Chapter 4 Are You Out Of Your Mind

Kristopher slipped his hand beneath the folds of her bathrobe, his touch tracing the curve of Carrie's skin, as smooth and delicate as silk. He encircled her slender waist, drawing her closer with a gentle yet firm grip.

Her face, a captivating canvas of defiance and visible irritation, ignited in him an uncontrollable urge to claim victory over her resistance.

His breathing grew heavy, yet he remained composed, slowly removing his tailored suit.

The fabric of his suit brushed lightly against Carrie's cheek, releasing a mix of scents: a familiar woody aroma intertwined with an unexpected zesty twist of lemon. It was unmistakably Jo Malone's Blue Agava and Cacao-Lise's signature scent.

A surge of nausea overwhelmed Carrie at the realization.

As Kristopher's eyes, now shaded with a stormy intensity, drew nearer to hers, the proximity conjured unwelcome visions of him with Lise. Her stomach churned violently, and with a sudden movement, she pushed him away, propping herself up with a jolt and a dry retch.

"Ugh..."

Her stomach had been empty all day, leaving her with nothing to bring up.

The desire in Kristopher's gaze flickered out, replaced by a cold, detached expression as he withdrew slightly.

Observing the genuine distress and the reddening of Carrie's eyes, Kristopher perceived her reaction for outright disgust at their closeness.

He paused, fingers adjusting his shirt cuffs, his voice cold as he confronted her. "Carrie, is this reaction reserved only for me, or is it how you respond to all men?"

The air in the room turned frosty, thick with tension.

Carrie swallowed the sharp sting in her throat, her eyes widening in shock as she stared up at him.

Ever since their marriage, she had cut ties with nearly all her male friends, yet here was Kristopher, casually tossing out comments sharp enough to cut glass.

The years of love she had poured into their relationship now seemed utterly futile.

Heat crept up her neck, coloring her cheeks a bright scarlet as indignation took hold. Without thinking, her hand flew up and delivered a stinging slap across Kristopher's face.

All her suppressed grievances from the day ignited in that swift motion.

Her bathrobe, loosened in the heat of the moment, slipped from her shoulders. Ignoring the flush of exposure, she swiftly gathered the fabric and draped it around herself, her movements quick and firm.

The impact of her slap had left a light, crimson mark on Kristopher's cheek, marking him with her outrage.

His eyes, wide with disbelief, met hers. "Carrie, are you out of your mind?"

Out of her mind? Yes, she was clearly insane to ever fall for him in the first place.

Carrie fumed silently, her heart pounding in her chest.

Suddenly, the sharp buzz of the phone on the table cut through the mounting tension, its vibration bringing a brief respite from their standoff.

Kristopher cast a fleeting glance at the message, shut off the phone with a snap, and strode towards the door, his back rigid with tension.

Her voice, firm and unwavering, chased after him. "We're getting a divorce! Make sure you sign those papers before you walk out that door!"

Kristopher paused briefly and said sharply, "I have something to do now. When I return, do whatever pleases you." With that, he forcefully shut the door.

Carrie's eyes followed his unwavering exit, feeling an oppressive weight compressing her chest once again.

She disregarded the sharp sting in her leg and hobbled determinedly toward her tablet. Fingers trembling, she hastily navigated to Lise's Twitter page.

Lise had just uploaded a new tweet.

The photo showed her lying down with a fever patch adhered to her forehead, still enveloped in Kristopher's familiar jacket.

The caption read, "Being sick makes me extra clingy. Wishing I had someone here. Stay cozy and take care, everyone!"

The simultaneous timing of these two events made it almost impossible for Carrie not to suspect that Kristopher had dashed off to tend to Lise.

Carrie's instincts loudly proclaimed that this was no accident; Lise had deliberately sought to tug at Kristopher's heartstrings. It appeared her tactics were effective.

Not even Carrie's stark threat of divorce could overshadow Lise's theatrical display of vulnerability.

Seething with fury, Carrie quaked like a leaf swept into a storm.

She steeled herself against the heartache, forcefully ripping the plastic wrap from her aching leg.

After her lengthy soak, the bath's lingering moisture had infiltrated her skin, inflaming the wound until it was a vivid, angry red and painfully swollen.

She, too, could be clingy. Even in the harshest times back in the county, she had shown vulnerability, breaking down into soft sobs within the comforting arms of her grandmother, especially that one time she got burned by the scalding kettle.

But such vulnerability had its time and place, and it wasn't now.

The stark reality of Kristopher's exit forced Carrie to confront her need for self-reliance.

Biting down hard on her lip, Carrie cleaned the throbbing wound with a practiced hand before securely wrapping it anew.

She rose with a newfound resolve and yanked a black suitcase from the far end of her expansive walk-in closet-it held all the belongings she'd brought into this house as a hopeful bride.

She grabbed a fresh set of clothes to slip into and left a bank card neatly on the bedside table.

She had transferred every penny she'd earned over the past year onto that card, effectively settling her financial entanglements with Kristopher over the last two years and cutting him out of her life for good.

Dragging the heavy suitcase behind her, she limped painfully out of the opulent villa.

As she passed through the gate, she wrapped her baseball jacket more tightly around her slight figure, her silhouette hauntingly solitary in the enveloping darkness.

The night air of early spring was bitingly cold, devoid of any trace of warmth, a chill that seemed almost faint compared to the ice forming in Carrie's shattered heart.

She had arrived here with nothing but a suitcase and a heart full of dreams, and now she was leaving, dreams crumbled, utterly alone.

A bitter laugh slipped through her lips. If only she hadn't fallen so hard for him, if only she'd proposed an amicable separation at the end of their agreed year, maybe she wouldn't be wandering now, a lost soul in the shadow of her former self.

Lise didn't have to lift a finger, and Carrie had already fallen, utterly broken and beyond redemption.