T O R N

62

Irene's POV

Lumabas ako ng kwarto nang nanginginig ang mga tuhod, bawat hakbang mas bumibigat. Tahimik ang buong paligid pero sobrang ingay ng sakit na nararamdaman ko. My hands were cold. But my heart was colder.

I didn't know if I was proud of what I said, or if I had just crossed a line I couldn't return from.

Pagbalik ko sa kotse, hindi ko na napigilan. I broke down in the backseat like a child who lost her favorite toy—except this wasn't a toy. This was my future, slipping through my fingers like sand, and I was desperately trying to hold it in place by threatening to bury everyone around me.

"Ma'am Irene," my driver asked cautiously, turning back from the front. "Uuwi na po ba tayo?"

Dali-dali kong pinunasan ang mga luha at bahagyang tumango. "No. Just... drive. Anywhere quiet."

Later that night, back in the house, I sat alone in my childhood bedroom—familiar walls, same bookshelves, but I felt like a ghost wandering a place I no longer belonged to. Everything around me screamed of control, perfection, image. For years I had played the part—Calix Bae's only daughter. The unbothered, poised woman who always had it together.

Pero ngayon, here I am broken and all I felt was desperation. The kind of desperation that makes you do cruel things just to feel like you're in control.

I pulled out my phone and stared at Lisa's contact photo. My thumb hovered over it. I wanted to delete it. Block her. Erase everything.

But instead, I clicked record on a voice note.

"Lisa... I hate you for this. But I also hate myself for loving you this much. And I know you're in love with her—I see it, I hear it, and I feel it every time you say her name. Still... I'm not letting you go. Hindi pa tapos 'to. You made your choice. Now I'll make mine."

I didn't send it. I saved it. Because part of me still hoped she'd change her mind on her own.

The next morning, I was shocked to see Kai back home.

"Ate, dad wants to see you in his office," sabi niya habang nakaupo sa mesa at umiinom ng black coffee.

Of course he did.

Pumasok ako sa engrandeng study room ni dad, nakaupo siya sa likod ng kanyang study table, blangko ang ekspresyon ng kanyang mukha. Nakabibingi ang katahimikan sa paligid.

"I heard you visited Lisa," he finally said.

I nodded. "I had to."

"And?"

I straightened my posture, every ounce of emotion shoved deep beneath my ribs. "She admitted it. Everything. Her feelings for Jennie. The kiss. She even begged to cancel the wedding."

My father didn't flinch. "Did you agree?"

"I told her no."

A flicker of disapproval passed in his eyes. "And if she runs?"

I hesitated.

"I'll make sure she doesn't," I said coldly. "Not without consequences."

Sumandal siya sa kanyang upuan. "Good. Because it's time we remind them who they're dealing with. Jennie Kim may have thought she got away... but no one crosses a Bae and walks away unscathed."

There it was—the quiet threat laced with power, so casual, so practiced. I should've felt relieved knowing my father was behind me. But I didn't. I felt the weight of something darker pressing against my chest.

"Dad... just don't do anything that will... hurt Jennie. Or Lisa."

His brows furrowed. "Why are you still concerned about them?"