Episode 2

(Alessandra)

I keep listening to my Father, but I still have trouble understanding what is happening.

—Oh my daughter, I know this is very complicated, but you must know everything.

Antonia's father arranged everything and within weeks he was married to a woman he didn't know, with whom he had barely exchanged a polite greeting.

The saddest thing is that I am still married to that woman.

You also deserve to know how your Mother has been by my side all this time.

It was 1 year after I got married.

Marlen literally rescued me...

Well, to forget my heartbreak and loneliness, I went out to get drunk almost every day, and the weekend was worse; I did it to avoid being at home, and in one of those drunken episodes, someone ran me over as I left a bar.

I was unconscious and woke up in the hospital.

When I was in that hospital, a young man helped me and called your Mother. I didn't want to go back home, I was in a very bad physical and emotional state; and I knew that only She could heal my soul.

Your Mother agreed to take care of me in her apartment for a few days; but I was never able to leave her care.

A year after my weekend visits to that small but cozy apartment, you were born.

Since then, for me, weekends are the happiest days of my life, and I hate having to leave on Mondays, but I have to.

You may wonder how it is possible that I am still married after so long.

The answer is clear...because I'm an idiot.

A successful and astute man in business, but manipulable and influenceable in my personal life.

Yes, my Mother, who had a heart condition for some time, always manipulated me.

First, because the twins Antonia and Andrea were small, and they needed me, because I am their Father, then with her illness and so time went by.

When I thought I was going to leave Antonia, she got sick, as I understand it she is still sick, and that's why I can't leave her.

And what is happening now, I have been postponing it for a long time, but I can't keep doing this to Marlen.

I know I am a real idiot, I always convinced her to give me time, because I had the hope of getting divorced.

But I couldn't do it and now I am convinced that I will never be able to get divorced.

I think your Mother is too wonderful a woman to continue in this half-life that I give her, as I told you a moment ago, Marlen does not deserve to continue being my Lover.—Hearing Dad is extremely painful.

The most painful truth I never thought I would hear in my 18 years of life.

Mom is crying and watching Dad cry.

I am in shock... I still haven't processed all the information.

And I only have one phrase in my head.

"She doesn't deserve to continue being my lover."

My brilliant brain is on the verge of collapse, and as I understand that phrase and analyze our life, a whirlwind forms in my head.

I am processing so many things and finding an explanation for everything.

It's that we are a strange family, but I didn't realize it until now.

I was like in a bubble, where I couldn't see more than allowed.

Since I can remember, my Father is only there on weekends, and I didn't complain about that, because I grew up like that, it seemed normal to me.

Because the time he spent with me was rewarding, he taught me so many things, he gave me my own private classes in finance and business, he brought important papers home to teach me everything he did, and I thought it was great.

But, we rarely go out to a public place and until today I saw it as normal.

My Mother is a beautiful queen, locked in a beautiful and luxurious house that looks like a palace; in her palace she has everything she wants, but only on weekends she is seen full and truly happy.

I am understanding everything and at the same time, I am feeling so disappointed.

And it is that, I have been educated with so many good customs, not only so that my way of acting is refined, cultured and with impeccable etiquette, but with so many tips, so many lessons to be a worthy woman, given to respect and distinguished wherever I go.

Mom always told me, that no matter how beautiful a person is physically, if their personality and moral values are not beautiful, their physical beauty is useless.

But the absurdity of it all is knowing that those who give me those lessons, and those who instill so many values in me, are precisely the people who have deceived me all my life.

How could they deceive me in that way？

I say to myself, as I look up and see my Mother, the most wonderful woman that exists, the one I thought was Perfect.

She is looking at me with abundant tears in her eyes.

She has her sad look, like I never saw it.

At this moment, that look that has so many times calmed my sadness, does not help me, so I stop looking at her.

I turn around and walk slowly to the living room of this immense house, I stop in front of a beautiful wooden piece of furniture that is near the fireplace. Here are images of the family, of Dad, Mom and me.

Photos of our happy moments, all those photos taken by ourselves, I stop in front of three of those photos.

I see Dad, the man I have most admired, and from whom I always wanted to learn everything, to whom I said, I want to be as smart as you and He would answer me, "you are"

He who always told me, that he only smiled when he was next to mom and me, He who I now feel that I do not know.

My mother, beautiful and elegant, the woman who educated me, making me see how valuable I am as a woman and who always tells me, never let anyone trample your dignity as a woman.

I also see myself, the mixture of Alesandro Sandoval and Marlen Morelos.

I see myself and remember every word of Dad, how proud he is of me, for the character, intelligence and strength that I have, and for how beautiful I am; he always says that I am identical to Him, in a female version and infinitely more beautiful; I always believed that we were the perfect family, now I know that we are not even a family formally established by law.

I am the daughter of my Father's mistress... and that hurts my soul.

And what I don't understand is how I didn't realize it.

I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know how I'm going to face life from now on, I don't know how I'm going to see my friends again.

Now I feel like an idiot, one who always showed off a perfect family.

Everything is a lie.

I am naive, I felt proud that I was chosen for the graduates' speech.

I felt proud to know that I will study at Princeton University, and that I was accepted for having perfect grades.

I wanted to be the pride of my Parents, just as they were my pride, and my example to follow, that's what I said in the speech, in front of Them.

But now what face will I show on the street, if what I want is for the earth to open and swallow me.

My face is burning, I don't know what I feel, I don't know if it's shame, anger, pain or disappointment; maybe I feel everything at once and I don't know if I can handle it.

I also don't know if I can forgive them for having lied to me in this way...

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***