HOW TO HATE YOUR HUSBAND 2
HOW TO LOVE YOUR WIFE
How To Love Your Wife – Chapter 35&36
[๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐ & ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐ ]๐ป๐๐๐๐- ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
โ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. โ
ยฉ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐
โฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆโฆ
[๐๐๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ – ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ฅ๐ฌ]Rias rushed into the hospital with Rafael, Annie and Nancy. Hunter left with Romeo earlier before Nancy and Rias left the warehouse.
“Where’s Romeo?” Rias choked out, voice raw, lunging toward the morgue doors like a woman possessed.
Hinata and Angelo emerged from the shadowed hallway just then, faces ashen, eyes hollowed by grief. Hinata’s gaze locked on Rias and ignited.
Her fists clenched white-knuckled at her sides, she charged like a storm unleashed.
“You bi+ch!” Hinata’s fist cracked across Rias’s jaw in a vicious right hook, sending her sprawling against the wall.
Rias crumpled, tasting blood, her cheek blooming red.
“Hinata, stopโdon’t blame her!” Angelo lunged, wrapping his arms around his wife’s waist, hauling her back as she thrashed.
“Don’t blame her?!” Hinata shrieked, voice shattering into a banshee wail, tears carving rivers down her face.
“She’s the reason my son’s dead! It’s all because of her, because of her bullshit, that’s what pulled him into that hell! My baby boy’s gone!”
Rias pushed up on trembling arms, blood trickling from her split lip, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the eviscerating guilt.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice cracking like glass. “I’m so sorry…”
“You’re sorry?” Hinata roared, straining against Angelo’s hold, veins bulging in her neck.
“Sorry? Tell me, can your pathetic ‘sorry’ bring him back to life? Huh? Can it pump breath into his lungs, mend the bullets tearing through him? Answer me!”
Rias sobbed, knees buckling, but she forced the words out.
“I swear I didn’t wish for thisโI didn’t want anything to happen to him. It was Lin, the kidnapping… he came for me, andโ”
“Well, eat your sorry! Shove it down your goddamn throat ’cause I don’t need it!” Hinata spat, wrenching free for a split second to jab a finger at Rias’s chest.
“Choke on it! You think words fix this? You dragged him to his death!”
“You… you were the worst thing that ever happened to him!” Hinata’s voice dropped to a venomous hiss, eyes blazing with maternal fury.
“From the day you came back to Tokyo, poisoning his heart, it was always fights and pain. I will never forgive you, Rias. Never everโnot as long as Romeo’s dead and cold in that room! You’re dead to me too!”
The hallway fell into a stunned hush, broken only by Hinata’s heaving sobs. Rias stood frozen, hot tears blurring her vision, the weight of those words crushing her ribs like a vise.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dragoni.” A morgue attendant and doctor emerged from the doors, clipboards in hand.
Angelo met Rafael’s gaze across the chaos and they nodded. Angelo squeezed Hinata’s hand, his own knuckles white, and guided her away, her body sagging against him as they vanished into the room.
Rias’s legs gave out fully. She collapsed to the linoleum, squatting in a puddle of her own tears, arms wrapped around her knees.
“I didn’t want this… please, just let me see him. Please..” Her pleas dissolved into wrenching sobs, shoulders convulsing, the world narrowing to the ache hollowing her chest.
“Sis…” Nancy dropped beside her, pulling Rias into a fierce hug, their tears mingling as she rocked her sister.
Annie hovered nearby, silent and stricken, while Rafael stood guard like a sentinel, watching Rias and then he slowly smiled and walked into the room Angelo and Hinata disappeared into.
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[๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ’๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐]
Sasha stood in the living room, heart pounding hard. Why wasn’t Hunter home yet? She kept calling but he wouldn’t pick up. The clock ticked, every second stretching like torture.
She heard his car pull into the courtyard and ran outside fast, barefoot, not caring about the gravel biting her feet. She stopped at the stairs by the entrance.
Hunter got out slow and she froze. His shirt was bloody, face pale as death, eyes red and swollen.
“Love,” she said soft, taking slow steps to him.
He grabbed her waist quick, arms crushing tight, and just broke. Sobbing loud, body shaking bad. Hunter cried like a kid, face buried in her neck, hot tears soaking her skin.
“What happened?” Sasha asked, holding him close, her own heart dropping.
“Romeo…” Hunter pulled back a little, eyes locking hersโwild, broken. “He’s…..”
Sasha’s breath caught sharp, hand flying to her mouth. “Oh God, no…”
“I was so scared. So fucking scared.” He hugged her again harder, voice muffled and wrecked.
“It’s okay, love. I’m here. You made it home.” Sasha rubbed his back slow, up and down, feeling his sobs shake through her.
She held him right there on the stairs, wind cold, not letting go till his breathing evened a bit.
“How’s Rias?” she asked quiet after a minute.
“Don’t… talk about her.” His voice went hard, fists clenching on her shirt.
“Alright, I won’t.” Sasha kissed his forehead gentle. “C’mon, inside. You need to clean up.”
She took his hand, leading him through the door, locking it behind. The house felt too big, too quiet.
Hunter leaned on her heavy, steps dragging as they crossed the living room. Blood flaked off his shirt onto the floor.
Up the stairs slow, one at a time. He gripped the railing white-knuckled, still sniffing. At their bedroom door, Sasha pushed it open, then turned on the lights.
“Sit,” She said, guiding him to the bed edge.
He dropped like his strings got cut, head in hands.
She knelt quick, unlaced his shoes, pulled ’em off. Grabbed a towel from the bathroom, wet it warm, and started wiping the blood off his arms, his neck.
“Shower now?” she murmured.
“Yeah…” Hunter looked up, eyes still lost. “Thanks, Sasha. Don’t know what I’d…”
“Shh. Got you.” She hugged him once more, then tugged his bloody shirt up.
He lifted his arms, numb, then let her toss the shirt. Fresh scars and bruises everywhere.
She helped him into the bathroom, dim light casting soft shadows on the tiles.
Hunter stripped slow, clothes pooling at his feet, body marked with fresh bruise. Sasha turned the shower on hot, steam rising quick, then stepped back.
“I’ll be in the room,” she said soft.
He grabbed her waist sudden, pulling her flush against his bare chest, arms wrapping desperate tight.
Water misted her clothes, but she didn’t pull away.
“Hunter…” Her hands slid up his back gentle, feeling him tremble.
“Please, stay…” His voice broke low, face buried in her neck, breath hot and ragged against her skin.
She nodded quiet, letting him hold her close, their hearts pounding together under the spray.
His grip tightened like she’d vanish, lips brushing her ear.
“I love you, Sasha. I’d do anything…., anything to protect this family from anyone. I’ll protect you and Riri always. I promise you.”
“Hey, I know you will,” she whispered, fingers threading through his wet hair, tilting his face to hers.
Their eyes locked, his raw, hers steady love. “Don’t blame yourself, okay? You’ve always kept us safe. Always, and I know you did all you could for him.”
He kissed her then, slow and deep, water cascading over them both. She melted into it, hands cradling his jaw, pouring every bit of her heart back.
They stood like that long, tangled wet, breathing each other in.
She grabbed a towel finally, drying him tender, then herself.
They walked back into the room and headed straight to the bed. They climbed in, her spooning him tight from behind, arm over his chest, legs laced.
“Sleep now, okay.” she breathed against his shoulder.
Hunter nodded faint, eyes closing heavy. Sasha stayed awake long, listening to his breaths even out, her own tears silent on the pillow.
______________
[๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ค๐๐ข]
Tiago stumbled back from the phone, face drained of color, pure shock etching deep lines into his features. His hands trembled violently, the receiver slipping from numb fingers to clatter on the table.
Martin and Danzoโmid-sip at their drinks, glasses hoveringโfroze, eyes snapping to him in the dimly lit room.
“Everything okay? Did something happen?” Martin asked, brow furrowing.
Tiago sank into his chair like a man gutted, movements slow and mechanical, staring at nothing. His breath came shallow, ragged.
“Tiago,” Danzo pressed, voice edged with unease.
“Boss Hunter just called,” Tiago murmured, barely audible.
“And?” Danzo leaned forward.
“Boss Romeo… is dead.”
Silence crashed down, thick and suffocating. Danzo’s glass shattered against the floorโhis grip had crushed it mid-air.
His eyes bulged, face twisting from confusion to raw denial, mouth agape as if punched in the soul.
Martin recoiled, chair scraping back, his rugged features slackening into horrorโpupils dilating, skin paling to ghost-white, hands gripping the table edge until knuckles split.
Martin let out a choked chuckle, sharp and disbelieving, shaking his head.
“Nice joke. ‘Boss Romeo’ and ‘death’ can’t be in the same fucking sentence.” He lifted his drink with forced steadiness, gulping deep, but his hand shook, liquor sloshing over the rim.
He paused. Lowered his head slowly, stare unfocused on the amber pool spreading across the wood. “Tell me it’s a fucking joke, Tiago.”
“I honestly wish it was,” Tiago whispered, voice cracking.
He snatched Danzo’s spilled bottle, chugging straight from it, Adam’s apple bobbing desperately.
“How’s that even possible?” Danzo exploded, surging to his feet, chair toppling.
His face contortedโrage warring with grief, fists slamming the table so bottles rattled.
“How did he die? He can’t just… die! Romeo’s not weak, he’s a f+king tank! Unbreakable!”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Tiago rasped, wiping his mouth with a bloodless hand, eyes glassy and distant.
“But his body’s at the morgue. Boss Hunter took him there personally.” He drank again, harder, like drowning the truth.
Martin slumped forward, elbows on knees, head buried in shaking hands. A low, guttural groan escaped him, building to a shuddering sob he choked back viciously.
“No… f+k, no. Not him. Not Boss.” His shoulders heaved, breaths turning to hyperventilating gasps, tears carving silent tracks through the grime on his cheeks.
Danzo paced like a caged beast, punching the air, then the wallโknuckles splitting bloody.
“This can’t. He was fine! What the hell happened?!” He spun back, grabbing Tiago’s collar, yanking him up.
“Details! Tell me* how he died!”
Tiago met his gaze, hollow-eyed, voice a broken monotone.
“I don’t know! Hunter didn’t tell me anything else.” He sagged as Danzo released him, collapsing back, bottle clutched like a lifeline.
The room spun into agony, Martin’s quiet weeping, Danzo’s feral snarls dissolving into stunned silence, Tiago staring blankly as the weight crushed them all.
None of them could really believe that Romeo got erased in a heartbeat. The drinks sat abandoned, the air poisoned with irreversible loss.
______________
[๐๐ข๐๐ซ]
Reiko stood alone on the windswept dock, clad head-to-toe in stark white dress. In her arms, she clutched Ashton’s ashes tight in a sleek black urn, fingers white-knuckled around its cold surface, as if sheer will could tether his ghost to her.
Hinata’s words echoed cruelly and she knew she had to leave to should getting into trouble.
And here she was, everything shattered and stripped bare. No son, no love, no fight left. If not for Ashton’s idiotic obsession with Rias, his reckless itch to return here… she wouldn’t have lost him. Wouldn’t have lost it all.
“So stupid of me,” She whispered to the urn, voice cracking, a single tear tracing her cheek before the wind stole it.
Footsteps approachedโheavy boots on weathered planks. A group of stern-faced men in dark suits halted before her, expressions impassive.
“Ma’am, the ship’s ready to leave,” The lead one said.
“I’ll be there soon.” She nodded curtly, not trusting her voice.
They melted back into the shadows. Reiko drew a deep, shuddering breath, shutting her eyes against the sting of salt and regret.
The urn pressed heavier now, a final anchor. She stood, dress flowing against her legs, and turned toward the looming ship, then she strolled forward, steps deliberate, vanishing into exile.
______________
[๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ฅ๐ฌ]
It was past 11 p.m., the hospital hallway dead quiet except for the hum of machines and distant beeps.
Rias sat slumped on a hard plastic chair, eyes red-rimmed and swollen, staring at the morgue door like it might swallow her whole.
Nancy had left hours ago with Rafael, dragging her feet, but Rias wouldn’t budge. Hinata and Angelo were still inside somewhere, probably breaking apart piece by piece, but Rias refused to leave.
No way. Not without seeing Romeo one last time. What if they never let her? What if this was itโgone forever, without even a goodbye?
“Dear, drink this.” Annie shuffled over, holding out a cold bottle of water, her own face lined with worry.
“I’m not thirsty.” Rias’s voice was a rasp, barely there.
“Rias, you gotta drink. You’re exhaustedโit’s draining you dry. Rest a little, please.”
“I’m not drinking water, not eating, not sleeping. Not unless I see Romeo.” Fresh sobs hit her like waves, chest heaving.
“I want to see him. I didn’t want this… God, I didn’t want any of this to happen.”
Annie sank beside her, wrapping an arm around Rias’s shaking shoulders. The chair creaked under them.
“I love him so much, Mom. I want him back. I want Romeo back. But I can’t… I can’t bring him back to life.” Rias buried her face in her hands, body wracked with ugly, gulping cries.
Guilt clawed her insides raw, every breath a knife twistโRomeo’s last words burning like acid: the curse, the hate in his dying eyes.
She’d killed him. Her jealousy, her stupid accusations, that one dumb misunderstanding, it pulled him into this hell.
“C’mon, don’t blame yourself like this,” Annie murmured, stroking her hair gentle. “It wasn’t you alone. None of this was your doing. Think of it this way, he saved you because he loves you.”
“But it’s true.” Rias lifted her head, eyes wild and haunted.
“I could’ve avoided it all. If I didn’t push him away, didn’t say those awful things… it was one silly mistake, Mom. One fight, and it cost him his life. He died shielding me.” Her voice broke into a wail, fists pounding her thighs.
“I’m the reason. His blood’s on my hands.”
Annie pulled her closer, rocking slow. “Shh, baby. You couldn’t know. Romeo chose to comeโhe loved you deeply. This ain’t on you.”
Rias shook her head fierce, tears soaking Annie’s shirt.
” No, it is. It’s all my fault. I’ll carry this burden foreverโthe guilt, the what-ifs. Romeo’s gone ’cause of me. I won’t ever forgive myself. How can I? He cursed me with his last breath…to miserable forever, he said. And he’s right, whether he said it or not, I’m still going to be miserable with myself.”
She lurched to her feet, sniffing hard, fists balled at her sides.
“I hate myself! I hate myself so much…” The words exploded out, venom for her own heart.
Her legs wobbled like jelly, vision spotting blackโexhaustion, grief, it all crashed down.
She collapsed hard to the floor, knees slamming tile, a broken heap, passing out cold.
“Rias!” Annie dropped beside her, hands frantic on her face.
______________
Rias lay flat on the stiff hospital bed, fluorescent lights buzzing harsh overhead, the sterile smell of bleach clinging to everything.
She fluttered her eyes open slow, head pounding like a drum, world fuzzy at the edges.
Annie hovered right there, face all worry and soft lines.
“Hey, dear. You alright?” Annie squeezed her hand gentle.
“Mom…” Rias croaked, throat dry as sandpaper.
The doctor, a middle-aged woman with a clipboard and kind eyesโleaned in close, shining a penlight into Rias’s pupils.
“Can you hear me clear? Follow the light, please. Squeeze my fingersโgood. What’s your full name?”
“Rias… Rias Gremory.” Her voice came out weak, but steady.
“Where are you right now?”
“Hospital… RRD Medicals.” Rias blinked hard.
Rias rattled off the answers quick to the doctor question, she was a doctor herself, knew this drill inside out.
The woman checked her pulse, blood pressure, listened to her heart with a stethoscope.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t get stressed past this phase. Really bad for you otherwise,” The doctor said, jotting notes.
“Why? Am I sick? I’d know if I wasโI’ve been fine, just… everything’s been stressful lately.”
The doctor smiled faint. “Any nausea lately? Fatigue? Missed periods? Breast tenderness?”
Rias frowned, thinking.
“Tired, yeah. A little queasy last week, but I chalked it up to stress. Periods… wait.” Her mind raced.
It was supposed to come yesterday, but Lin’s kidnapping, Romeo’s death… it all blurred into chaos. Slipped her mind completely.
“Good answers, you’re quite sharp. I’ll prescribe vitamins. It’ll help you and the baby.”
Rias’s heart stuttered.
“What… what baby?”
“You’re pregnant.” The doctor paused, gauging her shock. “About a week along. When’d you last have your period?”
“Last month… oh God.”
It hit her.
“I’m… pregnant?” Rias’s hand drifted to her belly, flat still, but alive inside.
“I’ll be back soon with the script.” The doctor slipped out quiet, leaving the room heavy.
Annie sat on the bed edge, eyes wide.
“Dear… you know who’s responsible? Your ex? Or… did you and Romeo have sex already?”
“Does it matter? They’re both dead so it’s pointless now.” Rias’s fingers pressed her tummy firmer, tears welling hot and fast.
A tiny life was thriving while the dad rotted cold downstairs.
“I can’t believe it… my baby grows up without a father.” Her voice cracked wide open, sobs bubbling up fierce. “No dad to hold ’em, teach ’em… nothing.”
“Hey…” Annie rubbed her arm soft, tears in her own eyes.
“He really meant it when he said he wasn’t gonna leave me, huh?” Rias forced a weak smile through the hurt, rubbing circles over her belly.
“He still found a way to come back…and stay with me forever.”
She mumbled like a prayer, crying hard now, her hand cradling the bump that wasn’t there yetโbut would be.
It dawned her that this was their child. His last gift to her, curse or not.
“Oh, Romeo…”
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