The dimly lit room cast ominous shadows as Senorita Chen lay motionless on the plush carpet.
Her body, battered and bruised, bore the physical scars of the torment she had endured.
Miguel Li, her husband, paced back and forth like a vulture circling its prey, his face contorted with an unrestrained rage.
"You're nothing but a burden, Rita!" Miguel's voice was venomous as he glared down at her. His eyes which Senorita could say three years ago were once filled with promise, now burned with a malevolence that seemed to have no bounds.
Senorita had no idea how things took a drastic change. Miguel was once a darling husband, but now, he had turned vile and strange.
Three years into their wedding now, instead of the love they had together to deepen, it only weakened.
Senorita's tears fell as she took all the strength she had to look at him as he spoke because he had always told her to be attentive to every word that came out of him.
"I took you out of the scum you were, a girl with no parents, no future. And this is how you repay me?"
Senorita had a flash of memory. It was a cold winter night when she had lost her parents in a tragic accident. She had been orphaned, left with nothing but grief and despair. Miguel, her knight in shining armor, had come into her life, offering her solace and a future.
Senorita winced, her bruised face contorting in pain, as she tried to speak through the blood that dripped from her cut lip. Her voice was a mere whisper. "Miguel, I never asked..."
"You never asked what, stupid woman!"
"I... I am sorry. Please forgive me but I never asked your brother for that substantial amount you just claimed. You... you froze the account and I was left stranded. I felt sick on my way and fortunately, I saw brother in law and he took me to the hospital...the doctor said I'm..."
SLAP!
"You witch, you let elder brother insult me, saying I do not care for my wife. How much do you want from me, you golddigger?!
I told you things are not going smoothly after my boss died and his younger brother replaced him. That stubborn man is so strict and expects us to work all our ass out. I had to stop you from lavising my money! Don't you get?!"
Senorita wanted to remind Miguel that she was also doing her best as a freelancer translator to support the family and she would be daft to lavish their money because of their expenses but then, she knew that Miguel was actually the one who earned more.
Miguel's nostrils flared with anger, his face inched from hers. He seemed to have reached a breaking point, his voice laced with an unsettling calm.
"I gave you everything, Rita. I exhausted all my money, trying to turn you into a better woman. And what have you given me in return? Nothing but disgrace. See, look at you, a barren woman. My younger brother's wife is pregnant of her third child! But you... you are just a sperm absorber."
Senorita's heart pounded in her chest as memories of a happier time flooded her mind.
She remembered the kindness he had once shown her, how he had rescued her from a life of hardship and despair. But those days felt like a distant dream, replaced by the relentless nightmare that had become her life.
"Please Miguel, hear what I have to say. The reason...why I had been this weak for two months..."
Without warning, Miguel unleashed a furious kick, aimed directly at Senorita's side.
The force of the blow sent shockwaves of agony rippling through her frail form. She cried out, her voice filled with agony, her body curling instinctively into a protective ball.
Pain radiated from every part of her, but the pain in her abdomen was the most excruciating. She gasped for air, struggling to breathe amidst the agony. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood that stained her swollen face.
"Don't 'please' me!" Miguel's eyes blazed with an intensity that bordered on madness as he loomed menacingly over her. He knelt beside her, his fingers digging into her shoulders like talons. "You were supposed to give me a child, and what do I have? Nothing! You've... I just hate seeing you, Rita!"
Senorita's heart pounded in her chest like a trapped bird desperately seeking escape. The room seemed to close in around her, suffocating her with the weight of her husband's cruelty. Her sobs were muffled by the taste of her own blood in her mouth.
Tears continued to flow, a torrent of despair, as Senorita summoned every ounce of strength to sit up, her body trembling from the relentless pain and fear. She took a shaky breath, her voice quivering with desperation. "I... I had an abortion, Miguel, because you said..."
She wanted to remind him that her inability to conceive was because she aborted their child before she got married. He claimed that he was not ready to become a father and without thinking twice, she aborted her pregnancy.
After her abortion, the doctor had claimed that she could not conceive again.
But right now... miraculously...she was pregnant!
She had been so happy ever since the moment she had seen the report, even Miguel's elder brother congratulated her and told her to take care of herself.
Miguel's face twisted further with anger, his eyes bulging with an unhinged rage. He leaned in so close that his rancid breath brushed against her battered face. "You think that justifies your actions? You're just a sperm absorber, Rita!"
Senorita's mind reeled, her thoughts fragmented by the relentless brutality. Each word, each blow, was a fresh wound upon her already battered soul. She had endured this torment for far too long, trapped in a marriage that had become a nightmarish abyss of pain and suffering.
As Miguel continued his tirade, his voice a torrent of hatred, Senorita's vision blurred.
She felt heavy warm liquid in-between her thighs followed by the excruciating pain from her belly.
My baby...
The room seemed to spin around her. The last thing she heard before everything went dark was Miguel's voice, filled with a bottomless well of hatred and rage, echoing in her ears;
"You bastard. Don't look at me like you are in deep pain and plan to stab me or poison me. You will not even have the leisure to do so because we are getting divorced."
Miguel paused seeing that she had closed her eyes, "Rita, get up and sign these papers!"