(January 28th, 2025)

One of the many reasons why people hated mornings was mostly because of the sun. They hated it when the rays of sunlight fell upon them, on their eyes and all over their faces making them scrunch their noses in irritation and whine about it at an ungodly hour.

I rolled to the other side of my bed and groaned as I felt his hard rock chest against my back and my bare legs tangled with his. His huge arm was draped around my small waist. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong for me to do that.

Ten Years and I still couldn't get used to him lying next to me in bed. Jeremy was barely home, his spent the first twelve hours of his day in the office, and once everything in his office was locked off, and he would work online at the café right across the street.

And he'd usually make it home by the time I was already up to get the snacks and kids ready for school.

It would be stupid of me not to suspect anything, I am. But I wasn't quite sure I wanted to question him about it. It didn't really bother me as much as it should have been.

Any moment, I could expect anything from him. The only difficult thing to do was explain to the kids why their father wouldn't put them to bed or why couldn't he make it to career's day at school?

Teachers often questioned me suspiciously about where my husband was and why he wasn't there when my kids were performing on stage or why wasn't he collecting their report cards. I had a hard time answering these kind of questions, but I didn't let them throw me off guard.

It was nothing a quick flip of my hair, a sharp smile couldn't fix and a 'He's kind of busy. Big business man and everything' followed by a wink.

I still remembered the day he asked me to marry him. It was the train wreck of the century.

We weren't really on speaking terms at that time and I was just walking around with Hana, it was just a few days after he left her and she was talking to me about it, we were at the park, right behind our medical university to which we all applied to together.

It was Jeremy's last year of high school, he and his class had applied to the same medical school and I followed after a year.

I could see him from the side trying to approach me; I just turn back away quickly and look back at Hana. She returned my smile and looked them. We walked in silence.

Jeremy suddenly appears in front of us and says, "Cassidy, I need to speak with you." He then looks at Hana and then back at me. "Privately."

I didn't like the way he said it, probably because it sounded more like a demand, rather than a request. "I'm sorry, but I do not want to speak with you."

I gently push him aside so that I can keep walking but he grabs my hand firmly and pulls me towards him. "Please listen to me." I don't say anything. I didn't want to say anything. "I like you."

Hana, who was still standing by the side, gasped loudly and I turned around quickly to look at her. She looked completely shocked and betrayed. I pull my hand away from Jeremy with as much force as I could muster up and run after her.

I could already feel the gaze of some of our classmates on us, but I try to ignore them and sit next to Hana on the bench by the street lamp at the side of the path walk.

"I can tell that you still like him. You feel the same way. You always did." Her voice is weak and croaky as if she swallowed something that scratched on the insides of throat, her eyes sunken.

"That doesn't change anything. Everything that he has done over all these years. You can't be serious?" I scoff. This is ridiculous. I don't understand why the thought would even cross her mind. Did she really believe that I would just jump back into his arms after all that he's done?

"That doesn't seem to stop your feelings for him." She argued back. It felt like she was accusing me of something. And I understand how she feels, after all; I was in her position just a couple of years back.

"Yes. But it does stop my actions towards him." I turn to the side to look at her and find her looking back at me, as If trying to figure whether I was just messing with her.

"You know; when I first met Jeremy I thought that he was the most idiotic person I'd ever come across with. And then, I started spending a little bit more time with him. I never liked him at the beginning. He was just someone I could kill time with. He made me feel, like I was a girl, for once. He made me feel like I was a freaking princess. It's like I had everything I wanted-" I start telling her, but she interrupts me.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asks.

"We both know he's just like cold coffee in the morning. You don't want to have it because it's cold now, but you want to because you like it or because it could benefit you for the rest of the day. He's just like that. He was that drug everyone warned us about in high school, the beautiful eyes and perfect smile. He was all that." I let out a loud sigh, holding my head up with my palms on the sides of my face.

"That doesn't make you love him any less." She says so quietly, it was barely even a whisper.

"It doesn't matter, Hana. He can't choose between women in his life, what do you think he will do later? He likes me. So what? He likes you too. And a dozen of other girls."

Back then I thought I would never have to deal with him again. I was so wrong. I shouldn't have been involved in so many levels.

I knew Jeremy wasn't the type of man that would settle, ever. No matter how much he thought that he loved someone or cared for them, he would still end up hurting them in one way or another.

How much heartache and drama could have been avoided if I could've just peacefully walked away from him the first time he broke my heart.

I loved Jeremy, I always did and I think I always will. He was the only person I let myself open up to no matter how unfortunate the situation gets. I could never think of a day where he didn't pass my mind.

It's like he had a home inside of me and he loved within me and tried to make things right which would completely explain my irrational behavior.

I can list millions of reasons why I love Jeremy and how I felt about him, but I could never explain it, the way it all came undone.

When I tried to explain that to Hana, I think I was explaining it to myself more than I was explaining it to her. I wanted to convince myself, that what I was doing was right. I was trying to be rational.

I met Jeremy through a friend, who tried to spank my best friend, Acacia, on her arse. Smooth.

He had the audacity to text me after the incident and tell me that it was my arse that was supposed to be spanked. I accused him of being creepy and shut my Facebook for a while. I've had enough of weird, creepy boys sending me weird, creepy messages.

Funniest thing, I couldn't remember how it all happened. How we've managed to find a way to be stuck with each other. I don't remember how I fell in love with him, I just did. I just know I shouldn't have.

But things change. They can change to the good and they can change to the bad. With Jeremy it was always good, at the beginning.

There was the cute talking and blushing, the bickering, arguing and fighting; practically eating each other's heads off. We would take rounds every morning in the school hallways. I miss that. I miss what we used to be.

It seemed like everything was a walk in a park.

They were the little things that I noticed were changing. He behaved differently. He would start checking other people out, including his other 'girly' friends.

I loved his smile, it reminded me of a small child that needed to be saved and held in my arms forever. But that heartwarming, almost innocent smile slowly turned into a smirk and everything changed.

I hear a groan from the side that snaps me back to the present and I turn to look at Jeremy lying beside me, I frown. When was the last time we actually spoke besides 'go make me some coffee'?

"What?" he asks, slowly opening his beautiful, chocolate teddy bear like brown eyes. I just shook my head and smiled. "Good morning."

"Morning." He mumbles, his husky voice sending shivers down my spine.

He slowly brings his hand up my waist and I push it off of me.

"Go to hell," I say and place my palm on his bare, muscular chest as I balance myself out of bed. I ran out of our grand bedroom with him right behind me. It didn't take him long enough to catch up on me with his long legs.

He did the one thing I hated the most.

His hands found my waist once again and he tickles me.

"S-stop" I scream between fits of laughter.

"Tell me that you love me," he demands, proceeding to tickle me.

I refused to give up so easily even though I knew I stood no chance with my small frame under his built one. I shook my head.

"Say it!"

I almost considered spitting it out already for the sake of it, my eyes were tearing up from all the laughing. Thank god for Lisa.

"Daaaaave!" Lisa screams.

"Daddy is sitting on mommy! He is going to squeeze and squash her! She is going to die! Go save her!" she yelled again, an emotion running over her big, bright blue eyes. Panic. She was panicking.

I tried not to laugh even harder than I already am at the innocence my daughter expresses.

Hearing really loud footsteps I try to turn my head and see David running into the living room with his blanket tied up on his collar representing some sort of a cape and a frying pan on his head. He was holding a spatula in his hands. My favorite spatula.

"Dav-v- how. How many times?" I couldn't go on without laughing.

David spanks Jeremy with the spatula, which only made me laugh evenharder. "Get off mommy, now."