Page 35 of The Wolf's Bullied Mate
“About what happened earlier…” I started, but I stopped when I noticed Pauline's tears.
They welled up and fell down her cheeks. She wiped at the tears with a handkerchief.
I extended my arms to her, wanting to pull her close and comfort her, but then I hesitated. If my intuition was right, she had good reason not to want to be embraced by me.
“Were you… Were my words back then by the oak tree…” I mumbled, unsure how to start the conversation.
“It’s all true, Oliver,” she said through tears. “You’re a bully. Your words were spread by your ‘friends’ to the wholeschool, and then they all bullied me until I moved out of the pack.”
My mouth gaped open. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Such a painful story couldn’t be true, right? “T-The whole school?”
She nodded.
“But… how? How did I not know about it?”
She sighed. “You were busy with your project, and they stopped each time you came into earshot. You once told one of them not to call me names, so they all guessed you didn’t want them to bully me as much as they did. But none of your friends were ever my friends, Oliver, no matter how hard you tried to bring us together.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. “I just wanted… to pull you out of your shell, to help you experience what it’s like to have friends.”
“Well, you failed,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion.
“I wanted you to be happy,” my voice broke at the end. I, too, felt like crying.
“I was happy with my books and my small world,” she said.
My shoulders slumped. I had only brought Pauline pain.
“I was happy with your attention too, for a time,” she sighed again. “But then you called me a freak when you saw what I was…”
“I didn’t mean to,” I protested. “I only wanted to tease you.”
“Well, you failed at that, too,” she repeated. “Your words hurt, and what happened afterward hurt even more.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant the apology from the bottom of my heart.
Pauline shook her head. “It doesn’t matter that you feel remorse now. It already happened.”
“I will make it up to you,” I reached out to her, wanting to take her hand in mine, but Pauline pulled her hand out of reach.
She’d always been out of my reach, hadn’t she? Even now as my wife… what I had done to her hung between us—a great divide I couldn’t bridge. I couldn’t get to her, embrace her, or make her mine.
She didn’t want any of those things from me.
“You can try,” she said. “But the damage is done. You’re my bully, Oliver.”
The words stung, but they were the truth.
“I’m so sorry,” I repeated, my voice breaking.
“You should be,” she said in the same emotionless tone. “You’ve hurt me.”
“Why did you… marry me then? I don’t deserve… a wife as wonderful as you,” I said.
She gave me a look like I was speaking nonsense. “I’m not wonderful,” she shook her head. “And I married you because I wanted an escape from my old pack.”
“Why?” I said.
“I had my reasons. So, I married you because I wanted to. I slept with you because I wanted to. Don’t doubt that. But you should also know that I still remember the pain you inflicted on me. I always will.”
