Chapter 2 A Marriage Built on Waiting

Naomi used to measure time by Victor's schedule.

She woke when he woke.

She slept when he slept.

She planned her days around meetings that were never hers.

In the early years of their marriage, she told herself this was normal. Victor was ambitious. Important. Busy. A man with responsibilities that extended far beyond their home.

Love, she believed, meant understanding.

So she learned to wait.

The waiting began subtly.

At first, it was dinners growing cold on the table. Then holidays postponed. Then birthdays celebrated alone with quiet phone calls and hurried apologies.

Victor never meant to hurt her.

That was the problem.

He simply assumed she would always be there.

Naomi remembered the first anniversary she spent alone.

She had cooked his favorite meal, carefully plating everything the way she knew he liked it. She even lit candles, laughing softly at herself for being hopeful.

At nine o'clock, she called him.

"I'm still at the office," Victor said, distracted. "I'll be late."

"How late?" she asked.

There was a pause. Papers rustled.

"I don't know. Don't wait up."

She waited anyway.

By midnight, the candles had burned out.

Victor came home at two in the morning, smelling faintly of coffee and exhaustion. He kissed her forehead absentmindedly and went straight to the shower.

The food went into the trash.

She didn't mention it the next day.

She never mentioned most things.

Now, sitting alone in her new apartment, Naomi replayed those memories without emotion.

It surprised her.

She had thought leaving would reopen old wounds, that the pain would rush back all at once.

Instead, it felt like looking at a life that no longer belonged to her.

She opened her laptop and stared at her résumé.

There was a long gap under her work history.

Three years.

Three years of being Victor Hale's wife.

She closed the laptop quietly.

"I'll fix this," she murmured to herself.

One step at a time.

Victor's office overlooked the river.

He stood by the glass wall, hands in his pockets, watching the water move steadily below. His assistant stood behind him, clipboard ready.

"Your schedule for today-"

"Cancel the lunch meeting," Victor said suddenly.

She blinked. "Sir?"

"I said cancel it."

The assistant hesitated, then nodded. "Of course."

Victor didn't know why he had done it.

He told himself it was nothing. Just a fleeting thought. But as the morning dragged on, an unfamiliar restlessness settled over him.

At noon, he found himself checking his phone.

No messages.

Naomi used to send him reminders. Notes. Quiet check-ins.

Did you eat?

Don't forget your meeting.

Drive safely.

The silence felt... wrong.

That evening, Victor went home earlier than usual.

The house greeted him with emptiness.

No lights.

No music.

No scent of dinner.

He walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator out of habit.

It was nearly empty.

A strange irritation flared in his chest.

"She didn't have to clean it out," he muttered.

But even as he said it, something nagged at him.

Naomi had always kept the house stocked.

Always prepared.

Always waiting.

Across the city, Naomi sat at her small desk, filling out job applications.

Her fingers moved steadily, confidence growing with each completed form. She had skills. She had experience. She had simply put her life on pause.

Not anymore.

Her phone buzzed again.

Victor.

She stared at the name until the screen dimmed.

Then she turned the phone face down and kept typing.

Victor noticed her silence the next day.

Then the next.

By the fourth day, impatience had turned into unease.

"She's being stubborn," he told himself.

But a question crept into his thoughts, quiet and unwelcome:

What if she doesn't come back this time?

Victor did not call Naomi again that week.

It wasn't pride exactly-at least, not the way he understood pride. It was habit. He had grown used to being the one whose time mattered more, whose silence carried less consequence.

Naomi had always waited.

Surely, she was only trying to make a point.

Still, the house felt wrong.

On Thursday evening, Victor stood in the kitchen staring at the empty counter. For years, Naomi had kept small things there without realizing it-notes scribbled on paper towels, grocery lists written in neat handwriting, a vase of flowers she replaced every week even when he never commented on them.

Now there was nothing.

He opened a cabinet, then another.

The mugs were gone.

Not all of them-just the ones she used.

A flicker of unease crept into his chest.

"She's being dramatic," he muttered, closing the cabinet harder than necessary.

But the words didn't reassure him the way he expected.

Naomi, meanwhile, was learning how to exist without waiting.

Her days began early. She made her own schedule now, not shaped around someone else's meetings or delays. She walked to a nearby café each morning, ordered the same drink, and sat by the window with her laptop.

At first, she had felt exposed-alone in public, no longer someone's wife waiting at home.

But gradually, that feeling faded.

In its place came something steadier.

Confidence.

An email notification popped up on her screen.

Thank you for your application. We would like to invite you for an interview.

Naomi stared at it for a long moment, then exhaled slowly.

It wasn't a victory.

But it was a beginning.

She closed her laptop and allowed herself a small smile.

Victor's assistant noticed the change before anyone else did.

"You've been distracted lately," she said cautiously, handing him a folder.

Victor looked up. "Have I?"

She nodded. "You've rescheduled three meetings this week."

That was unusual.

Victor frowned slightly, as if only now becoming aware of it. He waved her concern away. "It's nothing."

But when he returned to his office, the silence pressed in again.

He opened his phone and scrolled through old messages.

Naomi's name filled the screen.

Drive safely.

Did you eat?

I'll wait.

He stopped.

His thumb hovered over one message from months ago.

I made dinner. I'll keep it warm.

He couldn't remember that night.

That realization struck him harder than he expected.

That evening, Victor drove past Naomi's favorite grocery store without thinking.

The turn felt instinctive.

He slowed, then stopped at the red light, staring at the familiar storefront.

Naomi used to insist on shopping there even though it was farther from home. She said the produce was fresher.

He had never gone inside with her.

Victor tightened his grip on the steering wheel and drove on.

Naomi's interview was scheduled for Monday.

She stood in front of the mirror Sunday night, adjusting her blouse. The woman looking back at her seemed... different.

Straighter posture. Clearer eyes.

Less invisible.

Her phone buzzed.

Victor.

She let it ring.

Then, after a pause, she turned it off entirely.

Not out of anger.

Out of necessity.

Monday morning arrived quietly.

Victor woke earlier than usual, an unfamiliar restlessness pulling him from sleep. He dressed quickly and left the house without breakfast.

Halfway to the office, he realized something was missing.

There was no message from Naomi reminding him to drive carefully.

No small tether connecting his morning to hers.

For the first time, the absence felt intentional.

And that scared him.