[BL] A Marriage Ruled by Family, Saved by Desire-Chapter 72: Love Isn’t Supposed to Hurt Like This
~Alistair’s POV~
Alex didn’t let me finish. He surged off the bed and dropped to his knees on the floor beside me. I sat up, startled, watching him look up at me from the ground. "On behalf of my mother and myself, I apologize," he said, his voice thick with desperation. "Please, Alis... don’t think of leaving me. My mother may not love you, but I love you. I love you so much."
I moved to the edge of the bed and reached down, pulling him closer. Alex wrapped his arms around my waist, burying his face in my lap as he kept apologizing.
"I know you love me, Alex," I whispered, stroking his hair. "But this is getting to be too much. I’m in so much pain."
"Baby, I promise I will protect you," Alex vowed, looking up at me with raw determination. "I will be a better husband. I won’t let her hurt you ever again."
I pulled him into a tight hug, my tears falling into his hair. Alex had never hurt me, he was my safe place, my peace.
But even as I held him, a quiet fear lingered.
How do you make a mother-in-law who openly hates you feel even a drop of love?
And more importantly...
Can I really survive her?
The rest of the day felt like a blur, filled with Alex’s quiet desperation. He stayed close to me the whole time, like a shadow that wouldn’t leave. If I walked into the bathroom, he followed right behind me. If I reached for a glass of water, he was already handing it to me.
It was like he was scared that the moment he looked away... I would disappear.
I kept trying to reassure him that I wasn’t going anywhere, but the pain in my chest wouldn’t ease. It sat there, heavy and real, no matter how much I tried to ignore it.
I felt so alone.
I couldn’t turn to my friends; I was terrified they’d give me the wrong advice, telling me to walk away from the man I loved more than life itself.
I just needed someone who would understand me.
So the next morning, I told Alex I wanted to visit my mother.
His face fell instantly, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes. "Baby, please... stay here," he pleaded.
"I need a few days, Alex," I said softly, reaching out to stroke his cheek. "I just want to clear my head. I’ll be back on Monday, I promise."
He didn’t like it.
I could see it in his eyes.
But in the end, he agreed to take me.
The drive was quiet. He didn’t say much, his hands tight on the steering wheel, like he was holding himself together.
When we got there, he didn’t even step out of the car. He just stayed there, as if moving would make everything real.
Before I stepped out, he pulled me in and kissed me. We held each other for a moment, and I felt him breathe me in slowly, like he was trying to hold onto me. He stayed like that for a while... before finally letting me go.
I stepped out slowly.
For a second, I didn’t want him to leave. I almost told him to stay... but I didn’t.
I stood there and watched the car drive away, a strange mix of relief and guilt settling deep in my chest.
The moment I stepped inside the house and my mother saw me, and her expression changed.
It wasn’t just a surprise.
It was a worry.
The housekeeper took my bag from me and carried it inside, but my mother didn’t take her eyes off me. It was like she already knew something wasn’t right.
"Alis...?" she called, looking at me closely. "Is everything okay?"
I could tell what she was thinking... maybe Alex had sent me back again.
"I’m fine, Mom," I said quickly. "I just came to see you."
She didn’t look convinced.
But she didn’t push.
Instead, she nodded slowly. "Go inside and freshen up first."
By evening, as the sun began to set, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
I went to my mother’s room and knocked softly.
"Come in," she said.
The moment I stepped inside, she looked at my face and paused.
"Are you ready to talk?" she asked gently.
I nodded.
She patted the space beside her on the bed. "Come, sit."
I walked over and sat down... and that was it.
I broke.
Everything I had been holding in came out.
I told her about the bitterness in Alex’s mother’s voice... the way she looked at me, the way she called me a mistake... the way she tried to erase seven years of our lives with just a few cruel words.
And as I spoke, I realized just how much it had hurt me.
My mother listened in silence, her expression hardening with every word. When I finished, she took my hands in hers. "Alistair," she said, her voice grave. "If this continues, that woman will destroy you. She doesn’t just dislike you; she hates the very fact that you exist in her son’s heart."
"But I love him, Mom," I murmured, the tears starting again.
"I know you do," she said softly. "But love shouldn’t feel like a war."
She shook her head slightly, her grip tightening on my hands.
"Listen to me. If this were about a child, there are many ways to handle that. But this... this isn’t about a grandchild."
Her eyes hardened.
"It’s about control. She wants you gone so she can control her son’s life."
She looked at me carefully before continuing,
"She spoke to you like that because, even after everything, her son still chose you."
Her voice lowered, firm and certain.
"But this can’t continue."
She leaned in closer, her gaze unwavering. "As your mother, I cannot sit by and watch you be broken. You need to file for divorce."
The word felt like a physical blow. "Divorce? Mom, no..."
"Listen," she insisted, her voice turning firm, almost unshakable. "File the papers. If Alex truly wants to be with you, then he will fight for you in a way that forces his mother to give in finally."
Her eyes stayed locked on mine.
"If she sees that her son is willing to lose everything for you, maybe then she will accept you as his husband. But right now, Alis... you are a target."
Her voice softened slightly, but the decision in it didn’t.
"You’re not going back to that house. Tomorrow, we’re finding a lawyer."
"No, Mom!" I cried, my voice breaking. "That will destroy him."
I shook my head quickly, panic rising in my chest.
"I can’t do that to him... please. Let’s think of something else. Anything else?"
My mother’s composure broke. She stood up suddenly, her voice rising.
"What about you, Alistair?" she demanded. "Do you know how many times I’ve listened to your pain over the phone and still told you to stay? How many times you’ve come back here just to cry yourself to sleep?"
Her eyes burned with fierce protection as she looked at me.
"If I’m telling you to file for divorce now, it’s for one reason, there is no other way."
She shook her head slightly, her voice firm.
"Let Alex fight this. Let him deal with his mother. Only when she truly accepts you... Only then should he come back and ask for you properly."
I looked at her through a blur of hot, stinging tears. "What if he never comes back? What if she never accepts me?"
"Then you let go of him," she said, her voice dropping to a painful whisper. "With time... you’ll learn to live without him."
"No, Mom! How can you say that?" I stood up, shaking my head in disbelief.
"I can say it," she snapped, her voice rising, her eyes already glistening, "because I can’t sit here and watch you break anymore!"
Her chest rose and fell as she looked at me.
"Enough is enough, Alis."
I looked at her, my voice coming out almost like a whisper.
"I thought you loved Alex... I thought you said he’s your son too."
My mother’s expression softened.
"Yes," she said quietly. "You’re right."
She stepped closer to me.
"He is my son. I love him, and I always will."
Her voice grew firmer.
"But you... You are my child."
Her eyes held mine.
"And I love you more. I cannot stand by and watch his mother keep hurting you when I have never treated her son badly."
It felt like the ground beneath me was giving way.
All I wanted was peace... I wanted my husband... but my mother was asking me to walk away from the only life I had known.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I collapsed onto the floor, my hands covering my face as the tears came harder, uncontrollable.
The weight of everything pressed down on me, so heavy it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
"Don’t go back to that house," my mother added, her tone final. "We are finding a lawyer, and you are getting that divorce."
