“Am I so repulsive to you?” Her lips were trembling. “You won’t even talk to me, you discard me like I am a member of your staff. I thought that we could…”
“Repulsive?” He repeated with a low growl.
“Repulsive, vile-”
“Do not talk about yourself like that!”
Prim looked at him as his authoritative voice echoed in the room. He searched her eyes, and she ground her teeth as a tear was spilled.
“That is what you think I feel?”
“What else am I supposed to feel?” She ground. “You wouldn’t even look at me, not a word, not a letter, the three weeks before the wedding.
“Prim, I-”
And now,” she continued, the dam inside her broken. “Now you just look right through me as if I am not there! I am! I am here! In your house! As your wife!”
Her voice cracked on the last word, her energy almost depleted. She was panting in exhaustion and anger.
“I do see you, Prim.”
She shook her head in disbelief.
“I do,” he demanded her attention.
“You do? You see this,” she points at her state of complete agony, “and yet you choose to ignore it. To discard it with fakepoliteness and logistics reports. You knew how I felt all this time, and you chose to treat me this way.”
Prim’s body became an iron rod. She composed herself, wiped her tears, and straightened her back.
“I thought you were merely ignorant.” Her voice was strained but even. “Now, I see you are cruel. Very well.”
She turned to leave the room, ran to her chambers, and scream in her pillows. But her hand is caught by the iron grip of his fingers. He turned her and made her face him.
“You think I am cruel?” he asked, his voice low and intense. “You think my distance was a choice made from indifference?”
“Yes.”
He released but didn’t step away.
“It was made from guilt.”
The word exploded from him, harsh and brutal. He ran both hands through his hair, and he stepped away only to pace in front of her before whirling back.
“It’s because of me you are trapped in here,” he said, pointing at him. “Because of me, you were stripped of your options.”
“It was not your fault.”
“My family targeted me and shot you,” he was shaking with anger, the mask he wore for more than a month cracking.
“And now you are stuck with the collateral damage,” she raised her hands.
“I failed to protect you.”
“You failed to protect yourself from a marriage you never wanted.”
“I trapped you in a marriageyounever wanted!”
“Oh, spare me the heroic guilt! You think I don’t know what I am to you?”
