Chapter 2
Inside a loud bar.
My best friend tapped me on the shoulder and teased with a grin, “I really thought you were settling down as the perfect wife forever!”
I tilted my head back and downed the drink in one shot, laughing, “Haha, then make sure you invite me to the next party you throw.”
Ever since I got together with Joseph, my world had shrunk so much that he was basically all I had left.
The parties I skipped, the hobbies I let go of, the friends I drifted away from.
This book had been added on your bookshelf.
Looking back now, it’s almost laughable.
My phone lit up, and the notification for the refunded transfer stood out sharply.
By the time I reached home, it was already two in the morning.
When I unlocked the door, I spotted Joseph in the dim room, a glowing, cigarette between his fingers.
For a second, I felt confused, almost doubting what I saw.
“Oh, you still remember to come back?”
He stubbed out the cigarette and got to his feet, wrinkling his nose at the smell of liquor. “Have you been drinking? Why pretend not to care? If you’re jealous, just admit it.”
Leaning on the doorway, I let out a soft laugh.
Out of nowhere, a memory popped up. Three years ago, when he came home late from work, I stayed up all night only to hear, “Why are you. so clingy?”
My head spun as I collapsed into the chair by the dining table, my hands trembling.
Joseph sniffed slightly, and his eyes flickered with irritation. “You know how much I can’t stand the smell of alcohol.”
He switched on the lamp. “Besides, there’s nothing going on between Hailey and me. Why are you doing this to yourself?”
Holding my face in my hands, I laughed quietly. “I was in a good. mood, so I had a couple more drinks.”
His gaze locked onto my glazed eyes, fists tightening, “Did you really have to go out drinking just to upset me? I don’t have time for this. Emerson, you’re a married woman, can you act like one?”
I gave a half–hearted nod.
He suddenly raised his voice, “Get serious! I don’t have endless patience! Don’t assume I’ll always try to smooth things over!”
My head pounded, the hangover headache only making it worse.
I waved dismissively. “Think what you want, I’m exhausted.”
Joseph suddenly slammed the glass on the table, and the sharp crack of it breaking filled the quiet room. “It’s always the same! Every time we fight, you act like you don’t care. Do you ever think about how I feel?”
Cheute: 1.
I bent down carefully to avoid the shattered glass on the ground, my lower back bumping into the table edge without a sound.
He reached out as if to grab my arm, but I quickly stepped away.
As soon as I locked the bedroom door, I heard his footsteps pacing quickly outside.
That night, I curled up on the edge of the bed, listening to his occasional sighs drifting in from the living room, and I didn’t sleep at
all.
Not until the morning sunlight slowly slipped through the gaps in the
curtains.
When I opened the door, I saw Joseph slouched on the sofa, his face cold and his eyes shadowed.
I moved past him to grab my car keys, and as I closed the door behind me, I heard a glass crash loudly against the wall.
Chapel’s
