A Heart in Ruins Chapter 04

Vittorio got into the car. His phone screen illuminated his sharp features, then faded to black. Still, there was no reply. The last text was still the one he had sent. [This is the gift for you after my business trip.)

A strange, unfamiliar unease began to gnaw at him. Silence from me was an anomaly. In the past, even if he sent a single, perfunctory period, I would go all tingly to reply him. Now, I couldn’t even be bothered to offer a hollow, polite acknowledgment.

Through the rearview mirror, the assistant stole a nervous glance at Vittorio. He opened his mouth, the words hovering on the tip of his tongue, before finally daring to speak.

“Mr. Vittorio, where to go?”

Vittorio’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Before he could formulate a command, the assistant pressed his luck, his voice laced with careful probing.

“Perhaps…we should head home first? To see Sylvia?” He paused, choosing his next words with deliberate weight. “You’ve been away on this business trip for quite some time. She must have missed you terribly.

Vittorio lifted his gaze, his eyes meeting the assistant’s in the mirror. The look was glacial, carrying a sharp edge of warning. “Since when did you learn to overstep your bounds?”

“I know you care for Silvia.” the assistant replied, gritting his teeth against the fear of his boss’s wrath. “But Sylvia is your wife. She has been by your side for ages. Can’t you tell how much she loves you?”

Vittorio froze. The memory he had long buried forced its way to the surface.

[Flashback]

Back then, Sylvia was twenty, wearing a red slip dress. Standing beneath the dazzling, chaotic lights of the nightclub, she wore a smile that was wild, bright, and entirely unapologetic. She had tilted her head, her eyes locking onto his, sparkling with a galaxy of untamed stars.

“So you’re Vittorio Croft?”

I nodded.

“I heard you grew up in a temple. Are you truly free of all worldly desires?”

I shook my head wordlessly.

Later, I married Sylvia and she molded herself into a quiet, obedient shadow. She stopped wearing vibrant colors, abandoned the noisy venues, and even ceased to laugh out loud. Day after day, she would sit on the sofa in plain, unassuming loungewear, a book resting in her lap. Occasionally, she would glance up at him, her eyes harboring a fragile, cautious hope that I would finally see her.

[End of Flashback]

“Mr. Vittorio…” The assistant’s voice disturbed his thoughts.

“Sylvia willingly chooses to swallow her pride because she loved you so much. But what if one day she realizes that loving you has made her lose herself? What if loving you is simply too exhausting? Perhaps she’ll choose to leave… if that happened, could you really accept it?”

Vittorio’s breath hitched in his throat. The assistant’s words pulled him back to reality like a physical blow.

He had never doubted that Sylvia would leave. He had always viewed her as a permanent fixture, an optional

presence in his carefully constructed life. His marriage was merely a way to suppress his own forbidden desires for Silvia, and a means to project an image of normalcy to the world. He didn’t care who he marries. Even if Sylvia was the bride, nothing would change. He had never cared about her feelings, never imagined she possessed the capacity to simply walk away.

But now, the assistant’s words were like a serrated blade, ruthlessly piercing through his heart. He pressed a hand on his heart and examined himself, “If Sylvia really left… could I accept it?”

He tried to picture the villa without her. No more figures waiting in the hallway, trying to seduce him with new, desperate tricks. No more soft chatter filling the empty rooms. No more smiling face, enduring his neglect with quiet devotion. The mere thought of her absence sent a sudden, suffocating wave of panic gripping his heart.

Frowning slightly, Vittorio stared out the tinted window, his silence stretching taut. “Has she been discharged from the hospital?”

The assistant quickly replied, “She should have been. The doctor said she is getting better.”

Vittorio hummed softly in acknowledgment, though his tone remained indifferent. “Go home.”

Relieved, the assistant immediately shifted gears, steering the car toward the villa. Along the way, Sylvia’s silhouette kept flashing through Vittorio’s mind.

[Flashback]

Sylvia would intentionally trip into his arms, clad in sheer, provocative sleepwear, her eyes shining with anticipation. When he inevitably pushed her away, she would glare at him with puffed cheeks, a playful pout on her lips.

She would sneak into the bathroom while he was showering, the steam wrapping around her silhouette. He would inevitably wrap her in a towel and toss her out, but she would only giggle, her voice echoing in the tiled room. ” I’ll do it again next time!”

She would deliberately climb onto his lap while he was chanting his scriptures, seeking any scrap of attention. Even when he physically removed her, she would stubbornly lean against his arm, tilting her head to steal a fleeting, desperate kiss…

[End of Flashback]

The memories crashed over him in a relentless tide. The very scenes that used to annoy him, the acts of devotion he had once dismissed as pathetic, now made his chest tighten with an inexplicable, agonizing ache.

As the car slowly pulled into the villa, the silence inside was heavier than ever. Vittorio stepped out, the cool evening air doing nothing to settle the storm in his chest. Ignoring the waiting staff, he strode toward the front entrance, his heart pounding a frantic, unfamiliar rhythm against his ribs.