Lahat ng Kabanata ng When Love Betrays : Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

The house was too quiet.Michael stood outside the small cream-painted duplex, staring at the black gate. The paint was chipped near the hinges. Someone had tried to fix it before and failed. It leaned slightly to the left, stubborn but still standing.Just like his marriage.He checked the address again on his phone. He didn’t need to. He had driven past the place twice already before finding the courage to park.His wife, Clara, was inside with her sister.Three days ago, she had packed a suitcase and left.No shouting.No scene.Just one sentence that still rang in his ears.“If you’re going to fight for Daniel, then you’ve chosen your own path.”At the time, he had tried to reason with her. Tried to explain that fighting for his son didn’t mean abandoning her. But she had looked at him as if he had already betrayed her.Now here he was.Not to argue.Not to beg.Just to speak clearly.He pushed the gate open and walked in.Clara’s sister, Naomi, opened the door before he could kno

Clara did not go back home.Not the next day.Not the day after.She stayed in her sister’s guest room, living out of a half-unpacked suitcase. The room smelled faintly of lavender air freshener. The bed was too soft. The window faced another building, so sunlight barely entered.Everything felt temporary.Naomi left early for work each morning, but Clara remained behind, sitting at the small dining table with a cup of tea that always went cold.She told herself she needed space.But space had a strange way of making thoughts louder.A friend from church mentioned it casually after Sunday service.“Oh, I saw Michael at the parent meeting on Friday,” the woman said, smiling. “He looked proud. Daniel won a math prize.”Clara forced a polite smile. “That’s nice.”“He was quiet though. Sat at the back. Didn’t make any scene.”The words were harmless.But they hit her harder than expected.He went.Of course he went.But she had half-expected him to skip it. To be too distracted by court p

The message stayed on Michael’s phone for almost an hour before he replied.Four simple words.We need to talk.He read them again and again, trying to understand what they meant.Those words could mean many things.Another argument.A final goodbye.Or something else he didn’t dare to hope for.Finally, he typed a reply.When?The answer came quickly.Tonight.Then another message followed.Somewhere neutral.Michael stared at the screen for a moment before typing again.The small café near Riverside Park?A pause.Then the reply.Okay.That was it.No extra words.No explanations.Just a time and a place.The rest of the afternoon felt unusually long.Michael tried to focus on work, but his thoughts kept drifting.He wondered what Clara would say.He wondered if she had already made up her mind.And he wondered if he was ready for whatever decision she had reached.By the time evening arrived, the sky had already begun to darken.The café near Riverside Park glowed warmly with soft

Clara did not sleep well that night.Every time she closed her eyes, the same image appeared in her mind.Two red lines.The pregnancy test was still in the bathroom drawer. She had hidden it there after her call with her sister, but the thought of it remained close, almost like a quiet voice in her head.You’re going to be a mother.The words still felt strange.Not frightening.Just… huge.She turned onto her side and glanced at the clock beside the bed.2:18 a.m.Michael was asleep next to her.His breathing was slow and steady.Clara studied his face in the dim light coming from the street outside.He looked peaceful.For a moment she wondered what his reaction would be when he found out.Would he laugh?Would he panic?Would he worry about how everything would change again?Her hand moved slowly to her stomach.Nothing had changed yet.At least not on the outside.But inside, something new had already begun.A quiet life growing where there had been nothing before.Clara closed h

The hospital hallway had grown quiet.Most visitors had already gone home for the evening. The bright lights in the corridor felt softer now, and the usual noise of nurses and moving carts had faded.Michael stood near the window at the end of the hallway.Through the glass he could see the city lights glowing in the distance. Cars moved slowly along the streets below, their headlights sliding through the darkness like small lines of fire.For the first time that day, everything felt still.Inside the room behind him, Clara was resting with the baby. Daniel had been sitting beside the bed earlier, watching his little brother with wide eyes.Michael had never seen him so quiet.The moment had been simple.But meaningful.A soft sound of footsteps approached from behind.Michael didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.Gabriel stopped beside him.For a moment neither of them spoke.They had spent years knowing each other.Years of friendship.Years of arguments.And lately… years