Too Late to Claim Me Again

Chapter 4

“Is your future bride calm now?”

Anna’s voice was flat when Rendy finally walked into the room. There was no explosion of anger—just a heavy exhaustion settling in every word she spoke.

Rendy exhaled slowly and stepped toward her. “Baby… just listen to me first,” he said quietly. “I did all of this for you. So you wouldn’t be the one they keep blaming.”

Anna stared at him for a long moment, as if trying to make sense of a logic that didn’t exist. “For me?” A dry, bitter laugh slipped out. “Rendy… what you’re doing is hurting me. How can you not see that?”

“I know you’re stronger than Lusi,” Rendy replied quickly, clinging to his reasoning like it was the only thing he had left. “That’s why I know you can get through this.”

Another laugh broke from Anna—softer, but more fractured. “So because I’m ‘stronger,’ you think it’s fine to throw me aside like this?”

Rendy fell silent. He rubbed his face, frustration etched into every movement. “Anna… I’m serious. When everything settles down, we’ll go back to how we were. We’ll be husband and wife again.”

Anna’s eyes sharpened, a cold glint cutting through him. “Do you think marriage is a game? Something you can put on pause, then continue whenever you feel ready?”

“I know it’s heavy… for me too,” he whispered, his voice on the verge of breaking. “But I’ve thought about this from every angle. There’s no other way, Anna.”

“There is,” Anna cut in—steady, unwavering. “We walk out of this house. Right now. We go back to our apartment and forget the madness of these past few days. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Rendy dropped his gaze, staring at the floor for several seconds before answering. “Anna… it can’t be that simple.”

“Why?” she pressed. “Why not?”

He finally relented. “Fine. We’ll go home. But you go first. I’ll catch up later.”

Anna frowned. “Rendy…”

“Let me be the one to talk to them,” he said softly.

His voice was gentle, but there was something fragile at the edges—like a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.

Anna studied him—too long, too deeply—before surrendering to the uncertainty that hung between them.

And in that moment, the silence was louder than any argument they could have had.

***

Anna returned to the apartment she had called “home” for the past two years with Rendy. But this time, there were no footsteps following behind her. No soft click of the door being closed by her husband, the way he always did. Only silence accompanied her inside.

Rendy had promised he would come later. And as always, Anna chose to believe him. She always believed him.

The two-year marriage she had poured her whole heart into—one she thought was full of love and warmth—was something she desperately wanted to save. As far as Anna knew, they had always been fine. Or at least, that was what she chose to believe.

At five in the evening, Anna decided to cook. The clatter of pans, the smell of stir-fries filling the kitchen, and the dining table she set so neatly—she did it all for one small hope: when Rendy came home, they could have dinner together. They could talk honestly. Maybe fix whatever had begun to crack.

“I hope this helps us think clearly about our marriage, Ren…” she whispered internally, staring at the two plates that suddenly felt like two worlds drifting farther apart.

Anna waited. And waited. Until a notification broke the silence.

A message from Rendy.

Anna, I’m sorry. I can’t come home today. Lusi has stomach pain and I have to stay here to take care of her.

The sentence hit harder than a scream. There was a long pause between Anna reading the message and her mind accepting it. Then her heart—once again—shattered.

“Why are you changing so fast…?” Anna murmured, her voice barely audible. Her lips trembled as she fought back tears.

“Mrs. Anna?” Margaret, the housemaid, called softly.

“Yes, what is it?” Anna quickly wiped her cheeks.

“There’s a package for Mr. Rendy. It arrived this afternoon.”

Anna accepted the folder.

“Clean up the table. Throw everything away,” she said quietly, yet firmly.

She walked into Rendy’s study—a place she rarely entered—with the intention of simply placing the package on his desk. But her gaze drifted toward the drawer he always kept locked. Rendy never explicitly forbade her from opening it, yet something about his behavior always told her not to. She knew where he kept the key, but she had never felt the need to look inside. She had never been suspicious. She truly believed their marriage was fine.

But today… today she needed answers. She took the key and opened the drawer.

Inside was a framed photo album and a diary.

“He keeps a diary?” she whispered.

Anna read it, page by page, her shock growing with every sentence. Every entry was about Lusi. The photo album held nothing but pictures of Lusi. And on the last page, she found the truth.

Rendy had married her because he wanted to stay close to Lusi.

Anna’s chest tightened. She broke down completely. Every bit of affection and tenderness she thought was real was nothing but a performance. An illusion. No one had ever truly loved her. From the very beginning, she had been deceived.