“What! Are you kidding me? You want to get married to Alicia?” Max shrieks after Alex told him that he was going to get married to Alicia. Since they can’t meet at home, because Ariel would suspect something, they decided to meet at the restaurant to discuss this.
“Yes,” Alex replies like this isn’t a big deal. Of course, Max is just being paranoid, and this is truly not a big deal, honestly. He has his plans ahead, so why should he be worried that things will go wrong later?
“This wasn’t part of the plan, Alex…”
“Just take this as me getting revenge for trying to ruin my brother and making you look like the bad person… You have nothing to worry about, Max… I have everything in control, and nothing will go wrong later,” Max still finds this silly and disturbing, even though this young man already assured him that everything will be fine. Can he really trust this man that has once betrayed him? Can he trust this man to be on his side until the very end? What if this was all planned again? Maybe he was a fool to have agreed to this in the first place.
“Will you betray me for the second time, Alex?” He finally asks as he stares at Alex with a questioning expression on his face.
“If I was going to betray you, I wouldn’t have opened up to you about the secret. I understand your fear, but you should stop being paranoid, brother,” Alex smiles at him. He wasn’t really sad about what his brother asked him, because he knew that it was really necessary for him to do that.
“I will try to trust you,” Max’s heart was saying another thing, he was being skeptical about this, but then, he wouldn’t be able to do this without this man’s help.
“Thank you. That reminds me, guess what?” Alex creases his eyebrows.
“You know I’m not good at guessing. What’s the news?” Max asks.
“I got one of the contractors back, and still working on meeting the remaining two, before I also work on getting the shareholders back,” Alex smiles at him, but his mouth drops open in shock instead. He wasn’t expecting to have heard that, he didn’t expect things to be this fast, and he can only be excited. At least, he won’t lose everything in the end.
“Dad… He was the one behind everything,” Alex adds, and he slowly nods his head. Of course, he has known about this after he found out the truth. All the negative things that happened in his life would sure be connected to the man, but what he never understood was why he had to do all that simply because he never loved his mom. He is his son, his flesh and blood, so why should his hatred for his mom spread to him?
“Hmm,” He feels his heart wrench in pain as he slowly clenches his fingers tightly into a tight fist. Tears brim in his eyes, but he tries to fight them back. No matter the angle he looks at it from, it still doesn’t change the pain in his heart. He has just been trying to be fine, but deep down, he is really not fine. The pain is there.
“Everything is going to be fine, and I promise you that,” Alex pats his shoulder, and he slowly nods his head, hiding his face because the tears already dropped from his eyes.
“It’s ok to cry, Max. Just let it all out… Let your tears out, and you will be fine after then,” Alex whispers as he finally walks over to him, and cuddle him.
“It hurts… It hurts, Alex,” He whispers as he breaks down in tears.
“Just let it out, Max. Don’t pretend to be fine… You’re not,” Alex whispers, while he cries harder.
After they leave the restaurant a few minutes later, Alex drives them to the bridge where he usually calms his head whenever he is feeling down.
“Where is this place?” He asks as they both hop out of the car.
“I come here whenever I want to clear my head. If you want to scream, go ahead and do it. You will be better later,” Alex utters, and he slowly nods his head.
As he leans over the rail and stares down under the bridge, he tries to look at the bright side of everything, and have faith that everything will be fine, but nothing is coming through for him.
‘How will his dad feel when he finds out that his secret has been leaked? How will he be able to face him later?’ those are the questions that keep running through his mind, but is that really something he should worry about? Maybe not.
Taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes as the gentle breeze caresses his face.
After hanging out with Alex, he finally returns home to meet Ariel.
“You’re home, babe? I’ve been trying to reach you, but your number was unreachable,” Ariel whines as she hugs him once he steps into the kitchen where she is making dinner.
“I’m sorry, I had something to attend to. Why are you cooking? I told you not to go close to the kitchen,” he utters as he strokes her hair
“I’m your wife, so I should make the food you eat, ok? It’s not a big deal,” She shrugs as she wraps her hands around him, and he smiles at her.
“Hmm. That is my baby. How is our baby, huh?” He asks as he bends down and places his ear on her stomach.
“She is fine,” She chuckles after she replies to him.
“I told you it’s a boy, baby,” He stands up and pouts his lips.
“No, it’s a girl,” She smirks at him, and he scoffs.
“I know how I did that, so I’m sure it’s a boy,” He winks at her, and she giggles.
“Should we place a bet on that, huh?” She smirks at him, and his face beams with excitement.
“Yeah. If it’s a boy, I will buy you the latest car…”
“And if it’s a girl?” She cuts him off.
“We will have a mini you here, and don’t you think she might end up taking me away from you, huh? Don’t you know girl child is closer to her dad than her mom, huh?” He utters in a muffled breath as he places his forehead on hers.
“Now, I don’t know the one I want anymore,” She whines.
“I’m trying to favor your ass here, baby. We’ll have a boy child, ok?” He utters, and she rolls her eyes.
“Whatever!” She giggles as she finally pulls away from him and turns to stir the food she is cooking.
“You should get changed and come downstairs for dinner, baby,” She utters, and he nods his head before he walks out of the kitchen, heading to his room.
His heart hurts, and he feels like screaming his pain out, but he also has someone to take care of, he has someone he should be happy for. He wouldn’t ever want to be sad in the presence of his wife. Maybe all this will eventually be over, but how soon will that be? Is it until he breaks down? Those are the thoughts that wander his mind as he climbs the staircase and heads up to his room…