"So do you also love her?" he pointed his tiny fingers towards Sage.
His brain stuttered for a second, and his eyes took in more light than he anticipated; everything in his body came to a halt while his thoughts caught up. He gripped the storybook even tighter, still absorbing Ryan's words from less than a minute before.
He shifted his gaze to Wade, who appeared to be immersed in his own world. His fingers were intertwined, and his eyes were distant, as if he wasn't paying attention to the world around him because he was absorbed in his own thoughts.
Sage''s head snapped towards Alisia when she heard her words: "Of course, silly, they are married. Why would they marry each other if they don't love each other?"
If only she knew.
Ryan glared at Alisia, his lips forming a pout due to Alisia's words of mockery. He went closer to her and whispered something so quiet that she doubted whether Alisia could ever hear him or not. Alisia looked at Ryan's face for a second before her face bloomed into a huge grin, and she went towards Wade along with Ryan.
They both stepped towards Wade, making him look at them with a small fake smile on his face.
They both held Wade's hand, dragging him up, causing him to get up reluctantly, his brows furrowed as he glanced at Sage's face once. But as soon as he saw that she was staring at him, he got flustered and turned his head away.
"W-What happened? Why did you make me get up from my place, sweetheart?" he asked Ryan, bending a little and placing his hand on his knees to get down to Ryan's height.
He still loves kids, Sage thought as she looked at the soft expression on Wade's face when he looked at Ryan and Alisia.
She remembered how he used to talk about having kids of his own one day, and then he used to get nervous thinking what would happen if he turned out to be like his father because, after all, kids learn what they see in their family. To this, she used to hug and console him, telling him how lucky his future kids and wife would be. She still remembers how he used to reply to that with "Oh, so you are saying that you will be very lucky in the future?"
Her head turned towards Alisia as she felt Alisia pull her hand up, indicating for her to stand up. She stood up and gave a tired smile to Alisia, who lifted her hands up, telling Sage to pick her up, which she gladly did.
Alisia smiled and kissed Sage's cheek, making Sage chuckle and smile widely at her. This didn't go unnoticed by Wade, who kept staring at Sage's face.
Ryan pinched Wade's cheek to get his attention, which worked as Wade turned towards him, rubbing his cheek dramatically.
"What happened?" Wade asked, his voice quiet as he sat next to Ryan on the floor.
"She's really pretty, right?" Ryan asked, looking at the two sisters standing in the corner, talking about something they weren't aware of.
"Yeah," Wade replied, dazed, looking at Sage.
"Wait." Wade's head turned towards Ryan as he realized the sentence that left Ryan's lips. "Which one of them are you calling pretty?" he asked his little brother in a cautious, some might say jealous, tone.
Ryan gave Wade a single glance and spoke in a bored tone, "Alisia, of course. Why would I call Sage pretty? I mean, she is pretty, but she's yours, yeah, so you should call her pretty."
Wade looked at Ryan bewildered by his words, shock consuming his face. "W-what? She is mine?" he questioned so quietly, Ryan could barely hear him.
Ryan cast a weird look on his brother, his little brain not understanding the true meaning of the words he said.
"She is your wife, so of course, she is yours?" Ryan said, looking at his older brother's flushed face.
"That's not how it works, you idiot," Wade seethed at his younger brother, his words so harsh he wished he could just zip up his mouth and never speak again.
Ryan's lips parted in disbelief, this being the first time his older brother had said something rude to him. He forced his mouth shut and looked down, nervously playing with his fingers as he murmured "I'm sorry" again and again under his breath. His eyes turned glossy as he twisted and turned the friendship bracelet on his wrist that was given by Alisia, which somewhat calmed him.
Wade turned shocked as soon as he realized what he had just said. He looked over at Ryan to see him looking down with tears, which he was trying to wipe harshly. His heart shattered at that sight, and guilt rose up to his throat.
He quickly picked up Ryan in his arms and made him sit on his thigh, hugging him tightly to his chest, murmuring sorry over and over again and kissing his hair softly with each murmur. He felt like punching himself in the face when he saw the tear-stained face of his younger brother.
He brushed away Ryan's bangs from his face and kissed his head, his arms tightening protectively around his brother as he remembered the day when Ryan was born. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows; rather, it was one of the worst days he has experienced in his life.
His mother had found out that his father- or Richard, as he calls him, cheated on her yet again, but that particular day, his mother decided that it was enough, and she decided to divorce him. He remembers how Richard kept a gun to his mother's forehead, telling her that the only way she could ever get rid of him was her death.
That was the first time Wade felt the need to kill, to torture his father so much that he wouldn't be able to breathe, that he would be begging at his feet for mercy, for him to spare his life.
That's when he felt the most confident, more than at any time in his life, as he took a gun and shot Richard right in the thigh, rushing his mother to the hospital as she was in labor pain.
He has raised Ryan more like a son than a younger brother, ensuring that he receives all of the fatherly affection that Wade missed.
"I'm sorry," a small voice broke him out of his thoughts, as he looked at Ryan, who murmured those words, hugging his older brother tighter.
"Why are you sorry?" Wade frowned, questioning his brother. There was nothing that he said which required an apology.
"I am sorry for saying those words to you about Sage. They made you sad, right? That's why you got angry. Sorry, brother, I didn't mean to make you sad. Please don't be sad." Ryan spoke, his voice sad and regretful.
Wade chuckled softly at his brother's innocence, his heart warming at his younger brother's action. He was just six years old yet so thoughtful of everyone around him.
"No sweetheart, it's nothing like that. You were right, I married Sage, so she is mine. You know sometimes we adults go crazy and then blurt out hurtful things to people they love. I am so sorry, okay? And no, I am not sad at all, you didn't make me sad." Wade spoke softly, his hands caressing Ryan's hair gently.
Ryan chuckled and gave a thumbs up to Wade, getting up from his lap and sitting next to him on the floor again.
Wade's face broke out into a small smile as he asked his younger brother if he wanted some donuts. To this, Ryan smiled widely and said "yes" very quickly. Wade secretly whispered to Ryan about going and calling Alisia, who was still talking to Sage.
Ryan ran to Alisia, who was still in Sage's arms, and tugged her hand, pulling her down from her sister's grasp. He left her hand as soon as she landed on the ground, to which she frowned and held his hand again, running with him to the kitchen to get some donuts.
Wade smiled at their antics, reminding him too much of how he and Sage were in the past.
As they were all eating the donuts, Ryan ran to where Sage was seated and asked her something which made Wade choke on his donut.
"My brother said that you are his, so is he also yours?"
Sage's eyes became hard as she heard Ryan's question, her mind spluttering as she spoke, disgusted with the title.
"No, what the heck? I mean," she paused when she realized that there were two six-year-olds sitting in the room.
Ew.
That word rang in Wade's head as it repeated the sentence that came out of Sage's lips. His heart raged in irritation as rage pulsed through his veins. His chest welled up with anger, and resentment grew inside him like a tumor.
"I didn't mean that, I meant that, yeah, of course, he is mine." Sage lied through her teeth with a fake smile on her face, avoiding any kind of eye contact with Wade.
"Good." Alisia clapped her hands in triumph, as she repeated the question that Ryan had asked earlier.
"So Wade, do you love Sage?"
His heart thumped in agony as he heard the question; he made eye contact with Sage just to see her fisting her pants tightly in her hands. He knew her leaped into her throat as she heard Alisia's question.
He didn't want to see her uncomfortable and sad, but her words from earlier rang in his ears.
Ew.
And suddenly he had this urge, this urge to make her sad. To make her angry, to make her so mad that rage overpowers her goodness, to make her show her bad, real side to the kids sitting in the room.
"Love?" he chuckled, but there was no humor in his voice, "Oh yeah, of course, I definitely do love her very much." he mocked, his voice cold and dark as he looked at her as if he could see right through her.
"And she also loves me a lot, right Sage?" his voice was mocking, insulting the nickname she once loved, which now sounded like a sin, a dirty sin that escaped through his lips. Humiliating, degrading, and mocking, mocking her for loving him, mocking her for depending on him.
She was simmering with anger, nearly suffocating on her fury as she forced down the lump in her throat and merely nodded at his words, not having the courage to speak.
══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══
It had been 6 days since Sage last talked to him.
After saying those words to her that night, he couldn't fall asleep, knowing that he had intentionally hurt her. He tried apologizing several times, but she ignored him every time, looking at him like he was nothing but the dirt beneath her shoes.
Alisia and Ryan were still living with them, which was currently the biggest problem in his life. He wanted to talk to Sage, but because of the kids, he couldn't ever find her alone, and even if she was alone, she would avoid him like the plague.
And today was the day where he had enough. It was around 11 PM, and they had just finished eating dinner. The kids were watching some Disney movie on the television while Sage was folding the laundry.
He saw that she was heading to their room, so he quickly ran behind her, calling her name out.
"Sage."
No response.
"Sage"
No response.
"For goodness' sake, Sage, look at me."
No response yet again.
She had already entered their room and was about to close the door in his face when he slammed it shut with his fists. He rushed inside before she could react and trapped Sage against the door, his hands enclosing her body, and her back now facing him.
He turned her around but stopped when he felt cold metal against his throat.
He looked down and saw that she had a knife pressed to his throat.