His Runaway Wife [UNEDITED]

17. "Did you miss me?"

Thinking about Marianne had brought all of the hatred I felt on the day I left.

Hatred and sadness.

The memories of the day I left started to flood my head. I could see myself running out of the house after receiving the worst phone call in my life. I could see myself crying as I shut the door behind me. I hesitated before getting in the car. I remembered looking back at the house and thinking, what was I doing? I couldn't just leave without telling Damian anything. And then I remembered thinking about my little sister, somewhere, alone, crying by herself. And I thought about the way I was living. I wasn't happy. Yes, of course I could just leave without saying anything. Damian probably won't even notice my absence until next week. I was done living like this.

I remember getting in the car, with just my purse, and driving away. I didn't look back again.

"My mother-" Damian said after a moment. He shook his head. "Please tell me she didn't-" he looked up at me. "Please tell me she didn't do those horrible things."

"I don't want you to hate her," I said to him. "I don't want you to fight with her. I just want you to understand one of the reasons I left."

He gulped. "There just has to be an explanation for the way she treated you."

He was in denial. I didn't blame him. If somebody came and told me that my mom had been a whole other person than what I thought she was, I probably wouldn't believe them either. When I left, I was full of hatred towards her. I thought I hated her at some point. She made it so hard to live in her house. Damian was never home so he didn't see what happened. I thought I also resented him for a long time. She would do everything in her power to make my life miserable. Mock me in front of her friends. Hide the car keys from me so I wouldn't use it. It was the reason I ended up getting my own car. The thing was that yes, Marianne was horrible towards me, but I understood that she was still Damian's mother. Nothing was ever going to change that. Which was why I wanted her to like me so bad. It just didn't work.

Now, I wasn't the woman full of hatred anymore. I was past that. At least, I thought I was.

So, I half-smiled, trying to lighten up the mood, show Damian that the damage was done and I had moved on. "Let me know what it is when she tells you."

Damian didn't say anything. Instead, he sat back down on the edge of the bed. He rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor.

I leaned against the drawer behind me and crossed my arms on my chest as silence filled the room.

Seeing him like that made the anger inside of me diminish. I knew it wasn't fair for Damian to find out that his own mother was one of the reasons I had left without saying anything. Maybe I had subconsciously done it to hurt Marianne too. I knew how much he meant to her. He was her pride. There wasn't a single reason to explain why I left. There were many. I loved Damian, he was the love of my life, but sometimes love wasn't enough. Love was only a part of marriage. It was important, yes, but so was trust, happiness, and spending time with one another. Sometimes life got in the way of love.

I didn't know what I was thinking anymore. I was tired of arguing. Tired of thinking about the past. I hated those awful memories. It was one of the reasons I never spoke about it with anyone, including Alexa. I didn't want to remember anything.

I hated to see Damian hurt. It wasn't like himself to look so vulnerable and miserable. It was my fault he was like that. I hurt him. Now, I understood that it didn't matter that I wasn't happy. Running away wasn't the right solution. It had been selfish-the most selfish thing I had ever done in my life. I had damaged our marriage. I had hurt Damian.