In the dead of night, when the quiet of one's home was supposed to provide comfort and peace, Elara felt like the silence wanted to gnaw at her, eat her alive, and scratch her skin until she bled through her own loneliness.
It was her third marriage anniversary today.
From little candles to the cake, she prepared everything, asking just one thing of her husband: that he be there to celebrate it with her.
Just one night, she wanted him to be here with her as her husband, as the man she vowed to love and care for for the rest of her life, truly.
Tears welled in her eyes when she looked at the time. It was already 11 pm. One more hour and her anniversary would be over.
What will follow will be another mundane day. Then again, it wasn't like her special days were any less mundane.
She picked up her phone from the table and dialed her husband's number.
The line went off. She tried three more times, and after multiple rings, the person on the other side finally picked up.
"Hello?" Andrew's cold, brooding voice resounded from the other side.
"How long will it take, Drew? Only one hour remains until our anniversary. You said you'll be available tonight," Elara asked, her voice full of hope.
"I lost track of time. I don't think I'll be able to make it. There's still some work left at the company," the man said.
"Who is it, Mr. Lloyd?" A sweet voice came from the background, and Elara closed her eyes, disappointed as she heard the sound of the call ending from the other side.
She took a deep breath and blinked her eyes furiously to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.
Her gaze swept over the cake, the gifts, the decorations, and the variety of dishes she cooked for the night, and she couldn't help but feel a piercing pain in her heart.
Without thinking twice, she stuffed all the food into containers to give it to the poor children who would love to eat it.
She drove all the way to a slum where she was a regular. Despite being late at night, the moment she opened the door, she was greeted by the elders who started coming out of their houses.
"Miss Elara, are you here with food again?" one of the women asked, eyeing the containers with a hopeful smile.
"Is there anyone who might have a birthday today?" Elara asked, masking her pain behind her smile.
"It's my birthday!" A sweet girl rushed to her side before she stopped a few steps away, her innocent gaze looking at her clothes and then at her hands.
The little girl was ashamed of her dirty hands, her manners not allowing her to hug Elara and soil her branded clothes.
The scene made Elara's heart clench painfully.
"Is that so, sweetheart? I have got a cake for you. Why don't you call your friends, and we all can have it?" Elara's words made the girl burst out laughing with happiness, and she called all her friends.
Elara used disposable plates to distribute the cake and food she had prepared.
"May God bless you with an abundance of happiness. Any man who'll marry you would be the luckiest in the world." The old woman's blessings felt more like thorns, opening her wounds and making her bleed through her pain.
Elara smiled and thanked the lady nonetheless. After all, they didn't know about the reality of her life.
She poured more food for the little girl whose gaze was beaming with gratitude, bringing a little relief to her.
She didn't realize when it became a routine. All the special days in her life—birthdays, anniversaries, her personal achievements—everything was celebrated with these people who were always much happier to meet her than anyone else ever was.
Seeing their happy smiles made her heart feel a little soothed.
It used to, at least, but today, something didn't feel right.
Her heart wasn't finding its comfort like it used to.
"It's quite late. I shall go," Elara said before she drove back to the villa.
As her car stopped at the traffic signal, her gaze fell on the news billboard displaying recent headlines, and to say her body froze would be an understatement.
The news showed the CEO of a company carrying a woman to the hospital in his arms in a bridal-style manner. The reporters gushed about the man in love, rushing towards the hospital as if the entire city were on fire, and how a man goes above and beyond, caring not for his reputation for the sake of his woman.
They looked so compatible and in love, and if she didn't know the man and woman personally, she would've really thought they made a good couple, too.
# CEO of Lloyd Group takes his woman to the hospital
# The CEO's woman sprained her foot
She took out her phone to see the news and the hashtags to confirm if it was indeed true. For a second, her heart forbade her to believe the articles, but could she really ignore such a striking reality, now being reported by multiple outlets? Her inner voice smiled in self-mockery.
Her chest tightened as she saw the rare concern on her husband's face when he looked at Beatrice, his capable secretary, as he ran towards the hospital. Her fingers touched her husband's face on the screen as if trying to believe that this expression was genuine.
Her eyes welled with tears.
She remembered calling him when she had a severe stomachache due to food poisoning, but rather than accompanying her, he had sent his secretary to take her to the hospital.
"Don't bother me for such small matters."
She could've died that day if she hadn't reached the hospital in time.
The same man who couldn't be bothered with her food poisoning was now running with that woman for her sprained foot.
She always thought her husband was incapable of love, concern, and every such emotion because it distracted him from his work and spoiled his dominating personality, but what a fool she was for three years.
Her husband was always capable, just not for her.
Elara no longer stopped her tears from flowing.
All the sad memories of how he neglected her time after time in the name of work and company matters but never missed a chance to care for Beatrice flooded her mind. Just because she chose to stay silent most of the time didn't mean it slipped by her observation. She just chose to ignore it.
Recently, she even discovered that Beatrice wasn't a poor scholar, as she had previously believed. She was Andrew's old friend, rumored to be his former lover, one he really wanted to marry, who had returned after completing her degree and was now practicing to become the CEO of his company's branch.
In his eyes, she was competent, while Elara doubted he would even remember what qualifications his wife had.
She had wanted to join Andrew's company to help him; she was more than qualified to do so, but he told her to relax and enjoy her time at home, not worrying about company matters.
Was it because he really wanted her to enjoy it, or was it because he didn't want her to come to the company and question Beatrice's place in his heart? Elara clenched her fingers around the phone, feeling helpless and defeated.