Mr. President: You Are The Daddy Of My Triplets - Chapter 382

Chapter 382: 382- Iron Embrace

As Marissa stepped inside her home, she felt her shoulders heavy with exhaustion. She could sense Rafael following her inside. However, she stopped in her tracks when she found Sophie and Joseph sitting on the couch. Their faces were tight with concern.

“I called them here,” Rafael’s voice murmured close to her ear, “I figured we might need some extra support,” he hesitated for a moment before adding softly, “I hope that’s ok with you.”

Marissa was so tired that she couldn’t even snub Rafael for disturbing their friends repeatedly. Instead, she just sighed and leaned back, muttering, “You better have a good reason for this.”

Deep down, she already felt guilty for dragging them into her mess.

Like, come on! The couple deserved some peace.

“Mar!” Sophie exclaimed, rising quickly, “We’ve been waiting. How did it go with the doctor?”

Marissa set her bag down on the entryway table and glanced back at Rafael who was hanging up his coat.

“Doctor?” she hesitated, her eyes darted to Abigail who had joined her siblings on the rug, helping Georgie in solving the puzzle, “it went… fine.”

“It was good, Soph!” Rafael finished it for her and then went ahead to remove the toy train from the floor that was Ariel’s favorite.

Sophie and Joseph kept looking at them. They must have felt that the parents were unusually quiet.

“What’s the matter?” Sophie asked them worriedly. She knew Marissa enough to notice the tension on her pale face. She didn’t look good.

“Nothing!” Rafael’s tone was neutral, but his gaze flicked towards Marissa, “Except Marissa wanted to postpone the surgery.”

“Marissa wanted to do what?” Sophie seemed shocked. Furrowing her brows, she turned to Marissa, “You wanted to postpone it? Why?”

Marissa stiffened a little, her hands gripping the back of the nearby chair, “I… I don’t know, Sophie,” she muttered avoiding Sophie’s gaze.

“Marissa… love… this is about…” Sophie started, but Marissa held up her hand, cutting her off.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said sharply. Before Sophie could think of any other word, Marissa turned and walked out of the room without giving any of them a chance to speak. They all heard her steps echoing down the hallway.

Sophie shot a quick glance in the kids’ way and took a sigh of relief when found them busy with each other.

Joseph who had been quiet, picked a dinky car from the floor, turning it over absently in his hands, “Well! That was unexpected.”

Sophie stood there in stunned silence, trying to understand the direction of Marissa’s anger. After a moment she shook her head, “I’ll handle her,” she muttered to herself.

Brushing past Rafael, she went after Marissa. This was not the time to stay back but to be with her friend who was going through some serious shit in her life.

After Sophie left, Joseph sat back on the couch and gestured for Rafael to take a seat, “Don’t worry. I think your wife doesn’t need a husband. She needs a friend right now. Let Sophie handle it.”

But Rafael couldn’t sit. His little princess was due for surgery. Nobody knew what the next day would bring to them.

The girl who used to call him daddy, trusted him blindly. And he was about to hand her over to a few people who were total strangers to her.

“Daddy. Are you worried about me?” Rafael snapped back to reality when he heard Abi’s soft voice who was studying his face intently.

The rest of the kids had also started watching him.

“I’m good, princess! I’m good!”

He wished he could fight his fate. He wished he could fight his kids’ fate.

He wished…

***

“Mar?” Marissa slowly turned around to face Sophie who had followed her to the balcony of the first floor of their house.

“I’m scared!” Marissa hiccupped, “I’m scared, Soph…” She closed the distance between them and hugged her friend tight.

“Marissa! Hey!” Sophie’s arms were at once around her, “You are such a brave soul, sweetheart. You have known about her condition since her birth. And now when life is offering her a chance to live her life then you’re thinking of postponing it? No, Marissa. Don’t do this to your kid. Don’t do this to yourself, love.”

Sophie was gently patting her head, and Marissa was shaking in her arms while crying. Sometimes Sophie thought Marissa had been going through so much in life, it was a miracle that she was alive.

Squeezing her eyes, she pushed Marissa a little, “Marissa. Look at me. This is the time to be brave.”

She tried explaining to her friend who didn’t want to stop crying.

“Marissa!” Sophie didn’t know what else to do when she saw her hiding her face behind her palms.

“My brave wife wants to cry?” Marissa’s body went still when she heard a voice that didn’t belong to her friend. She moved away her hands and found Rafael standing there with an alien expression on his face.

Her friend. Her husband. Her Rafael.

He was also in agony. This time they shared the same pain.

Sophie’s eyes darted between them until she realized that they both needed each other right now. She slowly stepped back and then turned to leave.

The kids needed someone to tuck them to bed. And their parents needed privacy to sort out their emotions.

***

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were in pain, and you wanted to cry?” Rafael asked her gently and before she could answer him, her tears started to flow uncontrollably.

“I … I didn’t… want to hurt you more… you… you just came back into our lives and then…” she was sobbing nonstop, “And then you remembered everything about your childhood… and here you’re convincing yourself to let your daughter have that surgery… Oh, Rafael…” This time she didn’t hold back in his presence and let herself cry.

“You know something?” he asked her in a teary voice, “You are a fool!”

Marissa was so engrossed in crying that she didn’t realize when two strong arms pulled her into an iron embrace.