A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Alena "Mummy?" A voice called out to me and I immediately turned around to see my son, Marco. He was standing by the wall in his pyjamas, his right hand holding onto his teddy bear while the other was behind his back. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" I asked, making my way towards him.

It was exactly ten fifteen at night and I was cleaning the kitchen after putting my son to bed, thirty minutes ago.

Matteo was still at work when I called him earlier but pretty sure he was already driving home by now. He was never out until eleven ever since I had gotten pregnant with Marco, even if he had unfinished works at the office, he would bring them home and finish them up later.

After giving birth to Marco, he became overly-protective. Whenever it came to housework, he had hired someone to take care of them and if it was just us, he did the rest. At first, he didn't even let me go back to work because he was worried if I wasn't fully healed. I remembered him saying, 'Childbirth is hard on your body. You need to take the year off.

It was tempting and as much as I wanted to take the year off' like he said, it wasn't an easy or available option in the first place. I could use a few more months off but the year off was probably too exagerating.

It wasn't about the money. It was never about the money.

into my Truth be told, ever since I married Matteo, I had stopped using my own money. All of my salary were being put own savings and I had only used Matteo's money for my spendings; it didn't matter if I wanted to shop or pamper myself, he paid for everything. Every week, he made sure I sure I had received twenty-five thousand dollars from him. He wanted me to spend the money and if I ran out of it, he was going to transfer more but I never used more than ten percent of that money. The reason why? We went out shopping together. Basically, we went everywhere together and he ended up paying for card or used the money unless I was at work or at home. everything. I never touched my

Also, the reason why? Becaus

Because he

he wasn't around.

Well, when it came for online shoppings, he had inserted his card details. It was to make it easier for me to pay for anything I wanted; it was a blessing, honestly.

I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I never had to work for anything except for when I pursued into medical school and decided to stay alone in my own apartment-Papa still transferred money into my account until I told him not to. Pretty sure he was still making those transfers to a different bank account.

The last time I checked, the amount had shocked me.

Matteo just wanted me to stay at home for a little longer because he wanted me to get as much rest as I could-even though I knew I had enough. I enjoyed working and I loved helping people, it never occurred to me as troublesome.

"Sweetheart?" I was on my knees as I looked into Marco's eyes. "Baby?"

They were slightly teary and red. I couldn't overlook the pout either.

had a nightmare, mummy."

"You want mummy to stay in bed with you?"

Marco nodded, wiping his-eyes.

Just like that, I had held onto his hand and we walked back into his bedroom. My precious Marco had turned five last month and I swore, it felt as if he grew super fast. I still remembered the day I gave birth to him, hugging and kissing him for the first time-it all felt like yesterday. Those beautiful moments were something I could never get back even though if I could, I anted to.

The first time experiencing a different kind of pain and knowing it was all worth it.

T

I remembered waking up and seeing Matteo holding onto Marco as he sang him a lullaby. It was my first time seeing him holding onto a newborn baby; it felt even more s special because it was our baby. He had shown the greatest love and I knew I had chosen the right

one.

The right husband for myself. The right father for my son.

son.

My little Marco was everyone's angel. Everyone loved him.

Somehow, his birth had made my family closer with Matteo. They came to visit often, bringing different toys for Marco. I had told them not to spoil him but they didn't care. They wanted to spoil him anyway and Marco ended up getting new collection of toys. As I laid beside Marco in bed, I had already tucked him in and made sure he was snuggling closely with his teddy bear. He could never go to sleep without his bear and of course, a little bit of my singing. He loved his lullaby.

"Mummy's here with you. You can go to sleep now," I whispered before kissing his forehead.

Marco snuggled closer towards me with Mr. Bear in the middle. I watched as my son tried to close his eyes, wanting to fall back asleep. He was the perfect resemblance of Matteo; the same pair of light brown eyes, the thick and long eyelashes, the same nose. They even had the same hair. Well, Marco only had my lips.

It didn't matter because my husband was perfect and so was my son.

H

I always wanted him to look like Matteo because I knew, he was going to grow up beautiful. Just like his daddy.

I rubbed Marco's back as I slowly hummed his lullaby, soothing him.

Mummy es,

"What

t do you think of dinosaurs?"

"Oh, dinosaurs? I think they're big."

Marco chuckled, "They are big. Do you like them?"

I pretended to think, "Mm, I'm actually scared if they might step on me."

"That wouldn't happen, mummy."

"Why is that?"

Marco had been staring at me as he smiled, those perfect brown eyes piercing into my dark green eyes. "I won't let them hurt you,

""You won't?"

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"I'll protect you, mummy. I promise."

I smiled, snuggling closer to Marco. Tears were beginning to appear in my eyes but I tried my best not to cry, even though I knew they were tears of joy-I never wanted to cry in front of Marco, he didn't have to wonder about them. "Really? You would protect me?"

He nodded, "Just like how daddy protects

you."

his eyes, enjoying his lullaby. Slowly, he had fallen asleep and I couldn't stop I leaned in to kiss his cheeks as he closed staring at my beautiful son; sometimes, it was hard to believe he belonged to me. He was mine. He was forever mine. I hadn't realised falling asleep beside him with my hand wrapped around his body until Matteo came in, slowly waking me up by playing with my hair.

"Mm, you're home." I muttered, carefully sitting up because I was afraid to wake Marco up.

Matteo nodded, smiling at me before turning to look at his son.

Then, he got the same look in his eyes. Whenever he looked at us, he just stared at us in awe but whenever I asked him, he said it was nothing. I knew he loved us with all of his heart. I could tell by the sacrifices he made for us.

For the sake of Marco's safety. Matteo had left the mafia. Luca was in charge of everything now but whenever he needed Matteo's help, he came to visit us. However, Matteo had stopped taking risks or putting himself in danger because he said, he wanted to live a long and sure me us-he wanted Marco to grow up

So, nowadays, Matteo was only busy with his company.

It had been years since I saw cuts on his knuckles.

"He's asleep," Matteo said before kissing his forehead.

fell asleep with him."

"Yeah. I fell Teal

Matteo took my hand before kissing the back of it, "Come on."

with a father.

We walked hand in hand out of the room, slowly closing the door behind us. Marco was sound asleep and we didn't want our voices to wake him up-he needed a good rest.

Once we were in our room, Matteo had kissed me softly on the lips.

missed you."

"I missed you, too. How was your day?"

"It

I was fine. Better now that I'm with you."

Matteo had wrapped his arms around my body as he pulled me into a hug, not leaving any space. We stayed in the same position for the next fifteen minutes until he pulled away and we were staring at each other, "Alena."

"Mm?" I raised an eyebrow, slowly playing with the tips of his hair.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"No, I really, really, love you."

"Okay, I know you do." I chuckled, smiling as he kissed my neck

"Thank you for everything, Alena. Tha

you for giving me the perfect life."

My head was probably messing with me because everything became a blur and the images began to disappear. I was not longer in Matteo's arms. I was still stuck and tied against the metal chair as I stared at the empty wall. Tears began to fall down my cheeks as I realised, it was all my imagination. The longer I stayed here, the more I was

my mind.

My

reality was painful and I didn't want to accept it. I was alone, shivering and hurt when I was supposed to be with Matteo.

from my husband. Marco never made it. He died before I gave birth to him and I had ran away

This all began because of my own mistake. If it weren't for me, I was at home.

My heart clenched and I cried harder at the pain, hating every second I was trapped here. I had lost track of time as well, not knowing what day it was either.

I held tightly onto hope. Hoping for Matteo to come and save me.

At least, save what was left of me.