Chapter 5

Caelum refused to believe Nancy had hurt me and dismissed the whole incident.

"The production team invited me to appear on a variety show as Nancy's boyfriend. What do you think?" Caelum asked as he sat beside me, his tone deliberately casual.

Another sharp pain tore through my stomach. I had no desire to speak to him. "Sounds great. No complaints from me."

His hand froze halfway through turning a page.

My continued indifference finally pushed his long-simmering frustration to the breaking point.

He pinned me against the sofa, his eyes bloodshot with rage, and shouted as if he were on the verge of losing control, "Annette! Do you really not care at all? What the hell do you want from me? How long are you going to keep this up? Do you want me to beg for your forgiveness? Do you want me on my knees?"

I lowered my eyes and swallowed back the blood that rose in my throat. "Isn't this exactly what you wanted from me?"

Caelum ignored my attempts to struggle free. He tore open my clothes and pressed one kiss after another along my neck.

"Are you going to force yourself on me?" I asked flatly.

He went rigid.

After a long silence, he forced the words through gritted teeth. "Annette, for every ounce of pain you put me through, I'll make you suffer ten times as much! If that's how you want it, we'll just keep tearing each other apart until we're both dead!"

He released me and stormed out.

The moment he was gone, I could no longer hold back the blood that surged up my throat. I broke into a violent cough and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Caelum stopped in the doorway. He stood motionless for a long time but never once looked back.

…

I hadn't expected his retaliation to come so quickly. The painting in my studio vanished, and shortly afterward,

Nancy posted an update on her social media feed.

Nancy: [All I had to do was ask, and he handed it right over.]

My chest heaved as blood rose in my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut several times, desperate to steady myself.

…

When I rushed to Nancy's place, I found the two of them in bed together, barely dressed.

But what truly shattered me was what lay beneath them. It was the portrait I had painted of my mother.

Caelum shoved Nancy aside without a second thought, sat up, and lit a cigarette. "What now? Have you finally come to your senses and decided to admit you were wrong?"

I stared at the filthy, ruined painting. My nails dug deep into my palms, and I clenched my jaw so tightly that my teeth ground together.

"Cael said your hand is useless now anyway. Since you can't sell your paintings anymore, he figured he might as well give this one to me." Nancy flashed me a taunting smile. "I sent the rug out for cleaning, so I thought I'd use this to cover the mattress instead. You don't mind, do you?"

A wave of fury consumed me, overwhelming every last shred of reason. I snatched up a nearby vase and smashed it against Nancy's head without hesitation. "Die!"

Nancy screamed.

Caelum lunged forward and seized my arm. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Caelum, you deserve to die too! Why don't you both just drop dead?" I screamed through my tears and sank my teeth into his arm with all my strength.

He froze. Then he came to his senses, seized my face in a bruising grip, and roared at me, "You're cursing me to die over a fucking painting?"

Beneath his fury, I could hear something that sounded almost like hurt.

His words abruptly caught in his throat. His voice seemed to drift farther and farther away.

A red haze clouded my vision. I had coughed up blood again, and this time, it splattered across his face.

The room spun around me, and I collapsed into Caelum's arms.

His voice reached me in broken fragments, as faint and distant as if I were drowning. "Annette! Annie… what's wrong… with you?"

His face was a picture of panic and confusion.

All at once, I felt unbearably tired. "Caelum, we don't have to keep tearing each other apart anymore. I'm dying."

His expression went completely blank. Before he could even comprehend my words, hot tears had already begun to fall onto my face.