Love Like You Never Loved Before

The sky was shrouded in darkness. Following the dark clouds was a strong gust of wind. My eyes were irritated by the sand carried in the wind.

Even the Gods are picking on me? The weather was fine a few minutes ago. Where can I go now? Fortunately, I had a stalwart friend that I could always count on.

After borrowing the phone of a pedestrian walking by, I gave Sabrina a call. Less than half an hour later, she arrived in her car to pick me up. Gazing at the palm print on my face, she turned livid. Sabrina wanted to give Lyle a piece of her mind but she was deterred by me. This is between me and Lyle. Getting her caught up in this would only exacerbate things.

“Yvonne, I don’t even know what I should say to you anymore. You really ought to look out for yourself more. If things keep going like this, you’ll end up being a divorcée,” Sabrina lectured me while driving.

Although her words were a bit harsh, I knew she really cared about me. Out of all the high-born ladies I knew, she was the only one who was willing to put up with my clumsiness and be my friend.

Sabrina brought me to her apartment and gave me a change of clothes as she said, “You can’t live like this anymore, Yvonne. You should divorce him. If he was shameless enough to hit you today, who knows what horrendous things he’ll do to you in the future.”

“I know you like him a lot, but you really need to put yourself first. Love isn’t everything to a woman. Even without love, we can carry on just fine as long as we take care of ourselves,” she continued.

Sabrina was worried that I would continue to love Lyle despite his cruelty toward me. I feigned a smile and shook my head before replying, “Actually, the thought of divorcing him has been in my mind for about two months now. However, for Grandma’s sake, I tried to get along with him. Today, Lyle suddenly accused me of cheating and wanted to use that as a reason to divorce me. How can I divorce him now? It’ll seem like I really did cheat on him.”

My reputation will be ruined if I agree to divorce him now.

“What? How despicable can this guy get!” Sabrina was getting more and more riled up.

Right? I never would’ve thought he was such an abhorrent man. To my chagrin, I used to think he was the prince of my life. I can’t believe I was jejune enough to be beguiled by him back then. I should’ve known better.

I was lost in thought as I struggled to fit into her clothes. Sabrina was thinner than me, so her clothes were a bit tight on me.

Seeing the somber look on my face, my friend queried, “So… What exactly do you plan to do now? Do you want to continue putting up with him?”

“Yes. I don’t care if he doesn’t give me any alimony payment. I just don’t want to seem like I was really cheating on him.” Thinking back, I would always try to come up with ideas to try to get a piece of his fortune for myself, but I simply couldn’t care less now.

After staying in Sabrina’s apartment for a day, I decided it was time to leave. I can’t bother her anymore. She’s got things she needs to do too. After Sabrina headed to work, I went back to my apartment furtively.

When I got back home, the mess had been cleaned up. Even the wedding photo of Lyle and I had been put back to its original place. I really don’t get Lyle’s intentions.

He fools around with other women all day long and says he wants to divorce me. But why does he still act nice to me sometimes? Does he think I will forgive him if he shows me kindness every now and then? What a joke! I’ll never forgive him after what he’s done to me.

I took out my luggage and started packing my things into it. As I was doing so, I realized that most of the things I had decided to place in my apartment were based on Lyle’s preference. I always chose the ornaments and furniture he liked for my apartment.

If only he cared about me as much as I cared about him.