Chapter 1: A Broken Emily

Emily's POV

I stood nearly lifeless right in front of our bedroom as I watched him fling out my things. Eric had just handed me the divorce papers with a gentle grin on his face.

‘Now, I can finally get to live the life I want’ he walked straight to me and whispered slowly in my ears.

For a minute, I wondered what I could have done to have made my husband fall out of love with me this way. 

I can't deny that I didn't see the signs. But I tried. I tried so hard to keep him and make him love me. He was meant to be the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

At least that was what I thought.

All my life, I dreamt of having a home filled with so much brightness. I thought I would have a home where the sun happily shined on us every morning. That was all I thought of as I walked down the aisle 2 years ago.

And here I am, in the middle of a divorce at this young age, facing one of the darkest moments of my life.

‘Eric, please. Please don't do this to me. Don't do this to us. I love you and I have tried to show you this every day. What can I do to fix this, please? 

I spoke to him as I fought back the tears in my eyes with every strength in me.

I tried so hard not to portray too much weakness. I knew my tears would make him even more satisfied. He felt nothing for me anymore.

I picked my clothes back up as I begged. He stopped for a second and stared dead into my eyes without a word.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked back at him.

He held my hands softly as though he was about to comfort me.

“It was already the end right from the moment you overstepped your boundary and walked into that restaurant.” His voice was gentle yet filled with so much anger.

“I had no idea that you were in there”. I lied to his face. Anything to save me from this pain and this moment of darkness.

“Oh Emily!” he let out a slight giggle and dropped my hands gently

“Listen carefully my dear, I have known your every move and I know how long you stood right by that window before you walked in.”

My body froze in shock. “How did he know I was there a few minutes before I walked in?” I thought to myself.

“What do you mean?” I tried to defend myself one more time.

“You don't deserve an explanation, Emily. I'm glad this happened already.” Eric said as he went back to packing my bags for me.

At that point, I realised that there was nothing I could do to save this relationship.

My tears were now uncontrollable. It was a lost battle.

I knew that I had failed. I failed at being a wife, I failed at having a beautiful marriage and yet again, I have failed at something as simple as holding back a tear from my eyes.

I married Eric just a few weeks after my 27th birthday. I was so excited at the chance to experience love.

Almost every little girl’s dream after watching Cinderella find a handsome prince to live happily ever after with.

My dad always told me that I was going to get married to a fine man, wealthy enough to take care of me. 

He always sounded sarcastic and a bit weird when he said it but I never paid attention to him.

For some reason, my mom would always counter it and ask me to ensure I took my time when it came to finding a husband and I wish I listened to her back then.

The first few months with Eric were so beautiful. We went on vacations, and he treated me right. I was a real-life passenger princess on our road trips.

His sex drive with me was pretty high and I was quite excited about that.

He worked late hours right from the beginning but he always compensated me with some exciting amount of money or some awesome meals from a fancy restaurant down the street almost every night.

I didn't have a job because he didn't want me to and I was very okay with that.

Why did I need to suffer and embrace the hustle culture when I already had someone who gave me everything?

So I didn't even have to do so much since I had everything I needed.

Until that evening finally came. 

I had decided to check out the same restaurant where Eric usually got my food from, just to try out something new. He was running late as usual but I was too hungry.

Right before I walked in, I noticed a strong familiar figure in there.

I spotted Eric just as I stood by the window side to carefully observe and to be sure my mind was not playing games with me. 

He sat next to a glamorous lady with long blonde hair. She was so beautiful and had such an awesome figure that made me realise how out of shape I was.

I could feel the chemistry right from where I stood and it was quite a distance. He looked at her with such an intense gaze.

Sometimes I wondered if I made the wrong choice by walking into that restaurant despite what I had already seen. 

I wanted him to see me. I thought that it would make him realise what he had done but it didn't.

That was the first night he came home and didn't utter a word to me. Ever since then, it had been from one woman to the other.

He cheated in broad daylight and never cared if I walked into the middle of him having sex with another woman right in our home.

“Where do you expect me to go?” I asked as he dropped my bags on the porch one after the other.

“I'm pretty sure you have parents who are still alive”

“I do but I want to be with you. I know you love me Eric” I said as I watched him take my bags out.

“Well, I don't! and I am done. Sign those papers and let's get this over with.” He walked back into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

This is what my life has become. A sad story far from everything I dreamed of. I couldn't go back home and face my father.

He was going to turn my life into a living hell for failing at such a thing in my life. 

I sat with my bags in shame with my head bent low as I thought about my next line of action. 

The neighbours were already staring and the last thing I needed was for someone to walk up to me and ask any dumb questions right now.

But It was too late. I noticed from the corner of my eyes, someone was walking towards my direction.

Dan was a jovial neighbour but he was also very snoopy. Obviously, he just wanted some news to share with the others.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by my phone ringing. The caller ID stated ‘Dad’. I felt a rush of tears at the sight of this. My palms grew sweaty. 

Amid my chaotic moment, I was quite relieved to have a distraction to push Dan away which worked pretty easily as he simply walked out of my sight.

I picked up the call and said nothing for the first few seconds but he interrupted the silence almost immediately.

“You are such a disgrace to this family. I tried to do one good thing for you, yet you ruined it. I am already on my way so just get yourself ready to leave that place.” he hung up at once before I could say a word.

The update flew pretty fast. For some weird reason, my dad and Eric had quite an unusual bond so I guess Eric had already spilled the news to him.

I waited only for a minute when an entirely different car parked right in front of me in a rush. The driver was an old-looking lady wearing a dark pair of shades with bright red lipstick.

“Come with me at once! Your father will be here in a minute.”

“Aunt Claudia? what...What are you doing? How do you even know about this?”

“Is this really the time for questions Emily? I am sure you heard what I just said!”

I stood up quickly, still surprised at what exactly was going on but proceeded to put my bags in the car and drove off with her.