Back then, I'd rested my hand on my belly, on the child growing inside me, and decided to give Richard one more chance.
But now I knew. I was done with this man.
Richard was still making excuses.
"Vera, I told you, that was the last time."
"She's already gone. Can you please stop making a scene?"
"Didn't we agree we wouldn't bring up divorce again?"
I looked at him and felt like I was staring at a stranger. The man in front of me had become nothing more than a liar with a mouth full of empty promises.
A sharp ache twisted through my lower abdomen. I couldn't be bothered to argue with him anymore. I turned and walked back to the bedroom.
The front door slammed behind me hard enough to rattle the walls.
That night, I barely slept. My dreams were full of fragments from the past.
Richard and I had been an arranged match between our families. But against all odds, we'd clicked. We fit together in a way neither of us expected.
Still, I'd hesitated before agreeing to the marriage. In our circle, there were always mistresses and side pieces. It was practically an epidemic.
My parents respected my decision. They told me to think it through carefully.
It was Richard who got down on his knees in front of me and swore to God.
"Vera, I will never betray you. Not in this lifetime."
"I'm not like the rest of them. I'll treat you right."
"You'll be the only woman by my side. I swear it."
Those vows still echoed like they'd been spoken yesterday. But they'd long since become a joke.
When Brenda had shown up with her red-rimmed eyes, looking timid and pitiful, I saw the tenderness in Richard's gaze. The kind of tenderness that had once belonged only to me. He'd given it to another woman.
I confronted him through tears, even slapped him across the face. Hard. More than once.
All I got in return was his answer.
"Vera, this is how it works in our world!"
"Besides, I haven't even cheated!"
I broke. I stopped eating, stopped drinking. I started thinking about hurting myself.
One night, Richard jolted awake in the middle of the darkness and found me standing at the window, one foot already on the ledge.
He cried. He grabbed me and held on so tight I couldn't breathe, dragged me to the couch, then dropped to his knees on the floor and slapped himself across the face, over and over.
"Vera, I'll never say anything that disgusting again."
"I'll make Brenda leave. She'll never appear in front of you again. Not for the rest of our lives."
I looked at him like that, broken and desperate on the floor, and my heart softened.
After that, things between us seemed to go back to the way they'd been.
But something inside me had changed in a way I couldn't explain. My heart grew number by the day. Colder. Until there was nothing left but a hollow, aching silence.
Maybe I should have filed for divorce right then. But I found out I was pregnant.
The baby Richard and I had been hoping for over three long years.
When I woke, sunlight was already flooding through the windows.
I walked out to the living room and found the table covered with my favorite brunch spread. Richard stood beside it, wearing an eager, attentive expression.
"Vera, you must be starving."
"I got your favorite, from Grandfort's."
"Come on, eat something."
His demeanor was perfectly natural, as if yesterday had never happened.
He even pulled out my chair and set a place for me.
I sat down in silence and started eating. My body desperately needed the nourishment, and I didn't have the energy to pick a fight over it.
Once he watched me finish the meal, Richard visibly relaxed. He thought the storm had passed.
"Vera, I have a business trip coming up. I'll be gone for a while. Take care of yourself at home, okay?"
I nodded calmly.
"When you get back, we'll go file the divorce papers."
The color drained from Richard's face in an instant.
The cup beside his hand flew off the table as he hurled it against the floor.
