Chapter 185: EMA; THE PAST (2)
This was the first time Ranon visited Ema’s house. To be honest, this was the first time a man, other than Ema’s father or family members, had entered the house.
Ema was very nervous. Her parents would return in the early morning, but they could return sooner than that.
Given how Lena left the house, their rage would be directed at Ema, and discovering that she allowed a man to enter their house would be disastrous.
However, Ema couldn’t help it. She felt rebellious and excited. Was this how Lena felt when she did something against their parents’ rules?
"Here, your noodles." Ema handed him a bowl of noodles. She couldn’t believe Ranon was inside her bedroom.
She looked around secretly, trying to spot something unusual or something that could embarrass her. But thankfully, she had cleaned up the room this afternoon.
"Thank you," Ranon said.
When Ranon stretched out his hand, she saw his bloodied knuckles. He must have fought before he came here.
Because Ema couldn’t take the violence, she asked Ranon to stop updating her about his fighting. She didn’t want to know, but still, the aftermath of it was something he couldn’t hide.
"Can you stop?"
Ema didn’t need to elaborate on what she meant, because Ranon understood. She had been complaining about his fighting and trying to stop him, but Ranon firmly told her that he would stop one day, but not now.
The money was good, and he still needed that to go through with this life.
However, despite her endless complaints, Ranon would listen to her. Not even once did he snap at her and raise his voice to make her stop.
"I will, one day," Ranon said lightly as he ate the noodles. It was still hot, but he was hungry.
He had just finished with his fight when he saw her message. Therefore, he had not yet cleaned up his wounds or eaten something.
Ema sighed. She fiddled with her fingers, glancing at his wounds over and over again. In the end, she stood up and then went to get a first aid kit.
"You don’t have to; I can clean it up myself," Ranon said when Ema wanted to take care of his hands.
"No. I will do it." Ema was stubborn. She took his hand and pressed her lips to see that they were still bleeding. "Does it hurt?"
"No." Ranon ate the noodles with one hand. He didn’t lie. His pain tolerance was pretty high since he had gone through worse than a mere broken skin.
"Liar," Ema grumbled. It broke her heart to see his blood, and Ranon knew that. He leaned over and kissed her head.
"Just let it be. It will heal." Ranon retracted his hand, but Ema held him even tighter.
"Be still. I will take care of it." It took her a while to finish it, and she blew a kiss on his knuckles once she was done. "I hate to see you injured."
"Next time I will be careful."
"You should promise me there will not be a next time." Ema pursed her lips, but Ranon just chuckled and complimented her cooking skills. "Are you trying to mock me?"
"That’s a praise."
And after that, Ranon brought the bowl to the sink and washed it. He did it with ease as if this was not something unusual for him, but it did for Ema because her father had never washed anything in his life.
Everything related to the housework would fall on her mother. Therefore, it was rather strange for Ema to see Ranon doing that.
"Is there something on my face?" Ranon asked. He noticed the way Ema stared at him.
"You know how to wash the plate," she blurted out, and this confession made Ranon smile. He knew why she thought that way.
"There is nothing wrong with it. This is a basic life skill. I know how to cook too."
"You do?" Ema raised her brows.
"I will cook for you later."
***
Ema woke up with a strange dream. No. It was not a dream. That was her memory from the past, which she buried deep in her heart.
For a while, Ema stared at the ceiling. This was not her bedroom. Denzel was not by her side, nor could she hear her son’s laughter.
But this was also not the bedroom when she was young. This was not the morning when she woke up with Ranon sleeping soundlessly by her side.
That was the first night they spent together, and Ranon cooked for her for the first time. They didn’t do anything but cuddle, since Ema was too nervous, and Ranon even offered to sleep on the couch.
Obviously, Ema was even more scared if her parents found him on their couch.
It was a blissful morning, and the memory of it was both beautiful and painful. Then Ema remembered what happened the previous night.
She drank because she couldn’t take the pain anymore. This life suffocated her.
"You are awake; now help me to clean up your mess." Lena poked her head from the door. She gave her a disapproving look when she saw how blotchy and disheveled her sister was.
Yet, cleaning up was the last thing Ema wanted to do. She wanted to continue her sleep; probably she could repeat the same dream again. She wished she would never wake up.
"No, you can’t fall asleep again." Lena protested. She trotted towards the bed and yanked the quilt. She did something even more merciless when she opened the curtain and let the afternoon sun come in.
The bright light hurt Ema’s eyes; she groaned and tried to curl her body, but Lena didn’t give in. She pulled her from the bed.
"Wake up, Denzel has been calling nonstop. I told him you are with me. You must call him back."
"I don’t want." Ema shook her head. "I want a divorce."
Lena stopped her attempt, and instead, she sat down next to her. Ema’s first instinct was to prepare herself to be scolded.
But instead, Lena was very understanding. Probably because she was tired of how many times Ema said the word.
"If you want to get a divorce, then do it, but I only want to warn you about one thing: Denzel Leighton is not a gentleman; you must have known that by now. He will not make things easy for you. He will crush you."
Her voice was stern as she delivered the reality of the situation to her sister. Just like how she talked to her when Ema decided to choose a comfortable life over Ranon.
"But if you wait for a few more years and Denzel dies, you might get something to compensate for all of the pain you have gone through. I think it will be worth it that way." Lena was talking about a logical thing here. "At least, you will get something. Not to mention you have a son with him." She shrugged her shoulders.
When you talked to her, it was all about logic. But she was the type of woman who would be able to put aside all the logic when it benefited her.
She didn’t mind flattering an old hag like her man to the moon and back if it meant he would give her more money and buy her more expensive things.
"Think about it again; don’t make a rash decision." Lena touched her hand. "You have made one in the past, and it cost you your entire life; don’t let your impulsiveness ruin the rest of your life again."
Ema envied Lena because she could separate her feelings and logic, something that she would never master in this life.
"I will give you half an hour to gather your soul, but after that, you have to clean up your mess from last night. I am not going to do it for you."
"You have a maid."
"Today is her day off."
Ema groaned, but she was glad when Lena left her alone.
***
"Being jobless doesn’t suit you," Hazel commented as she watched Ranon serve their lunch. He cooked today, and Renna was very happy to see how Ranon was pampering Hazel. She was beaming.
’It will only be a matter of time before you have a second child.’
That was what Renna whispered to Hazel, and she got goosebumps. She was going to disappoint her when their divorce happened. Poor old woman.
"Hm. Probably, I can be a stay-at-home dad while you make money for us."
"You will not get the luxury, Ranon Leighton." Hazel scrunched her nose. "And also remember, you promised me that you would share five percent of the company’s profit."
"Don’t you worry when someone hears that you will be labeled as a gold digger?" Ranon kissed her head, as he put down her cucumber juice with lemon.
Hazel rolled her eyes when she heard that. "God forbid a woman needs money too, just the same as a man wants a sexy wife with the skill of a chef and as attentive as a nurse."
"Fair enough." After he put down all the dishes, he went to tie Hazel’s hair. She had stopped complaining about cutting her hair since Ranon took care of it.
On top of that, he was really good with what he was doing.
If it were not for Hazel’s memory of how to care for her curls, she wouldn’t have any idea of how to deal with it.
River had short, black hair after all.