Chapter 1 Her Belief
SIENNA
“Will you keep maltreating her?” I heard my husband’s friend, Jaxon’s voice, just as I was about to knock on the door, and my steps halted. My throat went dry, and I gulped; my ears strained as I listened to their conversation.
It wasn’t my attitude to eavesdrop on others, but there was an exception this time. I wanted to hear my husband’s response. If that would bring even a little hope… to me and to our marriage.
“Yes. She will leave when she gets tired. It’s not like I forced her to stay with me,” he responded. My heart dropped, and I heard it shatter into a million pieces. The way his response was swift and loud even made it worse… like he never gave it a lot of thought, but he had been thinking about it, which meant he was being sincere.
“What! This is your wife, Ethan. Do not forget how she gave you everything,” Jaxon muttered.
I heard Ethan scoff. “I didn’t ask her to give me everything. She was just too desperate to keep me that she couldn’t think right,” he responded.
The word “desperate” cut through me like a blade. I gripped the documents harder, wishing I could swallow the humiliation crawling up my throat. I wanted to go in there, scream at him, and ask him different questions. What should I do to win his heart and make him treat me like a wife? I knew I was foolish. I loved Ethan, and even in this situation, all I could think of was how to become the trophy wife he could flaunt to everyone.
“You are making a mistake, Ethan. Sienna loves you. Everyone knows that. She’s ready to give you everything.” Jaxon paused and snorted. “What am I even saying? She has given you everything already.”
“Can you stop disturbing me about Sienna? You can marry her if you want,” he snapped at his friend.
My throat dried and bobbed. A lump clogged my throat, and my eyes burned with tears. My emotions were taking over. I’d given everything to this relationship for years, hoping that it would work out, but the wall kept breaking the more I tried to build it. A wall in my husband’s heart, which I wouldn’t be able to penetrate no matter what. This wasn’t the Ethan I got married to.
He was the first person to treat me well, which was the reason I refused to believe he was treating me badly intentionally.
Maybe I’d missed something… some moment where everything between us started to rot. I just needed to have a healthy conversation with him and apologize for everything. Certainly, everything would be fine. I’m sure he loved me as much as I did. I shouldn’t give up on us yet.
My hand hovered over the door like it weighed a hundred kilos. If I stepped inside, I might hear something worse than what I’d already heard. Shutting my eyes, I let out a deep breath and unlocked them. Then, I knocked on the door before opening it.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Ethan,” I greeted as soon as I walked into the office, forcing a smile on my face; if only it could erase the pain tugging my chest and the lump clogging my throat. He was my boss at work, and no matter what relationship we shared outside, it mustn’t affect the company. “Good afternoon, Jaxon.”
“What are you doing here?” he grunted, his voice void of softness and affection. It felt as though needles were being pierced into my body.
“I brought the documents for the new innovative project,” I responded, putting the documents on the table slowly.
“Okay. You can leave,” he responded hastily.
I clenched my fists. My heart dropped to my stomach. The way he was quick to send me out made it feel like I’d contaminated the atmosphere in the room and he didn’t want to breathe the same air as me. Like I was some disease he didn’t want to contract. A plague he was avoiding.
“Okay, Mr. Ethan,” I bowed, turned, and walked toward the door.
When my hand touched the doorknob, I froze and tilted my head slightly. “I’m not supposed to say this in the office, but I have no choice since you will avoid me at home. Can we sit and have a conversation after work?”
My eyes glistened with tears as I let out those words. It felt stupid that I had to be so formal with my husband. How did everything fall apart? How did we become strangers when married? I asked myself this question several times, yet I couldn’t find answers.
“I don’t have anything to say to you. And… if you try to mix personal and work issues again, you will be severely punished,” he threatened, tilting his head to the side. He couldn’t even look at me, like I disgusted him a lot.
Inexplicable emotions overwhelmed me. My hand shook around the doorknob, and my lips quivered. Pursing my lips, I bowed and left his office afterward.
He probably responded to me in this manner because he was a professional and didn’t want to mix pleasure with business. It was easier to believe that than to face the truth clawing at the back of my mind.
I would bring this up when we got home today, and I was certain he would love that too. There was no way he liked the way we’d been cohabiting like strangers when we were a couple.
I made excuses for him. Again. And this time, I hoped he would prove me wrong.
Soon, it was closing time, and everyone left the office one after the other. I was one of the last groups to leave the office because there was a document list I had to arrange before the resumption of the new CEO. Ethan had already left four hours ago. He left the office before the closing hour. He probably had a meeting to attend or something.
As I got out of the taxi, I could hear the cracking sound of my bones. Exhausted...? Exhausted wasn’t even close. My body felt like it was stitched together with frayed thread. I paid the taxi driver and headed toward the apartment.
The lights were on, which meant Ethan was home. But the atmosphere felt… off. Too quiet. Too still. My lips curled into a smile, and my eyes lightened with renewed hope. It had been months since he was home at this time. He’d always been a night crawler, and I would stay in the living room, waiting for him in the middle of the night, yet he wouldn’t arrive until I’d drifted off to sleep on the couch. So many days, I woke up with a sore neck because of my sleeping posture.
Oh! I told him we would have a conversation. That must be the reason he returned.
Did you see that? I knew he loved me. He was also eager to settle things with me.
Once I was inside, I saw clothes strewn on the floor. My stomach twisted. A cold prickle crawled across my skin. My brows creased. Those weren’t mine, and they weren’t his either because they were female apparel.
I hadn’t comprehended the shock in the living room when I heard strange sounds coming from the bedroom.
My heart skipped a beat. I hoped it wasn’t what I was thinking. My mind scrambled for any explanation that wasn’t the one stabbing at my chest. The people in the bedroom could be thieves.
When the possibility sprouted in my head, my eyes widened and I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands to stop the sound from escaping. I shouldn’t garner their attention yet.
Slowly, I tiptoed to the shelf, and beside it was a wooden flower vase. Carefully, I snatched it and walked on my toes to the bedroom. Then, I pushed the door open.
Raising the vase, I shouted, “Fuck you, motherfucking-bastard-stupid thief!”
My hands hung in the air when my eyes fell on Ethan, beneath another woman, with his eyes closed but his hands firmly clutching her hips and guiding her up and down his dick.