For a long, suspended moment, Fati remained clinging to his broad back, seeking a shred of solace amidst the debris of her shattered past. Yet, Jaguar didn't stir; he stood completely rigid and frozen within her embrace, like a marble statue devoid of sensation. Believing her gesture had either discomforted him or that the wall of estrangement between them was too absolute to melt, she slowly loosened her grip and stepped back, granting him the space to proceed and enter the luxury vehicle waiting before them.
But before her hands could fully detach from his warmth, his powerful hand shot out, capturing her retreating fingers. He guided them back with a gentle yet firm resolve to his waist, resting his broad palm securely over her hands, and murmured in a deep, resonant tone laced with a raw plea she had never witnessed from him before:
- Please... stay like this for a moment.
His internal world at that exact instant was chaotic, turbulent resembling the violent waves of a raging ocean crashing relentlessly against the sharp rocks of a towering cliff. His stillness was not out of coldness, but absolute, gripping awe. The sensation of her arms encircling his waist and the steady rhythm of her warm breath brushing directly against his back was, undeniably, the most beautiful and precious thing that had graced his existence in six agonizing years. Closing his eyes against the frigid night air, he added in a whispered tone that pierced the silence:
- Just a few more minutes... just a few more minutes
Fati stood behind him, hesitating as a tempest of confusion ravaged her mind. She couldn't decipher his abrupt gesture or the hidden depth of his plea; he manifested no outward sign of genuine affection or warmth toward her spontaneous embrace. She questioned herself bitterly in the quiet of her thoughts: Was this some twisted sentiment peculiar to vengeful men? She unlocked the reality now he had only wed her in the past to avenge his late aunt, Rosie. Throughout all those bitter years, he had never loved her.
Then, a sudden, sharp wave of guilt and self-reproach struck her conscience. She bit her lip in sheer agony. What on earth was she thinking right now?! At this precise, sacred moment, she was supposed to be drowning in pitch-black grief for her biological mother, who had perished in agony and torture... How could her fractured mind abandon the sanctity of that sorrow, only to wander into the territory of whether Jaguar loved her or not?!
Ultimately, as his silence stretched on and she grew entirely certain that he wouldn't stir an inch manifesting no overt expression to help her decipher his cryptic posture or his rare, desperate plea Fati spoke in a hushed, faint whisper dripping with poisoned sorrow,
- Were you... were you taking revenge on me all this time for the sake of my mother?
Not a single sound escaped him. His mind was violently battling its own turbulent waves, weighing his words, searching through the debris of his soul for the ultimate response to clarify the thorns of the past. Ultimately, beneath the crushing weight of the heavy truth, he resolved to confront her with the half-truth he knew, answering in a deep, resolute murmur,
- Yes.
The moment that single word left his lips, she instantly countered in a cold, rigid tone, her mind now thoroughly convinced of his dark emotions and intentions interpreting them through her own fractured lens.
- In that case... take your revenge on me however you see fit. I will no longer stop you, nor will I stand in the face of your cruelty. After all, I am the daughter of that monster who caused her death and shattered her spirit.
Unconsciously, the exact moment her searing, sacrificial words struck his ears, Jaguar's powerful grip slackened, and his hand slipped away from hers. The sheer shock of her claim was far greater than his capacity to endure. He felt as though the very earth was giving way beneath him as she assumed her father's sins, offering her fragile frame to the whip of his vengeance. But Fati, the instant she felt his hold loosen, retreated with swift, agile steps. She pulled back, standing a distance away from his broad back, which remained completely paralyzed, refusing to turn toward her lest she glimpse the rare fracture in his eyes.
Staring at the towering silhouette of his black coat from behind, she asserted in a resolute tone dripping with bitter, broken defiance,
- Let us begin with a divorce first... I want a divorce to completely liberate you from your chains. And after that... do with me whatever you desire; you will find no resistance from me.
Her lethal words rained down upon him like blazing balls of fire, instantly incinerating every shred of hope he had woven in his mind mere minutes ago when she was clinging to his back, surrendering to his warmth. His iron composure dissolved, supplanted by an emotional panic he had never tasted in his entire existence. Turning toward her with desperate urgency, he spoke in a fractured, breathless murmur,
- Wait... Fati! I didn't mean that I...
But she denied him the chance to rebuild. Turning away, she moved with almost mechanical, exhausted strides, sliding into the rear seat of the luxury vehicle. Before he could utter another syllable, she turned her head, a faint, fractured smile tracing her lips entirely drowned in her scalding tears. She whispered in a weary tone,
- Let us return home... please, I desperately need to be alone.
Jaguar slid into the seat beside her, his entire frame radiating intense tension and anxiety. Turning fully toward her, desperate to salvage the situation before it slipped permanently through his fingers, he urged in a rare, pleading masculine tone,
- Fati... listen to me carefully, I...
- Jaguar... please.
She severed his words with a quiet tone that was nonetheless powerful enough to paralyze his senses. Fixing her eyes onto his with a warm, agonizing ache, she continued,
- I know for a fact now that you never wedded me out of love... everything between us was built entirely on a foundation of revenge for your aunt. I will remain before you; I won't flee from your retribution, but... do not cling to me against your own will, while you know deep down that I am nothing but a prisoner to a sorrowful, dark past.
Slowly averting her gaze, she stared out of the glass window at the blurring lights of the city, concluding her words with a hollow, dripping resignation,
- We both need to rethink everything... so do not force yourself any longer to endure and remain with me
Jaguar chose absolute silence, uttering not a single syllable. He knew with absolute certainty that the gruesome truth she had swallowed today regarding her mother's death had shattered her inner world. Her raging, turbulent emotions wouldn't allow her mind to process any justification at this moment. Deep within his soul, he resolved to postpone the confrontation until tomorrow, to look into her eyes and declare that he had never, and would never, seek vengeance against her.
He shifted his heavy gaze toward her, studying her withered features as she sat beside him, clutching the deformed woolen rabbit tightly against her chest as if it were her final sanctuary, while her eyes remained glued to the bleak darkness outside the window. The moment the vehicle slowed to a smooth halt in front of her apartment building, Fati stepped out with exhausted, dragging strides, without casting a single glance backward.
In that fleeting second, Jaguar rolled down the window partition and called out to her, his deep, masculine voice laced with a raw undercurrent of worry he could no longer conceal,
- Fati... do you want me to stay with you tonight? You are emotionally unstable right now, and you are enduring a shattering ordeal.
She turned toward him with a hollow, vacant look, answering with a cold, detached resignation while tightening her grip on her rabbit,
- No... thank you. I desperately desire to be left entirely alone.
Jaguar observed her keenly, noting with a sudden pang of bitterness a pattern that had become ingrained in her psychology; she always excluded him, driving him away whenever she felt the desperate urge to break down and weep in isolation. Narrowing his eyes with a towering, unbreakable authority, he declared in a resolute tone that brokered no argument,
- I will proceed to the palace now... and I shall return tomorrow so we can settle everything and come to an understanding. As for your previous request... I will not accept it right now.
Fati opened her mouth, intending to object or counter his decree, but he denied her the chance. He smoothly raised the tinted glass window with an imposing, glacial composure, and the luxury vehicle surged forward, leaving behind nothing but the freezing air and a silence that abandoned her to face her long, solitary night.
Fati remained rooted to the spot, her eyes anchored to the fading trail of the luxury vehicle until it vanished entirely from her sight, swallowed by the darkness of the night. She turned slowly toward her apartment building, but her strides grew heavy, and she felt the looming walls suffocating her before she could even cross the threshold; she was simply incapable of facing the chilling isolation of her room alone. A hidden impulse, born from the depths of her fractured soul, redirected her internal compass toward the opposite building... where their grandfather lay. She ascended with drifting, almost lost steps, guided by the scent of a shared agony, until she slipped into his private suite.
Meanwhile, inside the speeding vehicle, Jaguar's personal phone vibrated. The caller was one of his elite security operatives, whom he had strictly and secretly commissioned to monitor Fati's every single move to ensure her safety. The guard's voice came through with a grim gravity,
- Sir... the Madam did not go up to her apartment. She altered her path and headed directly toward the opposite hospital building.
Jaguar did not hesitate for a fraction of a second. His eyes ignited with a sharp, panicked intensity, and he turned to the driver, shattering the silence with a roaring command,
- Turn around immediately... We are heading back to the hospital!
Inside the quiet suite, Fati stepped softly toward the bed of her grandfather, who was immersed in a deep, heavy slumber, blissfully detached from the roaring chaos and agony of the world. She approached with a thoroughly exhausted frame, reaching down to cradle his frail hand between her own palms, which still clung tightly to the deformed woolen rabbit. Involuntarily, her facade of composure shattered completely, and her scalding tears cascaded heavily, washing over the old man's weathered skin. She whimpered in a voice choked with profound weeping,
- Grandfather... forgive me... please, forgive me.
She fell silent for an interlude, suppressing the ragged sobs that tore at her chest. Bending down, she tenderly pressed her lips against his trembling hand, continuing in a tone dripping with searing, bitter remorse,
- Forgive me for never sensing the magnitude of your suffering... throughout this entire past period, I treated you with nothing but cold detachment and cruelty, entirely blind to the sheer monstrosity and agony you endured as you watched your precious daughter perish, swallowing the bitter poison of her absence... Forgive me, grandfather.
Lifting her grandfather's frail, limp hand, Fati pressed it gently against her cheek, which was thoroughly drenched by the torrent of her scalding tears. She continued in a voice flooded with a poisoned lump,
- If I... I who never beheld my mother nor sampled her embrace, am enduring all this agonizing torment and fragmentation merely from listening to her story... then what of your emotions, grandfather, throughout all those long years?! How did your heart survive, knowing with absolute certainty that she was oppressed and tortured unto death without you being able to rescue her?! How?
The grandfather, heavily sedated under the intense influence of potent sleeping medications coursing through his system, remained completely oblivious to his surroundings, immersed in a profound slumber. Faced with that eerie silence, the final thread of Fati's sanity and restraint snapped completely. In a sudden fit of emotional madness and a crashing wave of suffocating guilt, she locked her fingers tightly around his lifeless hand and violently began striking her own cheek and face with it, over and over with brutal force. Her ragged sobs tore at her throat as she shrieked in absolute hysteria and brokenness:
- Strike me, grandfather... please, strike me with this hand! I deserve to be beaten and humiliated... Strike me, for I am the offspring of that monstrous man... I am his daughter! Strike me so perhaps this defiled blood flowing within me can be cleansed... Strike me!"
At that exact cinematic moment... right outside the heavy wooden door of the suite, Jaguar stood entirely paralyzed. He had just arrived, yet he didn't storm inside. Instead, he anchored his towering back flat against the door, shutting his eyes forcefully as his mind pushed to the brink of exploding. He stood there, forced to listen to her shattered screams, her hysterical weeping, and the echoing thuds of her striking herself with the old man's hand.
And for the very first time in his life... for the first time since he became feared as the ruthless, iron-hearted "Jaguar," his steel fortress dissolved entirely, and his impenetrable pride shattered into dust. Scalding, heavy, and piercing tears erupted from his sharp eyes, carving a silent, violent path down his cheeks... tears that washed away every single lingering remnant of vengeance, heralding the birth of a desperate lover ready to burn the entire world to ashes, if only to erase the agony from the heart of his broken tigress.
What do you think?
How will Jaguar enter the room? How will he pry the grandfather's hand from hers and contain her frenzy and breakdown? Those tears of his will change the entire way he interacts with her from now on.