The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 256: The answer to her question

A faint smile painted on Joanna’s gloomy face as she held Canillas’ eyes in hers—a depth of ocean that might soon disappear from her sight. Slowly, Joanna retracted her palm that was on Canillas’ cheek, giving a sign that she was ready to let go.

But before it could move far, it was back to land on Canillas’ cheek as he grabbed Joanna’s hand and wrapped it with his, preventing her from letting go.

"Why are you crying?" Canillas’ other hand reached out to touch Joanna’s wet cheek, causing Joanna to sob and close her eyes for a fleeting moment before opening them again. "What are these tears for?" He asked in a low voice, but no words Joanna could give as an answer, except for the tears that kept flowing like a leaking dam that was unable to be repaired.

"Don’t let go if you will end up crying, Joanna," Canillas said in a gentle voice. The gentle touch of his palm softly wiped away the tears from Joanna’s face, bringing in a moment of calm for a vulnerable heart. "I will never change my mind because I can’t change my mind. I still want that one marriage for a lifetime, and I don’t want others to be my wife. I only want you, my Joanna..." He leaned in and closed his eyes, pressing his lips on one corner of Joanna’s lips, where the saltiness of her tears seeped into his lips.

Opening his eyes to stare back at Joanna, Canillas leaned backward. A warm smile he offered to his Joanna, whose eyes reddened from the tears that were still flowing, pouring down all the content of her heart.

"I dreamed too." His gentle voice blended with the serenity of the night. "I saw this beautiful face in my dream." The warm smile was still on his lips. "The same face, the same person. But this person left me alone." He paused, feeling Joanna’s tears flow on the back of his hand that rested on her cheek.

"You know what I did later?" He continued to ask but not for her to answer. "I looked for her, deciding to pursue her no matter how far she headed." He informed before another pause was taken for a brief moment, his eyes capturing every single feature of the beautiful face before him. "Then a miracle happened. I met her again." A smile was still evident on his face, but it was smaller than before. Sorrow was reflected in that smile.

"Sadly, the dream ended there. I had waited for it to continue, but it did not come back, making me unable to see what happened to me and this beautiful person after we met." He gently caressed Joanna’s cheek, as she did not avert her teary eyes anywhere else but fixated on him, waiting for him to resume narrating his dream.

"But then I realized. There was no need to wait for the dream to come back to tell what would happen next because, to me... a dream is not a reality. It is a place to escape because reality has become a nightmare. And I don’t want to make reality a nightmare," he stated his view, which he hoped to give an insight for the beautiful lady that he had never felt tired to see. She had become a joy in his eyes.

"Therefore, I have to decide how my story with this person will last. And the story that I want to be with her in reality is a long-lasting happiness, not a nightmare." Canillas then took a pause. He met his reflection through Joanna’s wet eyes as he let his words sink between them once again.

"So, what should I do, Joanna? I can’t do this myself, and I don’t want to do this with someone else but you." His low, slightly trembling voice came in sync with the sound of crackling fire that took away a brief moment of tranquility in the quiet room.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Joanna sobbed, her voice sniffling. "Aren’t you feeling tired of me?" It was like this again. He was unwilling to let her go despite the disappointment, hurt, and sorrow that she had seen through his mesmerizing eyes. "Please don’t force yourself to stay by my side. I will only end up hurting you with my conduct." Her hushed voice trembled just like how her ground was shaken once again by every word and action that came from the man who kneeled before her, pleading to her not to give up on their marriage.

"Can’t you tell me why?" Canillas did not answer her questions. He asked back instead. His voice was low and soft, as if trying to calm the chaotic heart and mind of the lady that wanted to leave him.

Joanna shook her head, although she had the answers in her mind. It was because of his principle of marriage and because she was listed as his favorite number of eternity, so he wanted to have an eternal relationship as husband and wife with her. She just felt like she had no power to utter any word, feeling weak to voice her mind.

Deliberately, Canillas brought Joanna’s hand, which he had wrapped in his and had warmed on his cheek, down to his chest, where his heart took every beat of his life.

Through the warmth that penetrated her skin, his heart beating hard beneath her palm. Joanna, with her lips slightly parted, moved her teary hazel eyes that contained a lot of questions from his chest to his eyes only to see him smile and hear him say, "Every time you are wavered, please remember this moment when you feel my heart beat for you... my Joanna... my wife... my woman... my love..."

Wood crumbled into ash in the fireplace. Just like the door was closed shut so that no sound could drift in, no words were exchanged between the two people that faced each other in close proximity. Yet their eyes shone, speaking to each other to convey words only for them to understand.

"I love you."

This was the answer to her questions.