Devoted Love, Mr. Hayes’ Darling Wife

Within seven hours of the U. S. stock market opening, Pasqual Floor Heating’s market capitalization had evaporated by two-thirds.

U. S. stocks close at 5 am.

Pasqual rose from his chair sweating, his legs weak.

Carlita said with red-rimmed eyes, “I called to beg Nico, I’m his real mother, how could he be so cruel?”

With that, Carlita grabbed her phone and called Nico.

By this time it is dark in The Holy City.

After the American bag was closed, Nico closed his laptop.

The cell phone resting next to the computer rang.

This string of numbers, spanning oceans and continents, is not noted by Nico, but is clearly remembered.

His face was expressionless as he looked at the caller ID on the phone that had been ringing for a long time before slowly picking it up emotionlessly.

When he answered the phone, he didn’t speak.

He had nothing to say to Carlita, whether it was hate or disgust, and in last night’s bag he had made it all clear.

After a long moment of silence, Carlita on the other end of the line finally choked out, “Nico, I know you hate me, you’ve hated me since you were ten, but your father and I were at the end of our marriage, the accident wasn’t what I wanted. ”

“What about Micaela, why did you join Kemena against Micaela, what did she do wrong? Even if you hate me for not helping you, you shouldn’t have pointed your gun at Micaela.

Carlita bit her lip and explained aloud, “I didn’t want to deal with Micaela! She was desperate, Pasqual, and she needed the money. I went back to my country and begged her without dignity, but she turned me down repeatedly. Nico, I had no choice, I had to take the risk for Pasqual, even if there was a high risk of failure, but I had to do it anyway.”

Nico scoffed, “You really played your cards right! Ms. Carlita, you never treated me as your son from the beginning to the end, did you ever think that Micaela was your daughter-in-law when you allied with Kemena to hurt her? The love of your life for the son you gave birth to in October!”

“I’m sorry Nico… I was really desperate … Underfloor heating was so close to facing breaking the financing chain at that time and declaring bankruptcy…. … I was really desperate. If it wasn’t so urgent, I wouldn’t have been able to get involved with someone as humble as Kemena …”

“That’s enough!” Nico shouted angrily into the phone.

Carlita took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said, “I know nothing I can say now will do any good, even if I try to explain, you won’t believe me. But Nico, there’s one thing you have to be clear about, it’s me, the one who has wronged you, who has wronged you and Micaela, not Pasqual, not Pasqual, not Pasqual’s floor heating, this is personal, and whatever price you want me to pay, don’t involve Pasqual, ok?”

“Pasqual, Pasqual…” Nico scoffed as he gritted his teeth: “Did you or didn’t you love my father?”.

Carlita smiled, “I loved it. Your father and Pasqual were two different types of people, maybe in the eyes of many, your father was the successful one, and Pasqual was not as good as your father in business. We went to college together and were very close friends, your father was always busy with his work and career, and I was always with Pasqual, who was not as gentle and considerate as your father, but he was a hundred times more gentle and considerate than your father. The love I felt for your father, during the long and lonely years of my marriage, kept shifting to Pasqual, and even if you call me irresponsible or say I betrayed your father, no matter what you think of me, Pasqual is innocent, and it was me, against all odds.”

What a ridiculous thing to say.

Taking mental derailment for granted.

“If you weren’t so firmly in love with my father, you shouldn’t have married him in the first place!”

Nico slammed the phone to the floor and smashed it to smithereens.

She sat down in a chair and wiped her face with both hands.

The man’s eyes were red-rimmed, disheveled and downcast from staying up all night following the U. S. stock market.

Nico began to wonder if his obsession was wrong.

If he had let Carlita go earlier and agreed to help her with her financial problems, wouldn’t he have approached Kemena about dealing with Micaela?

By now, then, he and Micaela were peacefully married and leading an enviable married life.

That child in Micaela’s womb won’t be aborted either.

It turns out that paranoid hatred can turn against you.

Nico smiled wanly, how he never thought Carlita would be behind it.

He wouldn’t be surprised if it was Kemena or whoever it was, but why, it was Carlita.

This woman, on the other hand, was also his own mother.

What was she going to tell Micaela?

…

Micaela received a call from the hospital.

“Is this Miss Micaela? This is the People’s Hospital, your father, Beltran, had a stroke and fell unattended at home half an hour ago and had an accident, he was brought to the hospital by a neighbor, could you come as soon as possible?”

Micaela was stunned, holding her phone for a long time.

“Miss Micaela, Miss Micaela?”

Then Micaela snapped back to reality and said, “I see, thank you.”

After hanging up the phone, Micaela remained silent for a long time.

She had hated Beltran for what seemed like a century, and not a day went by that she didn’t hate the man from childhood to adulthood.

Beltran caused the death of his mother, caused him to lack the love of a father, and he spent his life healing from that horrible youth.

In the end, the man did not get good results.

Micaela can’t say what it is to hate…. She seems to have become less obsessive.

But to say that one forgives is also far from being able to do so.

Micaela drove to the People’s Hospital.

Inside the hospital, the smell of sterile water filled the room and gave her many bad memories.

Ever since she was forced to give Kemena a blood transfusion at the hospital two years ago, she has less desire to come to the hospital and a shadow seems to hover over her.

When she entered the hospital, her abdomen, again, vaguely ached.

But she forced herself to walk to the ward.

A cluttered sound of footsteps approached.

“Beltran in bed 32 has suddenly increased his blood pressure, go look!”This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Micaela followed the nurse, pushed open the door and entered the room.

Beltran lay in his hospital bed, plugged into a respirator, his pale eyes watched the girl in the doorway, and suddenly he raised his hands in agitation, moaning and screaming.

“What’s wrong Beltran, Beltran?” the nurse said, trying to calm him.

Beltran stammered and shouted, “Little … Micaela… Micaela… ”

The nurse looked toward the door of the room and saw Micaela, “Is that Beltran’s family?”.

Without bending down, Micaela walked in and said, “I am.”

“Keep an eye on him while I go call the attending physician!”

Micaela nods slightly.

When the nurse came out, Beltran looked at Micaela excitedly, “Little … Micaela … it’s daddy …. … Papa is sorry…”

Micaela laughed lightly, “Does it seem too late for you to say that?”.

The corners of Beltran’s eyes were wet and tears were running down the corners of his eyes as he said in a broken voice, “Papa …. Papa is sorry … but Kemena is your real sister…. Micaela … don’t be angry with your sister… promise dad…. don’t hate us anymore…”

Micaela’s eyes were affected by a slight glare and she scoffed, “I was foolish enough to think you really pitied me and my mother, but I never thought you’d be a lobbyist for Kemena. If so, there’s nothing more to say. Beltran, I’m telling you right now, I’m not going to let Kemena go, let alone spare her, I’m going to make her live the rest of her life! I’m going to make her live the rest of her life! I’m going to make her feel like she has no one to turn to!”

“Micaela … ooooooooo…”

Beltran struggled to grab Micaela’s hand, but she turned and walked out of the room with her purse in her hand.

“Drip…”

Beltran fainted.

The heart rate on the screen of the fitting room, gradually converging to a straight line.

Micaela paced the long hallway and snatching noises were heard.

“Beltran in bed 32 has a massive brain hemorrhage, contact his family immediately and send him to ICU for resuscitation!”

“It’s too late, the patient’s heart has stopped!”

Micaela calmly walked out of the hospital, listening to the panicked sounds of resuscitation and the sounds of life and death separating.

The people and events behind her seemed to have nothing to do with her.

As she left the hospital, Micaela received a call from Nico.

When she answered, Nico said, “Meet me tomorrow at 3 p. m. in front of the Civil Affairs Office.”

Micaela looked outside at the sky, blue and clear, “It’s a nice day, let’s do it now, I happen to be free.”

This time, instead of objecting, Nico readily agreed, “Okay, after the formalities, I also have something to tell you that you have a right to know.”

Micaela nodded and said, “Good.”

…

Nico had already arrived when Micaela went to the Civil Registry.

She approached and said, “It’s been a long time.”

Nico laughed softly, without much emotion, “It doesn’t matter, it’s not as bad as this last time anyway, when you get used to it.”

The hand under Micaela’s sleeve tightened and her face warmed as she said, “Come in.”

The two men entered the registry office one after the other, respecting each other.

Nico never imagined that one day he would be so polite to Micaela, so polite that mountains and rivers separated them and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get past them.

The staff at the Office of Civil Affairs glanced at their divorce papers, looked between the two of them and asked symbolically, “Are you really sure about the divorce?”

Before Micaela could say anything, Nico had already spoken firmly, “Sure.”

At first, a marriage certificate was the binder, and a song was sung in a warm tent.

Now, with a divorce settlement, we are on opposite sides of the world, and though the paths may be narrow, we will not meet.