FLASHBACK AND HEARTACHE.

Chapter: 2.

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Have You Ever Experienced A HeartBreaking Betrayal?

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"Alexander, you should buy a house, let's get married before the baby comes." She had suggested.

"But, Maria--"

"I'm not having any children out of wedlock, Alexander. If you're not ready then we terminate the pregnancy."

"What?" He gawked at the fuming lady. Of course, he wouldn't do that to his child. It's not like he wasn't ready but her demands were too high and he didn't have enough to meet all of them. It was all too sudden but of course, it doesn't mean he would want her to remove the baby. What kind of a man would that make him? Why would she even think that? That was never in his thoughts. "Please, don't speak like that, Maria, that's our child, my first baby, my love, and we won't do such a thing."

"Then buy a house."

"Can't we get married and still live here?" It's not a bad community. Yes, it was a cheap place but isn't happiness what matters in situations such as this? There is time for everything they say, they may have started here but one day he would be able to afford them a better luxurious home and grand living. Surely, she should be able to understand that.

"We are not raising a child in this unsafe neighborhood."

Unsafe, she says. This neighborhood has taken care of him since he dropped out of school and left home. She has lived here with him for years and now it's unsafe. He understands she wanted the best for their child but now isn't the best time.

Of course, we all desire better things in life but when we can't afford them we make do with what we have and work towards the better ones. Together they can achieve those better things but it would require great work and planning.

"But baby, you know I don't have that much money, you just got out of school and what little I have left can only get us a house but can't afford a wedding not the type you've always wanted, and you know I want to give you the wedding of your dreams, you've always fantasized about your wedding, how glamorous you would want it. I want that for you too, but we can only do one and not the other, my love, not now."

She wasn't happy with his reply. She wanted both. She couldn't have one and not the other.

"Why not give it a few months of work and savings, maybe two or three months, get a loan from your Boss, he can begin to take it in part from your salary, that way we can do both, please, my love, I want this, it will make me so happy."

That word, 'make me happy' always seems like his trigger button. Once he hears that, he would do anything to make sure she is happy, it was his priority and so he did. He went to his boss, told him about his wedding plans, and requested that he loan him some money. After signing a lot of paper agreements for their deal, he got the loan and immediately got Maria the house she wanted, in a fancy gated community and once they had moved and settled down in their new place, he gave her her fantasy wedding.

She was like a queen bee on that day, there was little bounce in her steps, looking elegant and exceptionally happy. Her friends envied her and, she wouldn't stop flaunting. The day eventually came to an end and while they drove home, she told him she wasn't going to kiss him as little as a kiss until he gave her a worthy honeymoon.

"What is this worthy honeymoon?" He has asked, confused. Sometimes, she speaks like a stranger with a foreign language he had never before heard.

"A five-star hotel, a trip on the ocean, I want to feel the sun glow magnificently on my skin, to listen to the waves of the sea, while dancing under the starry sky, with fancy dinner nights."

"We have no more money, Mi Amor, how can we afford all of this?" He asked in complete perplexity.

"Get more loans," she retorted.

His mouth fell open in confusion, had he missed something. "Get more loans, baby, from where?" His brain couldn't process her at the moment.

"From the bank, from your friends if you have any, or from your Boss again." She shrugged carelessly.

"Mari-"

"Alexander please, this is supposed to be the night of my wedding, don't ruin it for me, besides, honeymoons don't happen every day."

"I'm sorry, don't be mad," he pleaded but she wasn't having none of it. "Okay, give me a few days, don't be mad, please, remember our baby, okay, I don't want you stressing her."

"But you would stress me?"

"I'm sorry, just three days and I will give you what you want, alright?" She nodded and smiled.

Clouded by his love for her, he went back for another loan, this time from the bank since his Boss wouldn't give him anymore until he had paid what he owed and he had no friends. He took her on a cruise for their honeymoon and when they returned home, he was left with nothing, he had to work his ass off twenty-four-seven, Mondays through Saturday to pay his loans and what little he had left was getting harder, and harder to manage the more the baby grew.

He did all he could to give her what best he could afford, to make her happy, he tried, if he could pay his loans, then get back to school, per-time, finish his studies, he was certain he would be able to land a better job and provide her the best with ease.

That's what he had always wanted. To make her happy, that was why once she told him she might be dropping out of college to get a job since the only supporting family she had was sick and dying, he had refused and instead left school, he had only just turned twenty but he didn't care about himself, as long as she had the best, everything would be alright.

But, once Alison was born, Maria took another form like her personality got swapped at the hospital once she had the baby. She became so indifferent towards him, first, she hated him less and less then she hated him passionately. Nothing he ever did was good enough. She would complain about every little flaw, every single mistake, she knew how much loan he took both from his Boss and from the bank all in the quest to actualize her dreams, she understood his capacity, knew how much he earned, how much of that earning goes into loans, then bills and yet he still tried to make their baby's nursery just as beautiful as she had wanted, like a room reaped from a fairy tale book. He got her everything she still needed, okay, maybe not all but he tried.

He was struggling and with her extravagant lifestyle, life was becoming unbearable.

******

It was Alison's first birthday and his dreamy wife wanted her first to be the talk of the community for as long as possible. It was a brawl the night before.

"What do you mean you can't afford your own daughter's first birthday party?" She kept nagging. He had only just returned home from his regular seven-to-nine hours of work and this was the welcome he got. He didn't blame her for nagging, it's what he was supposed to do but he was working too hard and yet it seemed it wasn't enough.

"I'm sorry, Maria, just two days ago you went and bought new sofas, not that we needed them and you got those on credit and I'm still paying for that, I haven't even finished paying for the ones before, and you know the longer the loan the more interests accumulates, each time I feel like I almost had it, you would go and add more to it, do you have any idea how much debt you owe Madam, Rosa? What do you even need all those many jewels for and you don't even have a job yet, you're nursing and I wouldn't allow you to get a job, not yet and now you want a flashy birthday?"

"First of all, these sofas cost fifty thousand, I got a discount of thirty percent and ... a great deal to pay a hundred every week and you still think it wasn't a fair enough deal?!"

"That doesn't make it any less easy for me, Maria."

"Have you seen the furniture my friends own in their homes? Their husbands got it for them. Why should mine be any different, Alexander?"

"We!..." He held back his tongue, he was raising his voice at her and he didn't like it when he did that. "It's because we are not competing with anyone, my love."

"Yeah, you say that because you don't have any friends. You don't visit anyone, no one visits you, so how can you not say that."

The man sat slumped on the sofa, palm rubbing at his eyes weakly, he was tired, hungry, and unhappy.

Could this even still be called love?

"This is all you're good at, Alexander, complaining. I did this, I did that, I bought this, or I bought that. Let me ask you a question, shouldn't you be paying for these things? Isn't this your responsibility? I gave you my life, my time, my love, Alexander. Why do you always complain about money? If the job you have doesn't pay enough you drop it and get another one and stop making me unhappy with your constant complaints, ¡Dios mío!"

"Maria?" He asked in disbelief, his eyes lingered on the pacing woman for a while. He couldn't believe she had just said that. "Get another job you say? Did you by any chance forget there aren't that many jobs I could get with a high school diploma that would pay enough for your lifestyle? That Mr. Zachary has kept me this long is because I've worked for him for so long, don't forget I paid your tuition from that job, got you this house, and got a loan for your fantasy wedding."

"You say that like you're the first man ever to pay for his wife's tuition fees." She hissed.

"I am not, and I don't regret what I've done, Maria, I'm just making a point-"

"Well, your point is useless, Alexander, let's talk about Alison's first birthday, that's what's more important to me right now. I've already had it planned." She walked towards the table to retrieve the list she had made earlier that day, then returned to him and handed it over. "Here is the list of what I would need, make sure you provide them, she's your daughter too, it's your responsibility, handle it."

"Can I at least get dinner tonight?"

"It's in the refrigerator. Microwave it or eat it cold, your choice." She was out of the living room and mounting the stairs with the speed of light.

He didn't even look at the list, didn't even remember to eat dinner, he just simply stretched out on the sofa with legs hanging out the other end and fell asleep.