One

Lily stared at herself in the mirror with a small smile on her face. She had hurried into the bathroom after making his dinner to play her little dress up game. She knew that he would never look at her for longer than 2 seconds, he never has. Throughout the 5 years of their marriage, he treated her like an eyesore, it felt like looking at her for longer than 5 seconds would cause his eyes to bleed, yet she always played dress up for him, it was a fantasy game. Maybe if I dress up well today, he would look at me, he however never did.

Her eyes trailed over her lean frame, and she felt the bitter taste of rejection in her mouth. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but anyone could glance at her twice at least so why... She clenched her hands tightly on her red robe, and she forced herself to subdue the bitter thoughts rising in her mind. He made it clear to her five years ago that she was nothing but a token for a successful business deal, nothing more and nothing less. He had told her to shatter whatever expectations of love she has because it'll never happen.

She deluded herself into thinking if she tried hard enough, he would come around... He never did, but she couldn't bring herself to stop trying. He was an asshole, but at the end of the day he wasn't just any asshole, he was an asshole she loved.

The sound of his car pulling into the driveway forced her out of her thoughts and a big smile lit up her face. She immediately cleared her dressing table, and ran downstairs to the door to welcome him. It was a ritual she has religiously followed for the past 5 days.

Lily's heart dropped to her stomach and soon enough it felt like butterflies, millions of them were fluttering in her belly when Asher walked in with a smile on his face. That has never happened, not even when he closed deals worth millions and billions of dollars. Her hopes immediately skyrocketed the second she sighted him, is this it? Is this the day he finally falls for me? She thought.

Her thought were immediately dashed the minute she saw the person latched onto his arm, a big smile on her face as well. She immediately lost her footing at the sight of them and had to grab onto the door for support.

Beside him was a face she hadn't seen in years, a face that had a striking resemblance with hers but was nothing like her, the same face that Asher was meant to witness on their wedding day but chose to flee. Charlotte, her younger sister and Asher's ex fiancé and one true love was latched onto his arm. A big smile on her face.

"Lily!" Charlotte's high-pitched voice rang in the room, causing Lily to wince. "It's been so long!" A small silence accompanied by a scrutinizing gaze collapsed and Lily prepared herself for whatever vicious thing she was giving to say next, she knew that look all too well. "Did you get fatter? You look it." 

A deep chuckle followed her statement and hurt sliced through Lily's heart when she realized it had come from Asher. 

"Come, let's have dinner. I'm sure she prepared something for us." He said, looking at her with so much awe, and Lily sucked in a breath. Five seconds, that was all she asked for. For him to look at her for 5 seconds, but he never did, yet here he was, staring at her sister with so much awe... The same girl that outrightly rejected his proposal even when they'd been dating for a while. 

"Do you think that's the reason she's getting fat?" Lily heard Charlotte ask as they both walked to the dinning. Her hands immediately enclosed tightly against the hems of her gown, her bottom lip quivered ever so lightly as she tried to hold in the tears that has welled up in her eyes.

Five years ago when her father announced to her that she was to be married to Asher, she had felt a mixture of emotions; surprise, shock, fear, embarrassment, but most of all, excitement. She had liked Asher for a while. A long while even, but the second her sister discovered, she went off and started dating him.

Lily had regretted ever mentioning her crush to Charlotte when she announced the next week that they were a thing. She couldn't even tell how she had managed to get the Asher Allard to date her. She eventually forced herself to give up on her crush on him, but that day all the excitement and feelings came rushing back. Even when she learnt that she was being given to him because Charlotte refused to marry him, even when he told her he wanted nothing to do with her on their wedding night..  her excitement never fiddled.

She kept her excitement and love alive throughout their marriage, their 5 years of their loveless marriage, but today.. watching him smile and be all giddy for the same woman that left him, she felt her excitement fizzle.

"Are you going to feed us at all, big sister?" Charlotte's annoying voice interrupted her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, she plastered a smile on her face and walked over to them. She quickly dished out for all of them, once they were all served, she made herself comfortable before them.

She ignored the pangs in her chest from seeing them sit so closely together, she has never sat so close to him in the dinning room. Gripping her fork tightly, she looked at Charlotte with a smile, "when did you get back? I thought you were going to stay in Paris for a while longer." 

Charlotte smiled and encircled her hand around Asher's arm, "I missed him so much, and our family of course, so I decided to come home." Lily's eyes narrowed suspiciously, Charlotte doesn't miss people. If she came back, there was a reason, a very selfish one at that. "What are you putting on by the way? It looks hideous." 

Lily's mouth dropped open in shock and she glanced at her nightgown and her robe, they were not hideous... They were cute. She looked to Asher for help, but he was too busy bobbing his head to every word she said.

"And you put on a lot of weight, I think you should go on a diet, you know, cut back on the food. You also have a lot of wrinkles now, I mean you can never be as young and fresh looking as me but you can try, I can give you a few tips..."  Lily's ears burned as she listened to her blab on and on about her imperfections. It was nothing new, she was used to it, but this time it burned. It angered, infuriated and hurt her, and maybe it has something to do with the ravishingly handsome man beside her.

"Are you going to let her keep talking to your wife like that?" Lily blurted out before she could think, and she almost slapped her mouth. She had never spoken to him, not like that at least, and the look of surprise on his face proved that, but she was fed up. Even if he hated her, he possibly couldn't sit there and let another person... Another woman, insult his wife. Right?

Her expectations were however shattered when he shrugged his shoulders and avoided her gaze, as always. "She's just trying to help, you should be grateful." Her world came to a halt in that moment, his words bouncing off the walls of her now hollow heart.

In that moment, a thought that had not for once crossed her mind for the last 5 years reared its ugly head, and immediately her mind was set. Their marriage is over.