I Don't Love You

Chapter 1

“Why are you doing this to me? I don’t get it. I didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about!” Reina lashed out at her husband, trying to use the little courage left on her body. She has bruises on her face, she is limping as she walks towards the room, but Leandro grabs her hair with brute force.

"Stop lying! You’re a scheming evil woman! I knew it! All along, you’re pretending to be weak but deep inside…” Leandro shook his head in disbelief. “You are a vixen without conscience!” He slapped her face, almost twisting her neck because of too much force.

She didn’t have enough strength to walk, so Reina decided to crawl. She wants to escape from her nightmare but Leandro stomps on her back, kicking her abdomen as if she is an animal, not a human being. “Stop… Please… I… I’m begging you…”

“Stop? Why should I?” Leandro grabbed her foot and pulled her out of the room. “I thought you were an obedient wife but you are not. You are envious, aren’t you? You’re jealous because I love Ailyn, not you!”

Reina’s weeping, crying to the point of hyperventilating. “No… I swear, I am not. I love you, Leandro. Why would I hurt her?”

Leandro was smiling, yet his face was flustered with anger. “Then who hired that vehicle who ran over to Ailyn? Are you telling me that it was only an accident?”

“For Pete’s sake, Leandro… Why would I hurt your mistress-- ?”

Leandro’s large hands grabbed her throat. “Don’t you dare call her a mistress!”

A tear fell on his hand as if triggering his sanity to come back. He lost his grip and backed off. Reina started to stand up while trembling, trying her best to balance herself without tumbling down. “But… I am your wife.” Leandro’s gaze was still blazing with fury. She couldn’t think of any other words other than: “What do you want me to do?”

"Die! Just go to hell! When you’re gone, I can marry Ailyn as my wife.”

His words pierced her heart. It was shattered all along yet he crushed it more, grinding it to ashes. “Did you even love me?”

“No. I only married you because of your father’s money.”

To Reina’s surprise, it was not something new to her. Actually, all along, she knew how garbage Leandro’s personality was, yet she chose to be blind. Trying her best to deceive herself with her own fabricated lies. She walked towards the balcony, limping and staggering. She wanted to feel the cold breeze and admire the moon and stars. Silently lamenting her pitiful decisions and stupidity. “I see…” Leandro’s gaze focused on her. So, for the last time, she gave a warm smile. “I wish… If I could have another chance, I don’t want to meet you again…”

“W-what?” Leandro stood still as Reina lifted her feet, sat on the railings, and with her arms wide open, she fell from the balcony of the third floor of their house.

****

“This is trash! If only I could grab the creator’s collar, I would strangle him to death!” Ynna almost threw her phone in the air because of frustration. She read the latest update of I Don’t Love You, the webtoon she hates the most. “I want to slap Reina’s face! Gosh! I’m still waiting for her character development, but she is so weak! She came from a rich family. Why is she so scared to leave her husband?”

As a woman who comes from the slums of Tondo, Manila, being a conglomerate’s heiress is one of her wildest dreams since childhood. Unfortunately, she came from a poor family. Her father abandoned her mother when she was still a fetus. And her mother, a maid of a politician’s family, is the breadwinner. Ever since she was a child, she had been used to hard work – after her classes, she would go to their neighbor’s food stand to help. For fifty pesos or one US dollar and five pieces of barbeque as take-home pay, she needs to help for at least three hours. She will stay there from five to eight in the evening. Her mother would be at home at seven to cook rice and wash their clothes. Sometimes, she would accept other students’ bribes to finish their homework. That was her life until she graduated from college.

When Ynna was still at her university, she became her professor’s apprentice for two years. That’s why she can have her board exam after graduation. With a stroke of luck and hard work, she passed the exam on her first take. After that, she soared higher. She worked for a large company as a junior architect. Little by little, she made it out of the slums. Her mother stopped working as a maid. At the age of twenty-five, she started to invest in their two-bedroom rent-to-own house and a second-hand car.

The hymn from her cellphone woke her up from her daze. Her mother is calling. She swipes the screen to answer. “Hello, Mom…”

“Where are you? It’s already seven in the evening. Are you driving?” her mother’s sweet voice calms her nerves.

"I am still here in Makati, Mom. But don’t worry, I’m going home now.”

“Alright. I will wait for you, Ynna. I made your favorite laing.”

She smiled and nodded her head when she heard that her favorite vegetable with coconut milk dish would be their dinner. “Thanks, Mom. I’m on my way.”

She only checked if the materials that were supposed to arrive today were there. It was a bunch of tiles and paints for the building’s finish. All of the workers are gone because they delivered the work based on her given timetable. She walked towards the stairs after she ended the call. It was the first week of December, which's why the air is cold. The light from the moon illuminated her steps, but she stopped midway as she heard a noise, the faint breathing of someone.

“Is there someone in there–” She twisted her heel as the figure of a man, a foot taller than her, pushed her with all his might. The glass wall panels on the side of the stairs that should be there are not yet done. That’s why it was open for the moment. Ynna’s eyes grew bigger as she stared at the culprit’s face. It was a labor worker she knew. The man is busy stealing the remnant steel on the site when she hears the noise. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate. “What a drag… I’m sorry, Mom.”

Within a few seconds, her body reached the concrete floor. Her head was fine because of her helmet, yet her bones were broken. She didn’t feel any pain. It was a quick death. Her white shirt started to turn red because of her blood. While the man who was standing on the stairs was trembling in fear. He ran away from the crime scene without looking back.