n

n

n

"How dare you slap me!

" The lady raised her hand about to slap Maria back.

n*Pah*

nThe hit landed on the man that had been kneeling in between the two.

n

"Sasha! What are you doing?! Stop!

"

nSasha's eye's widened.

"You're the one that always comes begging me to spend some time with you. You said you love me! Why are you taking her side now?

"

nHer eye's reddened with a madness that could not be feigned.

n

"What do you mean. You're the one that had been threatening me this whole time. You said that you would expose me to my wife and daughter if I didn't come. I just wanted to protect my family.

"

nHe wanted to salvage any good feelings that his wife might still have for him.

nIn other words, he was delusional and desperate.

nA scary combination.

nSasha scoffed.

n

"What a joke.

"

n

"Maria! You can look at my messages. I still have them here!

" Marcus, Maria's husband, raced to the bedside table where he left his phone.

nHe scrolled through the messages before reaching the one in which Sasha had threatened him.

n

"See! It's all because of her. I wouldn't have done it if she had not threatened me!

"

nMaria briefly glanced at the messages before looking back at Marcus. She couldn't believe that he was serious.

nFor once she agreed with this Sasha.

nHow absurd.

nHe was saying that he was threatened, but couldn't he even take a good look at what he was being threatened with…

nNow she wasn't sure who was really the crazy one.

nShe just settled with the both of them.

n

"Marcus, you can give it up. I will never forgive you for taking away Rose's family. You realized that she could only threaten you because you were the one to cheat on me first, right? You also seemed to be more than happy with this arrangement.

"

n

"NO!

"

n

"Maria, I'm telling you, it wasn't my fault. It was her! She seduced me first.

"

n

"And you seduced her second. Potato, patato.

"

n

"I just want a peaceful divorce, and don't you dare drag Rosy in this, or I will forgo any last considerations I have for you as her father.

" Maria was reaching the ends of her patience. She was incredibly upset with herself.

nHow did she not notice this before?

nIs this what people meant by 'love makes you blind'?

nAll those signs, ignored, just to preserve something as rotten as this.

n

"Who do you think you are?

" Sasha who had been ignored until then shouted the most cliché line in the book.

n

"Whatever. I'm out of here.

"

nSasha's stomped out of the room, but it was already surprising enough that she hadn't made more of a fuss considering how humiliated she felt.

nShe left with a head of messy hair and a red palm print on her face. If one didn't know of the circumstances that had led her to be in such a state, surely there would be men lining up to console her.

nShe was still fuming as she walked down the hall and so she didn't notice the small figure that was still hiding behind the pillar and thank god she didn't, or this might have turned into another cliché kidnapping arc.

nThen Sasha would really become the most cliché character out there.

nRose's back slid down the pillar that she had been leaning on her butt hitting the cold ground.

nEven if she didn't really understand what was going on, as a child, she had sharp instincts, and they told her that it was nothing good. Sometimes, it is much harder to hide things from children. They are more perceptive than you believe them to be.

nShe hadn't heard of words like seduced, but she had been introduced to the meaning of the word divorce before. One of her classmates had mentioned this word in the midst of sobs and her desk mate later told Rose the meaning of a divorce.

n'Is mommy leaving daddy?'

n

"Why are you sitting here on the floor?

"

nRose looked up to see a familiar figure. A young lady with raven black hair tied in a ponytail. Her bright hazel eye's looked at Rose with some concern as she extended her hand to help Rose up.

nThe foreign lady that Rosy had met in the museum, Emilin.

n

"How come you're here.

" Rose's voice was a little hoarse.

n

"I could ask you the same thing. It doesn't look like your mommy knows you're here.

" Emilin pointed out. She couldn't help but worry about the situation at hand.

nEven if it was summer here, Rosy could still get a cold from sitting on the cold floor for an extended period of time, especially when her brain was most likely working overtime.

nEmilin could tell that Rose was most definitely not in the right state of mind at the moment.

nAny more words of concern from Emilin were interrupted by someone much louder.

n

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!

"

n

"Please, I won't ever cheat on you again. I promise!

"

nMarcus was getting desperate. He seemed to have sped through the stages of grief. Denial had become anger and then bargaining in a matter of seconds.

n

"Just sign the papers.

" Maria had come prepared. She took out the divorce papers as soon as she saw Sasha leaving.

n

"Why are you doing this. What did I do to disserve this!

"

nMaria took out her phone. The evidence spoke for itself.

nMarcus' eyes widened in realization, terror, and shock, all at the same time. He knew that there was no getting out of it anymore. It was checkmate.

nHis hands were numb as he took the pen handed to him and signed his own divorce papers.

nHe hadn't done anything that would warrant sole custody so they would still have joint custody after divorce.

n

"Well, this ended much better than I had imagined, but you two seem to have forgotten something. Or better yet, someone.

" A sharp and powerful voice came from behind Maria, even Marcus hadn't noticed that there was someone else present.

n

"Who are you?

" Marcus shouted. His agitated heart could not be calmed in such a short amount of time after everything that had happened that night.

nEmilin gave him a glance and then proceeded to ignore his presence.

nEmilin took a step to the side exposing little Rose who had been hiding behind her.

nMaria's eyebrows shot up when she saw her daughter whom she had left at home with the foreign lady that she had met previously.

n

"You should be in bed!

"

n