"I don’t care whether you are with soone else or not. Now I realize I want my family back, and you are not part of it."
Alia’s expression twisted with rage and despair. "No! You cannot do that to ! How could you do that to ? Carl is our son. We are supposed to be a family! You said that yourself!"
"That was my mistake," Jas replied, his voice filled with regret. "I didn’t an to give you any hope. I thought you were the one that I wanted, but now I know that it’s Laurel. It has always been her."
The finality in his words enraged Alia, and she struggled to maintain her composure. "So, that’s it? You have made your choice? Just like that?"
In that mont, everything shifted. The weight of their broken relationship hung heavily in the air, obscured by unresolved feelings and anger.
Alia was deeply wounded by Jas’s words, especially as she saw the finality on his face. She knew him too well; he ant every word he said.
This realization fueled the anger within her. "You can’t do this to ! You can’t do this to !" She cried, her voice a mix of anguish and fury.
In her anger, she stood and struck Jas’s chest repeatedly, trying to inflict pain as a release for her own. She wanted to vent her frustration. To let him feel her pain.
To his credit, Jas allowed her to lash out, recognizing that it was his fault and feeling the weight of regret for everything that had transpired.
As he endured her blows, deep reflection dawned upon him. He realized he had created this entire ss on his own; he had betrayed Laurel’s trust, and now she was determined to leave him.
All of that for what? For soone like Alia, who had been unfaithful.
He couldn’t digest the fact that Laurel, who used to love Carl to the bone, now ignored him completely, as if he ant nothing.
Carl’s drastic change left Jas with a big question. Sothing had triggered that change. It was most likely that what Carl said was true.
He had destroyed his own family. His life had been unraveled by Alia, and that was a truth he struggled to bear.
"You lied to . You are a liar. You played with my feelings!" She howled in pain.
anwhile, Jas was facing her rage without any further response.
The minutes stretched on until Alia all of a sudden beca eerily calm. She stepped away from him, wiped her tears, and, with a chilling composure, looked him directly in the eyes.
"Yes, I have soone else," she confessed, her voice steady. "I have been cheating on you since the beginning."
The confession struck Jas like a physical blow, but Alia continued with an icy disdain.
"Do you really think I want to be with you? You are not good enough for , Jas. You were a piece of trash sixteen years ago. Even now, you still are a piece of trash."
Her words cut deep.
"You don’t deserve or Laurel."
Jas was torn between the pain of her betrayal and the rage. Alia just admitted her affair.
His life had spiraled into this chaos, and all of this happened because of his wrongdoings. The reality felt like a knife digging deeper.
"Laurel deserved soone else better." Alia lifted her chin, and she wiped her tears again, but now there was a disdainful smile on the corner of her lips. "Don’t bla for this; you once wanted too."
***
Laurel arrived around an hour later, still dressed in her nightgown beneath the jacket that she was wearing. The strong scent of alcohol lingered around her, despite her efforts to conceal it with perfu.
"How did you co here?" Ranon asked, his brow furrowed.
Laurel shifted uncomfortably, fully aware of the implication behind his question. "I am with a driver," she replied, trying to sound nonchalant.
Ranon clearly didn’t want to hear that she had been driving under the influence, especially with Carl involved if she intended to take him with her.
Currently, Carl was still unconscious, sleeping in the bedroom; a doctor had checked on him. He reassured them that Carl was fine but needed ti to recuperate, and he left after writing a prescription.
"Are you going to take him with you?" Hazel asked, her eyes shifting towards Carl.
The sight of him would draw your empathy. He was delirious, calling for Laurel in his sleep, and Laurel felt like her heart was being gutted.
Despite everything, Carl was still her stepson. For years, she took care of him like her own, and she was the mother figure in his life.
The mories of good tis flooded back, leaving her feeling torn between her pain and the longing to care for him.
"What are you going to do?" Hazel inquired again, staying in the room while Ranon had already stepped out, expressing his indifference towards Laurel’s decisions.
He had made it clear that if Laurel planned to leave Carl behind, Ranon would call Jas to co and retrieve him, a situation Laurel was aware of.
"I will take him with ," Laurel finally spoke; she couldn’t bring herself to ignore Carl at this mont.
She sat on the edge of the bed, staring at Carl’s face, her heart heavy with both betrayal and sadness. It pained her to witness such a bright young man grappling with darkness, a stark contrast to the Carl she once cherished.
"Okay, I will leave you with him," Hazel said softly, offering comfort by patting her shoulder before she walked out of the room.
As soon as the door closed, Laurel let out a shaky breath.
Now that she was alone, she grabbed his hands and rested her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. She cried silently.
Life had not been kind to them, and Laurel wanted to love her son the way she used to, but she couldn’t... the wound was too deep.
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