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.

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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.

family now, and the embers of their old

was not romance it was restitution for a youth

fell gravely ill.

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

mom and I spent decades together. Though love may not have lived between us, companionship did. And over time, that becomes

that moment, something

together didn't always bloom

to shower or

reeled with memories of her parents-moments wrapped in warmth that had, to her, always looked like

tenderness, his worry when her mother

how could it

Ethel's voice came with a knock at the

the mirror, smoothing her face into calm before opening

asked, her tone warm and

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

"Nothing serious."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

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don't buy it." Ethel tried to coax a smile out

despite herself and tousled Ethel's

Dad wants to marry

Her eyes widened

She stammered, "You-You..."

"Hmm?" Freya remained gentle.

stammered. Ever since their fallout two years ago, Freya refused to utter that word once in reference to

Yet now, she had.

It felt almost unreal.

had fallen apart and, somehow, through the wreckage, she had come to see things more clearly. She had grown-shed the need to draw

still-damp hair. Her touch was soft,

you were so upset with

I see-some situations aren't about right or wrong." She had no desire

stood, Hugh moving on so soon after her mother's passing had felt like a betrayal-like

first

scratched her head, visibly

push further, but asked the one thing on her mind, "What did you mean earlier when you said Dad should marry Ms. Newman if he wants to?

didn't sound like the sister

haven't accepted her," Freya clarified, her usual calm returning. "But

trying to dictate

had no control over his

wasn't someone Freya liked, she wanted

himself this time. "You're saying things I can't wrap my head around. You two must've talked about something

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