Hidden Desires - Family Secrets

Chapter 024 What had changed in just these seven days?

Dragging my feet out, my heart was filled with bitterness and embarrassment. It seemed Betty was really angry; she hadn't even explained to the janitor that I was her husband, perhaps she didn't want to lose face by revealing my identity.

This was a disaster. This was the first time since our marriage that things had gotten this tense, and I had no idea how to smooth things over.

But thankfully, Betty only thought I suspected her of cheating with another man. If she knew I suspected her of cheating with Michael, she might have been furious enough to slap me.

Betty would never know what I was thinking about her and Michael. At this moment, she probably hadn't even considered such a thing; in her heart, Michael was like a son to her.

After I left the office building, I looked ahead and still couldn't see Michael and Betty. I had been walking slowly, weighed down by my own gloom, while Betty and Michael had hurried off. Were they already waiting by the car? The car keys were with me, so they couldn't have opened the car without them.

Compelled by a sudden urgency, I sprinted towards my car. But when I got there, I found that Betty and Michael were not waiting by the car. It was impossible for Betty not to notice our car since it was parked right at the school's main entrance, clearly visible as soon as you stepped out.

Turning my head, I glanced towards the nearby bus stop and saw Betty leading Michael onto a bus, leaving behind only their receding figures.

The bus drove away, and I unlocked my car, but I didn't start it. At that moment, I felt a wave of fear about returning home. Betty had held back in the school because the janitor had shown up unexpectedly. What would happen when we got home? How would I explain myself? Well, I thought, I'll just have to deal with whatever comes my way.

Since the door wouldn't open, I knocked firmly. After a moment, the door opened. Michael was sitting at his new desk, working on his homework, and Betty was sitting on the bed next to him, seemingly supervising his work. Her eyes were a bit red, as if she had just been crying.

"Let's eat, I made all this when I got back this afternoon." I didn't really know what to say. Even though I'm a journalist, facing this kind of situation at home was new to me, and I felt a bit out of my depth.

"Michael, go ahead and eat..." Betty said without looking at me, her voice gentle as she spoke to Michael, urging him to eat.

"What about you, Mom?" Michael didn't look at me either; his eyes were on Betty.

"I'm not eating, just go ahead..." Betty softly touched Michael's hair as she spoke.

"If you're not eating, I'm not eating either..." Michael turned his head back down to his homework.

"Alright, Mom will eat, come eat with me..." Seeing Michael's stubbornness, Betty sighed, got up from the bed, and pulled Michael along. Michael put down his pen and stood up, walking out with Betty. I stepped aside at the doorway.

There I was, rooted to the spot. It wasn't happiness that Betty finally agreed to eat that gripped me, but Michael's use of "Mom." Before I left, he had always called Betty "teacher." What had changed in just these seven days? It seemed their relationship had grown much closer, and a lot had happened...