There is no magic to achievement. It's really about, hard work, choices, and persistence
-
Michelle Obama

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A few minutes later, Hope has left to refill her martini, and Daniel, Ryan and I are in the living hall, waiting for my parents so that we can finish lunch so I can get out of here.

Daniel sits on the couch, watching me, taking up far too much space for a single human being. The man has an atmosphere. His gaze has actual weight, like a touch. It's unnerving.

"Stop staring at me-you're freaking me out," I grouse.

"Why do your grandma hate you so much?"

"None of your business." I shoot him a glare, then go back to staring at the front door. "Why do you care, anyway?"

I hear the shrug in his voice when he answers. "I don't really, but I guess I can't understand why an old woman wouldn't stop complaining about her granddaughter. And –forgive me— especially at your age."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm old?"

I'm not looking at him, but nonetheless feel his gaze sharpen. "You're dodging the question. Which means it's serious and has probably been going on for years."

Exasperated, I throw my hands in the air. "How on earth would you know what it means?"

"I know women." I don't reply for that since I knew he's right. Though he's not a playboy, I'm pretty sure he has a pretty good record with girls.

"Finally, you both are here," Grandma exclaims when Mom and Dad walks inside. "Ryan and Allison were waiting for you both. You can't make newly weds wait like this, Leah," she scolds causing the smile plastered on Mom's face to vanish.

"Ryan and Allison?" Mom asks, settling on one of the couch and Dad follows her lead.

"Yeah, your daughter and son in-law," Grandma said, glaring at me.

Mom looks at me for few seconds, her eyes softens. She shakes her head in amusement. "Mother, Allison married Daniel. He's my son in-law while Ryan is Daniel's cousin. You have mistaken," Mom announces while I move towards Daniel. I wink at him.

"What?" Grace snaps, her eyes widening in shock. I smirk slightly but doesn't open my mouth.

"You ungrateful brat," Grandma snaps, rising to her feet. Hope steps forwards but I shake my head at her —a silent order for her to maintain her calm— and sighs. "I knew that you were up for something but I didn't expect you to do something like this.."

She continues her insults while I sat there, listening to her with a bored expression. Daniel's hands turns into fist causing me to smile wide. He cares! Slowly, I intertwined my hands with his, giving him a silent plea to remain calm. This insults will last for another ten minutes or so.

"What I don't get is what did this guy see in her? She got no beauty from her mother and no brain. I told her thousand times to become a teacher or doctor but she choose law. Any idiot can become a lawyer."

Jesus!

"You were trouble from the minute you were brought to this world. I told your mother to abort but she choose you above her career and look what she got in return. You are a mistake." I flinch hearing the last sentence but I still remain calm.

"You're a mistake," she repeats. "You're a bloody mis-"

"Stop it, mother." My whole body freezes when I hear my mother's voice. Everyone looks shocked as this is the first time Mom has decided to cut off Grandma. I turn my gaze towards my mother who's now standing along with Dad. Her grey filled with tears.

"Leah, didn't you hear wha-"

"I know very well what has happened here and it's definitely not her mistake. I'm sure you jumped to conclusions."

Grandma gasps in surprise. "Leah, she is a-"

"Leave her alone, Ma," Mom shouts at the top of her voice. "You have punished her enough for the mistake I'd committed. Not anymore. I'm not going to stand here and tolerate anymore insults thrown at my daughter. You have all right to shout at me but not her. My guilt has taken away my children from me and I can't do it anymore. She's not a mistake. You hear me? Don't ever call her that. I won't tolerate it." I continue staring at my mother with a sad smile. It took her twenty five years to defend me.

"Leah but sh-"

"We'll take later, Ma. Right now, I need to talk to Allison, then we can have lunch and that is only if you can keep the insults to yourself," Mom states, staring at Grandma, her fists clenched at her sides. Grandma stares at Mom with wide eyes. She walks away without another word with Aunt Lizza, Tyler and Grace follows her. Greta grins wide.

Mom turns towards me, tears running down her cheeks. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" The vulnerability in her voice brings some kind of satisfaction in me. Twenty one years!

"Sure, Mom." She flinches at the word 'Mom' because she very well knows that I don't like calling her 'Mom.'

Ten minutes later, I'm settled on the beautiful couch in my room Mom's study. They're are sitting on the couch opposite to me, maintaining a distance between each other. The room has a hideous vibe with the gray walls with no paintings or photos. There're so many cabinets which contained some files and books. There was a huge table, lamp, so many couches and a beautiful rug.

"We're getting a divorce," Mom declares, tears in her eyes.

I raise my eyebrows. "I'm a criminal lawyer. I don't practice in family law."

Seriously? That's the only reply you got to say?

Mom gulps. "You're my daughter and you deserve to know it first."

I lean back against the couch, hands folded below my chest and my right leg over the left. "Why are you doing this? You both love each other and wants to be with each other till your last breathe then why in the world are you doing this? Is there another business deal behind this?" I snap, my voice sharp and bitter.

A sob escapes from Mom causing Dad to move closer to her, he wraps his arm around her holding her closer to him while she breaks into tears.

"Your mom loves me," Dad tells, staring at me with guilty eyes. "When you choose someone other than us to walk you down the aisle, we realized how far we're from you. Our love towards each other separated us from our children and we can't do that anymore. Leah wants to be a mother from now instead of a dutiful wife." I sigh when I hear the way his voice breaks.

"Are you hearing yourself?" I snap, my eyes blazing in anger. "It's not your love that has separated you from your children. It's your guilt." I point my finger at them in accusation. "Every time you both looked at me, all you saw was the mistake that you both made once, you didn't have enough guts to let it go and give a happy life to your child." Dad flinched, probably wondering how I knew about their little secret.

Mom sobs harder, her voice getting louder. "I.. I.." she trails, not able to speak. She composes herself before speaking. "Y-You're right. I felt guilty for cheating on your father and I couldn't bear the fact that you're not his child. I couldn't cope up with the fact that I gave birth to somebody's else child. I neglected you completely, I gave all my attention to your father and business. I hated myself and the r-resentment I had in me separated you from me. Your father forgave me but I couldn't forgive myself." Tears continued flowing out of her eyes while I sat there with a plain expression. Years of my longing cannot be buried by her tears.

She took another deep breathe before continuing, "We were so happy when Ashley was born. She was our life and everything, I took break from work so that I could be with her. But everything stopped when I realized what Ethan did to you. I-I swear I didn't know... I didn't know..." she trails breaking into another set of tears..

Dad rubs her back, not letting her go. "We never did that collaboration. We gave him permission when he said he wanted take you for a party but we never knew that he would hurt you. W-We never wished to hurt you." Tears wells up in Dad's eyes causing me to frown in surprise. I knew that my father was among the person who doesn't hesitate to shed tears but I didn't expect him to do it here —right in front of me.

"Why didn't you try abortion?" My voice comes out loud and rough. Mom flinched, her eyes widening hearing my question.

"I didn't want to," she mutters, staring at me with vulnerability. "I thought I could hide everything forever but it didn't work out. I-I just want to spend some time with you. I would never ask you to forgive me, just give me some of your time."

I shake my head at her. "Give me two minutes," I mutter before texting Hope about something. They stare at me in surprise.

After another two minutes, the door opens revealing Hope. She relaxes when she catches the sight of me. She walks towards to give me the iPad. I wink at her before rising to my feet. I move towards my parents and offers my iPad which Dad took with hesitation.

His eyes widen when he realizes what is there in it. I step back, my gaze fixed on them. "Take your time, read it. Then call me if your decision is still the same. Don't do this. You both love each other and that is definitely not the reason why you both weren't good parents for me. You both were scared to accept things the way it is. This report doesn't change anything. Anything!

"I don't hate you both. I forgive you for everything but don't expect me to forget. You can't just come to me one day and ask me to treat you with love after what has happened. I can understand. I really can but that's not enough. I'm mature enough to let go everything that has happened to me," I complete, takes a deep breathe. "Again, think over that divorce part."

Mom stops crying, she grabs the iPad from Dad, her eyes widens, tears starts rolling again. "No," she mutters. "This is impossible." Her voice gets loud.

I shake my head at her. "We can do it again if you want me to. This one is five years old." I move towards the door with Hope behind me. I stop in my tracks, turns back to find my Mom on her knees on the floor, Dad holding her while she continued wasting her tears.

"Just because I have black hair doesn't mean that I'm a bastard," I say, loud enough for them to hear before walking out of there.

******

I grin as I walk inside my husband's home with him, Ryan and Hope trailing behind him. They remained silent throughout the journey which annoyed me since I hate silence. I step inside the living hall only to halt in my tracks, my eyes widens slightly after watching the sight in front of me. I hear gasps from behind me.

Daniel was the first one to recover. "What the fuck is going on here?" He shouts at the top of his voice.

Hanging on the far wall are nine huge photos —of Daniel and Annabelle— and there's a huge board that tells 'Delivered to Allison.'

I stare blankly at them, the blood draining from my face. First two were the ones of them talking, standing close to each other and it looked professional. While third and fourth were more like personal. He was holding her hand as they entered this house as if they were a couple. Fifth, sixth and seventh contained pictures of them in red carpet, attending some party and in a bar. Eight was an intimate one - Daniel holding her close to him, kissing her hungrily. Ninth was the one that crossed limits - Annabelle and Daniel lying on a bed, sheets covering their naked body as they stare at each other.

Looks like you have a huge feast in front of you.

Anaconda! Damn you!

She has started her moves which means the news of our wedding has reached her ears. Not bad!

I glance up at Daniel, who is staring at each of the pictures. He looks furious, his hands turned into fists. She has hit his nerve. Damn her again!

I turn my attention to a woman standing in the hall. She looks like she's in her late forties with her brown and gray hair, her brown eyes bright and happy, her lips turning into a smirk. Oh! She's the maid Hope was talking about. Looks like Annabelle already has a partner here in this house.

"Hope," I call out, breaking the huge silence. Hope steps towards me with a worried expression. "Take these photos to my bedroom and hang them on the wall."

You got to be kidding me, woman.

"What?"

Ryan laughs and keeps on laughing, an irritating sound that can be heard over all the walls.

"I'm happy you find me so amusing."

He abruptly stops laughing, joke vanishing from his face. "You're serious?"

Hope looks at me, horrorstricken. "Absolutely not. You are not hanging it on the wall of your room."

Right!

"You're right," I tell her causing her to relax and grin. "I won't be hanging it on the walls of room. You will be the one to hang it."

"Pardon me?"

"I don't like repeating myself, Hopeline."

"But why?" Hope snaps. I arch a brow, and her eyes flare. "Okay," she mutters.

"I won't let you do it. I'm going to burn them," Daniel states.

Clearing my throat, I turn towards Daniel to meet that vivid blue glare of his. And just like always, it feels like I'm being pulled right in, which doesn't make any sense since he's ready to kill me right now. "First of all, all the portraits are sent to me —Allison. Also, I'm not under your power and I'm definitely not a staff of yours. I'm an independent attorney, and your wife. You need to trust me to do the right thing."

Daniel purses his lips and sighs. "Fine. Do anything you want to do with the photos but I don't want to see them again."

"Okay," I mutter, stepping towards him with a bright grin, wraps my arms around his neck and places a wet kiss on his cheek. The smirk on the maid's face vanishes.

Daniel pulls me closer, his hands on my hip. "You're driving me crazy."

I give him a teasing smile. "I love it when you think so highly of me." He groans causing me to laugh out loud.