Enjoy Your Lonely Life Sister.

NAOMI’S POV

My head and eyes took a head-turn the moment I stepped outside my father’s house, my sight became blurry with the tears I had been holding back and I felt like my world was crashing down.

Three years.

Three years of cooking his meals. Three years of washing his clothes. Three years of lying beneath him while he closed his eyes and pretended I was someone else.

A log of wood.

James’s words kept echoing in my head. No passion. No fire. Nothing. I had to close my eyes and pretend you were someone else just to get through it.

Was I really that boring? That lifeless? That forgettable?

I had never been with anyone before James. He was my first.

My only.

I had thought I was doing everything right. I had thought being gentle and loving was enough.

I thought I was being the perfect and obedient wife. I thought I was enough. But apparently I wasn’t. Apparently, I was just a corpse lying there waiting for it to be over.

I looked up to the night sky, and thought to myself.

If I was so boring, then I wanted to know. I wanted to know if it was true. I wanted to feel something other than this crushing emptiness. I wanted to forget everything.

I wanted to feel alive. I wanted to feel wanted. Even if it was just for one night. Even if it was with a stranger.

I stood up and walked to my car, sitting in there car for about an hour, before finally driving away from my father’s house.

I finally stopped at the side of a crossroad. My face was still wet with tears. My jaw hurt me in the place James had grabbed. My cheek was tender where my father had slapped me. And my chest—my chest felt like someone had reached inside and scooped everything out.

I started the car and drove.

I didn’t know where I was going at first. Then I saw the neon lights of a hotel bar up ahead. It looked like the kind of place where people went to drink away their problems, and that was exactly what I needed right now.

I pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine.

I sat there for a moment, my hands gripped the steering wheel tightly until my knuckles hurt. My heart was pounding. I had never done anything like this before. I had never even been to a bar.

But what did it matter now? I had no husband. No home. No family. Nothing. I had nothing left to lose.

I got out of the car and walked inside.

The bar had dim lights, but it was crowded. Loud music played through the speakers. People laughed and danced and drank like the world would never end. I found an empty stool at the counter and sat down.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.

“Anything, as long as it's strong,” I said.

He nodded and poured me a glass of whiskey mixed with another dark liquid, I didn't care to know what it was, as long as it was strong.

I had never drunk whiskey or anything of the sort before. I picked the glass and downed it in one gulp.

It burned my throat and made my eyes water, but I didn’t care. I motioned for another.

By the third glass, my head was spinning. The pain in my chest had started fading. I could still feel it, but it was farther away now.

It felt muffled, more like the pain wasn't mine and it belonged to someone else.

I looked around the bar. There were men everywhere.

I wondered which one of them would want me. Which one of them would make me feel wanted tonight. Which one of them would prove James wrong.

My phone buzzed in my bag.

I pulled it out and squinted at the screen. A text from Delia.

“You really thought you could win? You’ve always been nothing. I slept with James on your pathetic wedding night. I stopped him from registering your marriage. I hope you know your place now. Enjoy being alone, sister.”

I stared at the message and my hand trembled.

I wanted to throw the phone.

Instead, I deleted the message and shoved the phone back into my bag.

I downed another glass of whiskey.

Then I turned to see a pair of eyes that looked straight at me.