Chapter 256 - The Secret Behind The Passage

Fernando sat on the edge of the bed with a smile when he saw Viona's sleeping face. He waited patiently for Viona to wake up. There were many things he wanted to ask his wife, especially about how she found out the secret passage under the wine cellar which had now been razed to the ground. Earlier, before William came home, Fernando had asked him to check Viona's condition again. He was worried that Viona would be bitten by an insect when she entered the secret passage.

"Hey princess, wake up," Fernando whispered softly when he saw Viona started to wriggle.

"Ummm ... What time is it?" Viona asked softly.

"It's seven in the evening, you haven't eaten and taken a shower. Let's get up first, Fernando replied softly while kissing her cheek gently.

"I'm still sleepy." Viona said softly in a hoarse voice. 

"Yes, I know, but now you wake up first to take a shower and have dinner, and then you can sleep again, okay?" Fernando replied as he touched Viona's stomach slowly.

Viona finally woke up from her sleep after being persuaded by Fernando many times to go and take a bath, Fernando even painstakingly helped her take a bath in the bathtub. He loved rubbing Viona's back using the foam that came out of the soap. After almost ten minutes of bathing, Viona finally finished her night bath, then she put on the nightgown that Fenando had prepared.

"Come on, he said he wanted dinner," Viona said softly while smiling at Fernando, who was kneeling in front of her and kissing her stomach repeatedly that it made her amused.

"Wait a moment, Mommy, Daddy is listening to the whiz's story," Fernando replied softly without moving his ears from Viona's stomach.

"What is he talking about?" Viona asked, chuckling at her husband's words.

"He told me that he was invited to take a walk by Mommy in a box car and through an underground passage," Fernando replied sarcastically to Viona.

Viona immediately fell silent when she heard Fernando's words. Her expression changed at once. She felt that she would get scolded by Fernando for leaving the house in such a dangerous way. Seeing the change in his wife's expression made Fernando act quickly. He then got up and grabbed Viona's shoulder tightly.

"I'm not mad at you, Babe, don't be afraid of me," Fernando said quietly, as he glanced deeply into Viona's teary eyes.

"I sob ... I just ..."

Viona could not finish her words because she was hugged tightly by Fernando. She then cried loudly in his arms, even though Fernando was not angry or harsh to her. Fernando only smiled when he found out that Viona was crying, knowing that his wife was currently poured out all her feelings after today's incident. After Viona's cry had subsided, slowly Fernando pushed her body in front of him and slowly wiped the tears that flowed down her face with both hands.

"I'm not angry at you, Mom, I'm just want to apologize to you," said Fernando softly, trying to calm Viona.

"Apologize for what?" Asked Viona, confused.

"I'm sorry for restraining you like this. I just realized what I did wrong. Forgive me for being so selfish, Babe, I'm just too afraid that bad things would happen to our child," Fernando replied in a deep voice.

Viona then hugged him tightly. She really felt guilty for what she did today.

"I was wrong, Babe. In fact, I deserve to be punished by you," said Viona, sobbed.

"No ... I would rather be dead if I had to punish you!!" Fernando yelled quickly as he tightened his embrace on her.

Hearing his words made Viona cry again. She felt that right now she really loved Fernando. After hugging for a long time, Fernando finally brought Viona down to the first floor for dinner. In fact, he could have eaten first without Viona, but he chose to wait for Viona to wake up from her sleep, so they could have dinner together. The maids in the dining room smiled when they saw Viona ate well. They felt happy because the mistress finally wanted to eat again.

"Don't keep giving me meat, Babe," Viona protested to Fernando, who repeatedly putting pieces of roasted turkey to her plate.

"You have to eat a lot. Remember, Babe, there is also a baby who needs to eat now," Fernando replied quickly.

"Yeah, but you keep filling my plate, I'm full." Viona sobbed pitifully.

"Okay, I won't force you to eat again. Now just eat some salad and fruit for dessert," Fernando said softly as he put the salad and fruit plate in front of her.

"Ok." Viona replied quickly as she tucked her fork into the salad.

Fernando laughed at Viona's behavior. Actually, Viona had eaten quite a lot of food tonight so he was relieved. Not long after, she finished eating the salad and fruit that Fernando had given her. She now felt very full because she had eaten so much, to the extent that Viona had to loosen the straps of her sleeping pants so that she wouldn't feel too tight. Seeing what she was doing made Fernando laugh. He couldn't wait to see Viona's stomach swell.

After dinner, Fernando invited her to relax in the family room, while watching her favorite cartoon on the Cable TV channel. She looked serious while watching her favorite cartoon. She laughed widely when she saw the cartoon characters on TV got bad luck. Fernando just kept quiet and continued to pay attention to what she was doing. Since he was still enjoying his quality time with his son, Fernando did not take his hands off her stomach.

"Babe," Fernando called softly.

"Yes," Viona replied briefly.

"I want to ask you, okay?" Fernando asked seriously. 

"Okay, I hear you, Babe. What do you want to ask?" Viona asked Fernando back without turning her face from the TV.

"How do you know about the secret passage?" Fernando asked quietly.

Thump!

Viona was immediately stunned by her husband's words. The question she was afraid of was finally uttered by Fernando.

"Don't be afraid, Babe. I'm just asking, my love. I just want to know about the secret passage, not to scold you," Fernando said quickly as he grabbed Viona's lowered face.

"Tell me, my love, don't be afraid. Try to tell me, how did you know about the secret passage?" Fernando replied in response to his previous words.

Viona slowly lifted her face and looked at Fernando with a sad gaze. She was actually afraid to tell the truth. She was afraid that Fernando would not believe her because the person who told her the secret route had died. She was afraid that Fernando would accuse her of being nonsense.

"Babe ..."

"Mrs. Lily told me about the secret passage. She told me about the secret path when I came home when Zevanya was already … sob ... dead ... sob ..." Viona said, cutting off Fernando's words.

"What do you mean, Babe?" Asked Fernando confused.

Viona then told in detail how she first learned about the secret passage, where at that time she was very afraid of Fernando; afraid to be blamed for what had happened to Zevanya. She was afraid to be jailed at that time.

"So you used that secret passage to leave my house seven years ago, then left me and disappeared without a word for six years?!" Fernando exclaimed in an elevated voice repeating the essence of Viona's story.

"Yes ... I was afraid back then. I was afraid of you ..."

To be Continued