Wajah Asli Adikku

Marrying Dante became the worse regret of my life. It was a horrible experience in the sense that not only was I married to a man that i was not in love with. I was also married to a man that was unbothered about me. Dante never cared about me, he never tried to get along with him. All he cared about was business.

Dante usually left the house from morning and returned late at night. A few times, I held out hope that Dante and I would get along well, maybe we would get to know each other too but it was quite the opposite. Dante cared less.

I was left all alone in this mansion during the day and my father had broken his promise, I was not allowed to go to college at all. I remained in the house, not even Alejandra nor my father had visited me for once. I felt like a captive, was that not what I was?

I tried to reach my boyfriend, or should I say my ex boyfriend?. Anyways, I had tried to reach Dave a few times but he never picked my call for once. My guess was that he had seen the news and he knew I was married. I felt horrible too as I imagined that Dave must have felt really betrayed.

I gazed at the TV screen, I sighed heavily. Nothing interested me. Suddenly, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. I was startled for a brief moment until I got to stare at the culprit. It was Dante's mother, Luciana. She was present for our wedding and two days ago, Luciana had moved into the house.

I wondered why but I also did not mind. She was kind to me during the few times she spoke.

"What are you doing? Watching mute TV?" She asked, her brows raised at me. She was a stunning woman too, Dante looked just like her in every way, their skin colour, hair colour and eye colour was exactly the same. She was young too.

I gazed back at the TV screen and that was when I noticed that she was right, the TV was mute and I had not realized that for a long while because I was too deep in my own thoughts to have even noticed a single thing.

I chuckled nervously and shrugged.

"Can I join you?" Luciana pointed at the empty space besides me. I nodded my head at her in agreement and hastily gestured her to join me.

"Are you okay though? You look really stressed out." She pointed out. I sighed heavily. I wanted to rant to her about how stressful my marriage with Dante was. I wanted to tell her my story entirely but I cautioned myself. I knew that I needed to be careful around her, even though she appeared as a gentle person. I found it hard to trust her just so blindly.

"Dante right? I know my son is a bundle of trouble." Luciana said with a weak smile plastered on her face. She did not seem happy about it at all. One thing I knew for sure was that Luciana hated the nature of Dante's work but she had no say in it, especially because Dante's father had the upper hand.

"Well yes. Everything is just a bit too complicated right now but I know that with time, I will be okay." I said, forcing a smile on my face. All my words were lies, was i really going to ever be okay? It did not seem like that at all. Everything kept falling apart as the day slowly passed by.

"I understand. You must hate it here too. I was also forced into a marriage with Dante's father. Except my case was different, my family was Indebted to Roberto so I had no choice but to marry him. Funny how I was abused by Roberto too. He hated my guts." Luciana said, I gazed at her, amused by her confidence. How was she so calm about all of this? How could she say this with a smile on her face? She had gone through so much yet she managed to act so confident about it.

I sighed heavily and I watched her place a hand on my shoulder. "I know how tough things are for you right now but things will get better soon, just keep holding out hope." Luciana said. I smiled at her genuinely. I appreciated her efforts at trying to reassure me. Her words may not mean much but her efforts meant so much to me.

Before I could reply her, Dante stepped into the living room with a suitcase clutched tight to his hand. He furrowed his brows in confusion at me and his mother.

"Emily, can we talk?" He asked in a soft tone. Now I was confused, this was the first time since we had gotten married that Dante wanted to speak to me. He was always so busy with work, I was surprised to see that he wanted to speak with me.

I casted a glance at Luciana and she flashed me a reassuring smile again, she mouthed "Go ahead."

I nodded my head at her and followed Dante up the stairs. He pushed the door open and gestured me to come inside.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him with a confused look on my face. My palms were sweaty and i felt my heart race with anxiety.

"Actually, I just realized you have not been going to college for a while now. Are you really okay with that?" He asked.

I felt butterflies in my stomach, my heart fluttered at his words.

"No, I want to go to college." I said, my voice was barely above a whisper.

"Then you ca..." Dante had not finished his sentence, my phone rang out loud. I gazed at the caller ID, the call was from an unknown number.

"Go ahead." Dante gestured to my phone.

I excused myself out of the room and answered the call.

"Hello?" I pressed the phone close to my ears.

"I see that you are married now huh?" A familiar husky voice caused my heart to beat fast.