Devoted Love, Mr. Hayes’ Darling Wife

Arriving at her home in London, Malia prepared a nice dinner and a good meal awaiting Micaela’s return.

When I opened the door, I saw not only Micaela standing outside, but also Nico, who was calling her grandmother with a pleasant face.

Malia was not surprised that Nico showed up, unexpectedly but logically, after Micaela had more or less told her over the phone these past few days what had happened to them in Switzerland.

Malia greeted them with a smile, “Nico is here too, come in, it’s cold outside and I just prepared a hot meal.”

When he entered the house, Nico was not shy and complimented Malia’s cooking at the table, making Malia laugh and smile.

After the meal, Micaela got up to help Malia pick up the dishes when Nico immediately took them out of her hands and said, “You go watch TV, I’ll help Grandma pick up.”

“I don’t watch TV.”

“Don’t you love to read, so go read a book and don’t stand here making a mess.” Nico pushed her toward the couch.

Nico cleans the dishes and breaks two of them.

Who is really making a mess?

Nico said with a handsome face, “What’s so funny? It’s such a simple job that you’ll get better at it after a few times.”

Micaela has a book in her hand, she looks at it casually but smiles.

While picking up the broken pieces of the bowl on the floor, Nico’s indefatigable finger got a cut and blood gushed out.

Micaela pulled the first aid kit closer and sat on the edge of the couch to bandage it, teasing him, “You’re a helper, aren’t you? You can stab yourself in the finger for putting away the dishes.”

“And you laugh, can’t you see your man is bleeding.”

Micaela finished applying the medicine and tied a white gauze around his finger with a little force, and immediately Nico frowned and shouted, “It hurts.”

After being so badly hurt in the avalanche, I didn’t see him screaming in pain at the hospital, but now he is screaming in pain after cutting his finger.

“Nico you could have faked it a little more.”

“…”

…

Early the next morning a thin layer of snow fell outside on the eaves and lawn.

There is only a blanket piled on the living room couch.

Nico is nowhere to be seen.

Last night, Nico slept on the couch as there are only four bedrooms in the house, one for Malia, one for Hud, one for Micaela and one for Micaela’s studio where she works.

Micaela is divorced from Nico, so it is impossible to sleep in the same bed.

Nico did as he was told and arranged for her to sleep on the couch, so she slept on the couch overnight.

Malia is preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

Micaela asked, “Grandma, where did Nico go?”.

“Nico got up early in the morning and said let’s go for a walk around the neighborhood to see the trajectory of your life in England over the past three years.”

Micaela was slightly stunned and, if Malia hadn’t reminded her, she would have forgotten that it was her third year in England.

After two years separated from Nico and back in the country, she is now about to celebrate another New Year.

This year, her tenth year with Nico, will soon be over.

Ten years, if there were no comparison, the mere mention of ten years would only make one feel incredibly long.

Not even Micaela imagined that she could be entangled with Nico for an entire decade, occupying her entire youth and young adulthood.

From the moment she met him in the courtyard of La familia Matamoros, when she was eighteen, Nico’s name became a lifelong destiny she could never escape or detach herself from.

Malia said from the kitchen, “Micaela nah, go get Nico outside, I’ll have breakfast ready soon, it will be cold and it won’t be good if he doesn’t come back.”

“Okay.”

Micaela, wearing a down jacket and scarf, headed outside the house as she called Nico.

When the call came, Nico said, “I’m on this side of the steam train, come pick me up.”

“You come back, Grandma’s breakfast is ready.”

Nico is stubborn and willful, but no: “I don’t know the area, aren’t you afraid I’ll get lost?”.

“… You’re three years old and you still get lost? That’s great, wait then, it might take a while to get there”.

Nico had been waiting for quite a while when Micaela made her way to the steam train platform and, a little impatiently, took him by the hand and walked into the platform. “Why are you so slow?”

“Why are you leaving?”

“Come with me on a steam train.”

Micaela laughed, “Nico, you’re really only three, aren’t you, how old are you to be riding a steam train for fun?”

Nico went to the convenience store at the station entrance, bought a sandwich and a cup of hot milk and put it in Micaela’s hand, “I’m afraid you’re hungry, have something to spoil your stomach.”

Micaela has always been in the habit of eating breakfast because of her usual routine, unlike Nico, who rarely eats breakfast.

After waiting about ten minutes for Micaela to finish her sandwich and milk, the old steam train moaned and groaned as it slowly passed along the distant tracks, blowing warm white air on a cold winter day.

This old English steam train follows the elevated tracks around the hills, offering many views.

Micaela has sat alone before.

As the train pulled into the station, Nico pulled Micaela aboard.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

She bought a window seat and sat next to Micaela.

As the steam train moved forward, the surrounding landscape gradually changed, with rivers, mountains and snow, barren and beautiful.

Nico looked out the window and looked down and said nonchalantly, “I just want to see the trajectory of your life, again. The three years you’ve been away from me, I want to know if you’ve had a good time or not.”

Micaela smiled slightly, turned her eyes to look out the train window as well, remembered something, and asked, “What makes you think I’m going to marry Dario?”

At the mention of Dario, Nico growled coldly, disgruntled, “This guy does it on purpose, doesn’t he, deliberately sending me wedding invitations, by logic, he must be marrying you to be so dejected and arrogant as to send me invitations to show off?”

“So, you didn’t even open the invitation?”

Nico pursed his lips and frowned, although he didn’t want to admit that he was so shy and scared, his face was a bit unnatural, but he still admitted it, “I thought you were really going to marry Lu, and you are the kind of person who can’t be persuaded by anyone when your mind is already made up, besides, how dare I come to you, how could I dare hope that you would regret your marriage for me? I think perhaps it would be easier for you to be with Lu than with me. You’re already very tired, so instead of being stuck, I’d rather make it work for you.”

“Making me whole is going to Switzerland to climb a snowy mountain and doing something so dangerous, do you want to make me whole or don’t you want to live?”

Nico said, “Both. I can’t say I’m not desperate or lost. I can’t stop you from marrying someone else, but I can’t seem to stand you marrying someone else either.”

Micaela opened faintly, “Yes, what can you stand, you can’t stand anything, you can’t stand that I married someone else, that I love someone else. That’s all, and you say you want to make me whole and forget me, Nico, are you lying to me, or to yourself?”.

“Smoking, I quit, but to quit you, I automatically quit. You’ve lived in my heart for too long, rooted too deeply, attached to too many organs and blood vessels, and to truly uproot you, Micaela, would kill me. So between leaving you and dying, I’d rather die. Otherwise, as long as I’m alive and breathing, I can’t forget you, I want to see you, and I can’t worry about whether you want to see me again.”

Micaela was silent for a long while before she spoke, “Don’t do anything so dangerous in the future.”

“I won’t do anything that you won’t let me do in the future.”

Micaela turned her head to look up at him with a smile, “Will Nico ever be so obedient?”

The man looked at her with savannah eyes, took her hand and said in a deep voice, “Micaela, come back to The Holy City with me. Three years and I don’t want to wait another day.”