~{FRANCES' POV}~
*
"Aren't you aware you're with a married man?"
Her words echoed in my mind as I stared at the marriage certificate with trembling hands.
Truly, she wasn't bluffing and I felt sick in the guts. I couldn't even bring myself to face her after all the horrible things I have said to her.
Their names were boldly written on it as; Mr & Mrs Liam Qin
And the date was as bold as daylight, letting me know that I have been fooled.
They had been married for years and here I was, believing that I was his first and only wife.
At that thought, everything started coming to pieces. How he suggested that we marry in secret in my own country.
Not once did I think it was because of this and right now it began to make a lot of sense why he chose to stay with me in my country for a while so we could bond deeply before coming back to his hometown.
When I lifted my tear filled eyes to stare at the lady, I found her staring at me with pitiful eyes.
"I'm going to be blunt with you, Frances. You better leave my husband so things won't get ugly," she warned and my breath shuddered as she snatched the certificate from my hold.
When she turned to leave, I hurriedly stopped her with a heavy heart and she faced me with a disinterested look.
"What?" She demanded.
"I didn't know," I finally told her.
"Of course, how would you?" She asked and turned to leave only for me to stop her again.
I knew she would get upset and irritated by my behavior but I just couldn't wrap my head around what she just told me. It was too hard to digest and I needed more information.
When she faced me, I asked the question that painfully kept echoing in my mind.
"D-do you have k-kids for him?"
At my question, she eyed me up and down before nodding and saying, "We have two children. A boy and a girl."
My body trembled like cold water got poured over me as my eyes widened in horror.
When I didn't ask another question, she used that opportunity to say what she wanted.
"Heed my warning and leave this country and go back to where you came from." Then her eyes lowered to my swollen belly as she said her final words.
"It's better not to involve the poor child in all of this."
And with that, she walked up to her car and got in before she drove off without delay.
I stood there for what seemed like an eternity as her earlier words kept ringing in my head.
'Aren't you aware you're with a married man?'
"Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?" I mumbled to myself as the tears finally spilled out of my eyes as I touched my swollen abdomen like it would protect it.
The lady claimed that they were married and even showed me evidence and went on to say they had two children.
TWO CHILDREN!
And here I was, carrying a child for him in my womb who was five months gone.
What have I gotten myself into?
I had no one, absolutely no one. My parents disowned me for marrying him in secret and so I had only him.
Everything came crashing down on me and I broke down completely as I lowered myself to the ground in front of our home.
Our home
The home we built together in love, unity, and harmony. Only to discover it was built on a lie. A complete lie!
"Frances?"
At the familiar call of my name, I slowly looked ahead of me while on the floor and saw him.
He had a look of horror as he stood frozen for a moment as if to understand what was wrong with me before hurrying to come pick me up from the ground.
But before he could touch me I angrily swatted his hands away as the tears kept flowing out.
"Get away from me! Just go!" I cried out in pain as I fell apart.
"Come on honey, what's wrong? Is this another episode?" He worriedly asked as he tried to touch me again.
"Wh-why?....Liam…why?" I found myself asking that repeatedly until I passed out in his arms.
*****************
The next time I opened my eyes, I was in our bedroom, in our home.
I stared at the ceiling in silence, trying to understand how I ended up there until everything finally flooded in my mind and I gasped in disbelief.
Did that really happen?
When I tried to sit up, someone instantly came to assist me and I was pretty sure it was him because we were the only ones staying in our house.
This time around I didn't push him away. I willed myself to remain calm and confront him in a reasonable way.
But the moment I sat upright and looked at him, no way seemed reasonable at all because all I wanted to do was cry.
How could he hurt me this much?
It was just too hard to believe.
He was such a sweet, gentle and careful man. He never pushed me past my limit or did anything to offend me.
So how?
How could he deceive me like this?
How could he hide something so big from me?
And so the tears welled up in my eyes again, blurring my vision as I parted my lips to ask the very question I was afraid to ask.
"Is this your second marriage?"
At my question he frowned like he didn't understand what I was talking about.
"Second marriage? What do you mean?" He asked in confusion.
"Stop it, Liam. Please just stop it," I tiredly said and it made him even more lost.
"What's wrong, honey?"
"Don't call me that," I warned and he frowned all the more.
"Why? What's wrong?" He curiously asked and moved closer.
Our eyes held each other and for a moment I wanted to live in this lie because that was how much I loved him. I wanted to overlook everything but that was not how I was raised.
He had two children for goodness sake! How could I cope with that?
"W-were y…we…" I started only to stop midway and close my eyes to control my emotions.
I felt his hand touch my back before gently moving up and down in a soothing manner. The more he did that, the more it made me cry.
"Wh…why?" I choked on my words as I asked him.
"Why what, honey? You're not making any sense right now. Please talk to me, what is it?" He tenderly asked and it broke me but I finally found the courage to ask more clearly.
"Were you married before?"
I didn't know how to phrase it, whether to say, "Are you a married man?" Or "Are you married to someone else?"
He stared at me like he was searching for something, anything and the next thing he said was, "Why do you ask that?"
"Just tell me," I nearly snapped at him.
I was hanging on to my last hope, believing this was a prank. Hoping that maybe he set the lady up.
"I wasn't," he firmly said.
"Don't lie," I breathlessly said as I closed my eyes to let my emotions taper down.
"I'm not."
I slowly opened my eyes to stare at him before asking another question.
"Then who is Maeve Liu?"
His left eye twitched and that was all it took for me to get the answers I was looking for.
"How do you know her?" He asked back but I didn't bother answering his question because I was mentally and physically drained.
"Come on, honey, tell me," he persuaded me.
"You didn't answer my question," I reminded him and he went mute as he held my gaze.
"Go on, tell me. Who is she to you?" I pressed on and he parted his lips to speak only to say, "She's no one."
"She's no one?" I repeated his words in disbelief.
Is this what he's going to do? Lie to my face?
"Don't be ridiculous, Liam. You've deceived me enough and the least you can do right now is come clean now that I'm being nice," I said with difficulty and noticed how guilt filled his eyes.
"How can you call the woman who gave you two children no one? Are you this cruel?" I bitterly asked as rage filled my heart.
At this point I knew being this fired up could bring discomfort to me or harm my child but right now I didn't care anymore.
"That's a lie, Frances. Please believe me. She's no one and we have no children together," he desperately said.
"So you both were married," I said and watched how he remained mute.
Why were men like this?
When caught red-handed they go mute instead of confirming it?
It was obvious he was caught and yet he chose to stay silent about it.
When I wanted to get up he quickly came to my aid but I swatted his hand away but he persisted.
"Don't push yourself too hard or…"
"Or what, Liam? Or I'll harm the child? Won't that be far better?" I snapped at him.
"Don't be like that, hone-"
"Don't call me that!" I yelled in anger and felt myself slowly becoming breathless.
And as he went into a panic mood, everything felt blurry around me and all I could think of was how foolishly I got myself in this unfortunate situation; Being married to a married man.