In Five Years Of Marriage

Deryl married me five years ago, and during that time, we still haven't been blessed with a child. For that reason, we brought a fifteen-year-old girl named Cecilia into our home as our daughter.

Now that she is twenty years old, she has grown up beautifully with perfect body proportions. And this is not the first time I've heard the girl's moans in Deryl's room every time I pass by that room.

"You said Rein no longer excites you, right? That woman is too old and not pleasing to look at. So I will give you satisfaction, Mr. Deryl."

Since they did it, the calls of mother and father disappeared. Cecilia speaks like an adult woman, as if we were the same age, and her heated words always make me shake my head.

"Oh my God, Rein. Have you been here all along? Did my voice reach outside and hurt you?" Cecilia buttoned the top button of her open shirt. When she tossed her hair back, I saw many of Deryl's kiss marks still lingering there.

"I just passed by; I didn't hear anything." I continued my steps towards my room; Cecilia waved and said goodbye in such a spoiled tone.

In my room, I immediately searched for the document I had guarded with my life for the past five years. The contract marriage agreement finally reached the point where we had to end it.

***

That morning, Deryl came to me in the kitchen and complained because I hadn't prepared his work clothes today. I didn't even glance at Deryl; I continued cooking my own breakfast, and his shout started to be heard.

"Why aren't you doing your job!"

"You have two hands and legs that you can use, sir. Unless you don't have any, and I will help you." Deryl's hand was already raised, ready to slap me. I held myself back from being scared; a slap is better than mental torture.

"Don't, Deryl. Reinhard might be in a time when she wants to rest a lot. Her age is no longer young; let her go for treatment so she can satisfy you a little. Fatigue will make someone age faster." That was Cecilia's voice, her harsh sarcasm piercing my heart.

Now Cecilia sits in the dining chair, deliberately positioned so she can watch me cook. "So, what's on the menu for us this morning?"

I didn't turn around, even though I knew Cecilia's question was directed at me. "Answer her!" Deryl yelled at me again from behind. Just because I didn't answer Cecilia's question, it made him so angry.

"I don't cook for anyone else. Especially for a disobedient child." I placed the sausage on the plate and prepared to go to a quieter place to eat, but Cecilia's laughter disturbed me.

"Look at what your wife did to me!" Cecilia's question was directed at Deryl.

"She really is an ungrateful woman. I have provided for her and facilitated her with wealth, but she won't even take care of one child." I stood still, listening to Deryl's direct sarcasm.

"Old and useless. She even wants to live recklessly using my money." Deryl continued. I couldn't take it anymore, but I truly couldn't bring myself to speak. I slammed the plate I was holding until it shattered, and its contents scattered all over the floor.

"ARE YOU DARE TO BE MAD AT ME?" Deryl shouted loudly, angry because I threw his expensive plate and it shattered.

"Enough, I can't bear to see an old woman being scolded. Go on, Rein, I've already forgiven you," Cecilia said shamelessly.

I have devoted my entire life to taking care of teenage Cecilia until she grew up. I once vowed in my heart to consider her as my own child.

However, what Cecilia did to repay my efforts was to engage in promiscuous behavior at the age of seventeen, go to bars, try everything forbidden, and now, for the past two years, she has taken my husband. A man whom she used to call father and clung to like our own child.

My trust in her was shattered; she stopped calling me Mother and treated me like an old wife of her lover who was no longer useful.

"Don't go yet; listen to me." Deryl's words suddenly softened after being calmed by Cecilia.

Stupidly, I felt my body was so stiff, and I couldn't move away before hearing Deryl's words.

"Cecilia will not go to university anymore." Deryl's statement was confirmed by Cecilia's outburst.

However, this actually surprised me. For a split second, I forgot that Cecilia was no longer my responsibility. Why should I be angry if she stops pursuing her education?

"So what?" I asked curtly.

"Of course you have to take care of it and look after it at home," Deryl said angrily. He thought I didn't understand and couldn't comprehend his words, which made him even angrier.

"For what? I'm neither her maid nor her mother. Since you no longer consider her our daughter and touched her, from that moment on, I also stopped considering her my daughter."

"YOU'RE GOING TOO FAR, REINHARD! YOU THINK I'M LIKE A PREDATOR?" I don't know what Cecilia has put into my husband's mind and heart, but now he becomes so explosive when talking to me.

"What do you think? What should someone like you be called?" I asked curtly.

"Enough! This is all indeed my fault. However, our situation has already come to this. It's fine with me if I'm no longer considered." Cecilia's ridiculous crying made me click my tongue. I heard Deryl's footsteps approaching his young woman to calm her down.

"It's good that you are self-aware. Instead of taking care of Cecilia, please prepare our divorce."

I didn't wait for Deryl's response, I went upstairs to my room. Clearly, I could hear the loud bang of an object from the direction of the kitchen I had just left.