When I Got My Senses Back

Chapter II: You Call Me A Fool, But You’re The Real Fool! (2)

“Divorce!” Reginald shouted, shoving her away and fleeing the house in a mess of confusion and pain.

He had no idea what had happened to him all these years—how long he had stayed in this house that wasn’t his, how much he had endured—but when he looked at the bruises covering his body, the scars that had never healed layered under fresh ones, one thing became clear that they never let him recover. Not once.

What? Had they been beating him? But why?

It couldn’t have been just that small woman alone. There had to be others. Maybe… her family?!

The word ‘divorce’ stunned Christine. For a moment, her icy facade cracked.

Not long ago, this fool Reginald clung to her like a shadow, insisting on being her best friend, begging to play hide and seek. He literally cried whenever she came home late. If she refused to feed him, he threw tantrums until someone had to beat him to force him to eat.

He once stuck his hand into fire to retrieve a document she didn’t even need. Another time, he jumped into a big water to retrieve a stuffed toy she casually gave away, in the process, hit his head on a water stone.

Every time she came home from work, he rushed to the car, and he got hit four times by her before she got used to it. She hit him, kicked him out, beat him mercilessly, but he always came back like sticky chewing gum, clinging to her after every wound was bandaged.

He once dashed into the street just to find her, wearing nothing but the worn-out slippers she gave him. She never gave him another pair. And that day he got hit by a motorcycle.

And now…. he wanted a divorce?

Christine: “.....”

**

Reginald Belmont fled back to the Belmont estate.

His stepmother, Rihanna Belmont, was already waiting. She grabbed his arm the moment he arrived, her tone sharp.

“You idiot. What mess are you making now? Didn’t I tell you to endure how they treat you? That woman is the only one willing to marry a fool like you. And now she calls saying you ran away?”

In that moment, everything clicked for Reginald.

His last clear memory was from college, when his stepmother suddenly sent someone to fetch him. The car was hit by a truck that day.

The driver had acted strange that day, and he seemed like a rookie driver dressed in black, with a photo of his family hanging around his neck like a talisman. They even chatted where Reginald asked why he wore the photo of his family around his neck like that, and the man said he loved his family and would do anything for them. Reginald had laughed, thinking maybe his little daughter as he saw in the photo had made him wear it.

Now, he realized.

“You planned that?” Reginald asked.

Rihanna crossed her arms, looking smug and scornful.

“Me? Look at this little fool, finally talking sense after eleven years. What did you say to me? Who taught you how to say that? Listen up, you don’t belong to the Belmonts anymore. You’re a discarded fool! You should be grateful your father paid a million dollars to have the Alexanders take you in. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t spend a dime. I’d have thrown you into the jungle!”

Reginald’s blood ran cold. He finally realized why everyone called him a fool. But eleven whole years? What had that crash done to him?

He always knew his stepmother wanted to push her own children to the top, but stripping him of his mind, making him a pawn, sending a man to act as a driver… all that was monstrous.

And to sell him off for just a million dollars? How can that cheap amount be his worth?!

Rihanna sneered. “You like it when I call you little fool, don’t you? Listen carefully, little fool. Unless you're dead, you're Christine Alexander’s husband. You stay with her. And if you can, keep dragging her down, embarrass her until she falls off that high horse of hers.”

So this is the backstory:

His father had married twice, two wives—his late mother and Rihanna. His birth mother died of leukemia when he was four. His stepmother came after and soon had a son, Garrett.

From the moment Garrett was born, Rihanna treated Reginald like a curse. She sweet-talked his father into sending him abroad when he was just eight.

Meanwhile, the world only knew Garrett as the Belmont heir all those times he was alone abroad. Not until Rihanna bore triplets, two boys and a girl, and gained even more power and affection from the whole Belmont family.

But when Reginald returned at seventeen, he had the looks, discipline, and intelligence of a true heir. His demeanor won over the Belmont patriarch—Granpa Belmont. He was mature beyond his age, always composed and professional.

His own father too began to favor him for his talents in math and business, with award after award piling up.

(Back To Present)

Reginald took a deep breath. He could go back to pretending to be a fool, or he could finally do what he wanted. They’d stolen eleven years from him after all.

But first… this Christine Alexander. He needed to figure out who she really was. Why did she hate him so much? And why did his stepmother want him to keep humiliating her?