November 16th
winter family mansion
ash winter POV
ahh
as my headache intensified, I reached into my desk drawer for my painkillers. i couldn't find my pills in my drawer, yet i found many things i wouldn't have found if i had searched earlier. cursing myself for being so messy, i sat up and started walking towards the medicine cabinet of the house. normally a maid would have brought them for me, but in the stress of the moment i couldn't think of it. speaking of stress, the source of my stress and the medicine cabinet with my pills were in the same room.
As soon as I opened the door to the room I felt the temperature in the air rise. I grabbed my pills from the cabinet just to the right of the entrance, turned on my heels and was about to leave the room when...
"ASH, where the hell do you think you're going?"
There was only one person who could have had such a vulgar conversation with the head of the Winter family. Eleanor Winter. My beautiful wife.
I turned around to find my pregnant wife sweating on a large bed surrounded by several female servants. My wife Eleanor was pregnant after a long struggle and she wanted to have our child no matter what.
"my dear wife" I said gently to get on her good side
"tell me ash" she said in a cold tone, seeming to ignore my kind words "what the hell are you doing while I have been suffering like hell for the last three days" she continued.
It hurt me to hear my wife, who would normally be the most innocent creature in the world, swearing now. I felt like I had met a side of my wife I had never known before, with her legendary performance for the last three days.
I looked at my wife, who was still beautiful, forgetting the purpose of my coming to the room. again my heart ached, I couldn't even stand by her side as emotional support while she was writhing in pain. I kept running away from her with ridiculous excuses. I cursed that both this mahlikane and winter family should be destroyed. what's the point if I can't stay by my wife's side and support her.
I was full of hatred. most of all I hated myself because no one knows better than me that these are lies that are nothing more than excuses. the truth is I was afraid. I was afraid of being disappointed again. I never felt that I was a good wife, yes I am a good leader, a good politician but that's all. now I am nothing but an incompetent man.
I slowly sat down next to Eleanor and held her hand, wanting to comfort and cheer her up, but not a single word came out of my mouth.
Eleanor didn't object; she just seemed happy that I was holding her hand. After a while, I even forgot about my headache; Eleanor's pain seemed to have subsided, and we both found our painkillers.
Eleanor Winter's POV
I could swear that the warmth in my hand was the best medicine in the world, but I can't prove it. I looked at my husband, the head of the Winter family. There were dark circles under his eyes, his cheeks were sunken, and his beard had grown several centimeters since three days ago. I hadn't thought such a thing was possible, but the evidence was there: ash were ruined, and he looked worse than I did.
Unlike the physical pain that was destroying me, the source of his pain was in his mind. No matter how much Ash wanted to hide it, I could hear his thoughts. Even though I didn't believe Ash was lacking in some areas, I knew he felt that way.
Ahh
When I tried to show my support by squeezing Ash's hand, a sharp pain stabbed my stomach. I managed to control myself at the last moment to avoid cursing under my breath. It was more intense, more sharp than anything I had felt before. ash immediately realized something was wrong with me.
"Eleanor, are you okay?" he asked, trying to stay calm.
I would have told her everything was fine, but that would have been a lie. I had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
"The labor has finally begun," said the most senior of the maids in the room, confirming my thoughts. I'm sure I felt Ash's hand trembling, but I couldn't even look at him to confirm it. The pain was driving me mad. With the last remnants of my consciousness, I saw Ash being hurriedly ushered out of the room by two maids. Finally, I thought, I can curse freely.
Ash Winter POV
"Eleanor, talk to me. Are you okay?" As Eleanor's eyes twitched, I realized she was in too much pain to respond, and the door slammed shut in my face. I don't know how, but I had been forcibly removed from the room.
Almost immediately, a series of shameful curses rose from inside the room. Words that should never have come out of the mouth of a married woman continued for almost an hour. Then something happened — the curses that should never have stopped suddenly ceased, and at that moment my world collapsed around me. I felt the blood drain from my body. My knees gave way, and I collapsed to the floor. As I tried to steady my trembling hands, my eyes stared into the void, as if I had fallen into the emptiness of space. A minute passed, or perhaps it didn't, and the door to the room opened. When I realised there was no sound of a baby crying from inside, my last hope was shattered. At that moment, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I sensed someone speaking, but I didn't hear them, didn't want to hear them, wasn't ready for it.
"Ir"
'Sir'
"SIR."
"Congratulations," she said. At that moment, all the noise in my head stopped, and absolute silence took hold.
"W-what?" I stammered. I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly; I needed to be sure.
"Congratulations, sir," the voice said. "You have a son."