Save your tears

The door closed with a loud thud, but Ohara was too emotional to flinch.

"My love, are you okay? Did he hurt you? I promise if he laid a finger on you I will deal with him myself." Ohara cried as she checked Angelica from head to toe starting from her head to her arms, knees and feet.

"I am alright mother." Angelica replied, there were no tears on her face instead a blank stare that left Ohara wondering whether she was hurt on the inside.

"Are you sure Angelica? I am your mother you cannot lie to me, please tell me if he touched you, if he hurt you." she cried.

"Save your tears mother, you will have something more serious to use them for later." Angelica replied harshly, pulling away from her mother.

"What do you mean later?" Ohara was used to the way her daughter spoke. She was harsh and direct, just like her father and Ohara often felt worried with that inherited trait of hers.

"Father has just thrown me out of the house. He promised to deal with me if he still sees me here later." she said. She looked out the window not because she wanted to avoid her mother's gaze but because she wished that frosty weather out there would be able to cool her raging insides.

"No, that is not possible, your father cannot do that, he would be mad to." replied Ohara, her nose runny and face muffed up with tears.

"You should know your husband by now." Angelica scoffed, not at her mother, but at herself for hoping that her father would be able to listen to her for once.

"I will beg him... I will, there is no way in heaven, hell or earth that he will throw you our of this house, our house!" Ohara said insistently.

"Save your breath mother."

"You be quiet and tell me what you did to make your father so outraged." she demanded.

"Does it have anything to do with where you truly went yesterday?" she asked. "Is that why the crown prince came here? Answer me Angelica!"

"I found a way to solve all our problems." she simply replied.

"How?"

"If our family were in laws to the king, I doubt that any of our problems would continue." she stated plainly.

"Oh my goodness Angelica..." said Ohara sighing, she threw her head back and clasped the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

"No wonder your father is so upset." Angelica furrowed her brows, she knew that her mother was naive enough to continue loving her father but not enough to defend him in this situation.

"So you are basically selling yourself just to solve your father's issues?" asked Ohara, she faced her daughter with a shake of her head.

"You are wrong mother, it is not just father's issues, it is our issue as well."

"When father loses his title we will lose this manor, our home, we will be left on the streets with nothing and worst of all we will be ridiculed in shame." Angelica stated.

"It will not just be him out on the streets but us all."

"If solving our problems means that I get married to the man who can do it, I do not see what the huge problem is." she said.

Ohara just sighed, shaking her head pacing up and down the room. No wonder Dariel was furious, the prince's strange visit was probably to ask for Angelica's hand in marriage. Ohara knew her daughter could be very persuasive, so she could not put it past Angelica to do such a thing.

"You do not understand my love... your father may be many things, but the only thing he would never do is sell you for his own gain and that includes you doing the same to yourself." said Ohara, she heard Angelica scoffed.

"Father is not a man of principles, we both know that mother, he is only upset because of his pride." mocked Angelica. " He does not want to acknowledge that my efforts will actually help our family."

"Angelica, I do not expect you to understand but one thing is for sure, your father will surely not agree to such an arrangement." Ohara said definitely.

"Then convince him... God knows how much power you have over the man even though he does not admit it, convince him to agree." she said. Angelica never pleaded, never ever, even as a child, when she wanted something and she was told no, she would go and get it herself. 

Ohara could see how strong willed her daughter was, and she always feared that one day it would lead her in trouble.

"I would never do that, no Angelica no." Ohara replied shaking her head.

"Mother, have I ever asked you to do anything for me till this moment?" Ohara shook her head, obviously the answer was no. Angelica was not an overly fussy child, she always accepted what she was given although she had a tendency to be strong willed. 

"Then why not grant me this one wish. I am not complaining. I detest men, they are good for nothing else except procreation." Angelica said unashamed.

"My love, you do not mean that. You are just hurt." gasped Ohara in horror, she could not believe the words that just came out of her daughter's mouth.

"No I am not, stop pretending like you and father have a happy marriage." retorted Angelica. "Your marriage is full of strife, contentions. You are never happy." there was a pained expression present on her face as she spoke.

"That is not true my love, I am happy, your father makes me happy." uttered Ohara, on the verge of tears once more.

"Maybe that is so, but most times he makes you scared, he makes you angry, he makes you worried. He frustrates not only himself but us all in the process."

"My love, I do not want you to have such a view of marriage... you deserve to be happy, you deserve love." Ohara said, her voice choked.

"Mother, it is too late... I already think of it like that. So instead of being unhappy in a marriage it is better you get what you want and live the rest of your life knowing fully well that at least you obtained something tangible by it." Angelica said.

Ohara did not know how she was so blind as not to see how seared her daughter's hearty had become to wonderful feelings like love and happiness. She had been so ignorant to believe that everything was fine, when it was not.

"Your father is not that bad my love... in fact, he was on his way here to apologize to you for last night when he was interrupted by the prince's visit." said Ohara as she sniffed.

"Thank you mother, thank you for proving my point." said Angelica in a brisk tone. "He was probably on his way to apologize because of you, so please just convince him to accept my help." Ohara shook her head, this was one thing she did not want to do.

"Mother, I am asking with all my soul, just do this one thing for me... convince him that this is the only way to solve our problem, nothing else."

"If you do that... it will prove to me once again that you truly do love me as much as you claim." she said.

"But I do my love, I love you very much." replied Ohara, hating that she was cornered like this.

"Then do as I ask and convince him, meanwhile I will go and pack my bags because your husband does not want me here anymore." And with that Angelica walked out of the room knowing fully well that if she did not, she and her mother would continue going back and forth.

Ohara looked distraught... she was scared, worried and most of all terrified. However, one thing was sure, she was going to do anything humanly possible never to lose her family.

She sniffed and quickly wiped away her tears as she left.