From Broken to Beloved-Chapter 61- avoid trouble

Catherine had barely rushed into her apartment building when Bert’s call came through. Her emotions were still far from settled. Slapping Gerald had relieved some of her anger, but it wasn’t enough to calm her completely.

To be honest, Gerald’s persistence left her both furious and helpless. She had done everything she could, said everything she could say, yet she didn’t know if Gerald would continue to hound her in the future. Catherine couldn’t understand why, after so ruthlessly ending their engagement and leaving her to take the brunt of the storm, Gerald would now try to win her back.

After discarding her without a second thought, didn’t he feel even a little ashamed for coming back like this?

The caller ID showed Bert’s number. She wasn’t even sure when she had saved his number in her phone. It seemed almost subconscious—at first, when she had received his business card to discuss the ring sketches, she hadn’t saved it, but at some point, their contact had grown, and his number had quietly become a part of her life.

Catherine didn’t think he could have made it home so quickly, nor did she know why he was calling. Still, she answered, forcing her voice to remain calm and steady.

"Hello..."

"Are you home yet?" His tone was measured, calm, not hurried.

"I’m not... I’m just coming up the stairs. Is there something you need?"

He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, there was a silence, unbroken, stretching over the line. Living on the second floor, Catherine reached her door quickly. She fiddled with her keys while keeping the phone pressed to her ear. Only when she heard the lock click open did his voice sound again.

"No real reason. Just... get some rest early."

"Mm." Catherine replied, thinking the conversation was over.

But then he added, casually, as if it were no big deal,

"I’ll call you again once I get home."

Catherine froze. "...What?"

He didn’t need to call her after he got home. She wasn’t his—there was no reason for a check-in.

Before she could formulate a response, he hung up.

Catherine had planned to take a shower, but his offhand remark made her lose the motivation. What if he really did call while she was in the bathroom? That would be... awkward.

So, instead, she tidied up the apartment, putting her focus into cleaning. Renata would be discharged tomorrow, and Catherine wanted to provide a warm, neat, and welcoming environment. Anywhere she saw untidiness, she set to work, straightening, scrubbing, and rearranging, all while keeping one ear tuned for Bert’s call.

About twenty minutes later, the phone rang.

It was Bert.

Catherine picked up, and his voice came through, calm and low:

"I’m home."

"Oh... then get some rest early."

Catherine didn’t quite know what to say. She thought that since he had called and reported he was safe, the conversation should end there.

But, to her surprise, he had no intention of hanging up. His voice deepened slightly as he asked,

"What are you doing?"

Catherine answered reluctantly,

"Cleaning..."

The exchange felt like a well-behaved student answering a stern teacher, and yet someone seemed to be enjoying it, because he continued with another question:

"What did you talk about with Gerald?"

The question made Catherine pause. Her aversion to Gerald made her equally resistant to talking about him, so she answered briefly,

"Nothing much..."

She had no desire to relive the unpleasant encounter she’d just had with Gerald. Besides, Catherine felt the question itself was somewhat inappropriate.

"Nothing much? You two spent about ten minutes together, and you’re telling me ’nothing much’? Did Gerald happen to have a handprint on his face?"

The sudden intensity in his voice caught Catherine off guard.

Bert had seen the mark himself. He had been waiting on the roadside, and when he dialed Catherine and heard the sound of her opening the door, Gerald drove out of her building’s complex. With the car window rolled down, Bert happened to notice the red mark on Gerald’s cheek. It was clear then that Catherine’s interaction with Gerald had not been pleasant.

Catherine couldn’t figure out how Bert knew about the mark on Gerald’s face. Had he seen it? But he had already driven away, hadn’t he?

She pressed her lips together in silence on her end, and then Bert softened his voice:

"I don’t mean anything by it... just wanted to say one thing. That slap—you did well."

Catherine: "..."

Hitting someone was hardly a civilized thing to do. She knew that. The slap she had just given Gerald was purely out of anger, a momentary loss of reason.

So hearing him praise her for it felt absurdly indulgent. He was way too protective.

Yet, she couldn’t help but feel a strange warmth in her chest at his words. Before she knew it, she had opened up a little, telling him briefly what had happened with Gerald:

"He said he filed to break off the engagement with Lucca, and that he wanted to pursue me again... I can’t make sense of it."

Catherine wasn’t the type to vent to others, so she kept her explanation short.

Bert chuckled.

"Yeah, that’s completely absurd. So you did the right thing."

"If you stay silent and don’t fight back, everyone would think you’re not over him."

Bert emphasized the words not over him so casually, yet deliberately, and Catherine felt it prick a nerve. She quickly clarified her position:

"I’m not ’not over him.’ I stayed silent just to avoid trouble!"

"That’s good. A good horse never goes back to the grass it left behind."

Hearing her admit she had truly let go, Bert’s mood lightened, though his words still carried undertones:

"Especially when it’s a patch of rotten grass."

He didn’t spare Gerald from ridicule.

Catherine understood perfectly what he meant: Gerald wasn’t worth her looking back, nor worth her lingering feelings. She saw it clearly and took it to heart.

She didn’t continue the conversation on that topic and decided to end the call:

"It’s getting late. You should get some rest. I’m going to take a shower."

Then, suddenly realizing how awkward it was to tell a man she was going to shower, she hurriedly added,

"Bye."

Blushing, she hung up and went to her bedroom to change, then headed to the bathroom.