Unveiling Hearts

Chapter2

Rose stood by the window with tears in her eyes as she watched the raindrops hit her window so gently. It seemed the weather sensed her shift in emotion almost immediately as it began to drizzle.

“Just yesterday, everything was fine.” She said as she faced Smith. “Were you expecting to come in here and just tell me you want a divorce and I wanted to go with it? I need an explanation?!” She said sobbing.

Smith stared at her and immediately he looked into her eyes embarrassed,

he hesitated, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Smith had rehearsed this a dozen times in his head, but now, staring at Rose, the words felt hard to come out of his mouth. “Rose… there’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”

Her brow furrowed as she turned fully to face him. “Okay… you’re scaring me. What is it?”

He took a deep breath, the words coming out before he lost his audacity. “Before we met, back when I was in college, I donated sperm to an anonymous couple. I swear it was supposed to be anonymous, just a way to make some quick money. I didn’t think it would matter.”

Rose blinked, the weight of his words sinking in. “Wait I don’t understand… what?”

Rose felt her heat shatter into a million pieces all over again.

“ It is hard enough that I know I cannot bear children yet, but for you to throw it in my face like this is just painful,” she responded shakily. “How did you know about this?”

Rose could not believe her ears. When they got married five years ago, she knew how important getting an heir was to his family and him and since then, they had tried every possible procedure money could buy to get children, but all seemed futile. Was this her punishment?

“I donated sperm,” he whispered, his voice quieter now. “I never thought I’d hear anything about it ever again. But today… someone showed up at my office.” He paused, breathing heavily. “His name is James. He's sixteen. He's he's my biological son.”

The room fell into a deafening silence. Rose’s face was a mixture of incredulity and utter confusion. “Your… s…son?” she whispered, the word catching in her throat.

Smith stepped forward towards her, his hands extended as if to soothe her. “It’s not what you think. I didn’t know about her. I signed a contract with the hospital to hide my identity. But he found me, Rose. He came to me.”

Rose took a step back, her arms on her head as she walked to the closet to pick a robe after he had completely ruined “her” moment.

“And you just… forgot to mention this part of your past? We’ve been married for 5 years, Smith. And you didn’t think this was worth telling me?”

“I didn’t think it mattered!” he said, frustration creeping into his voice. “It was a stupid decision I made when I going through a phase. It wasn’t supposed to follow me.”

“But it did follow you,” she stuttered, her voice shaking. “And now there’s a boy, an actual human being, who’s a part of you. A part of us.”

Smith dropped his gaze to the floor, guilt washing over him. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I thought… maybe if I ignored it, it would go away. But she’s not going away, Rose. He wanted to meet me.”

Rose walked over to him and looked him dead in the eyes. “Why did you do this to me? I thought you said you loved me?” she said as she slumped to the ground.

“This can’t be happening,” Rose whispered, shaking her head.

Smith reached for her hand, but she pulled away. “You kept this from me,” she said, her voice trembling with a mixture of hurt and anger. “You made a decision that affects our lives, and our marriage, and you didn’t even think I deserved to know.”

“I didn’t think it would matter,” Smith said helplessly.

“Well, it matters now,” Rose said, her voice rising. “Because now there’s a child out there, your child and another family from God knows where is involved. How am I supposed to deal with that, Smith? How are we supposed to deal with that?”

He looked at her, his eyes filled with regret. “We’ll figure it out. Together. Please, Rose… don’t let this tear us apart.”

But Rose couldn’t respond. She turned away, her shoulders shaking as she tried to catch her breath. Smith stood frozen, unsure if he should stay or give her space.

At that moment, the house felt unbearably silent, except for the sound of Rose’s quiet sobs and the distant drops of the rain falling through the window.

As Rose lay on the floor, she finally let the tears fall freely. The pain was indescribable. It lay on the floor sobbing, it felt like someone was using a knife to stab her heart and twist it slowly.

She walked to the closet, grabbed two suitcases and filled them with the closest clothes she could find. She couldn’t even bear to stay in the walk-in closet for long because her mind had already drifted to the crazy sexcapedes she had with Smith there. Before the idea of children became a problem, they used to have so much s*x around the house. She could not let that bother her now as she focused on what she had at hand.

She quickly removed the lingerie and tossed it on one side of the room and changed into a white shirt and plain blue jeans.

She picked up a few things in her safe, including some money, some wristwatches and a gold necklace she bought for herself. She could not bring herself to take the expensive jewellery he showered her with. It will be too much pain to heal from.