When She Ended It With Divorce (Chiara and Titus) novel Chapter 241

Chapter 241 Punishment

Chapter 241 Punishment

“So when did she find out?” Titus asked.

Chiara was quiet for a moment, then turned away. “It was your senior year of high school”

Titus’s eyes darkened, and he fell silent for several seconds.

Chiara glanced at him, noticing his quietness.

“She knew that early?” Titus asked.

“Let go of me! I don’t want to hear about your problems. I said let go of me!” Chiara snapped.

Titus’s eyes were dark as he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

“Chiara…” his voice was low and trembling.

Chiara froze for a moment, then started struggling. “What are you doing? Let go of me!”

“I never really understood love or hate before,” Titus admitted.

Chiara stopped struggling, feeling a wave of resignation wash over her. There was no way she could break free from him anyway.

He held her so tightly it felt like he was trying to crush her, so Chiara leaned back against the door, hoping it would help her bear his weight.

“But you do know what anger feels like,” Chiara said quietly.

“Anger, yeah…” Titus murmured, breathing in her scent, realizing that, in this moment, they both carried the same fragrance.

After all, they’d just soaked in that herbal bath, and the faint scent of roses still lingered on both of them.

“Even that only happened after I met you. I never really got angry before,” Titus admitted.

Chiara just stared at him, lost for words.

‘So now it’s my fault he gets angry?’ she thought, feeling a mix of frustration and disbelief.

“You probably won’t believe this, but ever since I met you, I’ve actually felt things, love, hate, anger. You don’t believe me, do you?” Titus said.

“That’s right, I don’t believe you, so just let me go!” Chiara shot back.

“But I’m really telling the truth…” Titus said softly.

“I spent my college years in therapy, but it never really did much for me. Then Serenity showed up. She was so passionate, so energetic, it honestly started to get on my nerves…” Titus said.

“I’m just naturally cold, you know? I never let emotions sway me, including my own parents and family. I could take or leave them. Respect and filial piety are just social conventions,” he continued.

“When my therapist realized I was getting hung up on feeling annoyed just because a girl liked me, he came up with a new treatment plan…” Titus said.

Chiara could already see where this was going.

“So you got together with her just to test if you could ever really like someone, didn’t you?” Chiara asked, her voice sharp.

Titus was silent for a few seconds before finally muttering, “Yeah. Since I actually felt bothered by her, my therapist figured maybe I’d end up feeling something else for her, like liking her or even hating her. Either way, it meant I was actually feeling something, and that was progress.”

Chiara listened quietly. She’d never met Serenity, but she’d run into Elaine plenty of times.

‘So the person in that photo Elaine showed me must’ve been Serenity,’ Chiara thought.

She hadn’t known the truth, so she’d naturally thought the girl in the photo was Elaine.

But she remembered how gentle Titus looked in that photo. He looked so gentle, not at all like someone who was indifferent.

“I’ve seen Serenity, the one you mentioned,” Chiara said.

Titus finally looked up at her, his gaze intense, with a hint of confusion.

“You’ve seen her? When?” he asked, sounding

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“Elaine showed me a picture of you two once. engine cake,” Chiara replied.

Titus pressed his lips together. “Was it the photo under the tree?”

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Chapter 241 Punishment

Chiara glanced up at him. “Yeah, you really do have a good memory.”

Titus looked at her for a long moment before explaining. “You know I hate taking photos, but she went out of her way to have that one taken. That’s the only photo of us.”

Chiara didn’t say anything.

Thinking about that photo, Titus’s mind drifted back. He’d seen it before, so the memory was still there.

So he could easily recall what it looked like.

‘Does she really think I liked Serenity?’ Titus wondered.

Chiara shot him a calm, almost indifferent look. “From the way you looked in that photo, anyone would think you liked her.”

Titus pressed his lips together. “She actually asked someone to take that picture on the sly. I wasn’t smiling at her. I was just caught up in something I read.

“If you look closely, you’ll see I was holding a book. I remember I laughed because I saw a line that really hit me. It had nothing to do with her at all.”

Chiara’s lashes trembled, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

Titus gazed at her for a long moment, then reached out and took her hand, holding it firmly, his eyes never leaving her face. “I’m not lying to you. Every single first emotion I ever felt was all because of you,” he said.

“As for Serenity, I made a mistake back then. I never should’ve dragged her into my mess. We dated for a year, but nothing ever really changed between us.

“That day, when she asked me out, I was planning to break up with her. I never expected she’d take it upon herself to bring her parents to meet me. By the time I found out, the accident had already happened…” Titus said.

His eyes were dark and unreadable, his voice low and hoarse.

“The accident scene was brutal. By the time I got there, all I could do was see her one last time. She asked me to take care of Elaine…” Titus whispered.

Titus closed his eyes and said quietly, “In that moment, I realized, for the first time, what guilt really was.”

“Serenity didn’t teach me how to love, but she taught me what guilt was with her life. So I promised her I’d look after her only sister.

“But I never imagined that the accident wasn’t an accident at all. It was Elaine behind it all. I always thought the Jensen family was tight-knit. I never imagined it could be a setup, a murder,” Titus said, his voice heavy with regret.

Chiara’s brows furrowed as she listened, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for a girl she’d never even met.

“She must’ve felt devastated,” Chiara said softly.

‘To be treated like some experiment by the guy she loved, and then stabbed in the back by her own family… The thought made Chiara’s chest tighten for Serenity.

‘How could she not be in pain? She probably couldn’t even close her eyes in peace, even in death, Chiara thought.

Titus seemed to catch on to what she was thinking, giving a wry, self-deprecating smile.

“Maybe so. That’s why I ended up using you to punish myself,” he said.

Chiara understood exactly what he meant, so she said flatly, “But every single choice was yours to make.”

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