- Divorce me... for I can no longer tolerate you
The words struck Jaguar's ears like a thunderbolt, his mind completely unable to process their brutality. With trembling hands, he gently pushed her back from his chest, lifting her face to look into her eyes. However, he was instantly paralyzed; her eyes were so intensely flooded with tears that it became utterly impossible for him to even discern her pupils through that burning deluge of agony. Unable to bear her gaze, his desperation drove him to pull her back into his embrace, whispering in sheer panic,
- No... no, Fati... please, I can't... I cannot do that
But Fati was no longer that submissive girl. With a sudden burst of strength born from the womb of her betrayal, she thrust him away from her. She was breathing with immense difficulty, as if the air itself had vanished from her office, and she said in a sharp voice that shattered the heavy silence,
- No, Jaguar! I can no longer even look at your face... so how can you possibly ask me to continue living as your wife under the same roof?
She took a step backward, crossing her arms tightly to hug her frail, shivering frame, as though shielding herself from the cruelty of his presence. She continued in a tone overflowing with absolute helplessness and exhaustion,
- Please, Jaguar... have mercy on me. I truly... cannot.
Jaguar stepped toward her with faltering strides, extending his hand in a desperate plea, saying,
- You are angry right now... deeply angry and broken. But once you calm down and find your inner peace, you will change your mind... believe me, this is only momentary anger.
She looked at him, and a flame of lethal bitterness and mockery gleamed in her eyes. She spoke with a definitive finality that froze the blood in his veins:
- Six whole years... six years of pure regret in every single second of my marriage to you... so how on earth am I supposed to calm down, Jaguar?! Tell me... how?
Fati clung tightly to the edges of Peter's loose cotton T-shirt, wrapping her arms around her shivering frame as if shielding herself from the world's freezing storms. Jaguar stared at her, and in a tone packed with a suppressed yet glaring fury, he declared,
- I will not divorce you, Fati... no matter what you do or what words you utter, I will never let you go! Because I haven't committed a monstrous crime... I only left you
Her face was turned away, flatly refusing to look at him, while her damp strands of hair fell over her face, obscuring the changes his harsh words had carved into her features. Driven by sheer agony, he stepped forward, extending his hand slowly to brush the hair away from her eyes... but at that exact moment, she let out a piercing shriek, recoiling in absolute, mortal terror:
- Don't hurt me!!!
Jaguar's hand froze in mid-air, paralyzed... She feared him! She was terrified of his gentlest touch. Had the trauma of him violently pulling her by her hair on that wretched night six years ago left such deep scars that she now dreaded his reach to this extent?!
Attempting to soften his voice, he whispered shakingly,
- Fati... I will never hurt you. Please, don't be afraid of me.
Retreating further into the corner of the office, her voice trembling violently, she fired back,
- Stay away from me... do not come near me! For I... I am completely paralyzed with fear every single time you lift your hand toward me!
She did not look at him, keeping her gaze firmly averted, but Jaguar knew with absolute certainty that she was weeping internally with silent tears, despite her desperate attempts to hide her brokenness. The last embers of his fury were instantly extinguished, crushed by her words. He spoke in a tone heavy with genuine remorse and utter defeat,
- Fati... I promise you, I swear to you that my hand will never be raised to terrorize or harm you ever again as long as I live... I promise.
She looked at him with a dead gaze, stripped of any hope, and said in a definitive tone,
- No, Jaguar... I no longer want promises from you. I no longer believe in them anyway.
With the very last word leaving her lips, a single hot tear slipped from her eye, falling onto Peter's loose cotton shirt. It seeped into the calm gray fabric, vanishing completely as if it had never existed. At that exact moment, the suppressed fury in Jaguar's chest ignited, and his features flipped back into sheer ferocity. That single tear sheltered by another man's clothing was the fuel that incinerated his sanity. He roared in a booming voice,
- Should I divorce you just so you can go to someone else?! To throw away my name and throw yourself into another man's arms?! Is that what you want?
She shot back, her voice choked with bitterness, yet carrying a strength he had never witnessed in her before,
- I haven't done it for six whole years of my life... do you really think I would do it now, Jaguar?! Is that what you think of me?
Jaguar fixed his resentful glare on the fabric of the shirt, taking a threatening step forward as he muttered,
- Then... why are you wearing this specific shirt?! I am absolutely certain it is not from your wardrobe, nor does it look like it belongs to your possessions at all
For the first time since the confrontation began, Fati lowered her eyes to look at what she was wearing, feeling a sharp pang of misery eating away at her heart for being forced into such a futile argument at a time like this. She snapped her head up, her eyes locking directly into his with a fierce intensity after avoiding his gaze the entire time. She spoke with a mocking, grief-stricken tone,
- Is this your pathetic excuse to keep me bound to you, Jaguar?! Is this your ultimate justification... a blind, sick jealousy that is entirely misplaced, just like you?
Her words provoked him entirely. His eyes flashed with a dark, lethal spark, and he lunged toward her until he was practically brushing against her frail frame. He whispered in a terrifying hiss that froze the air between them,
- Jealousy?! You think this is misplaced jealousy?! Fine, Fati... let me show you then what real jealousy looks like!
Jaguar didn't give his mind a single second to reflect. He turned toward the office door with storming strides, his hand reaching out to turn the lock, instantly declaring their confinement together and rendering them prisoners within the room, entirely isolated from the outside world.
Fati's eyes widened in genuine terror. She recoiled a step, raising her hands in front of her chest in a desperate, defensive posture. She shrieked in a fractured, panicked voice,
- What are you doing?! Why did you lock the door?! Open it right now
He did not answer with words. Instead, he advanced toward her like a predator cornering its prey, closing the distance until he was standing directly over her, practically brushing against her trembling frame. Leaning down, he whispered into her ear in a low, searing, dominant tone,
- To show you how I get jealous, Fati... to show you the jealousy you just called pathetic.
At that exact moment, he began with his jacket; he removed it with deliberate slowness, keeping his sharp, piercing gaze fixed on her, and tossed it onto a nearby chair. He didn't stop there. His fingers moved to unbutton his shirt, one after the other, with a practiced, fluid motion using only one hand like a man fully aware of his calculated impact and power. He slipped the shirt off entirely, but rather than throwing it away, he draped it carelessly over one of his shoulders.
His bare chest was revealed before her; his athletic build and overwhelming masculine definition were things that had once been so familiar to her. Overwhelmed by panic and pure confusion, she found herself utterly unable to face his imposing presence. She quickly raised both hands, covering her eyes completely to shield herself from the sight of him, and cried out in a shaking, pleading voice,
- Stop... stop, Jaguar! Please, don't do this
He paid no heed to her pleas. His powerful hands moved to grasp her wrists, pulling them away from her eyes with a decisive gentleness that forced their burning gazes to lock. He commanded in an imperious tone,
- Look, Fati... I want you to look closely at me
Before she could process what was happening, his hand moved to grip the edges of Peter's gray shirt that wrapped her body, pulling it upward in a swift motion. She shrieked in terror, her voice echoing against the walls,
- What are you doing, Jaguar?! Stop
But he didn't stop. He stripped the strange shirt off her in the blink of an eye, leaving her pale and shivering before his piercing eyes, clad only in her delicate undergarments. He anchored his sharp gaze to her, searching her features and eyes for any trace of betrayal, asking in a tone heavy with suspicion and ownership,
- Tell me... has any other man seen this body of yours besides me?
The moment he saw her hot tear slip down her cheek, showcasing both her purity and her profound oppression, an absolute certainty washed over him, calming his roaring heart. He knew for a fact that he was the only one who had ever possessed this body and soul. His breathing slowed, and he murmured in a softened tone,
- Fine then... now I trust you. I am certain no one else has seen you.
She stared at him, choked by the tears of a helpless woman, whispering in a trembling voice,
- Jaguar... you promised me... you swore just minutes ago that your hand would never be raised to terrorize or frighten me
She was shivering entirely within his space, acutely aware of the sheer proximity of his bare, overwhelming chest, as the piercing, intoxicating scent of his cologne invaded her lungs from this narrow distance. At that exact moment, her being was fractured into two; her rebellious heart was urging her to collapse and cling to this body that had once been her sanctuary, while her rational mind and bleeding wounds brutally reminded her that he was forcing his dominion over her here.
Yet, he did nothing else. He turned and carelessly threw Peter's shirt across the room like a piece of filth. Then, reaching for his own shirt draped over his shoulder, he gently guided her first hand into the sleeve, then the other, and began fastening the buttons one by one with practiced fingers. In utter bewilderment, she realized she was now wearing his shirt, enveloped entirely by his scent.
Leaning down into her stunned silence, he buried his head against her neck, breathing his hot breath into her skin as he inhaled the scent of her hair with deep hunger. He hissed in a definitive, possessive whisper,
- You are mine... mine alone, Fati. Therefore... never wear another man's shirt as long as you live. This is my jealousy
He delivered his final words, then turned with confident strides, take his jacket and put it on, unlocked the door, and walked out of the office with booming steps, leaving her utterly alone behind him drowning in a sea of her own bewilderment, confusion, and burning sorrow.