“I won’t let you do that to her!” A man’s voice thundered somewhere near me, sharp and full of restrained anger.I forced my eyes open. Pain flared everywhere at once—my ribs, my head, my arms—like knives pressing from the inside out. Every breath scraped through my chest. Slowly, bits of memory returned. The crash. The smoke. The woman in heels.Was it really an accident? Or had it all been planned?“Then get her!” a woman screamed back, her voice jagged with hatred. “Get her out of this d*mn place! Far from my man! Far from my Aaron!”I blinked hard, my vision a muddy blur of shadows. Madilim ang paligid. Everything smelled of gasoline and iron. My skin stuck to the leather seat where blood had dried. My head lolled to one side and I realized—I was still in the car. Somehow, after losing consciousness, I had been moved but never saved.“That’s my actual plan,” the man shot back. His voice vibrated with rage but also something else—control, like he was holding himself back. “And you
I stayed watching the trees dance in the wind, their branches bent and swaying like people moving slowly in a crowd. I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes, letting the cold air hit my skin. It felt alive against my face, a small, sharp reminder that I was still breathing. I felt Aaron’s warm arms wrap around me from behind. His hug was quiet and steady, the kind that made the chaos in my head seem smaller for a moment. I smiled and leaned into him. “This feels nice,” I said, my voice soft. He kissed the top of my head and nodded. “It is nice. Aren’t you cold?” he asked, that gentle worry in his tone that always made me feel cared for. I shook my head and gave him a small smile. Days of remembering the dark past weren’t easy. Facing those moments felt heavy—the kind of trouble that sits in your chest and makes everything else blur around the edges. My therapist had said it was a sign that my memory was trying to work through the pain, that remembering was part of healing even when
I gasped harshly as I opened my eyes. Air rushed into me like I’d been underwater for too long. Mabigat ang paghinga ko at agad na bumangon mula kama. My whole body shook with the memory of impact even before my mind had caught up. Aaron went to me, worried. Mabilis ang paghinga ko at agad na yumakap sa kaniya. “That was… terrifying.” I groaned and took a deep breath. The word barely covers the cold that slid down my spine. “Breathe, baby. Inhale slowly and exhale. I’m here, I’m here,” he said, making me calm. His voice is steady and that steadiness is steadier than anything I feel inside. Mariin akong pumikit at inalala ang mga nangyari. Images came in sharp fragments — glass, light, then nothing. I took my time breathing. Aaron was with me until I calmed down and relaxed. I counted breaths with him like a lifeline. I looked at him and leaned on his body, letting my body rest on him. For a moment the world contracted to the two of us and the rhythm of his heartbeat under my cheek
I stared at my son who just got back to sleep. His little chest rising and falling like that is the only thing that makes sense right now. Aaron and I aren't still talking. The silence between us is louder than any argument I've had. I took a deep breath and walked out of Azi's room and headed to our room. Every step felt heavy, as if the house itself were reminding me of what happened. Aaron doesn't want to go to work because of me, because we're still not okay but he doesn't have a choice but to do so since the company has a problem. I hate that his duty pulls him away when all I want is to hold on. I sighed when I remembered myself being cold to him earlier when he was about to go. I can still feel the hardness in my voice; it sits on my tongue like regret. “You should go, Aaron. We can just talk when you got home,” I said coldly without looking at him. The words came out easier than I expected — a shield more than an answer. I heard him sighed. “Please, baby. I can't go like t
“Elora, please… let’s talk properly. Let’s not shout. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was working the whole day–” I gasped harshly, the air cutting painfully through my lungs, and rubbed my face with my palms in frustration. My chest tightened as if my heart wanted to burst out. “Oh, d*mn it, Aaron! Do not fool me! You did call me! You did call me, but what did I hear?!” My voice broke, harsh and trembling, filled with pain and disbelief. My hand shook as I pointed a finger at him, my body burning with anger. “You, having sex with someone?!” I spat the words like poison. He looked at me, utterly confused, brows furrowed and shaking his head in disbelief. His eyes searched mine like he was begging me to see his truth. “Elora, that’s not it. I wasn’t doing that with somebody else, never.” His tone was soft but firm, desperate, filled with sincerity that clawed at the edges of my rage. But it wasn’t enough. His words bounced against the storm inside me. My ears could hear
I was lying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, the silence of midnight pressing down on me. The house was too quiet, yet my mind screamed loud enough to drown everything out. Aaron still hadn’t come home. Every tick of the clock only deepened the wound inside me, convincing me more and more that what I had heard earlier was real.The sound of that woman’s voice echoed again in my memory, sharp and merciless. The way she moaned his name—it was carved into my skull, mocking me, stabbing me over and over until I could barely breathe. My heart bled every time the memory replayed, and the more I tried to deny it, the heavier the betrayal grew inside me.I pressed my fists tightly against my chest, as though I could hold myself together before I exploded. Rage was building, spreading like wildfire in my veins. The longer I lay there, the more it consumed me, until I could no longer recognize where the hurt ended and the anger began.When the door creaked open, my body stiffened. His f