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.

a family now, and the embers of their old love had long gone

offered was not romance it was restitution for a

divorced. And then, Freya's mother fell gravely ill. Two years ago,

Hugh-drowning in grief-sought comfort in drink, only to wake up beside Cheryl. Freya had seen it with her own eyes.

once asked, "Why did you turn to

together. Though love may not have

that moment, something

being together didn't always bloom

couldn't recall how she managed to shower or crawl into bed afterward. Everything felt

her parents-moments wrapped in warmth that had, to her, always looked like

his worry when her mother was ill... that couldn't have

it not be

came with a knock at the door. "Are

together, rose, and stood before the mirror, smoothing her face into calm before opening

tone warm and

the subtle shift in Freya's mood. "He told me

"Nothing serious."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

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coax a smile out of her. "Unless you prove it-with an

and tousled

the earlier conversation, she added, "If Dad wants to marry her, let him. It's his life. We

blinked, stunned. Her eyes widened

She stammered, "You-You..."

"Hmm?" Freya remained gentle.

stammered. Ever since their fallout two years ago,

Yet now, she had.

It felt almost unreal.

things more clearly. She had grown-shed the need to draw strength from

gently ran her fingers through Ethel's still-damp hair. Her touch was

were so upset with him before?" Ethel asked cautiously. "Now that things

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

her mother's passing

denied their first loves, cornered by tradition.

scratched her head,

earlier when you said Dad should marry Ms. Newman if he wants to? Does that mean you're okay with her

didn't sound like the sister

clarified, her usual

to dictate

Hugh had no

if Cheryl wasn't someone Freya liked, she wanted her father to

must've talked about something serious behind my back." Ethel pouted and stepped into the room uninvited. "To protest this

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