Chapter 22

UNEDITED

Nikolai went home and found Melissa waiting for him in the kitchen. She was sitting where she was earlier leaning on the table a little with a hand resting on the other. She smiles gently when he enters.

“What are you doing here?” He sets his keys on the counter and leans upon it with folded arms.

“I came to talk…” she releases a breath, “I think I made a mistake.”

“You think?”

“No, I know I did… I’m sorry…”

His brows furrow.

“I was overreacting… and I was hasty… and I don’t want to end this.”

He rubs the back of his head. So much had happened. He couldn’t think straight.

She stands and approaches him. Her palms reach out and rest on his chest and her neck bends back to look in his conflicting eyes. “I’m sorry…” she whispers… “I want to be by your side through this…”

“What is this?” He inquires.

“You know… dealing with Baylee and this DNA test.

“And if the baby is mine? Are you going to be able to handle that?”

“Of course…”

“No, I want you to really think about it. Baylee would be a part of our lives forever after. Are you going to feel insecure whenever we’re in the same room?”

She smiles. “Not unless you give me a reason to be…”

“If you don’t make little things, big things…”

“I just need to know if there is even the slightest chance of you getting back together with her. I need to know that you want me and not her…”

“I… What Baylee did was unforgivable. Things between her and I are 100% finished. There is absolutely no chance that we could reconcile whether we are together or not. Is that clear? Is that what you need to hear?”

She hugs him. “Yes… exactly… Can you forgive me?”

He swallows. He understood that she got upset and everyone in the world was allowed to do that. It was their first argument and before that, she was always understanding and didn’t get upset. She understood his busy schedule and was understanding of his wanting to take their relationship slow. And now she was willing to accept that he could be having a baby with another woman. How could he not forgive her? She deserved to be forgiven. He curves his arms around her back.


~~~~~
During the last few weeks, Clarissa was ecstatic that Jacob was keeping his distance. She thinks after their last argument when she told him how she felt that he got the picture. He was starting to see just how serious she was. They got into a co-parenting routine and left the romance out of it.

That was until this morning. She lay on her side still in bed and snuggled under the blanket. She hadn’t even opened her eyes when she realized that something was off. Jacobs' arms were around her waist and she could feel his heartbeat in her back. A subtle gasp escaped her lips. She sits up immediately waking him in the process.

“What are you doing here?”

He moans. “What does it look like, Clair? Sleeping…” He snuggles her closer.

“Get off me.” She tried to push his hand off but it was attached. “Jacob…” She scolds.

“Just relax…”

“Ughh.” She keeps pushing.

He lets out a frustrated breath. “Fine…”

She flys off the bed and glares at him laying on his back with his arms behind his head.“What is wrong with you? Haven’t you heard anything that I've said?

“What?... that I’ve made our marriage like your parents?” He retorts sarcastically.

Her brows furrow.

“That’s bullshit… and I’ll give you three reasons why...1, your father didn’t love your mother, I love you. 2, your father married your mother because she got pregnant. I married because I wanted to… And 3, last but definitely not least… your parents fought and disrespected each other. I’ll ask before I say… Have I ever disrespected you, Clair?”

She blinks.

“Have I done it in front of the kids?... like your parents?
He gets off the bed and grabs his blue collared shirt from the nightstand. “Stop comparing me to your father.” He demands and slides his arms into the sleeve. “It’s insulting and I don’t think I deserve it.” He was really hurt and that’s the reason he distanced himself but he came home last night and wanted to be near her. He missed her.

“Ugh…” She growls.

“Hmm… I like this passion in you.”

“This is anger…”

“Same thing.”

“You’re such a good husband, right? What about this?” She scurries to her dresser, grabs her phone, and opens the images of him and Regina.”

She holds the phone in front of his face and shows him what’s been eating her alive. “You know it was one thing when you admitted it, but when you started lying, that’s when I realized you weren’t the man I thought you were.”

He snatches the phone and with furrowed brows examines the pictures carefully. “This is fake Clair,”

“Oh please…”

His focus shifts to her. He realized that she didn’t believe him for one second. “Where did you get this from?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He stalks toward her and grabs her upper arms. “Look at me,” he orders for her full attention. “This is fake… that is not me. Where did you get this from?”

She rolls her eyes.

“I’m serious… I was nothing If not honest with you… Sweetheart, you know me and I’m telling you that is not me. I told you I never made it that far with her.”

She pulls herself away. “I don’t want to hear it. You're a liar and a cheater.”

”And you were willing to take me back believing I was having a relationship with another woman. Why?”

Her eyes squint and if she was shooting laser beams his way. “Because… I… felt like I deserved for you to leave me, Jacob.”

“Okay... but why?”

Her brows furrow and her hands flare. “What do you wanna hear? That I was a bad wife?”

“I wanna hear the part where you admit that this marriage failing wasn’t one-sided. You know, somewhere along the way Clair, you got angry and it’s like…”

“Yes, I’m angry…” She cuts him off. “You hurt me…And when the anger goes away the hurt will still be there…

He glances away…He was a bit annoyed but mostly disappointed. “So we’re wasting our time then huh?”

She meets his eyes. She didn’t know what to say.

“If you can’t move past what happened between us then this is pointless isn’t it, Clarissa?”

She folds her arms and shrugs her shoulders.

“I understand you're angry, I get that you’re so upset, that you can’t let it go… I was there… but I realized that I was starving myself of my happiness… and that’s you and my kids” He runs his hand through his hair and lets out a breath. “But maybe that’s just me… and maybe it’s too late.”

“Of course, it’s too late….You were with another woman behind my back and I have the images to haunt me forever.”

His fingers latched onto her wrist. “This is the last time I will say this to you, I never cheated on you… I never slept with Regina and those pictures are fake…”

“Sure.” She yanks her hand away.

He greets his teeth and shakes his head. “Let me know if you need anything for my children.” He strides away.

She swallows and drops herself on the bed with her palms resting on her forehead. She didn't know how to feel…


That night he didn’t come home and she didn’t care. She had dinner with the kids and enjoyed a good movie.

In the morning, as she walked by his bedroom she glanced at his open room door and saw that the bed wasn’t slept in. She didn’t care and continued on with her day. When she got an alert on her phone that her name was in the headlines she couldn’t ignore it.

One of the headlines read, “Clarissa Alden Kent’s ex-husband Jacob Kent finds new love.
Rapidly, her pace in breaths picks up. She inspects the picture and it was Jacob and Regina kissing with their arms wrapped around each other. Her knees went weak. She drops to the nearest seat which is the bed.
There were more pictures of him and her walking in and out of a hotel. She was so hurt that a numbness crept inside her and was planning permanent residence.



~~~~~

Jacob rushed home after just arriving at work as soon as he saw the day's headline. He was absolutely shocked. He hadn't the slightest clue how the media got those pictures.

After speeding and finally opening the front door he finds his kids in the playroom playing video games. ”Where’s your mom?”

”She's doing laundry.” Dylan responds.

He rushed to the laundry room and sure enough, she was folding clothes. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She smiles gently.

That wasn’t a good sign. “I know what it seems like but…”

“It’s none of my business.” She cuts him off.

He snatches the pants she was folding and greets his teeth. “I can’t be the only one fighting for us Clair. Isn’t our family worth it to you? To at least hear what I have to say?”

“Stop fighting Jacob.”

He shakes his head. “Is it that easy for you?”

She looks away from his gaze back down to her unfolded clothes. “Yeah...She answers. “I think you were right when you said that I might have been the one to fall out of love first.”

His heart stopped.

“I didn’t want you to touch me.” She admits.

“You’re lying,” he snarls.

“The proof is in the pudding right?”

He shuts his eyes. Sticks and stones may break his bones but words would be the death of him. “At least you’ve made up your mind now. First, it was ``I made our marriage your parents, I cheated, and now finally the truth.”
All the moments she turned away from him, all the moments he was denied, came flashing before his eyes. Words couldn’t describe the suffering he was enduring but he stayed on his feet. “So…it was all for the kids?”


“Hypocritical I know..,. I guess it runs in the blood...and I think I came up with a solution for them...
“Let's just all live under one roof until they get old enough.”

She takes the pants back and begins folding them again. She seemed so nonchalant as if her day was going on without a hitch while he was dying on the inside.

It was hard taking his first step away but he finds solitude in his office. With everything that was going on for him right now, from losing clients to being in the headlines this took the cake.

The woman he fell so hard for was never truly in love with him. He would be the first to admit that things happened so fast between them but he never thought that she would drift so far away.
All the years spent together, the highs and lows, the birth of their four children. His suspicions were right all along she had no interest in him. All the rejection he felt over the years came plummeting onto him all at once. He had to move on or mentally he might lose it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

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