Michelle's pov 

"I hope you don't get offended by this, but I thought he was your father... Not your husband... At least he looks old enough to be..."

I chuckled, "He's actually older than my father,"

This was a conversation I've had more times than I've cared to count, the experience was always more or less the same. There would always be a noticeable shift in the air, their faces contorted with more questions that were looking for the most appropriate ways to leave their lips, and a thickening awkwardness that usually folded up the interaction.

But when I talked with Natasha, she didn't judge me. Instead, she approached it with the understanding that I had salt from my friends before cutting them off. 

Now as I'm crying out my heart, all the pieces are falling into place. 

She had come to understand me.

But not in the way I hoped. 

She went after Elliot.

And he actually took her as his lover. 

My mind was scrambled with different questions. How long have they been having an affair? Why would he do this to me? After 5 years of love and dedication was this water deserved? 

I recalled the look on his face, the absence of any semblance of guilt or remorse.

This was the catalyst to my rage. 

I decided that I wasn't going to cry myself to sleep tonight. 

At least not in the way Elliot would be expecting.

With my phone in hand, I dial the number that I hadn't contacted directly in years.

"Michelle.." his deep voice caressed my name in such a way that it left me breathless for a moment or two. I gathered myself, 30 in my voice to give a response; '"I need you tonight"

"I'll be there," that was it, no questions no begging, all he needed was to hear the urgency in my voice and he was coming. I blinked and recognized his red sports car in Golden Cove's parking lot. I had only been waiting for about 5 minutes or so, when he stepped out of the car I saw him, standing taller than his father. His hair an aesthetic mess, his suit ruffled, instead of his measured strides he walked so quickly his feet hardly had time to touch the ground before leaving it once again. 

He reached me, and a flush of subconsciousness ran across my entire being. Here he was standing before me as effortlessly perfect as always without even trying while I looked like I had been run over. My hair was in its easy-to-go-messy bun, worn-out clothes sticky with sweat and tears and I'd lost weight recently too.

I thought he'd be disgusted, couldn't even blame him if he was. 

Instead, he pulled aside a fallen strand of hair from the side of my face, his eyes burning with pure fury. 

"Did that b*stard do this to you?"

I chuckled derisively even though there was nothing funny to be chuckling about, or maybe I was wrong about that just like how I was wrong about many other things. 

There was a big joke that deserved to be laughed at. 

ME 

I pushed everyone away to be with a man who was twice my age, thinking he was mature and would love me in a way a new guy around my own age could, I assumed that he was loving and mature. 

But once he knew that he had captured me, that my whole world now revolved around him and nobody else he probably got bored.

That's why he's been creating this gap between us, a line that couldn't be crossed. 

That was why he didn't mind his mother humiliating me. 

Why would he? I was mainly a remnant of a past he was probably dying to forget all about. 

And now with nobody to call, the only person I could lean on was my Stepson.

Hayden Winter.

I kept laughing until it turned into heated he has again, he embraced me, his huge arms enveloping me into his warmth and musky cologne. He let me cry until I was tired and red-eyed. Then it took me to his car and drove to his Villa on the outskirts of the city.

He pressured me into taking a bath, saying I'd feel better afterwards. I resisted for a bit, then stepped under the shower of his spare bedroom, letting the rushing water take care of the grime, sweat, and tears. 

I stepped out, admittingly feeling physically lighter with a towel wrapped up to my chest. My relief quickly came to an abrupt pause when I remembered that I had no clothes to wear, I was thinking about that when a knock came on the door, followed by Hayden's voice. 

"Hey, Michelle, are you out of the shower yet, I have something for you," 

My heart was beating so fast I was sure it was ready to explode inside my chest, it was one thing to call him in the heat of the moment and now that I had cooled down I was beginning to have second thoughts. Maybe this was a bad idea? 

Hayden and Elliot never saw eye to eye, he was also one of the biggest opponents against our marriage. 

I don't even know what possessed me to call him, perhaps it was the desperation rather than despair that made me dial his number but now that I had come to down I was beginning to rethink my decision.

"Come in..."

No matter what he helped me out when there was no one else to turn to so I should at least give him the benefit of the doubt for now. 

He came in, his eyes finding me in an instant and a smile warming up his face. He had a large black shirt draped across his arm.

"Here, this is one of my smaller shirts,"

Hayden's pov 

Calm down. Calm down...

She's here.

She's here in my Villa. 

Is this a dream? If so I'd like to sleep for a little more. I sizzle coming from the frypan was merely background noise compared to the chaos in my head. 

There was a blend of emotions battling for dominance in my mind; anger, excitement, worry, curiosity, and more. Some of them were directed at her and the rest at my sperm donor. 

He never even deserved someone like her.

Then he dared to go around sleeping.

I was at war with myself every day, resisting the urge to just grab my car keys and drive over to take her from right under his nose. His affairs were more or less like an open secret, and Golden Cove was his usual spot for his disgusting extramarital affairs.

I thought she already knew about it, and just nipped it in the corner of her mind without thinking about it 

I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to gaslight her into thinking it was her fault he was cheating and to accept it.

"Hayden?" A tingle ran down my back hearing my name from her plump lips, her voice ever calming like light ocean waves.

I mentally cemented myself to be unmoved when I turned around and almost immediately failed. I'd given her one of my smaller shirts that stopped fitting right after I hit the gym. It inhaled her inside, stopping at her hips. I'd also given her some briefs I'd ordered online that ended up arriving in the wrong smaller size.

I was pissed off back then but now I'm almost grateful for their callous mistake.

I thought the day she'd wear my shirt would remain in my shirt would only remain in my dreams... no, Hayden, bad Hayden! Not now... that's not what she needs right now.

"Take a seat,"  I said gesturing to the bar stool placed in front of the kitchen Island.

It was physically painful to watch her move, each motion was unbearably slow and while they were brief, she'd pause as well. I'm sure she wasn't even aware that she was doing it, my body had probably grown accustomed to that after all the stress Elliot put it through.

If I didn't need to be here right now I would have driven back to Golden Cove and done something that would have landed me in a mugshot tomorrow.

"Is there something on my face?" The question shot at me unexpectedly, my face warmed up and I snapped my attention back to the noodles I was cooking.

"No, why would there be?"

Should I tell her that she's lost weight? No, maybe that would be body shaming... What if I just casually say it? 

I ended up saying nothing, I served her a helping of the stir-fry instant ramen with vegetables and sunny side egg and she gawked at me like I just found the final clue to solving world hunger.

"This is too much..." She said her tone wrapped in embarrassment, "I don't deserve all this..."

I never knew that I could feel such an intense mixture of rage and sadness at the same time.

She deserved the world and yet looks like she was about to break down over instant ramen. 

So much hard to changed about her since the first time I met her. 

Too much.

I can't forget the way her eyes sparkled like they had stolen the stars and hidden them behind those hazel orbs. Back then she was plump and skipped about with reckless abandon.

From the moment I saw her, I knew she didn't belong with a scheming wretch like Elliot.

Elliot had invited me to join them for dinner at his home, normally it was hard for me to ingest food knowing that his face was going to be at the other side of the table. But we had some business to discuss that day, and he hadn't stopped talking about his new catch for weeks. 

It made my stomach twist just thinking about it. 

There are very few things in this world that are more discomforting than knowing your father's 'girlfriend' was around the same age as you, pure, undiluted revulsion would mix up in my stomach just watching him mess around with them. 

That night, she was the one who answered the doorbell. 

I was doom scrolling through my phone, when her voice thrown up an octave entered my ears.

It remains the most musical thing I have heard to date.

"Hayden, right?"

I couldn't speak for 10 solid seconds when I saw her, time slowed down and my phone nearly slipped from my fingers. 

Then everything was bleak and dark again when my father showed up from behind, gingerly wrapping his hand like a snake across her waist. I watched it as my gaze sent invisible lasers at his spiteful touch.

"Welcome, Son," he said in that grating voice of his, squeezing her even tighter. My knuckles formed as I subconsciously knew what he was doing, he was drawing a line while showcasing a fresh catch. 

I never had any problem with getting women, in fact the way the ones falling out of my feet even when I lacked interest. 

Despite being partially aware of that, Elliot had this one-sided competition going on for years. Showing me that at his big age, he was able to get girls around mine, he was so proud of himself that I'd shifted between pity and disgust just looking at him.

But that's night I experienced something with Michelle, it was utterly different from the revulsion I was used to, no it was the complete opposite. 

I was on edge for the entire dinner, and when I went to my apartment that I lived in at the time I tried to push her away from my mind and also the anger that came from thinking about her in my father's arms.

Michelle's Pov

Hayden, my stepson, was perfectly still for far too long. He must be really upset that after going through all the trouble of making me this meal the only thing I could do was refuse to reciprocate his efforts, the words were already out the only thing I could do now was apologize and hope he accepted it and let me eat. 

"I'm sorry, Hayden...I didn't–"

"Just eat," 

I think he's annoyed with me, but at least he's letting me eat. 

I forgot all shame for a second and started wolfing down the food. 

His eyes were burning down the side of my face but my mouth was moving and I didn't want to stop nor did my chopsticks which he had laid beside the plate of food. All the flavors exploded in my mouth sending the right signals to my brain, it's tasted so good that I moaned with relish. 

"Hmg" Hayden grunted, suddenly turning around while taking deep breaths. I flushed, he must have figured out how hungry I was.

The truth was, for the past several weeks, Beatrice had taken it upon herself to harshly police every single thing I ate, scrutinizing my diet with relentless criticism.

"This is exactly why you're fat like a pig and can't get pregnant, it's because of all this nonsense that you're inhaling into your body. I won't look away anymore," she had always complained that I ate too much and I could be more slim, more slender. I always knew I was on the chubbier side, it was an insecurity that I had battled and temporarily won in the past. That was until my mother-in-law showed up and started planting those uprooted insecurities again.

Before she wouldn't dare say such words to me, at least not without heavily sugar coating it. 

Back then when Elliot still cared about me he would immediately shut his mother down no matter how sugar-coated her words were. He wouldn't tolerate any disrespect towards me. 

Now..

I had tried to push those awful thoughts away, and while I was eating and quenching my hunger for the first time in weeks I was able to distract myself but as soon as the plate was empty my eyes were filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to Hayden.

"Don't apologize," he said taking the plates away and taking care of them in the sink.

"Why did you come?" I asked, so many things confused me right now, and at the forefront of them was his sudden hospitality. From what I knew, he didn't like me one bit. In fact, the first night we met he was just staring at me like they snuck me into the planet, and when he was not staring he was shooting daggers with his eyes.

I could already guess what he was thinking. 

There was a strong chance he assumed I was nothing more than a shallow gold digger, clinging to his father's wealth and status, and that my presence in their lives had little to do with love and everything to do with money.

But the truth back then was that I loved Elliot.

And that's exactly why his betrayal cuts so deep.

While I still stayed under my father's roof working multiple jobs, there was something that kept me going even before I met Elliot. 

My dream of go to college. 

My major would be in Engineering.

I was a straight-A student, already scouting around for scholarships. 

Then I fell in love and that dream went down the pipeline.

Now I regret it deeply. 

"Your father...has another woman," I said quietly, I don't know why I confessed something so humiliating to him maybe because it was burning me from inside and I needed a way to let it out before I exploded so I just told him. 

Hayden kept washing the dishes without pause and replied; "I already knew,"

His reply struck me with the force of a slap, sharp and stinging. Heart pounding, I pushed myself off the barstool and deliberately approached him, each step heavier than the last.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" The question shot out like an accusation, ".. if I knew..."

"If you knew... What would you have done?" He faced me after putting the dishes aside. 

"You have already been tolerating so much from Elliot I assumed that this was just another thing you had to learn to put up with as well,"

Shame overwhelmed me then came this undescribable urge to defend that man.

"I haven't spoken to him yet, I left before he could say anything... Maybe this was just a one-time thing and–"

"See? This is exactly what I meant..." 

He leaned in closer and before I knew it my back was pressed against the counter and he hovered over me like it was a dark tower.

"He's not even said anything yet, and here you're building up a case in your mind to defend him. Gosh, I'm really trying to help you, but if I'm being honest you're not making it easy,"

He placed his hands at my sides, effectively trapping me between his rippling muscles as he leaned closer enough that his musk swam unfiltered into my nostrils and his heated breath brushed at my neck. 

Goosebumps ran across my whole body as I rubbed my thighs together.

"Step back, please  .." I was supposed to yell but instead it came out as a whisper, my breathing became uneven. 

He was about to do just that, then I remembered Elliot and Natasha laughing and giggling together, disregarding my feelings...the sadness gave way to the anger.

I had to get back at him.

No matter what other way I felt, I'd show him that it took two to tango.

I grabbed Hayden by the collar of his shirt, pulling him down. I stopped when our lips were a millimetre apart, heated breaths intermingling. His eyes flashed with a look I didn't recognize, I got cold feet and was ready to pull away when he grabbed me by my waist, lifting me for his lips to embrace mine.