The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 261: Caressing motion

Joanna had waited for Canillas to speak, to answer her inquiry. But what he had done since then was only stare at her face intently.

Feeling shy about how messy her face should look at the moment, Joanna blinked, looking away while saying, "I have to go back to my room." With that, Joanna moved, about to push her body up from the bed. It seemed that he was unwilling to tell her that. Joanna thought based on the duration of time that was left in silence.

"I lost my father." Then, she heard him talk to her, uttering sad-sounding words that pulled her back to lie on the bed.

It was not something that she did not know. Before she left Terra, her father had informed her about the General’s family background. Hence, it was not a big surprise for her to hear from him that his father had passed away, and, regardless of genders, it was normal for children to shed tears for their parents’ departure.

"I am so sorry to hear that." But she still said that, conveying her condolence, although it might be counted as nothing regarding the time that had long passed. Her soft voice and her eyes reflected sincerity and pure sadness.

Eventually, another sorrowful word followed suit. "I lost my brother."

This time Joanna was surprised, as she had never heard from her father about his brother. In other words, she did not know that he had a brother, much less that he had already passed away.

"I..." A small smile appeared on Canillas’ face as he saw his wife’s mouth open and close, trying to find words to respond to him. "I am sorry to hear that." Despite her surprise and curiosity to dig for information regarding his brother, Joanna decided to not ask him anything about that. Instead, she uttered the same condolence words that she said for his father a few seconds ago.

She had asked impulsively, which caused him to disclose something that she believed brought sorrow to his heart, recalling that it was the reason that made him cry. Therefore, she did not want to add pain to his heart if he had to narrate to her about something that he wanted to keep to himself.

"And you." This time, Joanna, who was still immersed in the wise decision she had made, was struck with another version of surprise. She tilted her head with her eyes narrowed in utter confusion at why she was included in the reason that made him shed tears.

Smiling faintly, Canillas reached out his hand to caress Joanna’s cheek, which seemed to have become his favorite thing to do to engulf her with his tender affection. "I thought I lost you ag..." An abrupt pause was taken by Canillas either in his speech or caressing motion. "That night," he continued a couple of seconds later, answering her silent curiosity.

Joanna was taken aback at his words. Her puzzled gaze deepened and locked with Canillas’, as she pondered if he cried because of what happened to her on that terrifying night. Nonetheless, bringing her memory back to that night, she found no memory of seeing him cry even though she could somehow sense his unspoken gloomy emotions from afar. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Perhaps it happened when she lost her consciousness. Thus, she did not know about him shedding tears for her.

As her mind lingered on that moment, her memory swiftly brought her to the moment when she saw tears in the corner of his somber eyes on the night when they shared marital intimacy for the first time.

Her eyes, which locked with his, quivered.

Did he refer to that moment? Joanna was not sure, but strangely, as he mentioned that, deep down in her heart, she was certain that the tears were meant for her. The way he looked at her with that painful gaze before he hid his face from her and ended their short-time intimacy resurfaced in her mind.

Subconsciously, Joanna put her hand on her chest. She felt something sharp prick her heart.

"You cried for me..." Joanna muttered under her wavering breath. Her quivering eyes were aimed straight on Canillas’ warm ones.

He cried for her because he thought that he might have lost her that night. Joanna did not know how to feel and respond at the moment. She could only mumble those words while looking into the eyes that contained in-depth layers of emotions that tugged the string of her heart. It was always like this every time she found pain in there.

Being captivated by the glistening hazel eyes that always stared at him with tenderness, which pulled him to the point of being unable to let go, Canillas spoke in a barely audible voice, "I missed you... so much..."

As if bewitched by warmth before his eyes and sunk in his own emotion, he was quiet until he realized the confusion and wonderment in the eyes that had captured his heart and mind.

"I missed you when I couldn’t see you. I was afraid when you closed your eyes too long. What if you never woke up again?" He unfolded his feelings, trying to make her understand and get away from perplexity through his more complete words.

Suddenly, as if being pushed by the strong wave of emotions that refused to dim down, or perhaps encountering Joanna’s silence, Canillas said, "Please remember this well, Joanna." He cupped Joanna’s cheeks with his hands, holding her gaze to his. "Please don’t get agitated over the dream that has haunted you." Canillas again reminded Joanna about how she should face the dream. Urgency was there in his tone and demeanor.

"But if it still haunts you and pushes you to leave me..." He paused, his eyes quivering. "Please come back and hold onto the memory that we have shared together in this life." He pleaded. "If it still doesn’t work, please remember what I told you last night and this moment and the other moments that we will create together that I love you..."

A love confession again erupted through Canillas’ shaky and hoarse voice that was laced with anxiety and worry.

"I have always loved you, Joanna..." He confessed more, as if trying to plant deep into Joanna’s mind and let it root in every fiber of her whole being that what he uttered to her last night was the real feeling that had grown in his heart and mind. His reddened, moist eyes unwaveringly held Joanna’s reddened, moist ones.

"So come back to me soon. Don’t make me wait in loneliness too long. Will you, Joanna?" Canillas’ soft, low voice, which was weighed with restless emotions, pulled the string in Joanna’s trembling heart once again.