I glance at the bench where the towel is placed. I grab it and walk towards him. "Ares?" I mutter. He instantly stops punching the bag and glances at me. "Hey Rose" He smiles slightly as he controls the load from approaching him. "Take a break Ares Warren Elsher" I giggle as I handover him the towel. He dabs his face and neck with it.

"Sure my Rose" He winks at me making me smile wider, but it fades really quickly. He narrows his eyebrows as he throws the towel in the air and it falls on the bench again. "What's wrong?"He asks as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "I want to tell you about the last night" I say to him as I stare at him. "I know what happened" He mutters.

"And you don't need to worry about it" He assures me. I look away in revulsion, but he grabs my chin, forcing me to look straight into his forest-green eyes. "I don't think that's the only thing you wanted to tell me" He says. "Ares, I'm so tired from the shit that has been happening to me for the past few days" I tell him. He lets out a tiring sigh and rubs his forehead frustratingly.

"I know" He utters as he glances at me. I mean I'm not the only victim here. He's included too. Sometimes I feel as if I'm being selfish to him. Telling him all my problems and ignoring what he's going through. Even I feel as if he's suffering more than I'm.

He is actually.

But still, he selflessly ignores his own discomfort to ensure my well-being. Whyyyyyyy.

Is this how much he loves me?

He doesn't care how often he gets stabbed in the back but still stands like a wall in front of me as if nothing hurts him. He's broken. Today I realized he's more broken than me. His facial expressions express it all.

I want to do something for him. I really want to.

"And so are you" I tell him. "What?" He asks. "Aren't you tired of your father? The way he treats you" I glare at him. He doesn't respond to my question. But I know the answer. He doesn't usually express his feelings to anyone except me. But today I feel as if he's obscuring something from me.

I grab his face and stare at him. "I know what you're thinking Ares and I want you to know that I'm with you" I assure him. "You know what? I was never tired of my father until he—" He stops. I frown suspiciously. "Until he? What did he do Ares?" I ask him. "Something that I can't forgive him for" He mutters.

Why isn't he telling me what his father did?

"Ares tell me" I demand.

Either my eyesight is playing tricks on me or does Ares actually has tears in his eyes.

I have never seen him like that. It broke my heart into so many pieces that it's impossible to assemble them again. He blinks a few times as he looks away. He was trying to hide his tears.

"Ares please tell me"I hold his arm with both hands to comfort him. He removes his gloves, places them on the bench, and walks toward the exit door, and I follow him. "Where are you going?" I ask as I follow him. "To my room, I wanna show you something" He mutters. I shake my head.

After seeing tears in his eyes the only question that rose in my mind was what in the world his father did to him that made him cry like that. I mean he almost cried, didn't he? Of course, he did.

He opens the door of his room, and we both enter inside. I shut the door behind me. "Climb on the bed Rose" He says. It sounds more like a command, but I climb anyway. He treads towards his wardrobe and opens it. He takes out something. It looks like a little frame.

I spread my legs on the bed and watch him approach me—he handovers me the frame. I stare at it. He sits on the bed and stares at me. It's his family. Ares is ten years old in this picture. I recognized his parents and even his brother Michael. But I find someone new in the picture. It's a girl who looks very young and younger than Ares. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes just like Mrs.Elsher.

"Who is this?" I glance at Ares. He lets out a sigh as he drops his head in my lap and stares at the rooftop. "That's.....that's my sister" He mutters sorrowfully. He never told me he had a sister. But there might be a reason behind it.

"What happened to her? Why isn't she with you?" I ask him two questions at a time. He doesn't respond as he closes his eyes, as if he fell asleep. "Ares?" I mutter. He opens his eyes again and stares at me. "You wanna know?" He says in a low voice. I shake my head, yes. "I adored her very much, and so did she" He mutters. "Her name was Freya" He adds to his statement. I feel like Ares is expressing his emotions to me for the first time. I can feel what he is feeling right now.

"Everyone in my family adored her except my father" He says. "He considered her as an ill omen and I don't know why" He says frustratingly as he swallows the lump in his throat. I tilt my head as I stare at him and listen to what he is saying. "He never bothered to talk to her once and even told my mother to keep her away from his sight as much as she could" He says. I don't utter a word because I don't have any by which I could express my feelings, I listen to him. He glances at me and says "But one day he did something, something I never expected him to do and it was then when I started to hate him from the core of my heart" He says. "What did he do?" I ask.

"He.....He killed her...... in front of my eyes and.......I did nothing" He says. His voice sounds like he is about to cry, and he does. A tear slips from his eye, but I wipe it away.

How can he be so callous towards his own child?

"He killed her?"My eyes widen. "I don't wanna remember that night.....the night when he and mom had a huge argument which god knows about what" He says as he sniffles. "I was eleven, and Freya was eight....we both were in her room sitting on her bed and talking" He continues. "Until.......father burst in her room holding a gun in his hand" He says. "He aimed it at Freya, but I stood before her for protection. My father took a few steps forward and dragged me away from her. She was so frightened of him" He says as he takes a deep breath, as he doesn't have the courage to continue to talk about the scene.

"I cried too and started to push my dad away; he held my arm tightly and stared at me while he aimed the gun at Freya again. 'She is an ill omen Ares because of her we all are facing problems in our lives so she doesn't deserve to live' Those are the words my father whispered in my ear and then........sh....shot her" He says as another tear slips from his eyes. How am I supposed to give him courage when I myself have tears in my eyes? I sniffle as I blink, not letting the tears come out.

"The sound of the gunshot echoed in the whole house" He tells me. "I still remember running towards her and holding her in my arms, crying the whole time....until Mother came. And what disappointed me was that not a single tear slipped from her eyes. She just gave a sad look, and that's it"He says. I didn't expect that from Mrs.Elsher. I thought she loved her kids.

Disappointing.

Ares lifts his head from my lap and wipes away his tears. He walks on the balcony, and I follow him. He takes out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lits one of the cigarettes. Then presses his lips against it. I take a few steps forward and hug him from the back. He turns back, facing me. He's been through so much, and I didn't know.

My cheeks have turned wet due to tears. He cups my face and kisses my forehead while I place my hands on his chest.

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I apologize for updating late 😂

By the way, are you guys liking the story?