CHAPTER 2: AGONY OF LOVE
1753 Words
Lena wore a fitted black dress that hugged her figure perfectly, confidence radiating from every step she took. Unlike everyone else around Theodore, Lena never feared him. She walked closer slowly, her heels clicking softly against the marble floor.
“I heard another patient survived your hands tonight,” she said with a teasing smile.
Theodore leaned back against his desk, watching her silently.
“And I heard your wife caused drama again,” Lena added casually.
His jaw tightened slightly, though not from anger.
“She always finds a way to make life difficult.”
Lena moved closer until only a breath separated them. “Then maybe you should stop thinking about her tonight.”
The tension between them thickened instantly.
Theodore’s fingers curled around Lena’s waist as she rested her hand against his chest, feeling the steady heartbeat beneath his shirt. The cold businessman mask he wore around the world faded slightly whenever she was near him.
Their kiss was slow at first — dangerous, restrained — before the bottled tension between them finally snapped. The office filled with heavy silence and stolen breaths while the city lights flickered behind them like witnesses to something forbidden.
For Theodore Carter, it was easier to drown himself in temporary desire than face the cracks slowly destroying his marriage.
Olivia woke up to the faint glow of the morning sun piercing through the transparent curtain. She yawned lazily as she pulled the blanket away from her body.
She got down from the bed and headed downstairs to grab something to eat opening the fridge she found it empty she glanced across the house and smile bitterly, she has forgotten that she lives alone since the moment she and Theodore got married no one except from Selin has come to the house, not even her wedded husband she went back upstairs to pick up her phone before heading out.
Olivia maintained a normal low-key appearance with only a jogger and basic top with a nose mask. She entered inside the shopping mall with slow unhurried steps, picking everything she needed with pure consciousness before heading to the counter to pay.
“I will handle the bills” Keith said as he winked at the counter lady who immediately loses her composure
Olivia looked at Keith clearly surprised by how he recognized her, Keith sensing her thought whispers in her ear
“If not you who else has a red mole on their neck side” he chuckles.
Olivia instinctively covered her mole with her hands, she took her goods the moment the lady was done and headed out of the mall, Keith paid for the goods and followed suit.
“Let me take you home” he offered
Olivia nodded and entered inside his black car. Olivia pulled down her mask the moment she settled down
“What were you doing there”
“I was with the manager of the place talking about the production for the ads”
“Oh” Olivia small mouth formed an O
“And you, what are you there for?”
“I came to get groceries but now that I've gotten it I remember that I can't cook”
Keith chuckles which earned him a glare from Keith.
“My bad liv, who buys groceries but can't cook”
“I have no one to teach me no mother to cook for me” Olivia replied bluntly the car was silent for a while Keith cleared his throat
“Don't worry I'm a good cook I will prepare your breakfast for you”
“Thanks,” Olivia said as she gave him directions to her house.
Rain drizzled softly outside Olivia’s apartment, tapping gently against the balcony glass while the city lights blurred beneath the stormy morning sky. The house itself felt unusually warm compared to the coldness she had carried inside her chest all day. Soft music played from a speaker near the kitchen counter, low enough to blend with the comforting sound of sizzling oil from the frying pan.
For the first time in days, the silence around Olivia did not feel lonely.
Keith stood in the kitchen wearing a ridiculous black apron that read Kiss the Chef, arguing dramatically with Selin over how much pepper belonged inside the soup.
“That is not seasoning,” Selin complained while chopping vegetables. “That is attempted murder.”
Keith placed a hand against his chest in a fake offense. “You wound me deeply.”
Olivia laughed quietly from where she sat on the counter, holding a bowl of strawberries in her lap. The sound surprised even her. It had been so long since laughter came naturally instead of painfully forced.
Keith noticed immediately.
And for a second… he forgot how to breathe.
He had spent years hiding his feelings for Olivia behind friendship, jokes, and playful teasing. Watching her smile now felt dangerous because it reminded him exactly why he fell for her in the first place. Even exhausted and emotionally broken, she still carried a softness that pulled people toward her effortlessly.
But Olivia remained unaware.
To her, Keith was simply safe.
A place where her heart could rest without fear.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked suspiciously after catching him frozen mid-motion.
Keith recovered quickly, pointing the wooden spoon at her. “I’m trying to figure out how someone burns instant noodles.”
Selin burst out laughing instantly.
Olivia gasped dramatically. “That happened one time!”
“Three times,” Keith corrected.
“You promised never to mention it again!”
“And yet here we are.”
The atmosphere inside the apartment became lighter with every passing minute. The smell of garlic, butter, and spices filled the air while steam fogged the kitchen windows. Selin occasionally danced terribly to the music while Keith mocked her movements so badly that Olivia nearly choked laughing.
Little by little, the pain Theodore and his family caused her yesterday began fading into the background.
Not disappearing completely.
Just becoming quieter.
Keith watched her carefully the entire evening without making it obvious. Every time she smiled, his chest tightened painfully with emotions he could never confess. Every time she laughed, he found himself staring too long before forcing his eyes away.
Because Olivia was still married.
And Keith knew loving her silently was safer than ruining the fragile comfort she found in him.
Later that night, Olivia sat curled on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while Keith placed a warm plate of food in front of her.
“You need to eat properly,” he said softly.
Olivia looked up at him, her eyes gentler now compared to the emptiness they carried earlier at the temple.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Keith smiled faintly before looking away.
Because if he stared at her any longer, he was afraid she might finally notice the love he had been hiding all along.
They all began to eat with the rain dying down
“What a feast”Selin gasped as she started to dish her food she took her seat on the floor beside Olivia who is seated on the couch
Keith sits opposite them
The atmosphere was still peaceful and carrying a harmonious air.
“Keith, do you know that you and Olivia are both in the upcoming drama series?”
Keith smile then nod his head
“I'm going for the audition tomorrow and you” Keith asked his question directed at Olivia.
“Tomorrow” Olivia replied, her gaze on her food.
Later that afternoon after Keith and Selin left Olivia’s phone lit up in the middle of the quiet afternoon.
At first, she almost ignored it.
Another notification. Unknown number.
But something about it made her pause—an instinct she couldn’t explain. Her fingers hesitated before she finally opened the message.
It was a photo.
For a few seconds, her mind refused to understand what she was seeing.
Theodore.
In a dimly lit room.
Asleep.
And beside him… Lena.
Close. Too close. Intimate in a way that didn’t need explanation.
Olivia’s breath caught so sharply it felt like something had snapped inside her chest.
The world around her didn’t immediately react—no sound, no movement—just a strange, floating stillness where everything suddenly felt far away. Her thumb tightened around the phone until her hand began to shake.
She stared again.
Hoping maybe it would change.
It didn’t.
Her throat went dry.
It wasn’t even anger at first.
It was disbelief.
Because Theodore Carter had always been cold to her. Distant. Controlled. Like she was someone he tolerated rather than loved. And yet, somewhere inside Olivia, there had always been a stubborn, quiet hope that maybe… just maybe… there was something underneath that coldness meant only for her.
But this photo didn’t leave room for “maybe.”
Her heart dropped painfully as realization settled in.
This was real.
Her vision blurred slightly, and she blinked hard, forcing herself not to cry immediately. Her grip on the phone loosened as her body sank slowly into the nearest chair, like her strength had been pulled out from under her.
“So this is what it is…” she whispered to herself.
A bitter, broken laugh escaped her lips—but it didn’t sound like humor. It sounded like disbelief trying to disguise pain.
Her mind replayed everything at once.
The coldness. The dismissiveness. The way he looked through her like she was nothing more than part of his life he didn’t choose.
And now this.
Another woman.
In the space she never truly belonged in.
Her chest tightened painfully.
But even as tears finally gathered in her eyes, Olivia pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to hold herself together.
Because the worst part wasn’t just betrayal.
It was understanding that she still loved him.
Even now.
Even seeing that photo.
Even knowing it broke something inside her she didn’t know could break further.
“I still love you…” she whispered shakily, like admitting it made it hurt less.
But it didn’t.
It made everything worse.
She wiped her face quickly, almost angrily, as if trying to erase the feeling itself.
Because loving Theodore Carter had never been soft.
It has always been painful.
And now it had become something she could no longer pretend didn’t hurt. This is the agony of loving someone who never trusted and loved you.
- Writer
