Devoted Love, Mr. Hayes’ Darling Wife

At 00:00 on Christmas Eve, the sound of fireworks and firecrackers echo throughout the city to welcome the New Year.

But in this cold winter month, the figure under the attic is especially cold and lonely.

At the man’s feet is a field of scarlet cigarette butts, flickering in the cold wind.

Nico stood at the back of the attic, looking up to the second floor, where the small table lamp in the little house, originally dim yellow, would flicker on, off, on again, off again, and finally go out quietly.

The small building at the back of the villa, which was a gift from the developer when he bought the villa, is a combination of palace and Nico’s original fondness for buying crafts and antiques and his collection of treasures, which are kept in this small building.

This small building, which was clearly meant to contain his favorite things, has become a prison for his wife.

Nico pulled out a box of fireworks sticks that he had promised to set off for her on Christmas Eve.

He pulled the lighter out of his coat pocket, lit it and ignited the stick, which poked and burned, blooming like a star in his hand.

He lit one after another, and all he threw to the ground were smoldering black sticks that had burned.

I remember on the wild beach in Q Town, he said that such a stupid thing as lighting fireworks to please a woman should not be done for another woman in the future, it would be frowned upon.

At the time he thought he would set off fireworks for this woman for the rest of his life, just for her.

But fireworks are cold and fleeting, and as beautiful as they are, they are still as lonely as they are.

Often, what is expected too far in advance is always strangled by fate. He should never have promised her before he left that he would wait for her to come home and throw fireworks at her.

Nico wasn’t sure when this torture would end, but he kept reassuring himself that it would.

As long as she was around him, there would always be a chance and a reason for him to forgive her, even if it was lame and stilted, to lie to himself.

As much as it hurts, he’s not willing to let go.

Because it is too much, his love is heavy, tainted, with nasty possessiveness and morbid paranoia in him, and with many dark emotions, such as sadness, insecurity, anguish and despair.

He always felt defeated by these negative and gloomy emotions, as if he was trapped in a swamp, and the more he struggled the deeper he sank.

And he loved Micaela dragging her into it, but hoping that she would save him.

He was waiting, waiting for Micaela to save him, waiting for Micaela to give him a reason to forgive her.

There was no place to vent those violent, miserable emotions, so he had to take them out on her, to see her battered and bruised so Nico could temporarily shed his hatred for her and convince himself to pity her, if only to be kind to her.

The pendulum marked the early hours of the New Year.

Nico looked up at the darkened second floor of the small building and said quietly, “Micaela, Happy New Year.”

He couldn’t be at peace with her today, and not seeing her was the best way to do it.

But Nico didn’t know that he had been downstairs all night, and that Micaela, on the second floor, had been waiting all night for the fireworks.

Those who say they’ll let it go never actually do it at the time.

The next morning it was a little light at 7am.

Micaela walked over to the window and looked down, there were no fireworks and no expectant people.

She thought more about it when Nico suddenly appeared, rows of fireworks were set up below, and the moment they exploded, he approached her through the colorful flames.

But she knew he didn’t deserve it anymore.

…

On the morning of the first day of the year, Pastora came to the door with Savanna.

Pastora stood aggressively behind Savanna, shouting with her collar up: “Nico! I’m warning you, you better hand over Micaela now! Otherwise, … or I’ll call the police.”

Nico’s face was unpleasant, cold and emotionless, with a chill around it. Pastora, bold as she was, was still on the outside, and she grabbed Savanna’s shirt and bent backwards, whispering, “Savanna, your brother is really scary, why is he like a dead man.”

Nico frowned, and his dark eyes bore into Pastora, “How do you know this?”

“I … what do you care how I know! Anyway, if you don’t let me see Micaela today, … I’ll call the police!”

Savanna was afraid Nico would do something harmful, and although her brother looked very scared, she said, “Brother, let us meet Miss Micaela! No, you and Miss Micaela are married and she is at least my sister-in-law now, brother, let me meet my sister-in-law! If there is any misunderstanding between you and my sister-in-law, Sister Pastora and I can go talk to her and maybe we can help you!”

Savanna looked at Nico.

Nico remained in cold silence for a long time, wondering what was on her mind, and finally, surprisingly, he relented and allowed Pastora and Savanna to see Micaela.

I guess I wanted to make sure that Micaela had been well, that she had had enough to eat and that she hadn’t gotten cold.

The small attic, with no heat or air conditioning, was in such poor condition that I wondered if she would be comfortable living there.

Pastora and Savanna nimbly ran to the small attic in the backyard with the keys.

Pastora, who had made this trip up the old wooden staircase and felt the dreary coldness of the place, hugged her displeasure, “Nico is so cruel to leave Micaela here alone! I’m taking Micaela away from here today, no matter what he says!”.

Savanna said, “Sister Pastora, don’t be ridiculous. If you take my sister-in-law away, my brother will get really angry and find you in a minute, not to mention that you could be imprisoned too. We’d better think of ways to facilitate your relationship.”

Pastora urged Savanna, “We’d better go in first and see how Micaela is doing, I’m afraid Dario is quite right, Micaela is already going crazy about Nico. ”

Savanna opened the door in a hurry, she didn’t want her sister-in-law, who was so pretty and attractive, to turn into a beautiful lunatic.

As soon as the door to the second floor of the small garret opened, Micaela, sitting by the window pane, slowly turned her eyes to look at the door, her eyes clear and cold.

The first moment Pastora and Savanna saw Micaela, their hearts fluttered.

Micaela’s personality is not the vivacious and outgoing type, but the light in her eyes never fails and her soul is tough, as if she is able to face and live her life with strength and positivity no matter the adversity.

But now this Micaela, as if her soul had died, was just a beautiful shell.

Micaela looked less and less like Micaela.Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

Pastora burst into tears in an instant: “Micaela, how could Nico have kept you prisoner here alone?”.

Pastora held her thin arm, saw strangulation marks on her wrist, pulled up the sleeve of her sweater and saw that her thin white arm was bruised, the marks of being abused/raped.

Pastora stifled a sob and wrapped her arms around Micaela: “What the hell did that bastard Nico do to you! How could he do this to you! I’m going to kill him! That bastard! Micaela, why didn’t you defend yourself, I’ll call the police now! I don’t think the Superintendent can’t handle him!”

Pastora said and pulled out her phone to call the police when Micaela put her hand down.

“Micaela, you, you, you’re not still thinking about that bastard, are you? He hurt you like that, he deserves to be punished!”

Micaela didn’t cry, the mild winter sun enveloped her pretty soft white face, she even smiled slightly and said, “Pastora, he didn’t do it on purpose, he just couldn’t help it, I drove him crazy. It’s all my fault, I cheated on him in marriage, I betrayed him.”

Micaela was clearly smiling, but it seemed to Pastora that the way she was smiling was more painful than crying.

Pastora sobbed and hugged her tightly, “I already found out from Dario, Dario is looking into it, I know you were set up, Micaela, it’s not your fault alone, you can’t blame yourself like that, Nico shouldn’t have hurt you like that even if he was out of control.”

Micaela smiled slightly, but as she laughed, tears fell from her eyes as she looked at Pastora and said, “Pastora, I really can’t seem to get out of this dead end. I’ve separated from Nico many times before, but I’ve never been as desperate as I am now, because I know that if I try, I can get back with him. But this time, it’s different, no matter how hard I try, he and I, we can never get back…”

“I have lost him forever, forever. I wanted to reconcile with him after a year and a half, as I had done so many times before, but, Pastora, I missed that chance. When he tormented me now, I even thought it was better than being ignored by him. When he mistreats me, I can’t believe that … it would be better. Pastora, do you think I’m sick?”

Pastora looked at her, covering her mouth and crying, “Micaela, you really can’t stay here anymore, now that Nico has become evil, if you keep being tortured by him like this, not only will he go crazy, but you will too!”

Pastora swallowed saliva, ripped off Micaela’s sleeve and held it in front of Micaela’s eyes, crying angrily, “Nico did all this, didn’t he, how many more scars do you have from his creation? Micaela, he really is a monster now, if you don’t leave him, you will die.”

Micaela’s lips let out a light laugh, “It’s fine by me Pastora, Nico just… he’s so angry he can’t control it.”

Pastora looked at the row of tears sliding down her face and knew she wasn’t having a good time at all.

Nico had tortured her like this, and she kept saying it was okay, secretly forgiving Nico in her heart, smiling humbly and tightly in Nico’s defense, saying Nico didn’t mean to do that to her, saying Nico just couldn’t help himself.

Pastora gritted her teeth: “Nico the bastard!”.

Micaela used to be such a proud and dazzling woman, but now her eyes are dark and humble as dust, all because of Nico, who not only tyrannized Micaela’s body and soul, but also ravaged Micaela’s pride and dignity.

Pastora sniffles and says with reddened eyes, “Micaela, don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find a way to get you out, you must hold on and … Nico has hurt you, you must protect yourself, don’t live in guilt, you’re right, you don’t owe him, you love him but that’s no reason for him to use it to hurt you!”

Micaela asks helplessly and insecurely, “Pastora, do you think being too much in love means it’s not right?”.

Since too much love always hurts you and the other person, there is a strong sense of discomfort and an uncomfortable possessiveness that can hurt both you and your lover.

Too much in love to tolerate a grain of dirty sand and not allow your relationship to get dusty.

But this violent love is as powerful as death, destroying itself or the other.

Pastora looked at her blankly, sobbing and, for a moment, not knowing how to respond to Micaela.

But Micaela had already asked herself, “Too much love is not enough. In fact, I found out long before that Nico and I might not really be right, I just … I couldn’t let it go. I always think that as long as we love each other, that mutual misgivings and discomfort will always soften. In the end, though, it’s still a loss in love, too much love, to be so disappointed. He must have been disappointed in me.”