Vengeance of the Battered

Baguio City is where we got engaged. During Christmas day, Liam surprised my innocent face by kneeling down to me, showing a small box and a shining, shimmering small, silver diamond ring as if he was asking me to be the woman of his everyday life.

And I said yes.

“I don’t find any reason to refuse you, honey,” I cried as I watched him happily put the ring on my ring finger.

That day was the second to the best day of my life, next to my marriage day, of course. During our eight years of sharing love, it’s fun to think that he finally asked me to get married.

“You don’t know how much you make me happy.” He cupped my face as his eyes were getting teary. “I won’t let you regret accepting my proposal, Kris.”

As he stood up to meet my face, I grabbed his neck and kissed his lips. Just for a moment of time, in return of showing how he made me delighted by his surprise. But because we both enjoyed the kiss that I led, I could feel his finger getting inside my blouse. He was now trying to unbutton my bralette when I stopped him.

I gently pushed him away from me, and then I smiled. “Not too soon, Liam. Let’s just do it on our honeymoon, shall we?”

“Then, stop seducing your future husband. You know I can easily be attracted to you with just a simple kiss,” he said with a laugh before putting his arms around me and we started to walk away from the place I thought we were just going to visit, yet it turned out to be the proposal venue Liam made.

I still can’t get over it. Upon looking at my finger wearing that glamorous, exorbitant ring, I couldn’t control myself smiling expansively. I still can’t believe this is really happening right now. It’s still beyond my belief that this scenario is happening over and over again only in my dreams.

If this was just a dream, I won’t really wake up anymore.

***

And the day of our wedding has come. People are looking so happy watching Liam and I exchange vows at each other. The decorations of the church scream extravagant and the wedding gown I’m wearing is a bit heavy but looks natural and elegant.

Everything seemed perfect on the day we were exchanging our promises with each other.

“To Kirsten Angeline Bargamento, I am pleased to accept you as my wife. There hasn’t been a day since we started dating that I haven’t thought about and dreamed of you being my wife. That’s how much I love you, honey.”

“The day I proposed to you, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack while waiting for your answer. I thought then that waiting for you for eight years is still not enough for you to be ready to be my wife.”

“But as you said yes to me, I think I was the happiest man in the whole world that day. I’m on top of the world the moment I heard from your mouth the word I wanted to hear.”

“And as we stand here, in front of the creator of the world, I promise with all my heart that I will take care of you and love you until my heart is not tired of beating, and until my lungs are not tired of breathing.”

“You’re now my everything, Kirsten. It’s just you and a dozen of our children that you promised me you’d give me,” he muttered in between laughs. “I promise you a good life, a healthy living and a happy family, Kris. I don’t want to promise you a nice house, a nice car, or nice bags and clothes. All those material things are nothing but bring people short-term happiness.”

“What I wanted to promise is to give you the life that you deserve. In return for loving me, I will always love you until my last breath. I will love you even after life, honey.” He smiled at me as I noticed his hold becoming tight.

“Together we will fight every tomorrow that comes. And I promise you that I will never hurt you… I will never make you cry. A woman like you should only shed tears of joy, not sadness. I will water you with only happiness, so you will grow to be a wildest flower.”

And as our vows finished coming out in our mouths, the father’s permission to the groom to kiss his bride has been given.

***

This moment of us touching each other’s lips are the best memories I always remember in my everyday misery. At least with just a memory, I once had been given a chance to be happy and to enjoy the day of my wedding... before my almost heaven-sent angel husband became a barbaric devil that I could no longer recognize.

“What the hell is this, Kris?!” My husband came to me and lifted me up from my slump on the floor by pinching my cheeks. “Don’t you know how much those Chinese herbs cost just to get you pregnant? So what? You’re just going to waste it instead of taking it? Are you crazy?!”

“G-Give up, Liam,” I stammered. Another factor is that he squeezes my cheek so I can’t speak properly. “N-No matter what you do, I-I can’t really give you a child...” Tears rolled down my cheeks one after another.

It’s a good thing that Liam pushed me away from him, somehow I can breathe easier.

“I have a lot of money. I’m ready to spend all my money just so you can give birth to a child. You just have to follow me.” He came closer to me again so I backed away so scared, but he still managed to reach me and gently caressed my cheek. “Just please, honey. Don’t do anything I don’t like so I don’t add more bruises to your body. Be a good wife to me, hmm?”

My face was so shaking when he kissed me on the cheek. And after saying his last words to me, he left the room. He locked me in this dark room again, which was about to look like a warehouse.

I gasped as I backed away from the table, I didn’t know that there was a broken glass behind me. And that was our picture frame when Liam and I got married. It was now cracked... and so the love I had with him was damaged starting on the day he locked me in this place.

“He said he wouldn’t hurt me... he wouldn’t make me cry. But, what happened now? Where are his promises?”

I sat shaking while crying and took a look from the broken picture frame. I’m tired of living this fucking life. Can I just die?