His Heart Is My Cage

Three days used to feel like it passed in the blink of an eye. Now it seemed so long that I almost wished I could just disappear right now.Ethan returned sooner than I expected. He stumbled through the door, dust-streaked and disheveled, droplets clinging to the tips of his hair.Outside, the sky was calm, not a single cloud threatening rain. I knew exactly where he'd been.He pulled me into his arms as always, murmuring sweet nothings while dragging me beneath the sheets. His familiar citrus scent wrapped around me.It hit me then that every late night at the office and every rushed shower afterward were just his lies to scrub away the traces of her.Bile rose in my throat. I gagged, clapping a hand over my mouth.Ethan panicked, summoning the family doctor.My tear-swollen face and flushed cheeks must've looked alarming. The doctor diagnosed a mild fever.Ethan's eyes reddened as if he were the one suffering. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, his lips brushing the

Ethan and I were both orphans. We had been clinging to each other for survival.We fought stray dogs for scraps of food and slept under bridges with nothing but burlap sacks to keep us warm.As we grew older, he sent me to school while he worked in a dingy restaurant.When bullies cornered me, Ethan stepped in, fists swinging even as his pinky snapped under their blows. He stood there, blood dripping down his face, until they ran off.When I got my first period in high school, he bought pads for me, sprinting away from the girls' bathroom as someone screamed, "Pervert."In college, he worked double shifts, but no matter how exhausted he was, he'd wait for me after night classes just to hear about my day.From 5 to 21, we were inseparable. I never imagined he'd been hiding someone else in his heart all along. Worst still, his love for her was so possessive and twisted.I thought our bond could withstand time and hardships. I was wrong. Chiara was the only softness in his heart.

Chiara crumpled to the floor and sobbed dramatically. Yet no comforting words came from Ethan.His mind had spiraled into a whirlpool of memories."I wish I could break your legs so you'd never leave me.""Don't cry. It hurts me to see you like this.""Can't you only have eyes for me? If you look at another man again, I'll gouge them out.""Do you know how much I want to make you cry like this?"But those words had never been meant for Chiara. They were for Clara Melton, the woman who had been his everything.Chiara was just a stand-in. Yet she had the audacity to act like she was his true love and confront me with her lies.Ethan unleashed his fury on Chiara. She screamed, but it couldn't evoke any sympathy.To him, she was nothing more than an object.I had been his partner through thick and thin, the one who had endured so much for him.He had never dared to hurt me, but yearning and jealousy festering inside him had twisted into something dark.So, he found Chiara, a gi

Ethan's expression twisted in agony.He dropped to his knees. Just like the day he proposed, his entire body tensed with anxiety."You've got it all wrong. Chiara was the substitute," he explained. "I love you. I love you so much that I've lost my mind. I wanted to chain you to me and break your limbs so you couldn't leave me. But I couldn't bear to see you in pain or tears, so I locked Chiara away and tortured her in your place. Everything I said to her was meant for you."His explanation didn't make any of this right. If anything, his desperate form only filled me with deeper dread."A month ago, when you went out drinking with that guy from your company, I lost control and broke Chiara's leg. But I would never do that to you. Forgive me, please," he added.A wave of nausea rolled through me. My voice shook. "That was our marketing director. I was out with him for a client dinner. I told you about it. Afterward, he got into a car accident and quit his job. Were you behind that?"

I never expected to have a chance to open my eyes again.The white ceiling loomed before me, as if everything were just a fleeting dream. The soft beeping of the machines echoed around me at regular intervals.The door opened. A doctor stepped in, a look of surprise and relief on his face. "Ms. Melton, you're finally awake. The surgery was a success, and there are no signs of rejection so far."'Surgery... Rejection?' I instinctively touched my chest.The anesthesia must still be wearing off as I felt no pain, but the stitches were unmistakable.What Ethan had said before I passed out flashed across my mind. I shot up in bed, panic rising within me.The doctor rushed over and tried to push me back down. I struggled, ignoring his desperate attempts to stop me. In a panic, he pressed the emergency call button, and soon, a whole team of doctors and nurses rushed in, holding me down.They injected me with a sedative. Slowly, my emotions began to settle, but a deep ache throbbed in