She Took The House The Car And My Heart

Chapter 156

Chapter 156 Stopped Trying To Dictate Hugh's...

Now, Freya understood everything. It was no surprise her mother had never urged her or her sister to seek of a man like their father-after all, that mariage had been forged not in love, but in dary, holon waliot

together for appearances, not affection.

It was all theater-smiles painted on like masks at a masquerade.

"What does Cheryl mean to you?" Freya asked, her voice gentler than a breeze before a storm, carefully mag her emotions in check.

At her question, Hugh said nothing. He simply lowered himself beside her, the silence hanging like fog between

them.

For the next half hour, he peeled back the layers of the past-recounting how he came to marry Freya's mother and the tangled history he shared with Cheryl.

When he finally fell silent, Freya felt as though a boulder had taken residence on her chest, pressing her down with every breath

She rose, emotions still glistening in her eyes. "I'm going upstairs."

"Mina," Hugh called softly.

"If you intend to make that woman your wife, then do it. But know this-Shella and I have only ever bad one mother." With those words, she left the living room, each step a quiet thunderclap as she retreated to her room

Now, the picture was clear.

Cheryl had been Hugh's first love-two young hearts ablaze, only to be torn apart by Hugh's father during the fervor of their romance. Duty overruled desire, he was bound to Freya's mother in a loveless match

Likewise, Freya's mother had once carried a torch for someone else-but she, too, had been no match for the iron grip of her father's authority.

In those days, marriage was rarely born of love. It was a chess game, orchestrated by elders, leaving little space for choice-or joy.

Though both parents had their own loves, they surrendered to the weight of tradition, their resistance merely a whisper against the storm.

And so they married-two strangers beneath the same roof, learning to coexist while longing for someone else. They had hoped to endure until they could part ways quietly.

But fate, ever capricious, had other plans. Divorce eluded them, and three years into their forced companionship, Freya was born.

0.02

With her arrival, something shifted. They resolved to raise her with care, determined not to let history write her fate as it had theirs. They wanted her to know a childhood where love, even if feigned, felt real

And in that, they succeeded.

As for Hugh and Cheryl....

Three years prior, Cheryl had found herself in a nightmare-trapped in a marriage poisoned by violence. In her

darkest hour, she reached for Hugh, a flicker of her past she hoped might save her.

Hugh helped her find a lawyer, but he kept his distance.

and the embers of

it was restitution

mother fell gravely ill. Two years ago,

days after the funeral, Hugh-drowning in grief-sought comfort in drink, only to wake up beside Cheryl. Freya had seen it with her own eyes. A cruel setup by Cheryl's family, who believed Hugh still carried

once asked, "Why did you turn to

may not have lived between us, companionship did. And over time, that becomes

that moment, something quietly shifted

realized that being together didn't always bloom from

managed to shower or crawl into bed afterward. Everything felt

her parents-moments wrapped in warmth that had, to

mother was ill... that couldn't have

how could it

voice came with a knock at the door.

before the mirror, smoothing her

she asked, her tone warm and

the threshold, picking up on the subtle shift in Freya's mood. "He told me to come check

"Nothing serious."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

27.8%

21:22

coax a smile out of her.

herself and tousled Ethel's

wants to marry her,

blinked, stunned. Her

She stammered, "You-You..."

"Hmm?" Freya remained gentle.

Dad?” Ethel stammered. Ever since their fallout two years ago, Freya refused to

Yet now, she had.

It felt almost unreal.

to see things more clearly. She had grown-shed

still-damp hair. Her touch was soft, reassuring. "Yes.

upset with him before?" Ethel asked cautiously.

understand everything back then," Freya said. "Now I see-some situations aren't about right or wrong." She had no desire to untangle the past any longer,

so soon after her mother's passing had felt like a betrayal-like he'd traded love for

people denied their first loves, cornered by tradition. Surely, regret weighed heavily on them

scratched her head, visibly

"What did you mean earlier when you said

sound like the sister she

her," Freya clarified,

to dictate Dad's

two decades ago, Hugh had

even if Cheryl wasn't someone Freya liked, she wanted

something serious behind my

57.1%