Love, No More

The next day, Jared left around dawn. I paid it no mind and focused on preparing my documents for leaving the country.

“When are you coming over, Vanessa?” My brother’s voice was a balm to my nerves.

“One more week,” I replied calmly.

After catching up with him for a bit, I ended the call.

Just as I turned around, I found Jared standing at the door. My heart stuttered, but I pretended not to notice him.

“Vanessa?” he called out solemnly.

I reached out to him. “Jared? Are you back?”

He hummed in acknowledgment and took my phone, frowning when he saw the name in my recent contacts.

“You were on a call with your brother?”

When my brother first left for Murica, he wanted to take me with him so I could be treated overseas.

Jared didn’t like that, and I stayed upon my husband’s insistence.

He had never approved of my contact with my brother.

I took a deep breath to gather my wits. “Mhmm. He called to ask how I was doing, and I told him not to worry about me.”

Jared accepted my response and then turned toward the door. “Come in.”

Regina walked in with a contemptuous look.

“Vanessa, I found you a caretaker. She’ll be taking care of you while I’m out, okay?”

We had another caretaker before, Jenny, but Jared fired her two days ago because he didn’t like her cooking.

She had been with us for two years, and he’d eaten her cooking for just as long. Yet, I didn’t voice my confusion.

Now, I understood—he had fired her for Regina’s sake.

Regina glanced at me and smiled smugly. “Don’t worry, Ma’am. I’m best at taking care of b… the visually impaired.”

Jared glared at her before she could finish her sentence.

I nodded. “I’ll be in your care, then.

“I’m a little tired, so…” Before I could finish, Jared quickly acquiesced and left with Regina in tow.

I noticed how she took his hand with a challenging look in her eyes. After a brief glance at me, he wrapped his arm around her and left.

I lay in bed, feeling my heart twist with pain. After a while, I drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up again, I quietly made my way through the corridor.

Regina was kneeling on the ground in a maid outfit, wiping the floor near Jared’s feet with her back arched.

Jared was seated on the couch, but the document on his laptop was filled with lines and lines of random keys. His gaze never left Regina’s chest, and he swallowed thickly from time to time.

This became a common scene in the house.

Regina only revealed her true colors when Jared left for the office.

She would place tables and chairs in my path, causing me to stumble. Only after I yelped would she approach slowly with a mocking apology. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot you were blind.”

I clenched my fists at the mockery in her tone. ‘It’s not time for revenge yet.’

When Jared returned, she would transform into the perfect caretaker, bringing me water and feeding me food with exaggerated attentiveness.

Perhaps triggered by the difference in treatment, her cruelty worsened with time.

One evening, as Jared led me back to the bedroom, we found her lying on the bed in a silk nightgown.

Her dress left almost nothing to the imagination, and I could hear Jared gulp from where I stood.

He coughed awkwardly and guided me to the bathroom. “The bed’s a little messy. Hold on, I’ll clean it up. Go brush your teeth first.”

He quickly closed the door behind me, his nervousness making him forget that I was supposedly blind.

A low reprimand came from the other side. “Are you crazy? This is Vanessa’s and my room!”

Regina shoved him gently and climbed onto him. “But the baby misses you.”

I scoffed and pushed open the bathroom door, startling them. “Jared? Is everything alright? I think I heard the caretaker.”

Jared scrambled to his feet, causing Regina to fall to the side. “Everything… Everything’s alright. She’s just cleaning…”

Then, he grabbed her and pushed her out of the room.

My heart squeezed at the franticness of his actions.

I thought this would be the perfect cinematic moment to expose their affair. But all I gave was a quiet nod of acknowledgment.