Stephanie's POV
The atmosphere at the dining table was suffocating, to say the least. If Grandpa wasn't enough, my so-called father sat opposite me with his family.
"I got your resignation letter." My so-called father, Klever, started the conversation. He didn't look up and picked up his wine glass.
"I told her to. We are newlyweds and want to spend as much time together as we can." Cliff spoke up before me. His hands were squeezing mine under the table like soft comfort.
I looked at the table. There was Grandfather sitting at the head of the table, with Klever on his right followed by his wife, Sophie. His children, Anna, was sitting across from me with her husband, Daniel, and Andrew in the seat facing Grandpa. On the left side of Grandpa, the seat remained empty. It was originally for my grandma, and right beside it, Cliff was seated with me alongside him.
In a family like this, seating mattered more than it showed. One could tell how much someone was favored by the head of the family based on the seating. I was never allowed to sit at the dining table unless it was a formal dinner with a guest, even then I sat farthest away in the corner. The only reason I sat this close was... I glanced up at Cliff, who was keeping up with the business talk with Klever.
He felt like a breath of fresh air in a suffocating world like mine. Every time I came for dinner in the name of formality, those eyes looked at me as if I was a pest they couldn't get rid of. My existence was nothing but a hindrance.
"Congrats on your wedding, sister." Anna's sharp voice brought me back to reality. They were not warm to me for marrying Cliff, but they were warming up to Cliff. I was still the same in their eyes.
I let out the same practiced smile. "Thank you, Sis." The same polite tone that, for an outsider, would look like we were at least on friendly terms, if not close.
Anna took a sip of her red wine before giving me a sharp look. "I guess you can now stop going after others' husbands." She finished, causing everyone to stop midway and stare.
"Anna…" Daniel spoke up first, his voice shaky as he stole glances at me as if I had done something wrong and was guilty. Why are you acting like a victim when it was you who told me to accept being a side piece and warm your bed? It was you who made me believe that you were my knight in shining armor. It was you who tried to force yourself on me. It was you who drugged me in the name of treatment. It was also you who treated me like a punching bag.
I wanted to scream all of this in his face, but would they believe me, a pest? It's just another year. I can just stay quiet and let them say whatever they believe. Yeah, there was no point in me speaking.
"Are you saying that I can't keep my wife happy enough for her to look for another man?" I had already given up when Cliff's voice filled the silence. It sounded sharp and angry, as if he was offended that his homewrecker wife was being called that.
Anna's face turned white as she looked at Cliff, trying to stumble out her words. "T-that's not what I mean. My sister is notorious for eyeing men who are taken, even before you came into the picture."
"It takes two hands to clap. If the husbands were unfaithful, they would cheat either way." Cliff's words were polite and vague, but everyone knew who he was talking about.
"Who knows, she might have tried to drug him and force herself on him." Anna snorted, pouring herself more wine.
"Aphrodisiacs don't exist, and I don't think there are drugs that make you a lustful being. But if you want to use drugs as an excuse to be unfaithful, that works."
Anna frowned, glaring at him. "You— you think you're so great, wait until she cheats—"
"Enough!" Anna's words were cut off by my grandfather. He glared at Daniel. "Take your wife out of here." His voice was calm, but the fear in his eyes was clear. He didn't want Cliff to end this marriage. Such a greedy man was the dearest father to my mom.
Daniel cleared his throat. "I apologize on my wife's behalf. She must have drunk too much. I will take her to her room to rest." He grabbed Anna's arm, leaving the room quietly.
"I apologize for my daughter's behavior. She has been going through things." Sophia finally spoke up. She had been quiet from the start of the dinner.
The ideal image of a wife of a man like Klever. She was everything my mom was not. Quiet, submissive, a homemaker, one who supports her husband and children. My mom, on the other hand, was loud, opinionated, stubborn, and free. She was like those birds soaring in the open sky with wings spread out.
My mother might have been everything opposite of a perfect wife, but she didn't act differently once away from public view. She didn't starve a child because she might be an illegitimate child of her husband. She didn't put a child in a basement with no water, toilet, or bedding for days in the name of punishment.
"It's fine. I trust my wife, and I know how to keep my wife happy." Cliff replied. I lowered my head, unable to look up at him. I shouldn't read too much into his words; he was probably acting as part of our deal. He doesn't mean anything by his words. It was just part of our deal.
"I need to use the washroom. Excuse me." I stood up, leaving the room in a hurry. I shouldn't feel anything at his words, but why did my heart hurt so much? How love-deprived was I to melt at a stranger's words? Like this, I will repeat the same mistake as before.
"I see you have caught a big fish, Stephanie."
My feet came to a halt at the voice.