In My Desperate Time

Behind me, Mom whispers to Frances.
"What's wrong? Did you quarrel?"
I turn around and glare at Frances, my eyes speaking of death, deterring him from blabbering.
He looks at me dotingly and smiles at Mom, replying, "She warned me I should say no."
Damn it!
Why did he say that?
Mom rolls her eyes at me and pulls Frances' hand. "That's her. You must be more tolerant of her. Don't lower your opinion of her
because of her flaws."
...
I feel embarrassed when she says that.
I don't understand why Mom has such a good impression of him on their first encounter.
Am I looking at the so-called bias from a woman toward her son-in-law?
Frances shakes his head and says something moving, his voice deep and melodious.
"I love her for who she is. I even love all her flaws."
For a moment, I really want to throw myself at Frances.
If it had been said by someone else, I would definitely get goosebumps all over myself.
However, when Frances said that, it sounded particularly touching.
Fortunately, I finally find an excuse to restrain my impulse.
He must be trying to gain Mom's favor.
After all, Mom and Dad know how he used to hurt me.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have left for Prague, far away from home.
Mom has prepared a sumptuous dinner to welcome us. She somehow knows what Frances fancies and cooked his favorite food.
Moreover, she keeps helping Frances with the dishes, making Dad jealous.
After dinner, Frances wants to take me back to the hotel.
But I don't want to spend the night with him at all, so I say I want to catch up with my parents and stay.
Of course, Frances also chooses to stay.
There are only two rooms. I have no choice but to sleep on the same bed with him.
Because of all the traveling, I fall asleep in bed fast after taking a shower.
I don't know when Frances comes out of the bathroom, but in a daze, I feel like I am in a warm embrace.
I've been ignoring him these past few days, and he hasn't forced himself on me. He just insists on hugging me to sleep every
night.
And I have been pretending not to know and letting him do that.
This is probably the unique tacit understanding between two people who are in a fight.
Near dawn, I vaguely hear Frances get up and answer the phone.
He keeps his voice low for fear of disturbing me.
I want to know what he is saying, but I am so sleepy that I fall asleep again before he gets to the point.
Faintly, I hear him say "child".
When I wake up in the morning, Frances is no longer in bed.
Freshening up and leaving the room, I still can't find Frances. I can't help but ask Mom where he went.
Mom smiles meaningfully at me and curls her lips, saying, "Aren't you supposed to be in a fight? Why do you still care about
him?"

I blush and stop inquiring further.
Mom smiles and says to me, "He went out early in the morning. He said it was something urgent, but I didn't ask him what it
was."
"I see."
I nod and silently eat my breakfast on the plate.
After dinner, I head out.
I came to Prague to find my child. Now that Frances is gone, I can do some investigation by myself.