Unloved and unseen

CHAPTER 2

Her knees threatened to buckle. Tears burned her eyes. She wanted to run, to escape this room, this life, this man who had promised nothing but pain.

She stumbled to the bed, lying down, trying to make herself small. But even in the privacy of the room, she felt exposed, discarded, invisible.

Ethan didn’t move to comfort her. He simply walked to the window, stared at the city lights, and muttered, “I’ll be asleep soon. Don’t wake me unless necessary.”

Hiraya’s sobs were quiet. She didn’t want him to see. She didn’t want anyone to see. But the pain was so deep, so raw, that it spilled anyway.

Ethan’s POV

He watched her from the window, he saw her back reflection from the glass. She was curled on the bed, trembling slightly. He felt nothing. Not pity. Not regret. Not even satisfaction, really.

This was the way it should be. She needed to understand her place. Marriage wasn’t love. Marriage wasn’t warmth. Marriage was a contract, a duty, and she was merely a participant.

When she had whispered, trying to hold onto hope, he had snapped her illusion like a dry twig. Good. She needed to know the truth. She would never belong to him.

He turned away from the window and climbed into bed on the opposite side. Distance. Silence. Separation. He would not offer comfort, affection, or even pretend to care. That was the boundary he had promised to maintain.

And Hiraya… she would learn. Slowly, painfully, that he was untouchable. That he will never love her. That she, of all people, was invisible to him.

---

Hiraya’s POV

Hours passed. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, feeling the emptiness between them like a chasm. She wanted to hate him. She wanted to scream at him, to demand love, to cry until her lungs burned.

But the truth was worse. She still loved him. She loved him despite the cruelty, despite the indifference, despite the betrayal she had already felt from him, her family, and her so-called friends.

She remembered the whispers at the reception: “Without Ethan, she’s nothing.”

She remembered his words at the ceremony: “You will live in hell.”

She remembered the chill in his gaze that had followed her all day, the way his hand barely touched her when they danced.

And she realized… she had nothing.

Nothing but hope. A fragile, foolish hope that he might someday see her. But he never would. And the thought broke her even more than the reality.

She curled into herself, whispering into the empty room, “Bakit subrang sakit? Why can’t I be enough?”

No answer came, only the soft hum of the air conditioner and the steady rhythm of her own tears.

---

Ethan’s POV

He drifted into sleep quickly, his side of the bed empty in every way that mattered. Maya lay across the room, invisible, silent. He felt nothing, as he had promised himself he would.

This was marriage, yes. But not love. Not partnership. Not warmth. She was a title. A requirement. A placeholder. And he would continue to treat her exactly as she deserved: a reminder of the contract she never chose, the boundaries he never intended to cross, the promises he would never keep.

And tomorrow, the world would see them as perfect. Smiling. Radiant. Married. Happy.

But behind closed doors, the truth was simple. One of them was awake, alive in hope. The other was gone long before they even said their vows.

That night, Hiraya’s heart broke in silence. She was a bride, a wife, a woman bound by law and family, yet untouched by love. Her body shared a bed with a man whose heart had never belonged to her.

And in that lonely, merciless room, she understood the cruelest truth of all: some marriages aren’t made in love, but in obligation. And sometimes, even the most beautiful vows are nothing but chains.

She woke up early in the morning, with swollen eyes, she thought that he was still laying on the bed. Napabalikwas Siya SA kangang higaan at agad chi-neck ang Bathroom, and guest rooms but even a foot steps, ay wala Siyang nakitang Bakas. Agad Siyang bumaba upang magtanong sa mga katulong, agad lumiwanag ang mukha niya Ng sinabi Ng katulong na NASA loob Ng office sa mansion nila ito natulog.Agad Siyang kumilos, naligo at at nagbihis pangbahay at pumuntang kusina. Pigilan pa Sana Siya Ng mga katulong SA kaniyang ginagawa ngunit sinuway niya ang mga ito. Nais niyang paghandaan Ng umagahan ang kaniyang Asawa. May galak SA puso habang hinahanda niya ang mga ito. Napatingin Siya SA bungad Ng pintuan Makita niyang papasok Ng kusina si Ethan. Niyang nakabihis na ito Ng business suit, napahanga Siya SA kagwapuhan into at kakisigan, napatingin Siya SA liked nitong malapad dahil may kinuha ito SA refrigerator.

“Ethan… gusto mo bang kumain tayo ng b-breakfast together?”

Her voice was fragile, almost apologetic, but her eyes carried a faint hope.

For a moment, Ethan didn’t move. He didn’t even turn to look at her. The silence stretched, pressing against her chest like a weight.

Finally, he glanced at her. His eyes were sharp, cold, like shards of glass.

“Breakfast?” he repeated, his tone dripping with disdain. “Hiraya, don’t act like a wife.”

Her breath caught. “I-I just thought…”

“You thought wrong,” he cut her off. His words were knives, each one sharper than the last. “This—whatever this is—it’s an arrangement. Hindi kita inasawa para sabayan kumain o para sa mga sweet na moments na iniisip mo. Don’t embarrass yourself.”

Hiraya froze. The little flicker of hope she had nurtured in her chest fizzled into ash. She swallowed hard, her throat tight.

“Ethan…” she tried again, her voice trembling. “I wasn’t trying to—”

He raised a hand, silencing her. “Enough. Don’t make this harder than it already is. Kung gusto mong kumain, kumain ka mag-isa. I don’t owe you my time, Hiraya. And don’t mistake silence for kindness—hindi ako mabait sayo, I’m just tolerating you.”

Her hands curled into fists at her sides, not from anger but from the desperate effort to keep herself from breaking down in front of him. Every word dug deeper, carving out whatever fragile courage she had built.

For a second, she considered apologizing—for what, she didn’t even know. For being there? For trying? For hoping? But the humiliation in his eyes stopped her.

So she nodded, slowly, forcing her lips into something that looked like composure. “I understand,” she whispered.

But she didn’t. She didn’t understand how someone could be this heartless. How the man she was bound to could cut her so easily, as though she were nothing more than an inconvenience.

She turned away, blinking rapidly to keep the tears from falling. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Not now. Not here.

Hiraya walked toward the dining table, where the —plates of fresh fruit, bread, eggs, bacon, everything arranged beautifully. She sat down quietly, her hands trembling as she picked up a fork.

But she couldn’t eat. The food blurred through her tears. Every bite she tried to swallow felt like sand in her throat.

Behind her, she heard Ethan’s footsteps. Calm, unhurried. He crossed the room, grabbed his blazer from the chair, and slid it on.

“I’ll be gone most of the day,” he said flatly. “Don’t wait for me. And stop trying to play the role of a wife. Hindi mo kailangang pilitin. We both know this marriage is for show.”

And with that, he left. .

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Hiraya’s POV (continued)

The moment he walked out the kitchen, Hiraya dropped her fork. Her shoulders sagged, and the tears she had been holding back finally spilled.

She pressed a hand to her mouth, muffling the sobs that tore from her chest.

Bakit ganito? she thought. Bakit kahit anong gawin ko, mali pa rin? Kahit simpleng breakfast lang… bawal pa?

Her chest ached as though her heart had cracked open. She remembered the way he had looked at her—like she was nothing, like she was less than nothing.

Her mind replayed the wedding night, his cold words, and now this morning. Every attempt she made to reach out was met with cruelty, rejection, indifference.

Even her family hadn’t defended her yesterday. Even her friends had whispered behind her back. And now, even her husband—her last fragile hope—had cut her down without hesitation.

She pushed the plate of food away, appetite gone. Her hands trembled as she whispered into the empty room, “Is this all I’ll ever be? A wife by name, invisible in everything else?”

The silence answered her, merciless and cold.

---

Ethan’s POV

On the drive to his office, Ethan’s mind barely lingered on Hiraya.

She had asked him to eat breakfast together, her eyes carrying that pitiful spark of hope. He had crushed it deliberately. Why? Because she needed to learn. She needed to understand the rules of their marriage.

This wasn’t love. This wasn’t a partnership. It was a duty. Obligation. A cage they both had been forced into.

If she thought kindness would blossom here, she was wrong. Better to cut the roots before they grew.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. In his mind, Hiraya was fragile, naive, too soft for the world they lived in. He had no patience for fragility. No use for hope.

And so, he would continue to remind her: Don’t mistake this marriage for love. Don’t mistake me for yours.

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Hiraya’s POV

Back in the mansion, Hiraya sat in silence, staring at the untouched plates of food. Her tears had dried, but the ache in her chest remained.

She realized then that this was only the beginning. One rejection had already shattered her. What would a lifetime of this cruelty do to her?

She pressed a hand to her heart, whispering the truth she was too afraid to face: “I’m already breaking.” she was too fragile

She went back to her room, and burst in crying.Why can't she be loved?she walk towards a glass door and open it, she's in a Balcony, she sees the beauty of the garden Where full of different kind of flowers and colours. The painful thoughts was gone and she finds a temporary peace. She was calmed by the wind embrace, she closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh air coming from a garden she never thought that there was such a paradise in the mansion. She opened her enjoy the beauty of garden. Napakunot noo Siya Ng may napansin Siyang mga armadong lalaki