Whole

Chapter 14

Masato's POV

I stared at Kat blankly as she curled herself into a ball, bringing her knees to her chest and locking her arms around them. My brain was desperately trying to process the words she'd just said.

I must've misheard her. That was all my brain could phantom. It wouldn't let the words sink in.

Her voice was mumbled, her head was hung, and her nose a little blocked still from the tears she'd been crying. That's all my mind could reason.

"He...what?" I asked after a moment of silence.

Her head lifted, resting her chin on her knee's although her eyes didn't come up to meet mine. They stared at the small spot between us on the bed.

"I met him when I was twenty at university. He seemed great, said the right things, did the right things, he was sweet, and unlike my ex before him, who cheated on me. We got together after about six months, and I was happy. For two years, everything was perfect, at least I thought it was, anyway."

I listened carefully as she spoke as pain struck my chest. The thought of her being cheated on, the idea of someone mistreating her hurt me beyond compare. Although I feared what she was going to tell me next was going to be far worse.

"We finished uni, and we decided to move in together. We fought and argued, but I never thought much of it, all couples argue sometimes. We both worked, I'd just started at Apple, as a junior assistant, the hours were long for little pay. He was starting his own business, so you know, we were both stressed most days." Kat took a deep breath as her voice began to shake, and I could tell she was fighting back the tears.

"Then, he started to get controlling. Telling me that my dress was too short, or I was wearing too much makeup, or that I shouldn't eat that bar of chocolate. It wasn't often, just once in a while, but piece by piece, he began to chip at my confidence. We got in a bad argument one night, and I left, I was done with it. I packed a bag and moved in with a friend. This was about two years after we got together."

The woman before me was so far from the Kat I knew. I could see her body shake, and her voice became weaker as the pain in my chest grew. I reached my hand to her, placing it on her arm. It was the only thing I could think of doing to show her a sign of comfort as she continued.

"He told me no one else would ever love me, that kind of thing. He reminded me of how my ex cheated on me because I was worthless. Anyway, I moved on and met someone else about a year later, when I was twenty-three. He cheated on me too after six months. I started to believe everything he'd told me before more than I ever had. I tried to move past it, but the words clawed at me like an unforgiving beast."

Her eyes met mine, just for a second before they flicked away again, and my heart broke. In that brief second, I could see the pain behind them.

"Anyway, he came back around and begged for me to take him back, telling me he'd be better, and I believed him. For a little while he was, he couldn't do enough to apologize for before and then, on my twenty-fourth birthday, he proposed. I accepted, however, that's when things got really bad. He argued with me over everything, even started one over a cup. A fucking cup! He called me disrespectful, and lazy all because I forgot to put an empty glass in the dishwasher in a rush! It had only had water in it for fuck sake."

"A cup?" I spoke out in disbelief, of all the things to start an argument over and use as a means to insult someone, he picked a cup. I began praying this was all a nightmare, but the feeling of her skin under my hand made it all too real.

"Yeah. Anyway, I tried to leave, but at this point, I had no confidence, no self-esteem. Work wasn't helping either. I watched all my friends get promoted while I was still nothing but a shitty assistant. Eventually, he started getting physical. Small things at first, just a push, or a shove, nothing hard until he came home drunk one night. I ended up going to bed with a black eye because I hadn't had time to do the dishes yet. He said awful things, so many awful things."