Flash Marriage: Shrewd Wife, Devious Husband
Chapter 55: Not Terrible, Just Stupid

Chapter 55: Not Terrible, Just Stupid

"But you didn’t?" Gloria asked.

Marcella shook her head. "I didn’t."

"Why?" Gloria asked with her eyebrows tensed with confusion. Why would she lie about something so sensitive knowing how her father would react?

"It’s..." Marcella gulped. She’s never talked to anyone about this. It was hard for her to talk about it. "It’s getting late, isn’t it?" she tried to stand up. "I have to~"

Gloria pulled her hand "Oh, I am not letting you go without spitting out the truth, Marcella. You owe me..."

Marcella grimaced. "I know... The truth...Umm... There was this guy, right? My first crush and... My first love. He brought me to prom and I expected certain things from him..."

"Like...?" Gloria tilted her head with a sinister grin.

"A kiss, okay? Just a kiss..." Marcella told the truth before Gloria decided to concoct a much more salacious story in her head.

"And...?"

"He... refused..." Marcella slouched her shoulders and ducked her head.

"You asked and he refused?" Gloria was not the least bit gentle as she ripped off the band-aid.

"Yes!" Marcella shouted mostly because she was too embarrassed.

"Okay!" Gloria controlled her laughter. "I’m listening..."

"The party happened a week after and I... This guy was interesting. Well, he was interested in me. Not that I lacked guys who were interested in me, but... I never minded any of them. But this guy with a mask on was interesting. I liked talking to him after that guy... I was hurt after he refused to kiss me and then I..."

"Okay..." Gloria could get where it was going.

"I liked the kiss; I won’t deny it. But then he became more...excited, and he...pinned me down. Actually, he pinned me on the wall..." Marcella gulped.

It was the backyard of their house. No one was there and, in that darkness, it happened out of nowhere.

For some reason, she got reminded of that afternoon. Tony pinned her on the wall too, almost in a similar way. Do guys like to pin women on the wall? Or does this happen to me alone?

"Oh dear," Gloria panicked. If that guy forced himself on her it would be terrible. She understood why she didn’t want to talk about it and why she didn’t want to do anything with him. "I am sorry you went through~"

"Oh, no, no... Nothing happened. I knew self-defense and I pushed him away. He apologized profusely probably because he was scared of my father. And..."

Marcella rubbed her hands together. She was drunk and she didn’t remember everything clearly but that guy almost pissed his pants after she pushed him away. He kept on apologizing to her. Even she pitied him after hearing him pathetically begging her to forgive him.

"We got caught and my dad interrogated me. The guy I was with had run away and... He was with my father..."

"He? Your crush?" Gloria asked.

Marcella wetted her lips. "Yeah... He stared at me as if... I lied and said that I willingly slept with the guy who ran away. I thought I was getting back at him but everything happened differently..."

"Oh?" Gloria was shocked.

"I am a terrible person, aren’t I?" Marcella asked seeing Gloria’s stunned reaction. She didn’t think that any girl would lie about something so important as that just to get back at a guy who didn’t want to kiss her.

"Terrible? No, dear. You are not terrible; just stupid," Gloria sighed.

"Yeah, that too," Marcella mumbled under her breath.

It was stupid of her. She saw the shock on Tony’s face when she said that. He immediately turned and walked away. She didn’t care what happened after that. She didn’t care about that guy either.

She locked herself in her room for two days and avoided everyone. Her mother got worried for her. Her father refused to even look at her face and ordered her to marry that guy.

Everything went to sh*t after that. Her father was preparing for her engagement party. Her mother was worried all the time. She felt like she ruined the peace in her home. So, she left one night without telling anyone.

"What happened to that guy you were engaged with?" Gloria asked.

"We were not engaged," Marcella denied that immediately. "I never consented to that. And... I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t even remember his name."

She truly didn’t remember that guy’s name. Her father always mentioned him as "that b@stard", her mother never mentioned him by his name, and her sister teased her by mentioning him as a "secret lover".

Gloria sighed. "Did he survive your father?" she asked.

Marcella blinked. She didn’t even think about that guy after that. "I don’t think so..." she said although she was not sure. "My dad wanted me to marry him. Plus, if he was in our home, he must be a friend’s son. So, he wouldn’t have~"

"Was it Louis Fletcher?" Gloria asked out of nowhere.

"What? No way that can’t be him," Marcella stood up. A shiver went through her spine imagining that possibility. "My father would have killed him after I refused to marry him..."

"Right," Gloria stood up.

"And him..." Gloria looked at Marcella’s ring. "Could it be him, then? How did you get him to marry you?"

Marcella bit her lips. "He’s... He’s the guy who refused to kiss me," she said and her eyes filled with tears. "He... I don’t think he... he..." she wiped the corner of her eyes and sniffed in her tears.

She didn’t have the courage to open up about her marital struggles with another person. She had to deal with it herself. What if somehow the truth got revealed and they get the baby from her? She can never allow that to happen.

She brought a smile to her face. "He’s my first crush. I think it worked out in the end. Maybe we were meant to be. Anyway... I’ve to go relieve the babysitter. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, bye!" she waved her hand and ran out.

Gloria stared at Marcella’s back pondering deeply.

-----

Marcella reached home feeling exhausted. She rang the bell and Rosy opened the door for her. Joey was sleeping and Rosy told her that he was fed an hour ago and it was possible he would sleep for some time.

Marcella thanked Rosy and sent her off. Marcella locked the door. She washed her face and changed out of her work clothes. She had some clothes she brought from her apartment. She purposefully kept some back in her apartment.

Her lips curved to a smile seeing the sleeping baby.

"You are cute... you are adorable when you sleep, Lil Joey... But when you cry, it’s like... Uh. I hope I am doing everything right by you..."

She lay beside the baby and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

She woke up with a jerk hearing a passing ambulance. She looked at the time and it was seven in the evening. She hadn’t prepared dinner yet.

She jumped down from the bed. The house was eerily quiet but it smelled like food.

Is he back?