1. Brown Envelope

1

Layla Patel

~•~

“You know he isn’t coming back, should I just refrigerate the food?” 

I held back a scornful scoff as I watched the maid walk towards the dining table to pack up the food I had spent my entire day preparing for my husband. 

I couldn’t even stop her from touching the food because she was right. Lucas wasn’t coming back home. I thought he would make an exception since it was our third wedding anniversary. 

But I was wrong. 

Lucas didn’t care about me. 

To him, our marriage was just for convenience. He only got married to me because his family forced him. I also had no choice but to marry a man I knew nothing about. 

Lucas had made it clear to me that he wasn’t in love with me and would never be. But I was delusional enough to think he would change his mind as the years passed by. 

It had been three years but nothing had changed. 

Even though we shared a room on the nights he saw fit to sleep at home, it still felt like we were strangers under the same roof. 

He only made love to me whenever he felt like it. He always used protection because he didn’t want me to have his baby. 

My life practically fell apart the minute after we said our wedding vows to each other. He took everything away from me - all my dreams and ambitions in life. 

I wanted to have kids. I wanted to start medical school. But no, Lucas turned me into a housewife who barely had any social life. 

Most girls out there were dying to be in my position. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be with one of the finest men in New York? But they had no idea what I was going through behind closed doors. 

We appeared as a perfect couple to the world. 

I always accompanied him to all his work events and put on a fake smile. Everyone thought I was lucky to be with him. They thought I had it all. But I knew what I had to go through every day. 

My eyes wandered back to the wooden wall clock in the living room. It was only a few minutes before the day was over. 

I had been waiting for my husband since 8:00pm and it was almost midnight. The maid had already refrigerated the food and returned to her room. 

I was holding on to a little hope that he would come back before midnight. I mean, he was nice enough to have dinner with me the previous years. 

But this time around, he had more important places to be than to be with his wife on his anniversary. 

I wasn’t surprised because I saw it coming a long time ago. 

Shit, my best friend even warned me about it. 

But I couldn’t do anything about it. 

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I stood up from the couch and walked back to my room. As I lay on the bed, I was tempted to pick up my phone and check the news. 

But I let out a scoff and closed my eyes.

I was already hurt and didn’t need to make my situation worse. I just decided to sleep and forget about my problems. 

Maybe Lucas would have a reasonable explanation for why he didn’t come back home for our anniversary dinner in the morning. 

A strong stench of alcohol filled the air and my eyes were forced to flutter open. I strained my eyes to adjust to the bright light coming through the window. 

I was so exhausted the previous night that it slipped my mind to close the curtains. Letting out a deep breath, I looked at Lucas who was standing in front of the closet. 

He turned around and looked at me but he didn’t even acknowledge my presence. 

I swallowed hard and cleared my throat. One of us had to say something. “You didn’t come home yesterday. I made us dinner to celebrate our anniversary.” 

Lucas scoffed, running his fingers around his scattered brunette hair. “Oh my goodness, Layla.” He paused for a second, then he continued. “We haven’t had dinner together for the past month, what made you think yesterday would be different?” 

My heart sank as I tried to speak. “Emm, our… it’s… anniversary.” I was too hurt to even come up with a coherent sentence. 

“Please, I’m too tired for this. I just want to sleep.” He continued as he took off his white shirt. “Can you leave the room? I need to be alone.” 

It was a normal thing for Lucas to dismiss me whenever he felt like it. Even though we shared the room. Most times, I would sleep in the guest room or an empty room. 

I always wondered why he didn’t just ask me to leave permanently. Sometimes, I wondered what was going through his mind. 

“Lucas, you can’t just dismiss me whenever you like. I’m talking about our anniversary here.” I sat upright, staring at him. “I made us dinner and you spent the night drinking alcohol with whoever.” 

“Happy anniversary, Layla!” He responded sarcastically. “Are you happy now? Please leave the room. I’m too tired for this.” He reminded me again.

I pushed the sheets away from my body and climbed out of the bed. “The maid helped me refrigerate the food, should I reheat it, so we can have breakfast together?” 

Lucas laughed. “What is wrong you you?” He asked, shaking his head. “You know what? I can’t do this anymore.” 

He turned around and walked to the closet. He rummaged through the closet searching for something. I stood in my spot as I waited for him to be done. 

I had no idea what he was searching for and was curious to find out. 

After a few moments, he turned around with a brown envelope and handed it over to me. “Take.” He tossed it on my body when I was hesitant to take it. 

My heart was pounding in my chest. “Lucas, what is this?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. 

Why was he giving me a brown envelope? What was inside? I hope it wasn’t what I was thinking.