Chapter 3 Give Up

It was a very stressful day of work. Evelyn returned late in the night and headed for a bath first to calm her tense muscles.

Her former partner had quit her job to travel out of the country. This left a lot of workload for her although it was temporary she had to work overtime most times.

Evelyn had just come out of a warm shower and still had many beads of water on her body.

She quickly tap dried it with her large, white towel, to prevent catching a cold and slipped on her nightgown.

She took up the white towel carefully spreading it across the towel rack beside the most ventilated place she could find.

She couldn't risk her treasured towel smelling like mildew in the morning.

Satisfied, Evelyn spinned and plopped on the bed.

She sighed.

Her life wasn't so boring, why did she feel particularly empty today?

Perhaps, it was because he was dead. Her father in law, the man who she thought had connected her to bliss was gone now. She had to inform Nathan of the bad news.

For the first time in many years she picked up her smartphone and scrolled through her contacts, stopping at the one with the tag, 'Husband' with a red heart emoji.

She hesitated, before clicking on it to get redirected to the 'Messenger' tab.

Evelyn was met by a lot of lined up one sided messages from her to Nathan dated from five years ago.

Five years ago she had gotten married to her dream husband and true love, Nathan. It was the happiest day of her life, or so she thought.

After their marriage, Nathan disappeared.

Poof! Gone into thin air.

He had only left her a message that he had traveled out of the country and to take care of herself till he returned. If she can't bear it, get a divorce.

At first Evelyn thought it was only a prank.

Who abandons their wife and goes out of the country on the night of their wedding?

She knew that Nathan wasn't willing to marry her and had only done it to please his father. She had thought that he would at least show her some face and go home together.

Her marriage, which she had been taught to be one of the memorable days for a woman, turned into a nightmare.

Heartbroken, she had sent him messages everyday asking about his well being like a dutiful wife, constantly asking for the date he would return but didn't get a reply from him, not once!

The messages were only sent and seen, never being responded to.

Her persistence became lesser and lesser till she stopped sending him any messages after a full year had passed. It dawned on her that Nathan might never return.

After four more years she was back in his messages and couldn't help having a sick feeling in her stomach.

If she hadn't given up texting him, would he have replied to her at some point?

Her heart tugged within her chest and she felt guilty.

However, it wasn't time to think about that. This news was more pressing than brooding over longing to get into an effective contact with him.

She clicked on the keyboard.

"Come home today, please. Father died in his sleep" She typed away, keeping the message short and precise.

Daisy whined softly. She hopped on the bed approaching her owner.

Her sound had gained Eveyln's attention.

She smiled and ran her pale hand through Daisy's fur.

"Don't worry mommy is fine this time. I'm used to him not replying to my texts."

Daisy is well behaved and doesn't come into the bed unless she was invited to. She must have perceived Evelyn's moodiness and had come to keep her company.

Evelyn lets her lie with her on the mattress.

The message had been sent already. She tossed her phone to the night stand, not bothering to check if he had seen it or not.

Now that she had fulfilled all righteousness as a wife to her husband in this situation, she was temporarily at ease.

Evelyn adjusted the quilt over her body stretching her legs to full length on the Alaskan King sized bed.

She felt so small and significantly lonely as she stared sideways to be greeted by the vast white sheets, devoid of any life other than herself.

She laid face up, her eyes feeding on the pretty Galaxy 3D wall paper she had installed herself on the ceiling.

After a full year had gone by without Nathan showing up back home nor picking up his calls. It dawned on Evelyn that she might have just been abandoned for good.

Taking solace in her misfortune, she decided to customise their room in the way she was most comfortable with and was very glad to make such a decision, ranging from the rooms blue/space themed decor and her husky, Daisy who she considered the sweetest dog in the world who knew just when to cheer her up. She almost deems it as a child she had given birth to.

She would have probably gone crazy if Daisy wasn't around to comfort her.

Comfort her...

She cringed a bit, suddenly thinking about Nathan.

From her knowledge, he was his father's favourite child. It must be very heartbreaking to learn that a father who treasured you do much as suddenly kicked the bucket.

Nathan would be devastated when he learns about it. She wished to be with him in these moments of grief and support him to the best of her abilities, sharing his pains with him as a wife should.

But she couldn't and it hurt that she didn't have any influence on her husband's wellbeing. How unfair it was for him to suffer alone!

She sighed for the upteenth time.

She shouldn't think too much, lest have a headache.

"It's going to be alright tomorrow. The weekend is always the best." She mumbled to herself reassuringly.

With that statement Evelyn's eyelids met, quickly sending her off into a deep sleep.