4: Shattered Heart

“NO,” Celene said firmly, her voice turning serious. No matter how she looked at it, he was wrong for making her apologize to someone who had just sexually assaulted her.

“What?” Jarred’s expression hardened as his wife went against his command for the first time, which surprised him.

“I just explained how Mr. Nakamura drugged me and sexually assaulted me. Are you seriously considering making me confront that predator again?” she questioned, not caring anymore about his potential anger or disappointment toward her. This incident was not something she could simply brush under the rug. “Do you not believe my words? Do you think I’m just making up a story because I failed to secure the deal?”

“Even if what you said was true, can’t you just forget about it? You claim to have lost consciousness, but from my perspective, you seemed completely fine. That indicates that nothing actually happened.” Celene’s heart shattered at the sound of his nonchalant tone about her situation. He didn’t even seem concerned at the slightest and that made her mad and sad at the same time.

“Are you kidding me? If it weren’t for my acquaintance who happened to be there, I could have been raped while unconscious.” She scowled at the memory, “How could you tell me to let it go like it wasn’t a big deal? Do you even care about me?”

“If you’re so desperate to close the deal, go ahead and do it yourself. I have no intention of seeing that pervert again, let alone apologizing when I’m the one who was wronged.” Jarred was taken aback by the intense glare Celene gave him as she stormed past him. This behavior was completely unlike her, even in the most heated arguments they had in the past, she never walked out from him.

Her determination and defiance only served to further enrage him. It was a direct blow to his pride and masculinity as her husband.

“Celene! Come back, we’re still not done talking!” He called out to her, but she remained silent, leaving him alone to simmer in anger. Jarred clenched his jaw in frustration and chased after her, forcefully grabbing her arm to prevent her from opening the door to their room. However, she shook off his grip and stubbornly refused to listen to anything he had to say.

“Let me go,” she said coldly, not even bothering to glance at him. Jarred fumed and tugged on her arm forcefully, causing her to wince in discomfort.

“Don’t give me that attitude,” he scolded, “You know how important that deal—”

“Was it more important than me?!” Jarred paused in confusion as Celene suddenly shouted, catching him off guard. He then gave her a puzzled look when she went on with her outburst. “Do you even consider my feelings? I’ve had a rough day, but you didn’t seem to care at all. All that mattered to you was the deal. How do you think that made me feel?”

Jarred was taken aback by the raw and pained tone in her voice before their intense disagreement was interrupted by the sound of the guest room door opening. They both looked over to see Agnes stepping out of the room.

“Ah, I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said, and Celene simply let out a frustrated sigh before pulling her arm out of Jarred’s grip and storming off inside their room. “Are you guys fight—”

Agnes bit her nail in frustration as Jarred mindlessly followed his wife inside, leaving her alone in the corridor. When she overheard them arguing, she saw it as an opportunity to escalate things and ruin their marriage, but it proved more difficult than she anticipated.

Defeated, she returned to her room and began brainstorming new ways to break them up and win Jarred back.

THE NEXT DAY, the tension between Celene and Jarred remained thick and uncomfortable. They barely exchanged words during breakfast, and the rest of the day was even more strained. At work, they avoided each other’s eyes, and when they returned home, they barely acknowledged each other’s presence, which gave Agnes another opportunity to drive a wedge between them before they could reconcile.

“Uhm, are you okay?” Agnes approached Celene, who was reading a document in the living room and pointedly avoiding Jarred’s presence. When she didn’t answer, Agnes furrowed her brows but still managed to look friendly while holding a glass of juice. Her gaze then drifted to the papers on the center table before a smirk formed on her lips. “Celene, I made you a juice—ah!”

With a calculated move, she let the glass slip from her fingers and crash onto the table, mimicking a clumsy stumble. The sharp sound jolted Celene out of her intense concentration, her once focused gaze now wide with surprise. She couldn’t help but feel her head throbbed as she took in the sight of the important documents, now drenched and stained with sticky orange juice.

“What have you done?” she asked, her voice calm despite the frustration. She already had a lot on her plate, and now the reports and proposals that she hadn’t yet reviewed were no longer legible.

“I-I’m sorry, I was just trying to give you the juice, but I tripped on the carpet.” Agnes reasoned before crawling over to pick up the shattered shards of glass, wincing as they pricked her sensitive fingertips. “Aw!”

Blood trickled from Agnes’s fingers, and Celene’s initial frustration quickly shifted to concern as she noticed. She reached her hand to help her but before she could even touch her, the door creaked open, and Agnes immediately lowered her head while still kneeling in front of Celene.

“I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me.” She apologized frantically, causing Celene to furrow her brow in confusion. She wondered if something had triggered her past trauma from her abusive husband. But that thought quickly disappeared when she noticed a faint smirk on Agnes’ face. Before she could question it, Martha’s voice thundered through the house as she entered.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She walked over to Agnes, dropping to a crouch as soon as she noticed the blood on her fingers. With a disapproving look, she directed it towards her daughter-in-law.

“I swear, I didn’t do anything! She just tripped on the carpet and knocked over the glass of juice,” Celene explained before she turned her head at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, her heart sank when she saw Jarred’s concerned expression while looking at Agnes, who was still on her knees with blood staining her fingers. The sight made Celene’s heart shattered, especially when he immediately rushed over to his ex.

“What happened?” Jarred asked as he took Agnes’ hand.

“I stumbled and accidentally knocked over the glass, so it was my mistake. I already apologized, but could you please talk to your wife? Even though I said sorry, she still seemed mad at me for spilling juice all over the documents on the table.” she explained, her voice shaky while her teary eyes locked onto Jarred, causing him to shoot a glare at Celene who flinched in surprise.

“I wasn’t even mad, I simply asked her what she had done—”

“It was just paperwork, and it was clearly unintentional. Did you force her to clean up the shattered glass?” Jarred accused which made his wife frown in disbelief.

“Of course not! And what do you mean just paperwork? Those were all important documents.”

“I witnessed her trying to hit Agnes. What kind of person are you to harm someone who has already been a victim of abuse?” Martha chimed in, earning a surprise from Celene.

“What? Please, don’t fabricate stories about what happened. I was merely trying to help her in getting up, but she just started begging me not to hurt—”

“Enough!” Jarred’s loud voice filled the room, causing everyone to stop talking, including Celene. She couldn't understand why she was being treated like a villain, with all eyes on her as if she were the worst person in the world. “You’re being unnecessarily harsh. I never thought you were capable of such a cruel action. I explicitly stated that her ex-husband was abusive, and yet you still went ahead and tried to hurt her?”

“I didn’t—” Celene didn’t even bother finishing her sentence because she could already tell it would be a waste of breath. She let out a heavy sigh and glanced down at Agnes, “I’ve never tried to slap you, and you know that. So tell them the truth.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Agnes’ tears continued to flow down her cheeks as she finally crumbled, weeping uncontrollably while trembling. All eyes were on her, filled with sympathy and concern, causing Celene’s mouth to drop open in shock, especially when Jarred offered a hand to help his ex get back on her feet. The gentle way he placed his hand on Agnes’ waist made her heart skip a beat.

“We’ll talk later,” He glared at her before his eyes softened when he guided Agnes away from the living room, with Martha trailing behind.

Left alone, Celene felt a rush of emotions—hurt and stunned by the sudden turn of events. Yet, she blinked to hold back tears, then let out a deep sigh. Not sure what was happening anymore. She doesn’t even have the will to prove her innocence because she was exhausted, physically and emotionally.

After gathering her composure, she picked up the ruined documents and cleaned up the mess that Agnes had made.