Chapter 26
Nikolay:
“I see that the two of you have finally come to your senses.” I heard mom ask. Her eyes met Katerina’s who looked down at her feet, not saying a word.
“I am going out, I simply came to drop Katerina to the house. Considering that she chose to want to come, I will leave you two to speak…”
“You are not going to go anywhere, and it seems like your wife is a lot. smarter than even you are. You need to know that this is YOUR house, and not hers.” Mom said, making me frown. Katerina looked down at her feet, avoiding her eyes before dad approached.
“It is her house as well. Considering the fact that she is his wife, then she has every right to have her respect in this house.” He said, wrapping his arm around Katerina. Katerina smiled at his words but chose not to
respond.
“As long as it is not her house, and I do believe that you have taught me that it was YOUR house, and not mine throughout all my life, why do you want me being here? You know, last I checked, as long as I was married, I should have gotten to do what I wanted with my life. But it seems like you have different plans now.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked at her. “Surely you might have an explanation to what you asked?”
“I did not ask you to come, I believe that it was your wife, as you have mentioned, that insisted that you come back home. You can ask her why she wanted to.” Mom said, glaring at Katerina who didn’t speak. She took a step back before walking up the stairs, making me frown in confusion. Mom rolled her eyes and looked at me, her glare evident as she showed her distaste to me.
“What are you doing, mom? What are you really doing?”
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something that you are not.”
“I am trying, and yet, you just…”
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“Has it ever occurred to you that I may not want you around?” He asked, stopping me, taking me off guard. I had to admit, his words not only caught me off guard, but they also hit me like a dagger. “If I am married to you, then I too am forced into this marriage. But you are selfish enough to think that everything should revolve around you. Did you consider for at second that I wanted to be with the woman that I love? No…”
“No? I wanted to help you two…”
“Did you really?” He asked, glaring at me. My heart ached as he asked, and raising an eyebrow, he waited for my response. “Did you really want to help the two of us be together?”
“Think of my question carefully, Katerina. Because I know for fact that if you want someone to be with another person, then your reaction does not make sense.” He said before starting the car again. “I’ll drop you home then I am going out. If anyone asks, I needed to get some air…”
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Chapter 26
Nikolay:
“I see that the two of you have finally come to your senses.” I heard mom ask. Her eyes met Katerina’s who looked down at her feet, not saying a word.
“I am going out, I simply came to drop Katerina to the house. Considering that she chose to want to come, I will leave you two to speak…”
“You are not going to go anywhere, and it seems like your wife is a lot. smarter than even you are. You need to know that this is YOUR house, and not hers.” Mom said, making me frown. Katerina looked down at her feet, avoiding her eyes before dad approached.
“It is her house as well. Considering the fact that she is his wife, then she has every right to have her respect in this house.” He said, wrapping his arm around Katerina. Katerina smiled at his words but chose not to
respond.
“As long as it is not her house, and I do believe that you have taught me that it was YOUR house, and not mine throughout all my life, why do you want me being here? You know, last I checked, as long as I was married, I should have gotten to do what I wanted with my life. But it seems like you. have different plans now.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked at her. “Surely you might have an explanation to what you asked?”
“I did not ask you to come, I believe that it was your wife, as you have mentioned, that insisted that you come back home. You can ask her why she wanted to.” Mom said, glaring at Katerina who didn’t speak. She took a step back before walking up the stairs, making me frown in confusion. Mom rolled her eyes and looked at me, her glare evident as she showed her distaste to me.
“What are you doing, mom? What are you really doing?”
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Ion 16:50
“I am doing nothing, and if anything, it is you who is making me take such actions. The woman is uneducated and does not know how to act around a husband, if I chose to stay quiet, it is because I am respecting you as a man, but that doesn’t mean that you would be leaving the house for her, and I would be quiet about it. She has to learn how to act like your wife, a woman who would represent the family, and that is not something that I would allow her to ruin. The family has had its reputation for a long time, and not her, or a thousand women like herself would come to ruin that now.” She said, and I shook my head at her behavior, knowing that something had happened. If Katerina chose to leave, and if she was the one to ask to come back here after she was abused, then something must have happened, but what it was, I didn’t know.
“I don’t know how you managed to force her to come back here, but I will be sure to find out. You are forgetting that she is not a weak woman that you can simply control. She has her powers and she has her money that can support her. I will not even mention the number of lawyers that can protect her against you…”
“Then as her husband you would know how to break that power in her. Otherwise, she would end up using it against you, and that is not something that you want. A woman who is stronger can you are will be breaking your home, especially if she believes that she has the power to do. so.” Mom said, looking at me, and I raised an eyebrow.
“Is that why you chose to break my house?” Dad asked, taking me off guard. I debated on whether to stay quiet or not, but mom glaring at dad told me that one wrong word from me would not be one that she would appreciate. It was times like this that I was reminded of how toxic my family was. It was a burden that we had to carry being who we were, and though it was a side that the public or media didn’t see, it was our main reality and how it was.
“I have saved your house, and have given you a son. I believe that you were the one who chose to break it despite me trying time, and time to
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build one with you.” Mom said, glaring at him. Her eyes held the pain that. she hid for a long time. It was one that I grew up seeing on the number of nights that he refused to come to the house. It was one of the reasons why I grew up without a father figure in my life to begin with, and that was something that mom was building for me.
“Yes, it why you are teaching your son to be selfish, aren’t you?”
“Didn’t you treat me selfishly?” She asked, throwing back the past in his
face.
“That is enough, from both of you.” I said, glaring at them. “I am not going to be as cold or selfish as father was, and I will not allow you to treat her as coldly. She is a woman just like you are and has felt more pain within the past week, and that is not something that I want to allow her to feel. I don’t want to end up finding her as cold as you are, nor do I want her to…”
A slap met my cheek, and I took a deep breath as I turned to look at my mother. She glared at me as I knew that she tried to cover her pain. It was one that I knew too well, and my father, the man who has been abusive to the two of us as a child, stood, watching us.
“Is that how you raised your son when I was not around? By slapping him whenever he said something of truth?” He asked, throwing in harsher words that had her frowning.
“I don’t think that you were any different to me, and I do believe that if I crossed my limits with HER, then the two of us are going to sort this out together. As for you, I believe that you should have been used to beating me up as I grew older, as far as I am concerned, it was the ONLY thing that you did in my life.” I said, turning to face him. He frowned as he shook his head at me, giving me a cold smile which I didn’t bother returning. I went to walk up the stairs, wanting to change my clothes only to frown when I saw Katerina sitting on the top of them, looking down at her lap as if waiting.
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“Katerina…”
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“I believe that you see now why I chose to want to come back.” She said, making me frown in confusion.
“YOU ARE THE ONE WHO TAUGHT HIM TO BE THIS WAY!” I heard dad yell at the top of his lungs, startling me.
“YOU ARE NOT GOING TO INTERFERE IN THE WAY THAT I RAISE MY SON. YOU CHOSE NOT TO BE THERE FOR HIM YOUR ENTIRE LIFE, AND NOW YOU ARE PRETENDING TO SIMPLY CARE ABOUT HIM?” Mom yelled back. I looked at Katerina who closed her eyes as she heard them screaming. I wrapped my hand around her arm, pulling her to get up, and despite the frown that she had at my touch, she got up and walked to the bedroom with me. I shook my head in question, waiting for an explanation to what she meant.
“Your mum passed by the hotel. It seems like she has men following the two of us letting her know of our whereabouts. She threatened to ruin me if we didn’t come back before the week ends.” Katerina explained, making me frown.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Katerina? Why do you keep handling all of this without speaking about it at least?” I asked, shaking my head in question.
“Because I seem to be your mother in this relationship, Nikolay.” She said, making me frown in confusion. “Your mother is holding more pain than she is letting out. It is coming out as anger, and it is coming out harsh, but the woman seems to have gone through so much that she is letting it out in a way that is not healthy.”
“Katerina…”
“I will say this once, Nikolay.” She said, stopping me. “You saw this fight today, and you saw how harsh it went. It won’t be getting any better either. They have both built this family on anger and hate, but the two of us are
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not blind as not to know that this house is not going to be built on love anymore. Your parents need a miracle for that to happen, and I don’t think they even want it to.”
Her eyes were focused on mine as she spoke, and despite the monotony that they held in them, I could tell that she knew very well what she was. talking about. Her quietness was something that I grew used to as days went by, but I wasn’t stupid as not to know that she was quiet because something was broken in her. It was something that WE broke in her.
“If you want us to end up like them, then we are starting in the right direction. I am telling you this now to keep in your head. But I want you to understand that I don’t want a child that would live in an abusive family.” She said, taking me off guard. “My apologies for my harsh words, as they might hurt you, but I too have lived in a family where I was despised. Therefore, if our abusive parents are going to make us as abusive as a result, then I will tell you now, whether you choose to touch me or not, I will not be giving you a child.”
She turned to the door, not waiting for my response, and I couldn’t help but feel a clench in my chest as she said that. “I am sorry for this, but I don’t want to be a reason of ruining someone innocent’s life. A baby would not be in charge of our mistakes, and I don’t want the baby to think that they are. Therefore, think of what I said and let me know what you decide. The two of us would be building our lives in accordance to that.”
“And if not?” I asked, and she smiled.
“I don’t think that you want a painful cycle to repeat itself.” She said, looking down at the knob. My chest ached, and despite the pain that I felt, I chose to stay quiet as I looked at her. “It is one that you have lived through, and judging by what I heard, I can guess that you hated it. I don’t think that you want your son or daughter to live through the same thing.”
She was right, I had to admit that much. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to be with Anastasia. Knowing that she too wanted her peace of
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mind, and that she wanted to live happily was something that I valued. The two of us had our problems, and our conflicts. But neither one of them were as harsh or as aggressive as any of the ones that happened in this house. Anastasia treated me like the human that she saw me. She took me in, in my weakest states, and I loved her in hers, and that was how our relationship grew stronger.
“Katerina,” I said, calling her, taking her off guard. She stopped, frowning in confusion before I took a step toward her, careful not to frighten her before I wrapped my hand around her wrist, not wanting her to leave. “Stay here for the night.”
“What?” She asked, frowning in confusion.
“I don’t want our marriage to end up like this one.” I said, nodding at the door where my parents were still yelling. Katerina avoided my eyes and pulling her closer, I cupped her cheeks as I slowly ran my finger over her awline. “If you want, we can give it a try to make our marriage a real one. No interference, and a real family to build…”
