Chapter 27
Chapter 21
Colette was enveloped in the comforting embrace of deep, that perfect kind of rest where time seems to stand still. She was certain it
certain it wasn’t morning yet the weight of darkness still pressed against her closed eyelids. Every muscle in her body was relaxed, her mind at ease for the first time in what felt like werks. She didn’t want to open her eyes, didn’t want to lose this tate moment of peace, the way home, truly home, wrapped in the safety and warmth of her hoshand’s arms
But something tugged at the edges of her mind, a faint, insistent noise that pricked at her subconscious. It was a subtle sound, like a nult tapping, and it gradually pulled her away from the depths of her shamber. At first, the resisted, desperate to cling to the tranquility that had eluded her for so long. But the noise persisted, growing louder, more pronounced, like a distant knock echoing in the back of her mind.
She shifted slightly, instinctively reaching out for the sold warmth she was sure would be beside her. Her hand moved across the bed, searching for Matt’s familiar presence, but instead, it met with cool, empty sheets. The warmth that she had always found comforting was absent, leaving her with a sudden chill that pierced the peaceful hare she had been wrapped in.
“Mant?” she whispered, her voice breaking the silence of the room. Her eyes fluttered open, adjusting slowly to the darkness. The mom was cloaked in shadows, the only light coming from the soft glow of the night lamp on the bedside table. The mund of footsteps rched her ears, faint but unmistakable, and her heart quickened. She sat up, her eyes scanning the dimly lit room
“Matt, is that you?” she called out, her voice trembling slightly as she tried to shake off the remnants of sleep. She squinted through the darkness, her gaze finally landing on the figure of her husband. He was standing at the edge of the room, his back to her, searching for something in the dim light
He was moving with an urgency that made her uneasy, his hands rilling through drawers, his shoulders tense. The calm she had felt just moments agn was
Man’s voice broke the stillness of the room, low and apologetic. “y, I’m sorry for waking you,” he muttered, his words barely audible as he rummaged through the nightstand beside the bed. The sound of drawers sliding open and shot filled the room, punctuated by the occasional click of objects being moved aside. He was searching for something, but what?
Colette blinked, trying to shake off the remnants of sleep as she pushed held up on the hed. “What are you doing?” she asked, her we thick with lingering drowsiness. Her eyes fallowed his hurried movemets, confusion knitting her brows
“Have you seen my phone?” Matt replied, his tune lense with urgency. “I need to inform in–the office–that I won’t be back tomorrow. Since ser staped the night, they’ll need to cancel the meeting scheduled for the evening.
Colette’s heart skipped a beat as she caught the slip. He had almost said Iris’s name. The sting of it was sharp, a fresh wound layered over the many others that had been festering beneath the surface. The fact that his first thought was to inform Iris of his abierce cut deeper than she wanted to admit. But she forced herself to push the pain aside, focusing instead on the immediate reality: Mati, frantically searching for his phone, anaware that she had hidden it beneath the bed.
Her pulse quickened as she watched him, the anxiety bubbling up within ber
He rattled through the drawers, frustration growing as the phone remained elusive. Colette hit her lip, som barween the urge to keep silent and the overwhelming need to speak, to confront him about the slip, about everything. But the words caught in her throat, tangled in the emotions she was barely holding back.
“I know where it is,” Colette said at last, her voice trembling despite her effort to sound firm. Her heart raced furiously in her chest, each beat a reminder of the confrontation she was about to face. She knew that revealing the truth would not be well received, particularly when the phone was filled with countİNİ missed calls from Iris. The bile of anxiety surged up her throat, threatening to choke her.
With a deep breath, she pulled herself out of bed, clutching the white bed sheet to her chest. It fell in loose folds around her, offering some semblance of modesty against the vulnerability of her nakedness. The sheet was a feeble shield, but it was all she had.
As she moved, she could feel Mall’s eyes on her, a mixture of confusion and mounting incitation in his gate. She bent down slowly, her movements deliberate and painfully aware of the scrutiny she was under. The cool floor against her skin only heightened her sense of exposure. When she retrieved the phone from beneath the bed, the silence in the room was thick, almost suffocating.
Her hands trembled as the handed the phone to him, her eyes lowered to avoid the piercing look she knew would follow Matt took the phone, his fingers. brushing against hers briefly.
There was no hiding anymore, no pretending everything was alright. The truth was laid hare in the cold light of the dintly lit room. Colette’s voice was soft and regretful, like a child caught in a lie. “I switched it off and kept it there,” she admitted, her gaze fixed on the floor. Her face flushed with a mix of shame and sorrow, her worth barely more than a whisper
“Why?” The word escaped Matt’s lips with an almost unbearable weight. It was tune word, but his face told a story
ry far more complex than mere syllables could comery. In his eyes, there was a depth of disbelief, an implicit question that seemed to challenge any conceivable justification for Colette’s actions. He had already condemned her.
1/2
es reflecting the
ide. “Revaate I wanted tonight in be for as, last you
lust you and me
me, without your blasted
callowed them back, umelling te risk further inflaming his already intense anger.
abendi contuted by bei presence. The hurt and rage were visible in
on her, and the cold silence between them was as sharp as a blade.
be stepped out onto the beloves, bộ pho hitched tighth in his hand Colette watched him go, her heart pounding with a
hite, flunss nightgown she had packed, its delicate fabric dente little to shield her from the stermal
clenched tighth in her lap, mis squrered shut as if willing the situation to resolve
ragged on, each nick of the clock a painful reminder of the confrontation that was being, When Matt finally reentered the room, his anger eins palpable. His every movement charged with a seething intensity. He thors open the wandjobe doors with a force that tallied the mom and began to
ng” Colette’s voice broke through the triuion, but it was not a question, it was an exclamation of anguish and confusion “Matt”
He didn’t respost, lost in the chans of his emotions. Colette mashed forward, her heart aching as she reached out to grasp his arm, trying to halt his frantic
- Her fingers tightened around his wrist, a desperate plea for him to stop, to haten, to understand
Matt serked away from her touch, his ex blating with an anger that med almost prital. The room was filled with the sounds of his hurried movements
choked sobs, the gulf between them widening with each second that passed
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