She hears the door opens. Graysen enters the room. He sees her buried under the duvet. She feels the bed sinks. He lightly grips her arm. She did not budge.
He taps her to open up. "Rosa dolce, we have to talk."
She shrugs his hand off her.
Graysen lies down and encircled his arm on Rosa's cocoon form. "Get out of there. It would be hard for you to breathe." He tries to caress her trying to placate her.
He tries to clear the misunderstanding. He rests his chin near her shoulder telling her with a soft voice, "Athena was born after a good relationship gone bad decades ago. Her mother was my fiancé. I've met her during my university days. I was having a great start with my career as a lawyer when she told me she was pregnant, we agreed to get married. But a gossipmonger in the legal circle tattled to her that I was gay and have a relationship with my associate lawyer. That person exaggerated the gossip telling her that maybe I just want her to carry my baby and then after giving birth I am going to kick her away and keep the baby with another man.
She tried to disprove of the gossip. She tested me by demanding me to sleep with her almost every night. But doctor's order for us to not be in physical contact as much as possible as she was in a delicate condition. I always tried to make an excuse or avoid visiting her. My efforts in shunning her made her mind believe all the more in the gossip.
She also hired an agency to follow me and take pictures of whomever I was with. I have an associate who was constantly with me. During those times that she was pregnant we were heavily busy litigating a large mining company of environmental and labor cases. She threw several pictures of me with my associate and never gave me a chance to explain to her.
Upon giving birth to Athena, she suddenly vanished after hearing the result of the new born screening. The doctor found out that Athena doesn't respond to many stimuli and there's some irregularity in her chromosome count. Athena despite all that findings grew up to be a good child. Nana Rosa and my mom have been taking care of her since her mom ran away. The last we heard about her mother, she was living abroad. She got married to a tycoon 20 years her senior.
Athena has a special condition. She has mild autism. She is selective in the people she interacts to. She goes in a regular school but the school is well-trained with children in her condition even her classmates are considerate of her. They like her and admire her abilities in numbers," he concludes.
He tries to remove the duvet on top of her head, "Rosa mia, please, you might get suffocated."
Rosa indignantly flips the blanket and rises. She declares in a restraint tone glaring directly at Graysen's eyes, "How do you see me? Don't you think I wouldn't understand about Athena? You did not even discuss with me that we are going to stay with parents. What am I to you? Why do you have to keep that important information away prior to our wedding? Were your father and mother aware that I don't know about your daughter? What do you take me for? A newly acquired decoration in your family? I look ridiculous! Maybe you just preferred to marry me for your political career to parade me as your wife because I am a famous model! "
Graysen wants to speak up but he doesn't know how to explain things clearly to her that would not infuriate her more and lead to further misunderstandings.
Rosa turns her back on him. She shuts her eyes. When he notices her even breathing, he goes down to sit in the garden.
Graysen goes back to the room to get her to come down for dinner. Rosa refuses. He brings her dinner to the room and goes back to the dining area. Rosa ignores the food. She does not have the appetite to eat.