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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Penulis: JeniGN
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-05-20 22:29:42

It hit me the next morning—too late, too soft. But it hit me.

The signs were all there. The gentle smile, the way she poured water into my glass like we were old friends, the practiced warmth that never quite reached her eyes. I saw it now. I felt it.

Signora Phylecia didn’t like me. Not then. Not ever. That whole luncheon, she was playing hostess, not mother. And certainly not mine.

The blush dress. The airy perfume. The way she touched my hand when Romero said the word marry—not with joy. With resignation. Like I was a storm she couldn’t hold back, so she’d rather let it pass and pick up the pieces after. She never said a word that night. Not one disapproving syllable. But silence is just another kind of weapon, isn’t it?

Romero didn’t see it. Or maybe he did, and chose not to care.

But I remembered the way her eyes lingered just a little too long when I reached for him. And now, lying here in silk sheets older than my career, in a house older than my entire bloodline, I knew it: he
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  • The Man I Swore to Hate   CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

    The sea did not give him back. By morning, I was still sitting by the shore, lips chapped from the wind, eyes raw from staring into the distance, searching for a boat that never returned. The sun had already risen twice since he left, and with it, my hope had slowly, cruelly bled into the tide.Romero was gone.No letters. No note tucked into the corner of our bed. No warning. Only that last look he gave me, that flicker of defiance mixed with sorrow, and then the sound of the engine drifting further and further into the dark.When the fishing boats began returning empty, I knew. I knew before they said anything. Before Eljo came again, soaking wet and stammering, "Carmen, we looked—God, we looked everywhere—but there's no sign of him or the boat." I was already shaking by then, teeth clenched to keep the scream from tearing out of my throat.I told myself he had docked somewhere else. That maybe he made it to another cove. That he had caught something so big he stayed longer to pull

  • The Man I Swore to Hate   CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

    I woke to the sound of a motor sputtering to life.The sheets beside me were cold. The sun hadn't fully risen, just a pale wash of light creeping through the cracks in our bamboo windows. I sat up, heart already kicking in my chest.No.I threw on my shawl, shoved my feet into slippers, and ran barefoot down the path toward the shore. My throat stung from the cold air, my arms prickled. When I reached the clearing, the worst fear curled into reality—Romero was on the boat.He stood barefoot on the hull, steadying the outriggers like it was a normal day. Like the sea didn’t kill men. Like he wasn’t a man with lungs that sometimes trembled and a heart that gave strange rhythms on cold nights.“Romero!” I shouted.He didn’t even flinch. Just cast a rope loose, calm as ever.“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”He looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes catching the morning light. “Fishing,” he said plainly, like he was saying the word breathing.I stormed into the shallows, skirt

  • The Man I Swore to Hate   CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

    The house had been too quiet lately.Rosetta and Achileas’s absence was louder than the silence I used to carry. I found myself setting out four plates at dinner, only to remove two with a tight smile when Romero gave me a knowing glance. They've been gone only a few moths. Studying abroad. Living on their own. Thriving, maybe. Or pretending to. Like I used to.Romero found me out by the edge of the property again, standing where the grass thinned and the earth dropped into the flow of the river. My old spot. Where I once shouted into the wind, and where, just days before Rosetta left, I had my final real conversation with her.“You’ll catch a cold,” Romero said gently, placing a shawl over my shoulders.I didn’t answer. I was staring across the river like it could bring her back. He didn’t push me. He stood beside me like he always did, patient, warm. Unshakable.“She still hasn't told you why she chose to study abroad?” I muttered. “She says it was her friend from class, but I don't

  • The Man I Swore to Hate   CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

    The river had always been a part of our lives. It had watched us grow old. Watched us fight and make up. Watched our children learn to swim, to laugh, to cast their nets and dream of flying elsewhere.Now, the river watched us again. Just the two of us.Romero stood at the stern, shirt rolled up to his elbows, sun kissing the edges of his brown skin as he pushed the pole slowly through the water. The boat glided smoothly beneath the morning hush, water lapping at its sides in a rhythm we’d come to love.I sat on the bench near the bow, legs tucked beneath me, a straw hat shielding my face from the sun.“She really left,” I said, more to the sky than to him. “Even the room looks different now. As if it sighed after she walked out with her luggage.”He smiled faintly, eyes on the slow-moving river. “It’s strange, isn’t it? We spent years wishing for peace and quiet. Now it feels like too much.”“I made two cups of coffee this morning,” I said. “Out of habit. I used to make three.”“You’

  • The Man I Swore to Hate   CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

    I watched the bus pull away with a quiet ache in my chest. Achileas sat by the window, eyes already lost in the gray sprawl of the city ahead. He didn’t wave. He never did. But I knew he looked back.I stood there on the curb, arms crossed, the wind rustling my dress. Romero was beside me, hands in his pockets. We didn’t speak. We just stood together, watching our son vanish into a new life.“He’ll be fine,” Romero said, eventually.“I know,” I replied, though my voice sounded thinner than usual. “It’s Rosetta I’m worried about now.”He didn’t say anything to that. Because he knew.Everything changed the moment Achileas left. The house grew too quiet—and somehow, at the same time, too loud. Rosetta filled the silence with her voice, her presence, her drama.She used to cling to her brother’s every word. Now she slammed her bedroom door when I told her to clean up after herself. She used to curl beside me on the couch to watch old movies. Now she scrolled through her phone with a scoff

  • The Man I Swore to Hate   CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

    The sky turned the color of bruised peaches that afternoon—unsettled, brooding. I stood by the sink, rinsing the last of the mango peels when I felt the shift in the wind. It blew through the house like a warning. Soft at first. Then louder. Rattling windows. Slamming doors. I wiped my hands on my apron, unease blooming quietly in my chest.Romero was already pulling on his boots by the time I stepped onto the porch.“Achile didn’t come home yet,” he said.My heart skipped. “He’s supposed to be with Peter. They went to check the tide pools after school.”“And Rosetta’s?” he asked, eyes darting.“She’s upstairs. She just got back from school.” I glanced toward her window. “I’ll check.”I took the stairs two at a time, only to find the room empty. Her bag lay on the floor, her shoes tossed aside—but no Rosetta. Just her cardigan draped on the window sill. Panic slammed into me.“Romero!” I screamed. “She’s not here—she’s not in the house!”The wind howled then, slamming the shutters ope

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