Chapter 4
988words
Only the low rumble of the engine broke the stillness.
Emily clutched her luxury handbag tightly on her lap, her knuckles turning white. Occasionally, irrepressible sobs escaped her lips. Through the rearview mirror, I watched her trembling form.
After arriving at the apartment, I opened the door and walked in first. Emily stood frozen in place like a doll drained of life.
"......Aren't you coming in?"
Hearing my voice, her shoulders trembled, and she walked into the room unsteadily as if waking from a trance. The moment the door closed, she collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"......Why? Why can't I...?"
Emily crouched on the ground, sobbing loudly like a wounded child.
"I've already... tried so hard...! Everything else I wanted, I managed to get...! Why, only him..."
That sobbing was clearly about Liam Taylor. I had no interest, simply removing my coat and hanging it on the rack. But this mundane action of mine ignited her desperation.
"James! You too! How can you always be so damn indifferent!?"
Emily screamed, pounding the floor repeatedly with her fists.
"Does seeing me miserable make you happy!? Do you think I'm pathetic!? Both you and that man are just making a fool of me, aren't you!"
"……"
"Answer me! Say something, damn it! What am I supposed to do!?"
She glared at me with tear-filled eyes, then, as if grasping at the last straw, crawled across the floor to my feet.
"Please... only you, James... Only you... didn't you say you would stay by my side..."
She desperately clutched at the hem of my pants.
"Hey, James. ...Answer me. Do you love me?"
This will be the last time she asks, right?
I looked down at her trembling form, then slowly peeled her fingers, one by one, from the fabric of my pants. The motion was cold, mechanical.
Emily's eyes suddenly widened as if witnessing something unbelievable.
"......Let's get a divorce."
My voice was quiet. But this quietness itself carried a cruelty louder than any scream.
"......Eh?"
"Didn't you hear? I said, divorce."
I continued.
"This house, the savings, the money I earned—you can have it all. If you need compensation, I'll pay whatever amount you want. I don't want anything. I'll move out immediately."
"......Wait. No, no...why, why suddenly say such a..."
"It's not sudden. I've been thinking about it for a while."
I stared directly into her tear-filled eyes.
"I don't love you. I never will love you. ...That's all."
After saying that, I turned my back to her and walked toward the bedroom.
Behind me came the sound of Emily's breath catching.
I knew that what now appeared on her face was no longer sadness or despair.
On that landscape where tears had dried up, what now gaped open—
was a bottomless, cold void like the depths of hell.
When I woke up, the first thing I felt was a white light piercing my eyes.
Ceiling, walls, bedsheets—everything in the room was pure white. The pungent smell of disinfectant told me this was no ordinary place.
I tried to move my body, and that's when I first realized.
Around my wrists and ankles was the cold touch of leather. Looking down, I saw I was firmly secured to the bed with high-quality leather restraints.
At that moment, Emily's empty expression resurfaced in my mind. Everything was going according to plan.
Click. The door opened quietly.
There stood Emily, dressed in a pure white nurse's uniform. On her head, she even wore a nurse's cap. Through my foggy mind, I thought this looked like some bizarre cosplay.
"Oh, you're awake, James. That's wonderful."
She smiled, like a Madonna radiating motherly love.
"...Emily. Where am I?"
My voice was terribly hoarse.
"It's the special ward in my clinic. Don't worry. This is the safest place in the world for you now."
"...What did you do to me?"
"I didn't do anything?" Emily tilted her head, appearing genuinely puzzled. "James, don't you remember? You drank too much and had a breakdown. I protected you. You even begged me, 'I'm sick, please save me.'"
"...Liar."
"It's not a lie. The doctor confirmed it's a temporary mental disorder triggered by alcohol dependency. So, I'll be here to treat you properly."
Her voice contained not a hint of doubt or hesitation. She seemed to believe, from the bottom of her heart, in the "reality" she had constructed.
"...Mmm, let me go!"
"I can't do that, James. Your mental state hasn't stabilized yet. If you move around recklessly, your condition will only worsen."
Emily smiled happily as she began preparing the IV drip. Her technique was frighteningly skillful.
"Come now, it's time for your medicine. I'll make you feel better right away."
"Stop it...! Don't, don't touch me...!"
"It will only hurt for a moment. Be a good boy, James."
Resistance was futile as the cold needle pierced my arm. I watched the transparent liquid slowly invade my veins.
Emily sat down contentedly on the chair by the bed, stroking my arm. With an enraptured expression, she gently combed through my hair.
"...That's good. The medicine will take effect soon, James, and you'll feel very comfortable. Then you can forget all those unpleasant things."
She leaned over and whispered in my ear, sweet as a demon.
"The divorce, that woman, it's better to forget it all. James, you just need to stay by my side. I will protect you for my entire life."
Then, she raised her face and asked me with the smile of a pure, innocent girl.
"Hey, James."
"Do you love me?"
I didn't answer.
I just gazed back at her with calm eyes, at this goddess who belonged only to me.
In this white cage, our true married life was about to begin.
At this realization, I felt a twisted, ecstatic shudder run through me.
