Chapter 5 Bittersweet lies

After Liam had left the villa, Carmen pulled out a chair at the dining table and sat down. She low-spiritedly looked at her Eggo Waffle Sandwich and frowned at it. Liam rejecting her food made her feel like he had rejected her too, and with every stare she gave at the breakfast, Carmen could feel this piercing ache in her chest.

In frustration, she angrily stood up, grabbed the plate, and approached the trash bin. When Carmen opened the lid, she couldn't bring herself to toss the Eggo Waffle Sandwich into the bin. In her mind, if she did then just like food in a dumpster can not be eaten, she and Liam's marriage will not have a chance for love.

With such a thought on Carmen's mind, she withdrew from the trash bin, headed back to the table, and she angrily set the plate on the dining table. Carmen then sat down and sadly began to eat the Eggo Waffle Sandwich.

Two minutes into her breakfast, her phone began to buzz rudely. She recklessly dropped the fork out of her hands and picked up the phone. When her eyes caught a glance at the name, Carmen's pinkish lips curve into a cute smile.

"Hey, Ala." She said.

Carmen felt a bit happy that her best friend had called. Ala's friendship meant everything to her just like Liam's love did. Their friendship began in kindergarten after Ala's family moved a few blocks down their street and over the years, Carmen was able to treat Ala as her sister.

"Hi, bestie! How was your first night as a married woman?" Ala's voice echoed through the phone with excitement in her tone.

Carmen pauses for a while as her heart begins to ache again. She picked up the fork and began hitting it countless times in her Eggo Waffle Sandwich as a way to distract herself from tearing up again.

"It was fine." She mumbled.

As the lie rolled off her tongue, Carmen felt a warm liquid rolling from her eyes, and she knew she couldn't suppress her depressing emotion anymore. The fork trembles in Carmen's hands. Her grip became too weak to hold on to it and the fork dropped out of her hand and unto the table.

"Carmen, your voice and words are contradicting each other. What's going on?" Ala's concerned voice vibrated through Carmen's phone speaker.

Carmen bit her lip in fear and the old wound on her lip reopened as blood rushed out of it. From the very beginning, Carmen had told Ala every little thing about her life. She kept nothing from her best friend. But at that moment, Carmen felt like the truth was not something a wife should be giving the morning after her wedding.

"Everything is okay. Liam is gentle and sweet. I made breakfast for him, and he ate it before going to work. I am really happy." She calmly said with wet eyes.

After telling such a lie to her best friend, Carmen broke down and cried silently as her heart suffered in pain. All that she had said was something she dreamed about for her marriage life with Liam. Now it has become a lie she's telling to make her marital life seem like the dream she had craved since she began to date Liam.

"Okay, bestie. I have to go to class, but I love you." Ala replied, but Carmen could sense doubt in her words.

"I can't wait for you to graduate, so we can meet again. I love you too." Carmen said with sincerity before she cut off the call.

The moment the line got dropped, Carmen rested her head on the table and cried her heart out. She wanted more than this for Liam and her. Carmen wanted to feel his love so desperately. A love that Carmen thought she had but finally realized that she didn't ever own.

A few minutes into her emotional sobbing, her tears were interrupted by another call. Carmen raised her head, frustratingly grabbed her phone, and answered the call.

"Hello mom, " She said, striving her best to keep her voice stable.

"Are you crying, Carmen?" Mrs. Smith's calm yet annoyed voice flowed into Carmen's ear.

"No, mom. Why would you assume such a thing?" She mumbles.

"Because I am your mother, and I know when you are not okay! Where is Liam?"

"UMM, he's at work." Carmen worriedly said.

She knew she could fool everyone else, but her mother was not anyone in her life. She was the person who raised her for twenty-four years, and the bond they had was incredible. Carmen knew her mother wouldn't let this matter slide as Ala did.

"Why is he at work on the morning after his wedding? Does he want to make my daughter the laughingstock of the entire New Jersey? Was the disgrace he brought to our family at your wedding not enough?" Deborah screamed, and Carmen withdrew the phone away from her ear.

She did not reply after her mother's outrageous statement. Carmen felt like there was no need for her to explain herself since her mother would still find the crack in her words.

"I am coming over to keep you company since your husband won't!"

'Deborah Smith, can you please allow me to breathe and stop nagging about my love life!' Carmen screamed in her head out of rage.

Her mother's every word felt like a knife stabbing against her injured heart and all she wanted was to make her stop, but Carmen did not have the strength to say those words to her mother.

"Please don't come over, mom, " Carmen mumbled in frustration.

There was silence on the other side of the line, and she waited for her mother to say something.

"Fine, then come over and have brunch with me at our favorite restaurant."

Carmen gazes at her burnt finger and the bite marks on her skin. She also knew that the cut on her lips looked terrible by now.

"I am sorry, mother. I can't join you today." She softly stated.

"If you don't arrive at 'Butter café' within the next twenty minutes, I will take it as an invitation to come to your house."

Carmen sighs as a few more tears rush out of her eyes. She felt like screaming out loud and crying nonstop until her heart stopped aching.

"I will be there, " Carmen replied, then she cut off the call.