Chapter 3

𝘼𝘽𝘽𝙄𝙀

My mom and Matteo jolted out from the rubbish they were doing, trying to hide their nakedness from me.

"Abbie, why are you here?!" my mom scolded, pushing up the mattress to cover her breasts.

I couldn't answer. I could only run.

Daisy, who saw me running out from the hall like I was being chased, tried to stop me, but I didn't stop.

The scene of watching my mom get grilled by a married man made my chest ache. And it ached even more knowing the man in question is Daisy's dad.

My mom is friends with Stella. She always comes by our house every weekend to chat with my mom.

How... how can Mom be having an affair with her friend's husband?

Matteo is cheating on Stella... and my mom is Miss K. 

It felt like my head was about to fall off.

Now I understand why Matteo always looks at my mom the way he does, and why my mom always smiles happily at him.

They were having an affair.

Since when did all this begin? Was it when my mom would often say she couldn't come home? Or was it when she always traveled out of California, saying she has a business meeting?

When did it all start?!

The question yelled itself inside my brain. I was starting to run out of breath, so I halted my feet to catch up with the breath I had lost.

By now, I was already far away from the party ground. As I breathed in the air, my mom's car screeched in front of me.

She got out of the car, but I couldn't even look at her. She irritated me. I always thought so highly of her. Who would've guessed she was a mistress? She called Lara a slut when she was the bigger slut.

"Get inside the car, we need to talk," she said.

"Talk about what?" I asked, letting my tears touch my cheeks. I was really disappointed in her. "You want to talk about how I caught you having sex with a married man?" I asked.

"Abbie!" she shouted.

"Don't Abbie me, Mom." Despite how angry I was, I couldn't even raise my voice at her. I was scared of her. And my biggest wish is finding someone who would turn me into that girl who wouldn't be so terrified of her mom.

"Matteo is Stella's husband," I continued in tears. "Stella is your friend. How... how can you be having an affair with your friend's husband?"

"He's the man I've always wanted," she said, without a trace of remorse. "Unlike your dad, who… just survives."

"If my dad is a disappointment, why did you marry him?" I choked out, tears blurring my vision.

"I was stupid. I thought love was enough, but it won't put food on your table, Abbie. I learned the hard way, and that's why I didn't hesitate to divorce your stupid dad," she said without blinking an eye.

"How... how long have you been in this affair with Matteo?" I whimpered, my voice small against the magnitude of betrayal.

My mom hesitated. "Before I divorced your dad."

I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth as I stumbled backward unknowingly. She was cheating on my dad even before the divorce was finalized.

I lifted my eyes to look at the woman before me. I... I just couldn't believe she was capable of doing something like this. This all explains why she happily divorced my dad and why she had asked me to be friends with Daisy, and why she became friends with Stella. It was to prevent her from becoming suspicious.

"Now that you know the truth, I hope you don't say a word to Daisy or Stella. Pretend as if you didn't see anything today. Do I make myself clear?" she commanded, her voice sharp and controlling.

"You're a disappointment, Mom," I let out the words before I could control my tongue.

"What did you say to me?" she asked, stunned.

"You're a disappointment," I repeated in a low voice, wishing I could just snap at her. "You always judge other people, but you're much worse than them… a slut covered in expensive clothes."

Her hand rose and landed a searing slap across my cheek. I touched my cheek, my tears flowing even more.

"I don't want to see your face right now. Go home and don't show your face to me until tomorrow!" she snapped.

She was the one in the wrong here, but I was the one who was being punished. I brought my hand down from my cheek. If only I could raise my voice at her, I would have gladly done so.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't get to see my face when you wake up," I wiped my tears.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned, but I walked past her, ignoring her as she called my name.

I dragged my feet until I arrived home. The house felt suffocating to live in, knowing what my mom had done.

She had risen to power because she was having an affair with a married man, and yet she mocked my dad, who worked so hard for the little he had.

My phone began to ring. Daisy was calling me, she must be worried because of how I ran out of the hall. But I was too scared to answer her call. What was I going to tell her? That my mom is having an affair with her dad?

It's going to break her, especially Stella, because she loved Matteo so much.

When her calls kept coming, I switched off my phone and sat on the bed, thinking of what to do… until my eyes drifted to the calendar pinned above my study table, the days before college circled in red.

Forty-five days.

I have a habit of crossing out the days before an actual event. And right now, I have only forty-five days before college begins... before I adventure into the world my mom had created for me.

No matter what I have found out about her, I still won't be able to go against her. I was under her control.

But I could run away and spend the forty-five days left before college, doing what I want.

I got up from the bed and hurriedly packed my clothes into my yellow luggage. When I was done packing, I quickly left the house.

My dad lives in Yuma, Arizona. I'll stay with him.

Forty-five days will all be mine.