Trapped in the Love of Stepchildren
Chapter 7's

Laura was sitting on the front porch of her house when her phone rang. He saw the incoming call and recognized the number as an unknown number. He hesitated to pick up the call, but eventually decided to take the call.

"Hello?” Laura answered carefully.

"Hello Laura, I'm Mary." The voice on the other end of the phone was unknown to Laura.

"Sorry, I don't know you," Laura replied confusedly.

"I know that" said Mary, "but I wanted to see you. I have something I want to tell you."

"Sorry, I can't meet you. I don't know who you are and what you want from me" Laura replied.

"I understand you're scared, but I want to talk about your husband, Tom. I know about Tom and about his tragic death" said Mary.

Laura was shocked to hear her husband's name. "What do you know about Tom?" ask Laura.

"It would be better if we met in person,” said Mary. “I feel like you should know something.”

"Where can we meet?" Laura finally agrees to meet Mary.

"At Blue Cafe, I'll send you the address of the cafe, I'll be waiting for you there in an hour" Mary replied.

Laura approves and hangs up her phone with curiosity in her mind, Laura goes to the cafe as promised and finds Mary in the corner of the cafe away from the crowd. He sat down in front of Mary, trying to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry if I came to surprise you and ask you to meet me suddenly like this, Laura," said Mary softly.

Laura didn't know what to say. She had never spoken to Mary before, and now she was sitting in front of her, making her feel awkward.

"So, what do you want from me, Mary?" Laura finally asked the question that called Mary here.

"There's something I need to tell you," said Mary, taking a deep breath.

Laura felt suspicious and looked at Mary sharply.

"What do you want to say?" ask Laura.

"Tom and I..." Mary stopped for a moment, taking a breath. "Tom and I have a relationship, Laura. We cheated on."

Laura felt as if her world was collapsing. He couldn't believe what he heard. Tom, her husband, is the most loyal person she has ever known.

"What do you mean?" laura asked, trying to calm herself down.

"Tom and I had a relationship for over 25 years even before he married his first wife and with you,” said Mary.

"What?” ask Laura.

"And at the time of the accident that took Tom's life" continued Mary. “He met me that night. We had a big fight and he left me on the street. That was our last meeting."

Laura felt like she had to calm herself down. He felt like his world was collapsing, and he did not know how to handle all this.

"But that's not the only thing I want to say" Mary said.

Laura looked at Mary with a face filled with question marks.

Laura felt like she wanted to vomit. He could not believe what he had just heard. She couldn't understand how Tom could do something like this, and why Mary felt the need to tell him all this now.

“So Daniel is Tom's biological son and not his stepson?” Laura asked in disbelief and answered a nod by Mary.

"Why are you telling me this now?" ask Laura.

"Because I want you to know who Tom really is" said Mary. "And so that you can think more about your closeness to Daniel, I heard all the news about your closeness.”

Laura felt like she wanted to explode. He didn't know how he could respond to all this. He felt like his heart had been broken and was no longer able to bear the burden of suffering anymore.

Everything he had just heard felt too heavy to bear. Laura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He tried to stay calm and consider everything that Mary had just revealed.

"Daniel...his son?" ask her with a soft voice.

"Yes, Laura. Tom is Daniel's father" Mary replied firmly.

Laura felt like her world was collapsing. He felt unable to bear this burden anymore. He cried, lamenting everything he had just heard.

"I'm sorry, Laura," said Mary, trying to calm Laura down.

"Please go," Laura said in a soft voice.

Mary stood up and stepped up wanting to leave Laura. Before he left, he turned towards Laura and said, "I know this is very difficult for you to accept, but you must know the truth. Tom loves you, and he always loves you. But he also has mistakes, like the rest of us. Never forget his love."

After Mary left, Laura sat in the cafe and cried. He didn't know how he had to face everything. His heart and mind are constantly reminded of the past, about Tom who always spent time with him and was loyal to him who turned out to have a dark secret as he heard.

When he arrives home, he searches all of Tom's photos and sees them one by one. He felt sad when he saw their picture together, but he also felt angry. Tom had lied to her, and it was something she could not accept.

She felt like she had to process everything herself, but she also felt lonely. He doesn't know who he should talk to or how he should feel.

—

The night passed very slowly and Laura kept pondering about everything. Suddenly, the door opened and Daniel came in. Laura was shocked and did not know how to respond.

“Laura, are you okay?” Daniel asked worried. “I tried calling you but you didn't pick it up.” Daniel approached Laura.

“Go!” Shouted Laura furiously. “Go, never you set foot in my house again.”

Daniel is surprised by Laura's change of attitude, but he keeps approaching Laura and tries to touch Laura but Laura quickly brushes aside.

“Seeing your face reminds me of Tom's behavior and it makes me sick!” Shouted Laura furiously and cried.

“What happened, I beg you to tell me,” asked Daniel, he still tried to want to hug the woman in front of him but Laura always managed to brush him off, he saw the woman's body vibrate.“Please tell me, what happened? What did my father do?”

“Ka...you are Tom's biological son,” Laura said.

***

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