Sitting on the floor while resting her back against the bed, Ariel hugs her knees to herself and buries her face between them as a pool of tears streams down her cheeks. Recalling what happened back in the kitchen moments ago, she can’t help the pain that keeps penetrating her heart and breaking her into pieces. The look on Max’s face makes her feel like she’s nothing, but a home breaker.
“Everything is your fault, Ariel. You’re a bitch!” She mutters to herself as she suddenly grabs a handful of her hair and pulls it aggressively with more tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You’re trying to break them apart. Can’t you see that her husband loves her so much? Can’t you see that you’re just an intruder?” She scolds herself as her hands suddenly tremble along with her lips as she stares into space.
“No… You’re not a home breaker. You’re not an intruder…” She shakes her head momentarily as she denies the fact.
“She brought you here to bear them a child. She was the one that brought you into her family, you’re not freaking doing anything wrong, Ariel. You’re just trying to be loved like every woman would want…” She pauses and smiles weirdly.
“Yes… It’s fine to see a handsome man and feels attracted to him. It’s fine to develop feelings for a man that catches your attention, even if he’s already taken. Yes there’s no harm in being in love with Max,” She tries to convince herself, but seeing the truth standing in front of her and staring back at her, it’s difficult to be convinced that it wasn’t all her fault.
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? What’s wrong with you, Ariel? Can’t you just stay the hell away from that man and stay focused on the reason you’re here? You’re going to end up in the street if Alicia should decide to throw you out of the house,” Her subconscious mind further screams at her, and she suddenly grabs her head as she clutches her ears tightly while having her eyes shut, with a terrified expression on her face. In a minute, her hair is scattering over her head like a mad woman. She’s almost running mad anyway. She’s on the verge of losing her mind, and there’s a higher chance of her running completely mad afterward.
“He will always go to his wife. He loves his wife. Are you thinking that he will leave her for you? Come on, Ariel… Stop being too expectant. He’s not yours, he belongs to Alicia,” The unknown voice keeps screaming in her head as her body trembles. More tears flood her cheeks.
“You’re just a breeder, Ariel. Aren’t your life a pathetic one? You’re just mad at yourself for being too unfortunate that your own mom hates you so much. You’re just angry that your family…”
“Stop it! Just stop it, please! It’s not true… Th… that… that’s not true! They don’t hate me! My mom loves me… Not anymore, but at least she used to,” She breaks down in tears as her lips shake fervently.
After crying her eyes out almost all night, she finally feels her eyes heavy and she gives in to the deep sleep that keeps knocking her eyes.
The next day
Forcing her eyes open, she finds herself on the bed with the duvet covering her body. Pulling a confused and puzzled look, she sits up on the bed and stares around the room. The last time she remembered, she was sleeping on the floor the previous night, so how come she woke up on the bed?
She sighs briefly as she stands up to her feet and drags herself to check her reflection in the mirror. Her hair still looks messy and her eyes are swollen. She almost can’t believe that this is her reflection in the mirror, but there’s no other person in the room, so it’s definitely her.
Glancing over to the wall clock, she closes her eyes briefly as the realization dawn on her that she needs to be in the office in less than an hour.
“Oh, God!” She laments as she finally drags herself sluggishly into the bathroom, slamming the door hard behind her. She so much wants to stay back at home and have some rest, but she can’t. Even if Max would allow her to, what about Alicia? She can’t afford to get beaten up by her again. Who knows if she’ll even do worse this time?
She rubs her flat stomach and can’t help but pray that her baby is still fine after all the beatings from Wendy the previous day. She can’t afford to lose this baby growing inside her. Tears well up in her eyes as she checks out the bruises on her skin and the red spots. Good thing that the fingers prints that were left on her cheek have disappeared, so no one would notice this. The bruises are also in places that can be covered with clothes, so there’s no need to be scared that she might get questioned later on. She has been through a lot to think of getting stressed answering questions again.
After she has her bath, she walks back into her room and gets dressed before she finally strides out of her room.
Descending the staircase, the angry voice of Alicia welcomes her as she speaks with her husband.
“I can’t have her here with me anymore, Max. I don’t care where she’s going to stay, I just need her out of here, please,” Alicia’s voice pierces through her ears, and she slowly clenches her fingers around the rail.
“Babe…”
“I’m not going to listen to you, Max. I don’t care about anything. I know she’s pregnant, but I don’t care whatever happens to the baby and her. I’m going to end up committing murder if you don’t take her out of the house, that’s my decision,” Alicia snaps again.
“Alright, just calm down, OK? I promise to talk about this with you when I get back. I need to be at the office now,” She hears Max’s voice, follow by the sound of the exit door closing and she concludes that he already left for work.
She sighs briefly before she finally descends the staircase and heads to the living room where she meets Alicia…