“Tristan,” I sighed and hunched over, staring at my toes. I was confused; different thoughts were running through my head. Could Tristan possibly find anything about me before being the me I am right now?

“You still don’t have anything to say, right?” Tristan still sounded really pissed off. 

“Tristan, you don’t understand,” I said in almost a whisper. 

“Then make me understand!”

I shut my eyes as tears resumed rolling down my cheeks. 

“Gosh, Hazel.” He groaned before rising to his feet. 

“Tristan, please.” I raised my head to him. 

His eyes softened, obviously because he noticed the tears in my eyes. “What’s the point of these tears? What’s keeping you from speaking? What is wrong? What are you hiding?” 

I tried to at least say something, but more tears stopped me from uttering anything. 

“Excuse me?” We were interrupted by Sherri who was standing by the door with a tray of foods in her hands.

“Why are you here?!” Tristan barked at her, clearly from being frustrated by me. 

“I–I’m sorry… I… I just…” 

“Speak.” He ordered through gritted teeth. 

“Madam hasn’t had anything to eat all day, so I decided to bring her food to her and found her here.” 

His glare travelled from Sherri to me, then he grabbed his suit coat and wore it over his body.

“Where are you going?” I asked. 

“Away.”

“Away?”

“I’ll return home tonight, so don’t worry about me." The coldness in his tone made it feel like a sharp knife was stabbing my heart. 

After walking up to Sherri, he whispered something to her, then took his leave. 

“Can I come in, Madam?” Sherri asked with a small smile. 

“No. You can take it to my room or the dining table.” I waved her off. 

“No, please. I can’t let that happen. You need to eat. Please come with me.” 

“Sherri, just—”

“Please.” 

It was clear that she wasn’t going to give up. 

With a sigh, I rose to my feet and staggered to her, wiping my tears off. 

“Thank you!” She grinned, drawing my attention to her beautiful ocean eyes and curly red hair. I only realized how beautiful and cheerful this young woman was, wishing I could be or at least look that happy. 

My stomach grumbled, confirming Sherri's words. 

She chuckled, then took the lead to my bedroom. After arranging the food on the table, she signaled for me to have a seat. I sat on the chair, and she surprisingly took a seat beside me, still smiling. 

 “Thank you,” I muttered before digging into my meal. The savour from the taste made me realize how much I had missed good food. 

In a short time, I was able to finish my meal. 

“Thank you,” I appreciated her once again. 

“It’s no problem.” Something about her smile was very welcoming and calming.

“Is there anything you’d like to say?” I asked, because she wasn’t making any attempt to leave. 

“Well… I’m sorry for eavesdropping, but I’d like to state my opinion on your problem with Mr. Hendrix.” Her face turned serious this time. 

“You were eavesdropping?!” I exclaimed, not appreciating that a bit. 

“No, no! I wasn’t exactly eavesdropping. I’m only a good observer and I’ve observed what’s going on between the both of you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to say something.”

As much as I didn’t appreciate her interfering in our marriage, I was curious to know what she had to say, so I signalled for her to proceed. 

“I think it’d be best to let your husband know whatever your hiding in order to save your marriage.” She shrugged. “Trust is a very vital part of every marriage. If you lose your husband’s trust because you won’t clarify his suspicions, you can break your marriage.” 

I frowned. “You can’t understand.” 

“I definitely understand. My ex-husband and I were very happily married, but due to him hiding so many things from me, we were bound to separate after 3 years.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been married? What are you? Like 12?” I knew she wasn’t 12, but she looked really young to have been married for 3 years.

“Uh…” she scratched her neck, I’m actually 22. I got married at 18, divorced him last year.”

“Wow.” 

“Yes. Can I please proceed?” She smiled again. 

“Uh… sure?” I wasn’t certain if I wanted to have this conversation with her; I wasn't comfortable with this topic. 

“My husband was really sweet and all, but he became extremely suspicious, then I realized I knew nothing about his previous self before meeting him. He wasn’t going to say anything. He continued mentioning that he loved me, but my suspicion and his secretiveness had grown to the extreme. These things tampered with our love, so the marriage had to come to an end for me to be normal again.” 

“Why didn't you wait a little longer?” I was feeling really pained and my heart was beating faster at the thought of her story ending up to be mine and Tristan’s.

“Wait a little longer?” A frown formed on her face. “I waited for 2 while years! He kept saying he was going to spill the beans, but things just grew from bad to worse to unfixable. A marriage can’t work out with a rickety foundation. Do you know how hard it was for me to let go of my love?”

“You could’ve waited a little longer!” I snapped, tears already rolling down my face with my hands quivering from the thought Tristan leaving me. 

“You can’t continue thinking there’ll be a perfect time, when the fear of spilling the truth still resides in you. When you think it’s the perfect time, you’ll still feel the need to hide it. Why don’tyou just let your husband know—”

“I can’t!” I cut her off. 

“Why not?” Her voice was really calm now. “My husband didn’t let me know what was bothering him, when things could've been fine if he did.”

“Wait. What the hell? Did Tristan ask you to do this?” I was beginning to fidget, sweat beads had formed on my forehead. 

“Tristan? Mr. Hendrix?” She had her face contorted. “No. Why the hell?” 

“Maybe when he whispered to you before he left. Is this a plan?” I was feeling like I was growing extremely crazy. 

“No!”

“Then how can your story possibly be so similar to ours?” I shouted, my frustration getting the better of me. 

“Mr. Hendrix only told me to make sure you eat and not cry too much. Why would I have any business with him except to take care of you? He looks and sounds too mean to even speak to us. Oh shit, I can lose my job.” She slapped her hand to her mouth. “I can show you a photo of my wedding if you don’t believe me." She quickly changed the topic.

“I promise you you can tell me anything. Whatever secret you tell me is safe with me.” She held my hands. How on earth did she expect me to trust her? “I feel really bad that my marriage broke, just when I was able to feel really happy and hopeful. My husband made me feel like a queen, he didn’t blame me for my errors, he loved me more than anyone else. He was perfect.” A smile crept up her face and her eyes became glassy with tears.

“You could’ve held onto him.” 

“Trust—”

“What if he was doing it for your benefit? What if he was trying to protect you? What if spilling the truth could lead to loss of lives?! What if he only needed you to be a little more patient with him to fix things!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, bursting into tears again. 

“Madam.” She patted my back, her face expressing her concern.

“Why would I want to keep anything from Tristan? Why would I want to destroy the happiness I never had in my life intentionally? Do you think I don’t want him to know everything? Don’t you know that I just can’t?!” I was sobbing harder than ever. 

Sherri looked even more worried as she pulled me into a hug while I cried my eyes out in her chest. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay…” she whispered soothing words to me as she stroked my hair. 

*** 

~ TRISTAN ~

After another long day of overworking, I decided it was best to return home. 

I grabbed my briefcase, then left for my car and took a long drive home. 

It was almost midnight, so Hazel must’ve been fast asleep. As much as I didn’t want to see her for keeping me in the dark all these time, I badly wanted to pull her into a hug, cuddle her to sleep, feel her touch, rain multiple kisses on her body…

Pulling up with being so cold was stressing me out and her tears were breaking me, but she couldn’t continue this forever. I wanted our marriage to work out and be perfectly built. 

Dragging myself out of the car, I shambled into the mansion. A few of the workers, including Hazel’s personal maid and driver, all rose to their feet and greeted me in unison. Why were they all still up by this time?

I responded to them with a dismissive wave before heading to our bedroom and turned on the lights. To my disappointment, Hazel was cuddled up in a ball on our bed. Why wasn’t she asleep as well?

I checked for her in the balcony, but she wasn’t there. 

Scuttling down the stairs, I got to Sherri. “You. Where’s my wife?” 

“Your wife?” She stared at me like I was being stupid. 

“Hazel.” I responded through gritted teeth. 

“I have no idea.”

“Did she go anywhere?” 

“I don’t… think so.” She stared like she was trying to remember something. 

“Yes. She left the house earlier.” Mike spoke from behind Sherri. 

“Where to?” 

“I—I don’t know. I offered to drive her this afternoon, but she said she only needed to take a stroll to clear her mind off of things. She was crying so much," he explained. 

“Are you crazy? Your job is to drive her around. How can Hazel have left since afternoon and not be back yet by midnight?”

“I—”

“You!” I cut Mike off, snapping at Sherri. 

“Why didn’t you make her rest. I ordered you to make sure she eats and doesn’t cry. Weren’t you supposed to engage her in one of your stupid girly conversations? That’s your job! If I don't find Hazel soon, you'll lose your job.”

“I’m… s-sorry s-sir.” She stuttered, her hands began to quiver. 

I dialed Hazel's phone, but it wasn’t reachable. 

Without wasting any more time, I ran out of the house and got into my car. 

*** 

After about an hour of driving around in search of Hazel, Rob finally called me back. 

“I texted her current location and the tracker access to you.” His voice sounded husky, clearly because it was midnight. 

“Thank you!” I quickly checked the location then swerved around, driving really fast whilst tracking her phone.  

It took a few minutes before it signalled that I was in the location of her phone. 

Getting out of the car, I scanned around till my gaze landed on Hazel who was sitting on a bench with her legs curled and her eyes were fixed to the ground. 

“Hazel?” I ran to sit beside her, panting as relief washed over me. “Why are you out here so late at night?”

She raised her head to me. It felt like my heart shattered as I stared at her face that showed the extent to which she had cried. She smiled before bursting into laughter, explaining that she was drunk. 

“Hello, strange man.” She laughed again, picking an almost-empty bottle of alcohol I didn’t notice until now. 

“Don’t drink anymore. Let’s go home.” I took the bottle from her hand, earning a hard slap on my shoulder. “No! Don’t… touch me. My husband wouldn’t like it if a stranger touches me.” She laughed again, throwing her head back and dropping her hands to her side. 

“Can I tell you something, uncle?” She stared at me, fluttering her eyelashes like a child begging for candy. 

“Let’s go home. It’s so late and cold.” I pulled my suit coat off, wearing it over her. 

“I just want to be happy.” She resumed staring at the ground. “Do you know how hard it was for me to be a happy woman again?” She sobbed. “My husband wants to know everything now that my life is finally getting back to normal. He wants me to be reminded of my past.” She raised her head to me, tears were streaming down her face. 

“What’s with your past? Why won’t you share it?” I shifted closer to her, growing more worried.

“I don’t want to. I can’t face the trauma I went through once again. Speaking about…” she was interrupted by her sobbing, “…those bad memories affect my mental health. I try my best to forget them, but Tristan is trying to force me to face those trauma again. I wanna be strong, I want to be happy, I don’t want terrible memories to make me depressed again. I’ve started being a new person, a new me, I don’t want to be associated with the terrible darkness that controlled my life, I don’t want to talk about or think of what I’ve gone through. I need to be sane, I need to enjoy my new life. Why can’t I just forget it? The memories are washing off, why am I being reminded of them once again? Why? Why can’t my memories start from when I fell in love with Tristan Shane Hendrix. Why is this world so cruel to me?” She wailed. 

I was lost of words to say. Was I pushing her too much? Was I really affecting her mental health? At this point, I was confused. 

“So… do you plan on letting this husband of yours know at all?” 

She nodded, sniffling. “Yes. I just need more time to be able to take anything in. I just…” she trailed off, almost falling off the chair, but I was quick to hold her back. 

I pulled her into a hug, letting her cry her eyes out in my embrace. 

We remained in that position for a few more minutes, till I heard her gentle snores against my chest. 

“Guess it’s time to go home.” 

I carefully rose to my feet and scooped her in my arms without waking her up, then carried her to my car, placed her in the backseat, and unsuccessfully woke her up.

“Tristan?” She mumbled, collapsing in her seat. 

With a sigh, I got into the driver's seat, just in time for Hazel to puke her guts out in my car. 

The pungent smell of her spew choked me. "Shit, Hazel! Couldn't you wait till we got home?” I quickly opened the window to inhale fresh air again while she kept on chuckling.

Groaning as she sang terribly at the top of her lungs and bearing with the smell, I drove the car home and carried her in. 

Sherri, still not asleep, insisted on giving drunk Hazel a bath. 

After about half an hour, Sherri returned to me, drying her hands. 

“I’m done now.”

“Are you sure you were able to handle her in her drunken state?”

“Yes. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with a drunk woman. I’m really great at my job.” She grinned. 

I didn’t know how to respond to her, so I walked away and went to our bedroom. 

Hazel was sprawled on the bed in a neat nightdress, muttering words to herself in her drunken and sleepy state. 

God, I love this woman. 

I sat beside her, stroking her long wavy hair. “I love you Hazel. I just wished you could trust me enough to let me know whatever is bothering you. I promise to accept and embrace whatever you were and not make it affect our marriage, if that'll help. Just…” I let out a sigh, holding her hand. “I want us to work out. Just don't break my heart. I can't bear to be heartbroken again.” I planted a kiss on her forehead. 

I was just going to give her a little more time. Without causing her any mental stress, I was going to make my research and help her out professional. In all, I was going to make her stay happy, no matter what.