Iris:
After Kash pretty much exposed my mother’s entire plan to , he left to bring my children. Their clothes were already here.
He had brought them new things. I put them to bed because they were very sleepy and tired. However, that did not an everything was fine.
After they fell asleep, I sat on the couch and stared into the distance, tapping my foot on the floor. I had changed into my nightwear.
I have changed into a nightwear from the closet. Sothing from five years ago. I could not believe he still had my clothes.
I did not know what he was trying to prove, but it did not change much.
"Why aren’t you in bed?" Kash questioned as he stepped out of the bathroom, shaking his head to dry his hair.
He was shirtless, wearing only black shorts, so I looked away. The kids had two small bunk beds on the side of the room, and they loved them.
I knew the mont they woke up, they would be overwheld in the morning. For now, it was peaceful, and I could focus on my thoughts.
"I’m not sharing a bed with you," I replied, sitting upright on the couch.
"Well, if you are going to leave the room, then it’s fine. You can sleep on the couch outside," he remarked, making narrow my eyes at him.
That was his way of letting know he was not leaving.
Of course, he knew there was no way I would leave my children alone in the room with him.
I was afraid of his sister, his mother, or even Lara coming into the room without there to harm my children.
I also could not go and sleep on the couch outside.
"What?" I demanded. "I already explained it to you. I said those things because I was giving a sudden impression."
He tried to explain again while getting under the blanket on the bed. He had always been this stubborn with .
"And do you think that changes everything?" I asked, watching him settle into the bed.
"I had to marry her. You’ll find out why when the ti cos. Just so you know, I didn’t even touch her," he told , shifting to the side where I would be lying.
I was tired too, and I wanted to stretch my legs. Putting the stress aside, I decided to climb into the bed.
I stood up, stepped onto the bed, and placed a few pillows between us. Then I lay down as well.
"As if you haven’t touched her before," I muttered, then stopped when I rembered sothing.
According to him, he did not rember sleeping with her. He said he was too intoxicated to rember anything at all. It bothered .
It did not matter who the victim was. Every victim should be treated the sa.
But if she was also drunk, and both of them were intoxicated, then there was not much room for any of us to bla one more than the other.
Eventually, I fell asleep after thinking about all of that.
I woke up pretty late. It felt as if all the stress weighing on had made sleep for hours.
When I finally woke up, I realized my children were not in the room. Only Kash was there.
He was sitting on the couch, staring at from across the room. I gasped and sat up, looking around.
"Don’t worry, they’re fine," he assured . "They’re with their grandmother and aunt."
The mont he said that, I shoved the blanket aside and got up in a hurry, almost ready to rush toward those won for always trying to be around my children.
Kash must have noticed how hostile I was because he imdiately stood up too, reaching in just a couple of steps.
"Step out of my way," I hissed at him.
Since I had just woken up, I did not fully understand the anger I was showing.
Before this, we had not talked deeply about his family because I was focused on my own mother’s gas.
But now that I was a free woman, with nothing holding onto like a dagger, I was expressing my emotions freely.
If I did not like soone, I was ready to talk about it.
"What are you doing?" he pressed, as if wanting to know my plans first. "Just tell this much."
"What am I doing?" I shot back. "I’m going to question your mother about why she is trying to spend so much ti with my children."
The mont I said that, Kash frowned, as if it was hard for him to even understand what I ant.
"Because they are my children, and they are blood. That’s why," he argued. "Just because your mother did not love them does not an my family wouldn’t love them either. That’s how families work. Children get love from the people who care about them," he remarked harshly.
"Your family and love don’t fit in one sentence," I grunted, trying to get past him, but he stood like a brick wall in front of the door, blocking my path.
"And why is that? Because you’re angry with your mother, I should be angry with mine too?" he demanded harshly, leaning his back against the door and shoving his hands into his pants pockets.
"Seriously, you think I’m the type of person who would take my anger out on you just because my family did wrong?" I asked in bewildernt, shocked that he thought I would stoop that low.
"I don’t know what kind of person you are, Iris. You’ve hidden so much from ," he replied.
Honestly, that hurt the most, but he wasn’t wrong. It was all my fault. I should have exposed his family to him a long ti ago.
Why did I feel the need to hide their ugly faces for his comfort?
"Oh really, as if you’re not the one who constantly tells I’ll find out why he married Lara, as if you don’t have secrets of your own," I snapped, almost raising my voice while clenching my fist.
Then I heard my children’s giggles from outside the door. They were probably running around and playing, so I cald down.
I did not want them to suffer more than they already had back in the lycan community.
"Okay, you need to calm down," he said. "I probably said it out of anxiety, and I’m sorry if it hurt you. Just get freshened up, and then we can have breakfast with the children."
He suddenly changed his tone, but I was already burning with anger.
"No, really, you wanted to talk, right? So let’s talk," I insisted, refusing to let the matter go. "Let tell you everything about myself, or what I’ve been hiding from you."
I was sick and tired of everyone making it seem like I had secrets, as if they had not hidden so much from .
"Iris, there’s no need," he replied. "You just need to calm down first."
The mont he tried to gently tap my elbow, I slapped his hand away.
"No, we need to talk," I said, sounding stern.
He took a deep breath, then nodded.
"Okay, fine. If you want to talk, I’ll listen," he replied.
However, he had no idea what I was about to tell him.
"You wanted to know about , right?" I continued, keeping my voice steady. "Then let’s talk about why I don’t want your family around my children."
I was going straight to the point. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms over his chest.
"Your family had abused enough tis for not to trust them around my children."
The mont I said those words, he closed his eyes, then frowned.
"My family abused you?" he asked in disbelief.
"You don’t believe it, do you?" I asked, smiling despite the pain in my eyes.
"It is true. Whenever you ca back ho and asked why I had so many bruises on my arms or legs, it was because your sister would either bump into or push to the ground, then say it was an accident, that she lost her footing. There was even a ti when she burned my hand, but she claid it was because of anxiety, that she was fidgety at tis. It was never from training. It was from your family," I hissed, grunting under my breath.
"And you know, I always lied to you because I didn’t want to upset you. I didn’t want to put strain on you. I thought my husband was coming ho from wars and training, so I shouldn’t complain to him. I believed that if I won their hearts, it would help us beco a happy family, where you would feel happy having everyone you love around you. While doing all of that, I forgot I was hurting myself, because the sa man I was tolerating so much for had soone else in his heart."
As soon as I finished, I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Kash stood there, staring at in silence.
"I’m not expecting you to believe , because you’re right. I’ve lied too many tis," I continued softly. "But for my peace of mind, don’t let my children be around your family. I’m not saying this as a demand. It’s a request."
I whispered those words, and it showed how much they had all broken , that I could no longer even demand anything.
I expected Kash to say sothing, but instead, he turned around, opened the door, and stepped out on .
User Comments
0 comments from readers