have called. What were you thinking?! Why did you submit your resignation? Did you forget already how high and important your position is in the company?”]

I could tell by his voice that he was called out by his parents regarding my sudden resignation. If my mother-in-law managed to come and visit me in my personal condo just the same day we left our house, then it wouldn’t be that hard for them to call him out easily because of what I did.

“Do you really expect me to stay in the same company as you after divorcing you? That’s not going to happen at all, Gael.” I sarcastically replied. “Besides, I didn’t leave without any notice. I made sure that everything was cleared before I handed in my resignation. I trained my Assistant Chief Officer so she could take over my job without any problem. All the pending works for my department was also cleared. What is your problem now then?”

[“My problem is that you’re making sudden decisions that will only benefit yourself!”] He raises his voice at me, making me flustered.

Throughout the years that we were married, never for once he raised his voice at me. He was that lovely husband who looks and takes care of me like I am a fragile vase that will break after a small touch. But then, maybe he was like that because he was already doing something behind my back.

“Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that instead? You have so much guts calling me out like this just because I resigned when you are the one who did something worse!” I argued, raising my voice little by little.

[“I may have done something wrong, but you were the one who decided to complete ruin this marriage.”] He insisted, making me scoff in return.

“Are you kidding me right now? Do you really have to keep blaming things to me even if you are the one who was wrong?” I argued more, not backing out.

[“You wanted a divorce while I wanted to fix this. Now, who’s fault is this?”] He spoke.

“Don’t you try pin this on me.” I warned, anger piling up inside me. “YOU WERE THE ONE WHO f*****g CHEATED ON ME, GAEL!”

He stayed silent on the other line after that.

“Do you really expect me to live a normal day as if nothing happened after everything I witnessed? Do you even know how much what I saw that night disgust and haunts me every single night?” I burst out. “Even spending time with my family and telling lies how you are just abroad and taking care of some business instead of telling them what you really did kills me every single second, Gael! You… You don’t know how hard it was for me that I had to deal with the fact that my husband whom I thought love me completely and cherish our marriage… is cheating on me while I am in our home, taking care of our daughter and trying my best to become a better wife.”

I could feel the tears building up in my eyes as my voice starts to c***k because of the sudden emotion. He remains silent, not even attempting to argue back anymore.

“You…” I took a deep breath to control my emotions. “You don’t know… how hard it was for me, Gael. So, don’t even try to blame me for the stupid things you did that ruined this marriage and our family.”

The moment I found out what he was doing behind my back, there was never a day when I felt so small for my myself. While I was so happy and trying my best to become a good wife for him, it always makes me wonder what they could be thinking during those times. Were they laughing while thinking how fool of me because they can have an affair without me knowing? Or were they calling me in different names?

It was so hard to sleep at night without having to think of all of it, and Gael won’t ever know that because he was the reason why all of these happened.

[“Gabriela—”]

“My lawyer is already preparing the divorce papers.” I cut him off without any worry. “You should receive it by or before the new year. Until then, please do me a favor and don’t call me just so you could lash out on me for the things you were at fault.”

Without hesitation, I ended the call right away and let the tears fall to my cheeks. My breathing is heavy as I try to compose myself, hiding from my family in case they caught me crying. It feels so heavy, and it is even much heavier because… no one knows my pain other than myself.

“Gabriela, dear,”

I froze to my spot upon hearing such a soft, gentle voice from behind. Slowly, I turn to my back and saw someone standing there, making me weak.

“Mom.”