CHAPTER 8:
10 minutes earlier;
The last time she was here, the unpolished walls and floor bore a more welcoming luster.
Veronica's nervousness, uncaring of the item she held; her flat sandals was soundless on each step, purposely keeping her arrival private.
Her scrutiny attracted to the doors at the end of the staircase, feeling anxious about the answers behind them; She heard voices on the other end, and when she opened it. Reality made more sense. Gravity handled her falling document, her knees weak.
---
Present;
The culprits to her state could only watch in shock and shame.
"Veronica!"
She forgot her name for a moment, as semen dripped from Gloria's chin.
"It's not what you think." He had nothing convincing to say, just like two days ago, when she had none.
"I underestimated you." Veronica's stoic expression turned into mock, her mother-in-law was equally repugnant to her eyes.
Gloria didn't crumble at her confronting glare, her visage expressionless, but inwardly dissatisfied about this intruder.
Raphael's was unsettled. His nudity was already half covered as he helped Veronica up.
"How did you end up here?" His inquiry was a surprise for her, triggering that accumulated anger.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Amused by the impossible happening in front of her, nothing felt so absurd as much as this.
Raphael desperately held her by the shoulders, "Listen to me, don't judge the situation from the surface."
She stopped laughing. Though her amusement didn't; just condensed further by his apt description of the situation.
Since she couldn't express her grievances in one way, maybe words had more leeway.
"Don't judge a book by its cover. You're both mother and son by blood..." Her hands pointing at both of them, "Yet you're almost fucking."
Raphael realized his blunder, Gloria crossed her arms together.
"I should have known it wasn't this easy." Hands on her waist, Veronica lifted her chin, limits of her imagination widening.
Nothing sentimental held Veronica back anymore as she picked up her document.
"When my father told me it was a bad idea to marry you. I doubted it. But I'm supposedly the naïve one."
From the tip of his manhood, semen still dripped inside Raphael's boxers. He was uncomfortable in this state, unwilling to let the situation to worsen, "Divorce is an eventuality for both of us. This didn't happen out of vengeance or anything, but an enormous misunderstanding."
Gloria walked towards the window, leaving the couple to their debacle. No one knew what she was thinking.
Veronica noticed her indifference. Her lungs straining to keep her breaths steady; the cancerous presence of this woman fueled her rage, "Bitch, do you think you're not a part of this fucked up shit!"
Gloria admired the indifferent birds flying outside, leaves kept falling like yesterday, seasons were changing like any other.
"Have your forgotten your promise?" She asked the ignorant bearer of those judgmental eyes, this scandalous situation worsening.
Veronica was indignant about washing away these grievances; those matrimonial sheets stained with creamy white, a deeper meaning.
Raphael sat down, listening, while staring at the ground; the playful light of the fallen lamp disturbed the shadows it dared to touch.
"You swore that after you will enjoy a few years together with him. Then you immediately vacate from his life. Five years was the agreed number."
"It's now a year longer than we agreed. So, what's your stance when he's currently here watching you?"
Gloria said, rubbing her fingers against each other. The hands of the clock waited for no man.
"From your silence, Veronica. I'll take it as your internal acceptance of this promise you made yourself. For five good years, you kept it to yourself."
"Why don't you sign that document you're holding? His lawyer is a nasty shark if you keep prolonging the inevitable."
Time wasn't stagnant as much as Veronica's enlightening realization. When it finally dawned, the document in her grip almost crumbled.
"It wasn't a good drive at the end, but the journey won't be as memorable." Raphael spoke, curious about this promise hidden from him, but convinced to end this relationship as soon as possible.
There were no stars to look at, that one sun graced itself in their absence; The door knob was cold, embraced by Veronica's trembling hand, wondering what could replace this emptiness inside her. Veronica turned away from their pitying gaze. The door halfway closed as she departed, but she paused for a moment, looking back at her husband and enemy; those reddened eyes of hate.
"Maybe you're right. But Edward never abandoned me as much as you. Neither your mother nor me will forget what he gave us. Edward fulfilled his promises compared to you? Your own mother couldn't escape his grasp. She should have been pregnant if he took it seriously. I only had sex with him once. Why am I in the wrong, compared to her?" her voice scathing, afterwards her shadow thinned, a reminder of what he lost.
The vanilla document was the last thing they saw after the doors closed, an old chapter replaced by a new one.
Raphael's eyes turned desolate with no question or answers, but the reflection of Gloria's already tainting form. How long would he stare at her?
That hurting gaze of his, only her lips opened with no words to impact his current state.
---
CHAPTER 9:
Droplets of scathing water insignificantly fell on his numb skin, antagonistic against his unfeeling form, his body hunching depressingly against that ceramic wall.
As the water washed his body, a hand waded through its flow.
Those feminine hands stroked his back, eliciting no reaction from him. Taking the sponge from his hand, lathering it with soap. Scrubbing the parts exposed to her, accessing the surface. His back faced her worried expression, hiding the pain from her. No matter how allergic he felt from her touch, her movements never stopped for a moment. Willing to take responsibility, as the sinkhole gurgle the last of his dirt and scum. The shower head, spared a few more drops. Stopping as her hands withdrew from the tap.
The mist covering their nudity reluctantly receded as she hugged him from behind with an ear stuck to his back. She inhaled deeply, his nape rife with his own fragrance other than soap; his turmoil.
"I never regretted doing it. No matter how much I denied its consequence." Empathy for her son, listening to his faint heartbeats, unmatchable with her own. "I would do it again, no matter how much I vomit my guts out afterwards."
The mystery inside his closed eyes, replaced with the bare truth inside the shower. The wall was pure white, his reflection distorted by the frosty glass panels. "You never betrayed me or lied to me. It's delusional to take it personal since you're not my woman but my mother. I just never expected his promise to extend that far."
His hands moved to disengage her adamant hold encircling his waist, a fruitless task as her breasts pressed against him. Moisture slowly trailed down, cool air slowly relieving their heated breaths. Her arms tightening around him - a refusal towards her worst nightmare.
"Something has changed between us. You can't deny the attraction between us." Her lips left trails on his nape, seducing him away from the shackling chains of conventional morality.
That piercing understanding between them left unsaid to the many walls enclosing them with needed privacy.
"Won't I be the same as him, forcing a truth that doesn't exist?"
Edward was assertive in every step, while Raphael was adaptable.
"That's up to you. But am not waiting for you. Time waits for no man, especially for a horny woman."
He turned to her immediately. The glass shook as he forced her against it. Saliva stuck to her face and neck, shamelessly drugging his tongue along her flush skin. "If this is your endgame, don't run away at the last minute."
Waiting for her to back away, but her eyes wreaked with defiance; any more boundaries, erased with each second passing with no words. "I gave you life. Isn't this enough? What more do you want?"
His cock swelled against her belly, presses ahead by his body; her teasing tome turning to a moaning sigh
"I can't tell if you're deceiving me, but in this very second, Edward can't take you away from me."
Taking her by the lips, retorts sinking down her throat; what she desired replaced any anxious fears.
While she encircled his neck with her hands, his courage parted her limb with his. Vulva against flesh, nails digging deeper into his shoulders.
