He turned sharply, knocking into a vase on the table. It wobbled, then toppled over.
Carrie instinctively stepped back, but before it could hit the ground, Jared reached out and caught it.
The vase shattered against the corner of the table, and shards of glass sliced through her calf.
But Jared’s hand was injured even more severely.
Without thinking, he blurted out, "Are you okay? I’ll take you to the hospital and get it bandaged."
Carrie was about to tell him she was fine when Karin’s voice rang out from his phone.
"Jared, there’s a power outage in my building. Someone’s been knocking on my door, and I’m scared. Can you come over?"
Jared glanced at Carrie for only a second before answering.
"Don’t be afraid, Karin. I’m coming right now. Just wait for me."
He barely spared Carrie another glance before saying perfunctorily, "Go get it treated yourself. I don’t have time for you."
Carrie wasn’t surprised.
She made her way to a roadside clinic and got the wound bandaged.
While waiting, she absentmindedly scrolled through social media and saw Karin’s latest post.
Jared—who had an obsessive dislike for anything unclean—had actually changed a lightbulb in her apartment.