The other woman

Thud!

The sound of a vase hitting the floor and shattering to pieces startled Avia and Joem. They broke the hug and turned in the direction of the sound.

Beabianca stood there glaring angrily at the two of them. The second she got their attention, she stormed off.

Joem stared at Beabianca's retreating figure and traced his eyes to Avia. Avia too averted her gaze from Bea to him, for a second they glanced into each other's eyes. Joem saw the woman that broke him apart and took away his will to live. While Avia saw the love of her life disappear. The man that embraced her and comforted her was slowly drifting away, and the hateful gaze of the beast she met that morning was returning.

"Is your heart better now?" Joem asked seeming concerned. Beabianca paused. She gritted her teeth and folded her hands into fists. Angered by Joem's concern for Avia.

Avia nodded her head. "Yes, I feel much better now," she admitted.

"That's good to know," Joem declared, Avia's face glowed. She was glad that deep down Joem cared for her. He was taking care of her heart, just like before.

Joem's lips curled up into a devilish smirk. His eyes sparkled with a dangerous glint playing around his pupils. "It won't be fun to break a wounded soul. So I'm glad you are better," he let out. Avia blinked caught off guard by his statement. "Take a shower and rest up. It's our wedding night and I made plans," he added.

Avia trembled.

Joem spoke with a frosty tone that made her rethink her thoughts of him. It was a mistake to think that there was any part of the man that had concern for her. Joem was playing games with her.

Helping her so that he could hurt her more later. Avia's eyes moistened. Her eyes gazed at Joem. His words and actions were tearing her apart. Her eyes were pleading with him to stop. She crossed her fingers and hoped that he would stop and tell her that it was all a prank.

She tightened her hold on the hems of his shirt. Struggling to come to terms with the person before her. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, "Can you stand to see me cry?" she inquired of him. "Are you alright knowing that you are breaking my heart?"

Joem leaned close to her. His mouth was next to her ears, his eyes staring into the distance. The hateful gaze vanished replaced by a hurt expression. But Avia couldn't see it since his face was hidden from her.

"For whom does your heart beat?" he raised a question. "No, sorry I made a mistake. I meant to ask; for how much does your heart beat?"

Avia felt the pieces of her heartbreak into more pieces. She was filled with disbelief at Joem's words.

"Your heart, your love, and your dreams have a price, right? That's why the old me could never afford you," Joem went on to say. "But don't worry, I'm rich now so I can afford to break you every single day of your life. Brace yourself, wife, this marriage is your hell," he added.

Joem straightened his shirt. He harshly brushed Avia's hands from his shirt and got up from the floor. He straightened his back, shooting his sharp daggered eyes at Avia, his smirk broadened.

"I love you, Avia," he confessed. Avia clenched her fists. Her heart skipped a beat at his words. Despite knowing that he didn't mean it, she couldn't control her heart and found herself reacting to his words. "These are the words I regret uttering in my entire life. I regret you," he firmly stated.

He turned around. With confident strides, he marched away from Avia. Avia raised her eyes and watched his back as Joem moved further and further away from her.

Joem arrived at the spot where Beabianca stood, he halted beside her and spoke; "I'm sorry that without your permission I used my body to touch some other woman," he let out apologetically with regret in his eyes and voice.

'Other woman,' echoed in Avia's head. Once upon a time, she was his woman. She went from one woman to the other woman, the mistress disguised as the wife.

Avia couldn't breathe.

"I don't want to hear it," Beabianca snapped and walked away. Joem followed behind her leaving Avia behind to grasp all that her husband told her.

Avia didn't even have the energy to hold herself. Her life took a turn for the worst. For a million different reasons, she regretted breaking Joem's heart back then. She had no idea that she was signing her death warrant in doing so.

Joem was hellbent on destroying her. To break her every day, there was no way that she was going to make it out of that marriage alive.

Avia doubted there were any words she could say that would change Joem's mind and heart. No apology could change what she was forced to do back then. It was too late for her to apologize to him and fix what she broke.

Joem was hurt by her. It took too long for her to mend his broken heart that his pain made him bitter and hateful. The love of her life had changed completely. And there was no one else to blame but herself.

At the end of the day, she took the best of him and left him in pieces. Pieces that had returned to prick and cut at her, leaving wounds she doubted would ever heal.

Avia sat on the ground of her luxurious new home unable to smile. It was her wedding day yet she was certain she would break the world record for the saddest bride.

Her dream of one day marrying Joem came true. She got him as a husband but lost him as a friend and a lover. She had his name but his heart, body, mind, and soul belonged to someone else.