Married To My Bully by Sakshi C (comprehension books txt) 📕

  - Crystal Knight

I was standing in front of Mrs. Knight's door. It would be safe to say that my curiosity had dragged me here. Alex was an enigma wrapped in so many mysteries and I aimed to unravel them layer by layer. And who could tell me about his past better than his own mother. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my crazily beating heart. 

Mr. Knight opened the door as I raised my hand to knock. My brows furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Crystal, " he beamed at me. His brown eyes twinkled with mirth when he saw me. There was no way a warm person like him could do something so horrible with his own child. I smiled back at him.

"Come on in, child?" he sidestepped to let me in. His eyes wandered past my shoulder. 

"Thank you, Mr. Knight"

"You didn't bring my son along," he asked me. 

"He went to his office," I answered 

"Right. How can I forget my son is a workaholic. Anyway, Debbie is home. Make yourself comfortable. I have to go out," he explained with his ever charming smile. I nodded smilingly. 

"Debbie, Crystal is here," he shouted and shot me an infectious smile afterward before stepping out the door.

It was plain to see that Mr. Knight was a good-natured man. So did it mean I had been making wrong assumptions? If not him, then who was responsible for the scars on his back. Do they know about those scars? I had so many questions buzzing through my head that I thought my brain would burst out.

"Crystal. How are you child," My eyes snapped at the smiling Debbie. I rose to my feet and hugged her.   

"I am good, Mom. How are you?" I enquired back

"Never been better. How was your honeymoon?. I hope my son wasn't too much of an ass with you," she asked me. My eyes widened at her choice of words. She laughed at my reaction and joined her too a second later. Even her mother knew that he was an ass. 

"No. That was fun. Thank you very much for doing that for us. I really enjoyed," I half lied. It wasn't a terrible trip barring Alex's mood swings. 

One thing let to another. Our conversation kept drifting from one topic to another. I couldn't figure how to broach the subject so I waited fo the right opportunity.

"I know my son is a tough nut to crack. Impossible sometimes. But I believe in you, Crystal. There is something about you that tells me that you are just the one he needs," she confided in me. Her glassy eyes refected her trust in me. I forced a smile out when I was shaking from inside.

"What happened with him?" I grabbed the opportunity to know more about him before it slipped through my hand. 

"He told you?" she asked in disbelief. I swallowed a lump and turned my gaze onto the floor.  

"No, I saw his medicines," I replied truthfully. I spied a glance at her to gauge her reaction. She was nodding her head in understanding. 

"I thought so. He has never discussed his....his problems with anyone. My son is fighting depression for years now," a tear rolled down her cheek. My heart sank at the revelation.

"Did something happen?" I asked hesitantly, fearing that she would get offended by my prying question. 

Agony swept over her features. Just one question had her demeanour changed from joyful to pained. I wondered what had happened. More tears showered down her grey eyes. 

"Alex has suffered a lot, Crystal. He has seen horrible things that boys his age shouldn't have seen," her voice broke as she couldn't contain her sob. Her every word fel tlike a wrecking ball smashing my heart over and over again. I wanted to know the truth behind his cold behaviour but at the same time I didn't want to. Tears flooded my eyes.

She sat herself upright and gulped a knot down as if preparing herself to say something hard. She had both of her hands clasped together, resting on her lap.  

'He...his father killed himself right in front of his eyes," I was stunned. Completey frozen. How's that even possible. I just met his father, Mr. Benkamin Knight. How could Debbie say something like this? 

"But..how's that.." words failed me. 

"Benjamin is not his real father. Fred was. Alex and Fred were in the same room when he shot himself right before his eyes. Alex was the last person he talked to. Nobody knows what he told him. But my son has never been the same after that. Whatever he said, still has an impact on my poor child," She had become a sobbing mess by then.

She told me that Fred was a drug addict and he used to beat Alex a lot. He hated his own child for some reason. 

"I thought he would get over it. But I realized how wrong I was when One day I saw him lying on the cold floor of our bathroom. Blood that dripped from his hand had pooled around him. He had slit his wrist. My boy was trying to kill himself. He would have died, had I..." she managed through her heart-wrenching weeps.

My breath got stuck in my throat. A foreign ache spread all over my soul. I felt as if someone had squeezed my heart painfully. Tears flooded down my cheek. The thought of him doing something like that was utterly mind-numbing. He had suffered so much alone. If only I could be there with him to hold him. I would have shared all his pain along with my life.     

"Ben and I took him to a psychologist who told us that he was suffering from severe depression," she said in her shaky voice.   

"I met Ben after Fred passed away. Alex needed a father and I needed a companion, so we got married. Even though Ben is not  Alex's biological father, Alex loves him like his own and so does Ben," a small smile floated on her lips.