❝ I fell in love with her courage,

her sincerity and her flaming

self-respect and it's these things

I'd believe in even if the whole

world indulged in wild suspicions

that she wasn't all that she should

be. But of course the real reason

is that I love her and that's the

beginning and end of everything.❞

Felix

"Owen! Wake up, baby." I sat and gazed as Evelyn cooed Owen, trying to wake him up for school. "It's your first day of school. Come on now." She continued trying to wake Owen up while he hummed and continued sleeping, trying not to give up even a second of his precious sleep.

"Okay then," She bit back a smile. "If you don't wake up now, here comes the tickle monster!" With that, she almost pounced up on him and tickled him almost mercilessly, as he finally gave up and gasped for air, giggling.

"Mommy!"

"Shh, we don't have a lot of time now, let's get you ready for school!" With that, she led him to the bathroom, swinging him around in her arms, and I realised that it was a wonderful decision to agree with this, she's an amazing mother and by the experience talking to her last night, I can say she's an amazing wife as well.

It felt really relieving to talk my problems out to her, a burden finally being left off my chest. She being the perfect listener she is, sat through all of it with me, and I've never felt appreciative and admiration for someone like I felt for her. I love how she doesn't judge, doesn't question me necessarily, how she understands. It's quite impossible to believe that there's someone who can actually understand my complicated life.

***

"Ready to go to school, young man?" I ruffled Owen's hair as he stood at the entrance of the school, all dressed up and grinning while Evelyn held his hand.

"Yes!"

"Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, I think it's time to-" The lady all dressed in blue-his teacher-came over to us, she stopped mid-sentence and looked at us with slight amusement in her eyes. "Oh, doesn't seem like Owen is scared for his first day at a new school, huh?"

"Nope." He let go of Evelyn's hand to run a hand through his hair, a gesture he's learnt from me.

"Well, then shall I...?" She clasped her hands and looked at us.

"Oh sure," Evelyn smiled and I nodeed. "We'll take your leave now."

"Have fun, honey." She bent down to press a kiss on his forehead. "Love you."

"I love you too." He looked up at me, making my heart melt. "Love you Daddy."

"Daddy loves you, Owen." I replied.

And with that, he was off to a new school with some friends. I'm sure he'll do well. He's always been a leader, it wouldn't take him long to make some friends, and soon girl friends for play dates. Bet Evelyn would help him hold some wonderful ones.

"Hey, Evelyn." Back in the car, as we tied our seatbelts, I finally decided to thank her. "Erm-thank you."

"For?" She tilted her head towards me, eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"Last night." I gulped. "The way you listened and you know-"

"Oh no no." She waved her hand. "All thanks to you, for opening up, trusting me."

At that very moment, I felt my respect towards her grow fascinately, all I had done is talk about my problems. And yet, she was thanking me, for opening up to her. And with that came guilt, how I did not open up to her earlier. And she didn't even mind, she didn't care I kept it to myself, abandoned her when she tried to ask me about it. I realised how much of a jerk I was to her since the beginning. My mind flashed back to how she decided to tell me her secret the day we decided to do...this.

"Hey Felix..." Evelyn wrapped her hand around my elbow, pulling me out of the small group of people. "I need to tell you something."

"I'm sure it can wait." I rolled my eyes, trying to pull back my hand.

As I looked into her eyes, I noticed something was definitely wrong, she was a bit scared...panicking maybe. Excusing my cousins, I led her to the balcony, in solace.

"What's wrong?" I tried to catch her eyes, but she kept flickering her vision to anywhere but mine. "Come on Evelyn, you're scaring me."

"I-I need to tell you something." She gulped, held my hand tightly out of reflex. "I think it's quite important and you should know it."

"God," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Please don't tell me there is someone. We agreed there shouldn't be-"

"There isn't anyone." She snapped. "There was, though."

"Evelyn, I don't care if there was a someone. There could be a hundred someones, I don't care about your past."

"N-no." I rubbed her back as I felt her voice crack. "Can we like go out, I need some air?"

That being said, I led her into the lawn, after some silent steps, we reached the fountain. She stopped without my asking, I haulted along. All I knew was that whatever the problem might be, we would get past it, she's the one woman who's loved Owen with all her heart. Before being my wife, she's his mother.

"So the thing is," I continued rubbing her back as she tried to form some words. "I was in a long distance relationship some time ago."

"Okay?"

"The guy-Max-he seemed all good first, a gentleman. We met because of a business meeting of mine, to California. But then I had to go away, so I was here, he was in California."

"Evelyn, please get to the point."

"I am." She snapped again. "Sorry, so yeah I just-I just thought things were going quite well. One day he...well, he asked-I-"

She didn't need to complete the sentence to make me understand the problem. Knowing that she was already too embarrassed and anxious, I decided to complete her sentence. "You sent him...?" I looked into her eyes for confirmation.

"Yes, pictures...a few videos too."

"That doesn't matter to me. Trust me, it doesn't."

"Felix, I don't care it matters to you or not. This isn't a joke." She wiped her tears, looked down. "You have a reputation out there. And there might be all these questionable pictures and videos somewhere over the internet. I don't want you to-"

"Shh." I cut her off, placing my index finger over her lips. "Fuck the media. Evelyn, do you know the reason why I agreed to all this? I don't care about anything going on in the world. I don't want to call the paparazzi and get us clicked or to have our pictures on the front pages of a magazine. Hell, you know I don't want a wife, I need a mother; for Owen. The sparkle in your eyes when you look at Owen proves how much you love him. That's what matters. Even if the media brings up a big controversy about this, I could care less. You don't have to worry about anything, okay?"

"You don't have to worry about anything, okay?" Evelyn murmered, fumbling with the seatbelt as I pulled over the packing lot.

Almost unconsciously, my thoughts drifted back to our wedding day, to my Mom telling me, "You know one of the most important reasons to the beginning of a married life, when you start sharing each other's problems without feeling insecure."

But then I realised, haven't we shared our problems even before all this? From the tiny dark janitor's room to business, the one thing we have been good at is expressing emotions.

Wait, why do I care about the married life?

~