Anne's broken heart said no. There was no way she could forgive him just like that after what she saw. What if the proposal was Carlos's trick in making her forget and ignore what happened she thought.
Anne shook her head "No… I can't accept this. I can't be stupid twice" She said in a low tone even though it broke her heart to reject Carlos.
If she was unaware of Carlos's unfaithfulness towards her, she would've accepted his proposal without a second thought. She has already pictured her future with Carlos, to spend the rest of her life with him but she has to move on. She couldn't imagine getting hurt again by Carlos. She has learned her lesson.
Anne removed her silver bracelet from her wrist, handing it to Carlos. "here …take this, it never sized my wrist anyways".
A single tear, dropped from Carlos's eye seeing the love of his life rejecting him to his face. He was speechless, looking at her in disbelief with his lips slightly parted. He couldn't collect the bracelet from her hand so she forcefully dropped it on his palm.
That silver bracelet meant a lot to Carlos. He felt happy and satisfied whenever Anne was putting on that bracelet like he was always with her even though they were apart.
He tried to man up as much as possible not to cry like a baby and he kept the ring case and the bracelet in his pockets.
"Anastasia, don't you love me anymore?" Carlos asked her in a serious tone and with a straight face.
"Carlos that question is now unnecessary because we're done… Yes! I'm breaking up with you," Anne replied.
Carlos couldn't believe his ears, he felt his heart throb at what she just said.
"No, you can't break up with me," Carlos said vehemently.
"How can you leave me just like that, do you have any idea how crazy I am for you?" he said amidst tears holding her arms firmly.
Carlos was pained and upset. He placed his both hands on Anne's jawline, intently staring into her silver orbs.
"I placed your life above mine, I'm willing to do ANYTHING to be in your arms at all cost and you wanna get rid of me??" Carlos said with gritted teeth.
"Carlos... I" Anne tried to speak up but before she knew it Carlos crashed into her mouth and kissed her.
It wasn't passionate at all but rather aggressive. Carlos sucked her lips wildly as if he wanted to cut them off whereas Anne was trying to break free from him. She didn't want to kiss him back.
She tried to push him away from her body but he was just too strong for her. It was no use for her struggling so she managed to bite his bottom lip. It didn't hurt Carlos at all but at least it ended the kiss.
Anne's chest was heaving up and down as she was gasping for air. She perceived that Carlos was angry and she was scared of what might happen next after he had roughly kissed her.
But why was he angry? He was the one who cheated, not her.
Carlos gently touched his bottom lip and cleaned off the blood on the spot where Anne had bitten him.
He fixed his gaze on Anne with his brain unsettled.
"you bit me" he finally spoke up but in a calm tone.
"and I'm going to BITE you again if you try to kiss me" She responded sharply.
"you have to leave right now. I don't want you here!!" She said pointing at the door for Carlos to leave.
Carlos swallowed hard.
He saw worriedness and fear in Anne's eyes even though she was trying to act confident in front of him. He hated it whenever Anne was like that with him. He wanted her to love him and not become scared of him as if he was a lunatic.
"Anne, don't get scared of me, I love you… Please don't abandon me," Carlos desperately begged Anne.
"I swear I'll never cheat on you again. I'll go to therapy and… and I'll start taking medications to control my bipolar disorder. Please give me another chance…"
Unknowing to him, he was already acting like a maniac. He cupped her face and forcefully tried to kiss her again.
"Carlos stop!" Anne said as she kept on resisting him.
"Leave my sister alone!!" Dexter voiced out as he rushed to the scene where Anne and Carlos were and pulled Anne away from Carlos.
Anne heaved a sigh of relief as Dexter came to her rescue. Thank God she wasn't alone in the house.
"Can't you see she no longer wants you? now leave our house!!!" Dexter commanded with a husky tone.
However, Carlos's eyes were on Anne but she couldn't return the gaze so she looked down.
"Dexter please talk to your sister on my behalf. I love her…. I can't live without her… please" Carlos pleaded to Dexter like he was crazy in love.
He was confident that Anne would listen to her brother to reconsider him.
"No no no… you gotta leave man." Dexter said, shaking his head in disapproval.
Apart from the fact that he disliked Carlos, he has always been against their relationship because he felt that Anne was doing more to keep her relationship with Carlos. He also felt that Carlos was too irresponsible for his sister.
Carlos saw that it was useless to plead with Anne to forgive him let alone, talk to her brother, Dexter who doesn't like him one bit.
Anne was completely fed up. She's done with him. She didn't want to start all over with Carlos no matter what.
"Alright, I'll leave…" Carlos muttered.
"Anastasia, I'm not giving up on the both of us. We're going to get back together I promise" Carlos said and he left.
Those words from Carlos sounded more like a threat to Anne's ears. She knows how persistent and pushy Carlos is. Like he said, he'll do anything to be in her arms.
"Thank you for showing up," Anne said to Dexter immediately after Carlos left.
"What made you fall in love with that maniac in the first place," Dexter said
Anne exhaled and sat on the couch.
"...And the craziest thing is that I'm still in love with him... If you hadn't shown up or if I was alone with him, I might have succumbed to him," she said.
"I understand," Dexter said and he sat down on the couch near Anne.
He hugged her and Anne burst into tears again in his embrace, thinking about the beautiful moments she shared with Carlos.
How Carlos seemed to be the sweetest person at the beginning of their relationship. He always tried his best to make her smile every day.
She thought about how she met Linda for the first time and how Carlos introduced her as his cousin. She couldn't help but replay the picture of Carlos and Linda having sex.
'Everything was a lie …If only I could end this pain, if I only I could stop hurting' Anne thought to herself as she was crying in Dexter's arms.
*********
A few moments later, Carlos was at his house at his dining table slicing an apple with a straight face. His house was so quiet that the only thing you could hear is the knife making sounds as he was slicing the apple until there was a knock on the door.
"come in," Carlos said, still sitting at his dining table.
Linda walked right inside the house and sat down on a chair opposite Carlos with a lovey-dovey look on her face.
"Babe, you asked me to come to see you here... I was thinking you'll be mad at me for what happened between you and your girlfriend but when I saw your text, I knew you have finally come back to your senses." Linda said to Carlos smiling.
'Linda, I need to see you at my house, Anne doesn't want me anymore. I now realize you're the only one who truly cares about me'
That was the text Carlos had sent to Linda to lure her to his house and it worked.
Linda noticed that Carlos wasn't really in a good mood as he was slicing the apple like he was pissed about something.
"Carlos, are you okay? You seem upset?" Linda asked.
"Upset? Nah! …I've never felt this good" Carlos replied with a sweet smile on his face which seemed weird to Linda. He took a slice from the apple and ate it.
"Do you care for a drink?" he said, standing up to get a drink from the freezer.
He took a bottle of champagne and poured it into a glass cup and handed it to Linda smiling.
Linda observed the look on Carlos's face and she was a hundred percent sure that his sweet smile wasn't genuine.
Since when has Carlos been this nice to her?
She smelled something fishy.
What if Carlos had done something to the drink? Linda thought.