It’s been days since my birthday party ended drastically, and yet, here I am, still locked away in my room, unable to open my phone or watch television.
I’m too embarrassed by everything that happened. I know I made a mess of things, confronting Clara without thinking, but my anger took over. I couldn’t handle the humiliation I received from the brothers.
For the past few days, I’ve just been lying in bed, barely eating or getting up. But then, there was a knock on my door.
"Ms. Elena," came the voice of the maid. "Yes?" I replied, my voice barely a whisper.
"Ma'am, Sir Marco, Sir Enzo, and Ms. Rossi are requesting you to come down and eat. They’re waiting for you."
I took a deep breath. They’d been doing this for days, not rushing in to confront me. They probably wanted to give me space, time to calm down, and I was grateful for that. But it had been a while now, and I knew it was time to face them.
"Okay, I’ll come down," I said, my voice hoarse.
The maid closed the door softly behind me, and the familiar darkness of my room engulfed me again. It felt heavy, just like the weight in my chest. I took another deep breath, tried to compose myself, and walked out of my room.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Marco and Enzo sitting in the living room. Ms. Rossi is nowhere. They looked like they had been waiting for me for a while.
When they saw me, I could tell their expressions soured even more, as if they were annoyed just by my presence. I walked up to them, sat directly in front of them, and got straight to the point.
"What do you want to talk about? Is this about the party? About the humiliation you both gave me? Or is it about the shame I caused to Clara?" I already knew the answer to my own question, but I couldn’t help it.
Marco spoke first, his voice cold and dangerous, deep with anger, and his eyes were burning with fury as he looked at me. "I didn’t like what you did. You have no shame, can’t even accept that we rejected you for the marriage you wanted. And then, after that, you humiliated Clara. What’s worse, you even cut her finger. You need to apologize to her."
His accusations hit me one by one, each one stinging more than the last. I couldn’t hold back anymore.