Chapter 2

Renée's POV

Everyone said Damien loved me more than life itself.

But at this moment, the commotion downstairs made me not even want to leave my room.

I had the maid bring dinner upstairs.

There was a knock at the door. I thought it was the maid, but when I opened it, Damien stood there holding a tray.

His eyes were brimming with apology.

"Renée, Tara said her emotions have been sensitive since the pregnancy and she doesn't want to be alone, so she came to the house today... Just for today. I promise I won't let her come again tomorrow."

I took the tray.

"Why don't you just let her move in?"

Damien froze, a flash of panic crossing his face.

"Renée, are you angry? I didn't mean it. I just think the child is innocent, and she's endured so much being pregnant out of wedlock for my sake. I can't be completely irresponsible..."

"I'm not angry."

I cut him off.

"Go on."

I carried the tray back inside. Behind me came a thud.

Damien had dropped to his knees, his eyes reddening.

"Renée, I'm sorry. At that business reception, I had no idea someone would drug her, let alone that I'd pick up the wrong glass. It was all an accident. The only person Damien will ever love in this lifetime is you."

I looked at him and was about to speak.

"Damien!"

Tara's voice came from downstairs.

"My stomach feels a bit uncomfortable. Can you come down for a minute?"

Damien immediately stood up and rushed outside.

He ran quickly, his retreating figure showing no hesitation.

I stood there, staring at the door he'd shut behind him, feeling something lightly slash across my heart.

It didn't hurt.

It was just cold.

After dinner, Damien had the maid inform me that he'd be working late at the office.

I hadn't planned on waiting for him anyway, so I went straight to take a bath.

The bathroom was separated from the guest room next door by only a wall. Tara was staying there tonight.

I'd just turned on the water when I heard strange sounds coming from next door.

I walked to the window and pulled back the curtain.

The night breeze rushed in, and the sounds from next door became clearer.

It was the sound of a man and woman kissing-intimate, sticky, accompanied by muffled panting.

"I'm better than Renée, aren't I?"

Tara's voice was hoarse and cloying.

"Yes, you're so much better."

Damien's voice carried laughter-a flippant tone I'd never heard from him before.

"She's just a dead fish in bed."

In the bathroom, I gripped the windowsill, motionless.

"If she weren't so boring," Damien's voice continued, accompanied by the soft rustle of fabric, "I wouldn't have had to come up with this plan to be with you..."

Tara laughed, her voice even more seductive.

"What, you just wanted to sleep with me? But I'm pregnant now."

Damien laughed too.

"Then have the baby. I'm not short on children."

That light laughter was like a dull blade, sawing at my heart one cut at a time.

Then came more intimate sounds-sounds I should never have heard.

I closed the window and submerged myself in the bathtub.

Hot water covered my shoulders, my chest, my chin.

I closed my eyes and sank completely underwater, and the world instantly went silent.

Only my heartbeat remained, muffled and rhythmic.

After a long while, I surfaced, gasping for air.

I suddenly remembered Damien from our college days.

How pure and innocent he'd been back then.

Every time he stole a kiss, his ears would turn completely red-red to the tips, red down to his neck.

Whenever I teased him on purpose, he'd stand there flustered, looking at me with eyes as bright as an entire galaxy.

"Renée, I'll be good to you for the rest of my life."

That's what he used to say.

I believed him.

But thinking about it now, those words spoiled so quickly.

Only five years.

My purity became a "dead fish" in someone else's mouth. His eyes learned how to lie. His embrace could hold two women at once.

I'd thought he was merely calculated against, that he was at least still a decent person.

But tonight I finally understood.

Damien was even more disgusting than Tara Moore.

At least Tara laid her ambitions out in the open, but Damien treated me like a complete fool!

I stood up from the bathtub, wrapped myself in a robe, and returned to the bedroom.

The sounds from next door still hadn't stopped.

The moonlight outside was cold.

I lay down and closed my eyes.

I hope Tara doesn't disappoint me.