Rhezi felt like it was the question that she couldn’t answer in her whole life. It was the hardest despite it having the simplest answer. The woman just couldn’t bring her lips to utter and let go of the words that would change everything.
“What?! Are they my kids? Is this the reason why you left?” he fired question after question. “Answer me. Damn it!” Kraius frustratedly snapped.
Rhezi was frozen on her feet, not even functioning enough to take a step. Her feet seemed to be stuck on the floor she was standing on while her eyes lingered at Kraius’ mad expression.
She couldn’t even manage to blink, and as she watched Kraius holding Dos’ little hand, she realized that she couldn’t deny it anymore. She couldn’t prolong the truth from reaching him. The woman was hurt by the fact that after all of the suffering she had gone through, in the end, she’s still lost. That after trying her best to hide through the past years, it couldn’t erase the truth. For truth is like a smoke; it will find its way out and it couldn’t be trapped.
“Y-Yes!” she finally blurted out. She looked at Kraius’ brown eyes, not even blinking once.
It was such a simple word to utter, yet it was the hardest for Rhezi. It was a word of confrontation and admittance that she never expected to say herself, but inevitable things did happen. The man was in front of her, waiting for the confirmation-she knew that there’s no way out.
Kraius’ eyes were piercing through her. His stare was drowning her being and it didn’t leave her a choice but to tell the truth. Maybe, it was fate or destiny that made things to happen, it didn’t matter too much. She finally said the truth and she’s ready for any punishment that Kraius would give her.
“Come again? What did you say?” he asked.
“They’re your children, Kraius.”
“Fuck!” Kraius cursed loudly. His mouth then fell open. He didn’t know what to do, but in the end, his gaze instantly fell onto his sleeping son and went closer.
Kraius whispered words and kissed Dos on his forehead. Rhezi’s chest tightened at the sight. Her conscience was eating her up while her heart was pounding so hard; she was having a chaotic mix of emotions that couldn’t be explained nor defined by any word. It pained her to see Kraius hurt because of what she did, but it was the best thing to do that she could think of.
“Why?!” Kraius turned to Rhezi subsequently. “Why did you lie to me? Why did you leave?”
“Because it was the right thing to do,” she replied.
Kraius was hurt from what he heard and stood up from his seat. He walked towards the lady and grabbed her arm. Then, he looked at her intently with his bloodshot eyes. “Seriously? How could you say that?! I treated you good. I gave you everything. We were about to get married, but fuck!” the man hollered, jaw clenched as he voiced it out.
Kraius was tired from all the work. He wanted to relax his mind for a while with Andrius who was devastated because of Anya’s sudden disappearance, but what happened surprise him. He didn’t expect it either. He was overwhelmed from the information but at the same time it boiled his anger and broke him little by little. He partly blamed himself for all the things that happened but it was still always be a puzzle to him why Rhezi left. He was clueless and he needed to know the truth.
Nevertheless, he was hurt from the word she said. Hurt of all his realization, that even if he showed her how much she mattered to him, she didn’t appreciate it, nor see it. His actions weren’t enough for her to stay. Maybe, she wasn’t really in love with him, and it fucking hurts.
Kraius admitted he was a fuck boy. He changed woman like he was just changing his clothes. He fucked them without inhibitions nor having a feeling of guilt. He didn’t even care about them like he cared for Rhezi back then. But that change wasn’t enough, she still left him.
“Do I deserve this?” he asked, trying to digest all the bitterness inside his being. “I didn’t do anything bad to you!”
“Really?” Rhezi sarcastically spurt out, smiling bitterly. “You played me and my feelings. You–”
“Momma? Mr. Handsome?”
Rhezi’s words stopped when she heard Dos’ little voice, immediately turning her gaze towards him. Even Kraius who was looking at her furiously snapped out of it after hearing the voice. He abruptly released her from his grip and left to attend the little child.
“Are you okay?” Kraius asked worriedly, reaching for the child’s forehead as he felt his temperature.
Dos smiled. “Yes, Mr. Handsome.”
Kraius felt like his heart was being stabbed a million times. He was so dumb to not realize what was being fed onto him. The similarities were all obvious. The man was just too blinded by his anger and bitterness that he failed to notice all these little things.
“You have my eyes,” Kraius whispered under his breath as he stared at his son. His son.
“Do you want to eat something, Love?” Rhezi interrupted. She couldn’t just contain the feeling of seeing how Kraius looked at her son. She wanted to breathe for a while. The woman felt as if her knees would give up if she stayed longer.
Dos’ doe eyes went to her mother. “Yes, Momma. I am hungry,” he replied.
Rhezi nodded at her son, quickly turning her back to make her way out of that suffocating room. Her pace was slow that she heard Kraius whispered warning. She clearly heard the words uttered by the man which brought uneasiness in her heart.
“We’re not done.”
What the man said was true. They’re not yet done, perhaps they would never be done because of the connection tying the two in this situation. They were connected by their children and their past. Sooner or later, they needed to talk.
Rhezi asked herself. Was she prepared? She wasn’t, obviously. She was just yielding herself to the situation, ready to govern yet afraid of losing. She’s already being tormented by these current occurrences and all the sudden changes, including Kraius’ punishment.
She sighed again, trying to calm her raging heart and heavy breathing. She was walking along the corridors of the hospital with no definite destination. She couldn’t contain the tears that bursted into a river of pain, bitterness, and failure. Pain from love and the bitterness that had grown through all the lies and failures from ten years ago until now.
If love was a mix of bittersweet taste, why do some people want it? If it was the best feeling, then why does it hurt?
Maybe, because it wasn’t for her.
Love wasn’t for her.
Because love broke her.
After Rhezi bought food from the hospital cafeteria, she quickly walked back to her son’s room. She was holding the paper bag which contained the food for Dos. She, at least, had calmed down after reflecting.
Whilst walking towards Dos’ room, Rhezi saw Jericho’s bodyguard outside of the door. The lady’s forehead creased as she instructed him to wait for her call and here he was. He’s probably with the two kids.
Because of the realization, she walked faster, especially after thinking about Kraius who was inside the room. Although Jericho’s heart desires for men, he still moved masculinely and it’s not farfetched for him to receive the wrath.
The woman wasn’t wrong, because as soon as she opened the door, she immediately tried to go in between. Seeing Kraius holding Jericho’s sleeve while their kids were watching and obviously shocked was a horror for her. Kraius must have been crazy for doing that in front of the kids.
“Would you please stop?!” she exclaimed.
Kraius looked at her with enraged eyes. “This bastard wanted me out. He’s pushing me away from my own children. Can you believe that, Rhezi? You hid my kids away from me for a long time and ask me to leave just like that! Fuck this bastard!”
“Because they’re my family! They’re mine now!”
“There’s nothing here that’s yours to claim!”
As the scene moved rapidly, all that Rhezi could do was to look flabbergasted with mouth agape. She wanted to speak but her words vanished because Kraius threw a punch at Jericho’s face which made the latter knock off onto the floor.