CHAPTER LX
I needed to escape that room.
But that girl had handcuffed herself to me.
I tried explaining,
"If my wife comes here, everything will be ruined, please understand!"
But she said coldly,
"I've been paid for this job."
I shouted, "I'll pay you double! Let me go!"
But she refused to listen.
Then I ran toward the window and climbed onto it.
"If you don't open this handcuff," I said,
"I'll jump with you."
She panicked.
"Why are you joking like this?"
"I'm not joking," I said...
and I leaned forward as if I would jump.
"Wait! I'll open it!"
She rushed to unlock the handcuff,
but in her hurry, the key slipped from her hand
and fell into the garden below.
I looked at her and asked, "Now what?"
She replied helplessly, "We'll have to find the key in the garden. I don't have any other key."
Anger surged inside me...sharp, burning, uncontrollable. For a moment, I wanted to scream at her, to shake her, to ask her how she could be so careless. But I said nothing. My silence carried more weight than any words I could have spoken.
Still bound together, we made our way out of the room through the other door. Every step felt heavy, my heart pounding louder than my footsteps, my mind racing with fear, guilt, and dread. The air outside felt colder, almost suffocating, as if it already knew what was about to happen.
And then… the moment I stepped out, my eyes froze.
Sita was standing there.
She had reached here.
The moment my eyes fell on Sita, I instinctively hid myself along with that woman.
Fear clenched my chest tightly...so tightly it almost hurt to breathe.
If Sita saw me like this… like this...
before I could explain the truth,
before I could mend everything between us,
our relationship would shatter completely… beyond repair.
I wasn't hiding because I was guilty.
I was hiding because I was terrified of losing her.
My heart raced wildly, my thoughts colliding with one another. Every second felt like a lifetime as I pressed myself into the shadows, praying silently that Sita wouldn't look this way, that she wouldn't notice me in this moment...bound, helpless, misunderstood.
I knew one thing with painful clarity:
if Sita saw me right now,
before I could make her understand,
before I could heal what was already fragile,
the bond we shared would break…
even before it had a chance to be saved.
To be continue...
