[Warning: Domestic Violence. Skip this chapter if you might get triggered or something. Thanks.]
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The slap that hit Rosa's face resounded in the four walls of their bedroom followed by her whimpering as she cradled the side of her face where Robert's palm touched.
"Answer me, dammit! What did you do at Matthew's office?!"
"Nothing," she whimpered like a small animal, backing to the wall.
Robert's jaws ticked when he saw his wife trying to get away from his reach. He leaned forward and grabbed her elbow.
"Nothing!? Who are you going to lie to, you whore!"
His hand flew in the air but Rosa slid down on the floor, he hit the air.
"Please," she said, kneeling on the floor, hugging her leg. "I'm telling you the truth. I didn't do or say anything with Matthew when I went there. I was just checking him in person—"
Robert grabbed a bunch of her hair and pulled her head back to see her face. "I don't remember telling you that," he said, grimacing when he saw his wife's face with the red angry mark on her right cheek. Her nose was covered with snot. He pushed her away in disgust. "Get up!"
Rosa stumbled backward on the floor as she wasn't able to brace herself. Instead of getting up just like what Robert said, she stole a glance to check his expression. When she saw him not looking at her, she breathed in a deep breath in gratefulness. She remained slumped on the floor, wiping her snot and continued sobbing.
She waited with her heart on her throat on what would be Robert's next move. His mood was like the weather suffering from global warming—always changing. She let her hair fall to cover half of her face to avoid Robert's gaze.
"This is the last time that you'd do this, you hear me?!" He pointed at his wife, sobbing pitifully on the floor.
Rosa sobbed and nodded with her eyes round, brimming with tears, begging for forgiveness.
"I won't do it again," she said in a small voice. At the back of her mind, she prayed that Robert would let things go.
"You'd better be! Because the next time that happens…" He gave her a warning look before he turned around and left the room.
Rosa wiped her cheeks when the door closed behind Robert. She remained seated on the floor as she tried to fix herself. She was glad that Robert wasn't in the mood to give her the 10th degree. It must be because he had a good talk about the business with Matthew.
She didn't expect Lilly to tell her father about her visit to Matthew's office. She didn't even know that Lilly saw her there. It had been a while and she didn't ask her about it. She had no idea what happened that made her talk about it to her father.
She had to talk to Matthew but she knew that Robert wasn't giving her an empty threat. He would do something more than just slapping her once she did something again that he didn't know or like.
She was lucky enough to escape his usual angry wrath, she thought to herself as she got up from the floor and headed to the bathroom. She has to prepare herself because Robert is usually in the mood after an ugly fight.
He would apologize profusely, love so tender and sweet, she would forget that something terrible happened beforehand. She stared at herself at the mirror and smiled bitterly at her own reflection.
He would love her so gently as though she was a precious fragile thing that would break in his touch. If only the red mark on her skin would turn into a bruise. She could pretend and forget what had happened.
"Who are you kidding?" She sneered at her own reflection. "You didn't just pretend. You forgot!" She snapped at herself before stripping her clothes piece by piece. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes when she saw a bluish bruise under her breast. Another reminder of the not so tender part of loving Robert.
Loving Robert used to be her fairytale came true. She met him in one of the private parties that the party organizer of her modeling agency threw for some businessmen that were affiliated to their agency. She was invited to the said party. She was one of the top models of her agency and Robert caught her eyes as she caught his.
Everything happened in a blur after that. She found herself married to her in the South of France a week after their first meeting. And after a month, she was pregnant with Lilly. Everything was perfect. She was the envy of everyone until she gave birth to Lilly and one night Robert slammed her to the wall just because he was having a bad day in the office.
It started to happen often; a bad day at the office, annoyed that she stood close to his colleague, she stared too long at some business associate, and she came home ten minutes late from a party that she had to beg to be allowed to attend.
Many things happened that resulted in some bruises in her body that he adores. It happened too often that she stopped asking and started praying that it would not be as bad as the last one. Or if it didn't drag too long that she would not be able to visit Lilly's nursery and kiss her goodnight in fear of seeing marks on her skin.
Lilly adored her father. She was the epitome of a little daddy's girl and Robert despite all his flaws, loves his daughter to a fault.
He wasn't a perfect husband but he's a good father, a good provider, and other women had it worse. She had terrible days but she didn't leave even when she had multiple chances. She loves Lilly more than her life and she didn't want to leave her behind. She knew that if she would leave Robert, she would no longer see her only child.