An awful morning

"Beep!" "Beep!" The clock blew off.

After it rang a couple more times, Carmen lazily opened her eyes. 

Still in a confused state of mind, her hand reached out for the alarm clock. Instead of pressing the off button, she knocked it off the nightstand. 

"Beep!" "Beep!" "Beep!" The alarm screamed louder as the sound echoed in the room. 

"I think I broke it," Carmen mumbled beneath her breath as she pushed the comforter off her.

Then her toes flickered when they touched the cold tiles and chills ran through her body.

Still feeling a bit dizzy, Carmen grabbed the clock from the floor, shut it up, and set it back on the nightstand.

In that instant, her sight caught the other side of the bed, and Carmen sighed at the empty sheet and softly muttered, "Good morning, Carm." 

Then she turned away from her bed and headed into the bathroom.

Feeling drained and hollow in her soul, Carmen dragged her feet as she walked towards the face basin and gazed into the mirror. 

As her reflection stared back at her, she could barely recognize herself. 

However, when Carmen took off her pajamas and stared at her naked reflection, she finally realized how pathetic she looked.

The bite marks on Carmen's body were no stranger to her, and the bruise on her lip did not matter. 

"You and Liam have had one bad start in your marriage, so what? I am sure if you work hard to make your love work, he will come around eventually." Carmen mumbled, doubting every word that rolled off her tongue.

After her downhearted pep talks to herself, she turned away from the mirror and walked toward the bathtub.

 A moment later, after drawing her bath, lukewarm water rose against her skin as her body sunk in the tub. 

Then she drew her knees towards her breast and rested her head on her kneecap as her tears rolled down her cheek, mixing with the water.

A few minutes later, Carmen was out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. Then as she approached her closet, her eyes rolled to the left and caught a glance of the time on the wall clock.

"Knowing what kind of guy Liam is, I'm sure he's not awake yet," Carmen said with a bit of excitement in her tone, realizing that she still has time in her favor to fix a morning surprise for her husband.

In a hurry, she wore a cute sleeves dress and got a hold of her phone before she rushed out of her room.

When Carmen was a bit further in the hallway, she stopped in her tracks and sadly stared at the guest room for a second before walking past the door. 

"Snap out of your self-pity. Liam can wake up at any time." Carmen whispered, striving to keep calm. 

When she arrived in the kitchen, it looked sparkling as though it had never had any visitors before, and everything seemed so well organized and neat.

"Okay, where should I start?" Carmen cried with a frustrating tone.

In an effort to make her marriage work, she decided to make breakfast for Liam, hoping that it may help ease whatever issues he has with her. 

However, Carmen was the only child of a wealthy family, and she has never cooked in her life.

After nervously pacing back and forth for a while, a thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she excitedly said out loud, "The internet. Yes! Carmen, you are a genius."

Wasting no time, she took out her phone and clicked on her browser, then typed in the search box, "How to prepare a lovely breakfast for your husband?" 

Within a second, the internet had presented Carmen with several options. But the Eggo Waffle Breakfast Sandwich became her final pick since it was simple and could get made in ten minutes.

Everything started well from the beginning. Carmen was following the recipe and the instructions to the letters, and she had the maple syrup poured into a frying pan at medium heat. 

However, things began to turn ugly when it was time to place both waffles in the pan.

Even though Carmen was trying her hardest to act carefully, she mistakenly dropped the first waffle too carelessly into the pan, and some hot oil splashed on her hand. 

"Ouch!" Carmen cried, but that did not stop her. Instead, it was a lesson to her when she placed the second one in.

Ten minutes later, Carmen got done with her Eggo Waffle Breakfast Sandwich. Although it looked nothing like the image on the internet, she was proud of how it turned out.

A few minutes later, Carmen had just poured out a hot mug of tea when she heard footsteps approaching the dining room. She then turned to face the entrance, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Liam standing at the doorway with a frown on his face.

"Good morning," Carmen said with a smile.

"What is this?" Liam coldly replied, ignoring her greeting.

A  wave of pain hit her heart, but she did not portray the hurt on her face. Instead, she continued smiling warmly and answered, "I made breakfast for you."

"Have you prepared anything in your life?" Liam harshly asked as he approached her.

"Not until now," Carmen replied as she drew back a bit.

It got silent between them as he looked her dead in her eyes for a while without uttering a word.

"Do you want to poison me with this junk?" Liam rudely uttered, swaying his gaze towards the dishes.

"No, my only desire was to make breakfast for you." Carmen cried, knowing that she did not intend for things to turn out this way and make him even more madder.

"Trash it! I am not desperate enough to eat a mess like that!"

"But,"

Pausing for a moment, Carmen stood still with her hands tightly clasped to her dress as she gently bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying louder.

Then she nodded slightly and thought, 'I can fix this.'

Letting go of her dress, Carmen walked to the table, picked up the mug, and approached Liam.

With a naive look in her eyes, she paused for a moment and then said, "Please have some tea since you are not hungry." 

"I said, "I don't want anything from you!" Liam screamed, knocking the mug out of Carmen's hands.

The hot liquid spilled on her hand when the mug slipped out of her grip. Then the pieces of shattered glass scattered on the tiles.

In fear, Carmen tried to pull her hand to her side, but Liam hastily grabbed her wrist and stared at her finger for a brief moment at the earlier burns she had from the oil. 

Then he slowly released his grip on her as he frowned.

"You should get that check at the hospital. Don't get the wrong idea. I don't care about you. But I don't want my grandpa nagging me because of you." Liam stated, looking away from her hand.

Even though Carmen did not reply, her tears were proof of what she felt inside as she watched Liam turn his back to her and walk out of the room, leaving her alone with a bruised hand and heart.